AVI movies in QT player ?

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
I'm unable to play AVI movies in the QT player that comes with Snow Leopard.



Is there a QT plug-in somewhere which adds the capability to play AVI movies (with sound), in the standard QT player from Apple ?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 26
    stevegmustevegmu Posts: 539member
    You probably don't have Perian installed-



    Code:


    http://perian.org/



  • Reply 2 of 26
    kalikali Posts: 634member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stevegmu View Post


    You probably don't have Perian installed-



    Code:


    http://perian.org/





    Well, I installed the module and restarted the session. No change at all ! The AVI file (which is working great with some non-Apple app), isn't recognized by the QuickTime player. What gives ?
  • Reply 3 of 26
    kalikali Posts: 634member
    Now I'm confused. Apple says on their site that QT recognise AVI. I have QT 10, which came as default with OS 10.6.3 on my new Mac mini, and yet I can't play AVI movies using the QT player. What the ... ?
  • Reply 4 of 26
    karl kuehnkarl kuehn Posts: 756member
    The problem you are running into is that these files are not real AVIs, but rather are a bastardized version of H.264 (or something else) wrapped in something that might resemble an AVI wrapper, but mainly uses the .avi name in order to get Windows Media Player on Windows to grab and play it. It is probably (but not certainly) one of the many bastard children (remarkably accurate imagery, since Microsoft does not acknowledge them) of Microsoft's attempt to persuade the MPEG trade group tio adopt the AVI format as the bases for MPEG4 (they chose a variation on the QuickTime format instead).



    QuickTime does play actual AVI's, but that format has basically been abandoned by its creator as it does not allow for any of the tricks that moden codecs do. It is alive only because of the bastard children of the Divx project.
  • Reply 5 of 26
    kalikali Posts: 634member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Karl Kuehn View Post


    The problem you are running into is that these files are not real AVIs, but rather are a bastardized version of H.264 (or something else) wrapped in something that might resemble an AVI wrapper, but mainly uses the .avi name in order to get Windows Media Player on Windows to grab and play it. It is probably (but not certainly) one of the many bastard children (remarkably accurate imagery, since Microsoft does not acknowledge them) of Microsoft's attempt to persuade the MPEG trade group tio adopt the AVI format as the bases for MPEG4 (they chose a variation on the QuickTime format instead).



    QuickTime does play actual AVI's, but that format has basically been abandoned by its creator as it does not allow for any of the tricks that moden codecs do. It is alive only because of the bastard children of the Divx project.



    So can we turn the bastard "fake AVI" files into something QT Player recognize, just by changing its file extension ? I guess not.
  • Reply 6 of 26
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kali View Post


    So can we turn the bastard "fake AVI" files into something QT Player recognize, just by changing its file extension ? I guess not.



    Changing the extension changes the name and nothing else. I have no problem playing any video with the .avi extension. If you don't have QuickTime Player 7, then you should download it from Apple and install it. You can worry about getting your videos to work in QT X later.
  • Reply 7 of 26
    kalikali Posts: 634member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. Me View Post


    Changing the extension changes the name and nothing else. I have no problem playing any video with the .avi extension. If you don't have QuickTime Player 7, then you should download it from Apple and install it. You can worry about getting your videos to work in QT X later.



    This is what confuses me. I have QT Player version 10.0 (113). What the ... ?!?
  • Reply 8 of 26
    karl kuehnkarl kuehn Posts: 756member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. Me View Post


    Changing the extension changes the name and nothing else. I have no problem playing any video with the .avi extension. If you don't have QuickTime Player 7, then you should download it from Apple and install it. You can worry about getting your videos to work in QT X later.



    Having the QuickTime 7 player or not does not make any difference here at all sine the QuickTime X Player will use the QuickTime 7 framework when it is needed, and it is alway installed. The QuickTime 7 plater is only needed when you need to edit movies with a QuickTime 7 Pro license.



    The problem is in finding a pluggin that can work for those non-standard (broken) video files in question.
  • Reply 9 of 26
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    There are other players out there. Try, for example, VLC Media Player.
  • Reply 10 of 26
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WPLJ42 View Post


    There are other players out there. Try, for example, VLC Media Player.



    Exactly, VLC Media Player and also Movist. Both very nice.
  • Reply 11 of 26
    kalikali Posts: 634member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PB View Post


    Exactly, VLC Media Player and also Movist. Both very nice.



    Movist is very nice, thanks for that one !



    But I'm still very surprised that all these codecs aren't integrated into the default QuickTime and its player, under Snow Leopard.
  • Reply 12 of 26
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    I cannot get Perian to install. Using newest version (1.2.1) in Snow Leopard (10.6.4). Trying to install for all users. It hangs up after entering password every time, and locks up System Preferences.
  • Reply 13 of 26
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WPLJ42 View Post


    I cannot get Perian to install. Using newest version (1.2.1) in Snow Leopard (10.6.4). Trying to install for all users. It hangs up after entering password every time, and locks up System Preferences.



    This is unusual. Everyday, Mac users happily download, install, and use Perian with nary a problem. If you want sympathy, then you have it. If you want help, then you must give at least a hint of something unusual in your situation.



    BTW, are you using an Administrative account?
  • Reply 14 of 26
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. Me View Post


    This is unusual. Everyday, Mac users happily download, install, and use Perian with nary a problem. If you want sympathy, then you have it. If you want help, then you must give at least a hint of something unusual in your situation.



    BTW, are you using an Administrative account?



