Quicktime and .AVI files - WTF?

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Tell me; how can MPEG Streamclip open an .avi file in 3 seconds (700 MB), when it takes Quicktime nearly 60 seconds!!! to open the same file?



If anyone of you can persuade any one of the guys who work on the Perian project to work on this particular issue that would be really great. Cause QuickTime needs some .avi plugin lovin'. It needs codec support for this stuff like MPEG Streamclip has...



DESPERATELY!!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    hmm... I just tried that... a 706 MB .avi file... stored on a Time Capsule drive and accessed wirelessly... starting with QT shut down... from double-click to running movie took 5 seconds.

    I have no idea if it was using Perian or Flip4Mac as the codec supplier, as I have both installed.



    Perhaps you need to update your 233 MHtz G3????
  • Reply 2 of 18
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Tell me; how can MPEG Streamclip open an .avi file in 3 seconds (700 MB), when it takes Quicktime nearly 60 seconds!!! to open the same file?



    If anyone of you can persuade any one of the guys who work on the Perian project to work on this particular issue that would be really great. Cause QuickTime needs some .avi plugin lovin'. It needs codec support for this stuff like MPEG Streamclip has...



    DESPERATELY!!



    Just opened a 1400mb AVI file from an external HD in QT without it being opened since boot and it was playing within 4 seconds. Is it all your AVI files or just one?
  • Reply 3 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bazokajoe_2k View Post


    Just opened a 1400mb AVI file from an external HD in QT without it being opened since boot and it was playing within 4 seconds. Is it all your AVI files or just one?



    All .avi files are not created equal. Point being MPEG Streamclip can handle anything I throw at it with easy, QuickTime cannot.
  • Reply 4 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post


    hmm... I just tried that... a 706 MB .avi file... stored on a Time Capsule drive and accessed wirelessly... starting with QT shut down... from double-click to running movie took 5 seconds.

    I have no idea if it was using Perian or Flip4Mac as the codec supplier, as I have both installed.



    Perhaps you need to update your 233 MHtz G3????



    2.8GHz iMac. It's not a point to say you can open a different .avi file on your Mac is x amount of seconds. MPEG Streamclip has better codec support across the board than QuickTime. And constantly outperforms it for opening files etc. Perian is good, but not "great". I wish those guys worked on it full time and made the plugin shareware, cause I'd pay for a better situation than this. Not just that but MPEG can open and convert flash also, which QuickTime (via Perian) cannot. It's needs some lovin'. Some love love lovin'! And like I said; I'd pay for it if they improved it, gladly.
  • Reply 5 of 18
    I agree... there's no telling what is contained within an AVI wrapper... and I've run across a few that QT doesn't handle well, but 95% of the time it works well (with Perian and Flip)... granted that that 5% can be EXTREMELY frustrating. If they don't work I can play about anything with VLC, but it's not in a plug-in format that will work embedded in webpages or FrontRow and such.



    I was just yankin' your chain about the G3 iMac... but couldn't tell exactly from your first post if you were having trouble with ALL .avi's or just some.
  • Reply 6 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post


    I agree... there's no telling what is contained within an AVI wrapper... and I've run across a few that QT doesn't handle well, but 95% of the time it works well (with Perian and Flip)... granted that that 5% can be EXTREMELY frustrating. If they don't work I can play about anything with VLC, but it's not in a plug-in format that will work embedded in webpages or FrontRow and such.



    I was just yankin' your chain about the G3 iMac... but couldn't tell exactly from your first post if you were having trouble with ALL .avi's or just some.



    Just some, but like you said they can be frustrating. And I could tell, the wink gave it away
  • Reply 7 of 18
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    All .avi files are not created equal. Point being MPEG Streamclip can handle anything I throw at it with easy, QuickTime cannot.



    Looking into it, MPEG Streamclip contains none of it's own Codecs. It essentially uses the QT architecture to access codecs that it needs to play video files. So if you're looking at an .AVI file in Streamclip, odds are it's using the Perian codecs. The list right on their site:



    Quote:

    This free software requires at least Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) and QuickTime 6. It is also compatible with Mac OS X 10.3.x (Panther), Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger), Mac OS X 10.5.x (Leopard) and QuickTime 7. It works with PowerPC and Intel based Macs.



    For MPEG-2 playback and conversion, you need the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component. You can buy it from Apple (www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2). If you have either Final Cut Pro or DVD Studio Pro, then the component is already installed and you don't have to buy it; but you may need to download the latest version from Apple. If you bought an older version of the component, you can update it to the latest version (www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/update). Note that the MPEG-2 component is neither required nor useful for MPEG-1 or MPEG-4 files. But it is required for VOB files and transport streams, because they are MPEG-2 files.