    Well, I just installed it by selecting the install for a single user option. That will work since I have just one account on my iMac. Otherwise, it would "hang" according to the report sent to Apple, instantly after typing my Admin account password. System Preferences locks up and I have to do a force quit. Not sure what to tell you about unusual. I'm an odd duck, but that should not have an impact on my iMac.
  • Reply 15 of 26
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WPLJ42 View Post


    Well, I just installed it by selecting the install for a single user option. That will work since I have just one account on my iMac. Otherwise, it would "hang" according to the report sent to Apple, instantly after typing my Admin account password. System Preferences locks up and I have to do a force quit. Not sure what to tell you about unusual. I'm an odd duck, but that should not have an impact on my iMac.



    You have several misstatements here. However, I am not sure that they are the cause of your problems. That said, you are the first person that I can recall who has issues with Perian.



    Do you have problems with software other than Perian? If so, then under what conditions to you have these problems?
  • Reply 16 of 26
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. Me View Post


    You have several misstatements here. However, I am not sure that they are the cause of your problems. That said, you are the first person that I can recall who has issues with Perian.



    Do you have problems with software other than Perian? If so, then under what conditions to you have these problems?



    Well, I haven't a clue what you are saying. As for my iMac, it is not the perfect OS everyone wants to call it. I have problems from time to time, equal to what I had when using Windows 7 Beta and RC. I explore frequently and perhaps have created problems of my own.



    Perian is a different sort of install, as it goes to System Preferences. I have problems with Shockwave not working, and Flash not working well, at least some of the time.



    With all due respect, I seldom get help here I can actually use, even in the Genius Bar section. Using Mac OS is no better in my situation than Windows. Problems are just as frequent, and answers are just as hard to find.



    Right now my text sometimes looks like smoothing has been turned off. Unfortunately, I do not have a method of putting an image into a post here.
  • Reply 17 of 26
    Adobe has never made a 64bit version of Shockwave for OSX... if Safari boots in 64 bit (default), then Shockwave won't work... you need to force Safari to open as a 32 bit process if you want to install Shockwave.

    Flash is just flaky... again, Adobe doesn't seem to be overly concerned about upgrading/fixing/optimizing the Mac code. (still makes it a strike against Apple hardware though, if you need/like to run Flash stuff... and there's an awful lot of it on the web.)



    As for your Perian problem, we just don't have enough info to troubleshoot it for you. Like someone else mentioned, I've never experienced problems with it, having installed it on half a dozen different Macs.
  • Reply 18 of 26
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post


    Adobe has never made a 64bit version of Shockwave for OSX... if Safari boots in 64 bit (default), then Shockwave won't work... you need to force Safari to open as a 32 bit process if you want to install Shockwave.

    Flash is just flaky... again, Adobe doesn't seem to be overly concerned about upgrading/fixing/optimizing the Mac code. (still makes it a strike against Apple hardware though, if you need/like to run Flash stuff... and there's an awful lot of it on the web.)



    As for your Perian problem, we just don't have enough info to troubleshoot it for you. Like someone else mentioned, I've never experienced problems with it, having installed it on half a dozen different Macs.



    I do know about Shockwave not working in 64-bit mode. The app even tells me so. Shockwave probably has been messed up since 10.5.2 or so. You said it right, flaky, with regard to Flash. It isn't exactly the only app that gets less attention on the Mac side.



    As for Perian, I am having other troubles, and just now setup 2 partitions. The 2nd one is running Leopard. Perian installed without about any difficulties. I did have to enter my password twice, but no other issues.
  • Reply 19 of 26
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WPLJ42 View Post


    Well, I haven't a clue what you are saying. As for my iMac, it is not the perfect OS everyone wants to call it. I have problems from time to time, equal to what I had when using Windows 7 Beta and RC. I explore frequently and perhaps have created problems of my own.



    Perian is a different sort of install, as it goes to System Preferences. I have problems with Shockwave not working, and Flash not working well, at least some of the time.



    With all due respect, I seldom get help here I can actually use, even in the Genius Bar section. Using Mac OS is no better in my situation than Windows. Problems are just as frequent, and answers are just as hard to find.



    ...



    To use the Perian codec suite:
    1. Download Perian.

    2. Install Perian.

    3. Double-click any video file. If it is in a format supported by Perian, then the QuickTime Player will use the appropriate codec.

    Perian is completely transparent to the user once it has been installed. If the three steps listed above are over your head, then your problems run deeper than the inability to play a video file or snotty AppleInsider.com members who won't help you.



    The Perian preference pane enables or diables automatic updates of the suite. It can also be used to remove the suite. Minor tasks include selecting various audio options. There is no reason for you to futz around in the preference pane.
  • Reply 20 of 26
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. Me View Post


    To use the Perian codec suite:
    1. Download Perian.

    2. Install Perian.

    3. Double-click any video file. If it is in a format supported by Perian, then the QuickTime Player will use the appropriate codec.

    Perian is completely transparent to the user once it has been installed. If the three steps listed above are over your head, then your problems run deeper than the inability to play a video file or snotty AppleInsider.com members who won't help you.



    The Perian preference pane enables or diables automatic updates of the suite. It can also be used to remove the suite. Minor tasks include selecting various audio options. There is no reason for you to futz around in the preference pane.



    Perhaps Mr. Me can't read. I could not get Perian to install. How many times would you like me to tell you that?! The spinning wheel that appears while waiting for password entry, never went away. I would have to use force quit, because the installer was locked up. Follow me so far?



    Yes, many people here have attitude, just like the one you are presenting. We are not on the same page. Either I am not being clear, or you are not paying attention.
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