    For DivX playback and editing, you have to install DivX (www.divx.com/divx/mac).

    You can also install another codec like 3ivx (www.3ivx.com) or XviD (n.ethz.ch/student/naegelic), but only with DivX 6.5 and later (or DivX 5.2.1) you can encode DivX files with MP3 audio.



    For FLV playback and export, you can download and install Perian (www.perian.org).



    For WMV playback, you can install Flip4Mac WMV Player (www.flip4mac.com/wmv.htm). If you also need to export WMV files to another format you have to buy Flip4Mac WMV Player Pro.



    So this tells me that it's not a codec issue you're having. There's something about your particular files that the Quicktime application itself is having trouble with, which is odd. Very odd.



    Could you list the stats of the AVI file (ie. codec, bitrate, audio codec, etc)?
  • Reply 8 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bazokajoe_2k


    So this tells me that it's not a codec issue you're having. There's something about your particular files that the Quicktime application itself is having trouble with, which is odd. Very odd.



    Could you list the stats of the AVI file (ie. codec, bitrate, audio codec, etc)?



    Cool response, very interesting..



    I'm on it!
  • Reply 9 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bazokajoe_2k


    Could you list the stats of the AVI file (ie. codec, bitrate, audio codec, etc)?



    Care to tell me the best way to find out all this info? As Get Info is providing little to none, besides telling me it's an AVI. What's the best solution?
  • Reply 10 of 18
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Care to tell me the best way to find out all this info? As Get Info is providing little to none, besides telling me it's an AVI. What's the best solution?



    Easiest way I can think of is uh...haha, opening it in Quicktime, and once it's loaded, show the info window (it's under one of the menubar sections)
  • Reply 11 of 18
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    The fact that it is an "avi" file is fairly meaningless. What is of real importance is what codec is used. (avi is a container, not a codec) Sometimes you can use VLC to open a file and check the codec when quicktime is otherwise unable to.



    Analogy: Consider a box of books. You can read the books if you understand the language they're written in. It isn't pertinent that the box is made out of cardboard.
  • Reply 12 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
  • Reply 13 of 18
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Your .avi has the earmarks of a classic DivX-encoded video. Perian is supposed to handle this. However, I also have the official DivX codec installed. Unfortunately, DivX is a non-standard. There is no telling what the person who created your .avi file used to create it.



    If you have QuickTime Pro, then [cmd]+[ j ] will give a little bit more information about your audio and video tracks.
  • Reply 14 of 18
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    Get Info from within VLC also sometimes provides additional info not available via quicktime player.
  • Reply 15 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
  • Reply 16 of 18
    Did you buy the Mpeg component for QTPro? I would assume thats likely given you are using streamclip but not a certainty.



    I was editing some stuff the other night between itunes/imovie/idvd and everything became VERY unresponsive, except streamclip, however shutdown and restart seemed to clear everything up again.



    and check your permissions.



    sometimes, only sometimes mind OSX gets itself caught up in a knot.
  • Reply 17 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Walter Slocombe View Post


    Did you buy the Mpeg component for QTPro? I would assume thats likely given you are using streamclip but not a certainty.



    I was editing some stuff the other night between itunes/imovie/idvd and everything became VERY unresponsive, except streamclip, however shutdown and restart seemed to clear everything up again.



    and check your permissions.



    sometimes, only sometimes mind OSX gets itself caught up in a knot.



    I do a weekly maintenance, my system is clean as a whistle. I wish Perian would help me out here through QuickTime. I think it's just quicktime in general though. I have the same issues with a second AVI file around that size, same encoding also. I think it's simple QuickTime itself. Wouldn't shock me if Apple knew about it and weren't bothering to make fix it.



    I know, yeah I know.
  • Reply 18 of 18
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    I do a weekly maintenance, my system is clean as a whistle. I wish Perian would help me out here through QuickTime. I think it's just quicktime in general though. I have the same issues with a second AVI file around that size, same encoding also. I think it's simple QuickTime itself. Wouldn't shock me if Apple knew about it and weren't bothering to make fix it.



    I know, yeah I know.



    Its not something you ripped yourself, so its a download.. mm..



    I suppose a re-encode in Streamclip wouldnt be a good enough (temporary) solution?



    As said above, AVI is only the box that holds the file, and streamclip uses the very same codecs that QT uses, so maybe its something else?



    you have done a reboot to rule that out?



    --



    I leave my macs running for weeks at a time, unless something drastic occurs, I don't bother scraping around in the underbelly of the OS, thats why I (left behind) shot windows one day, it was getting too old and tired, yes it had filled a gap, but in the end it was better to just move on, "rounding up the sheep" is so much easier now "on the farm"
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