.MOV file won't open in QT

Baltimore Shooter

Well-known member
Calling all Quicktime gurus...

I'm having trouble opening a Quicktime file that was sent to me on DVD. Everytime I try to open it, I get an error message that says "the required compressor could not be
found".

I asked the client what was it compressed with and he said that he just used Quicktime software that's included w/ QT. I even tried opening it up in MPEG Streamclip but no luck.

Anyone know what else I can try?

Warren
 

Canonman

Well-known member
Calling all Quicktime gurus...

I'm having trouble opening a Quicktime file that was sent to me on DVD. Everytime I try to open it, I get an error message that says "the required compressor could not be
found".

I asked the client what was it compressed with and he said that he just used Quicktime software that's included w/ QT. I even tried opening it up in MPEG Streamclip but no luck.

Anyone know what else I can try?
The problem Warren is that Quicktime is a container format, just like AVI. They could have some specialized software codec and it will show up as one of their choices in QT. You could try downloading the latest QT player on your end if you haven't already. That will get you any new Apple codecs but you're still on your own for 3rd party ones.

If you can at least open the file in QT or MPEG Streamclip even though it won't play, use command-I to view the audio/video information.

cm
 

nozoom4u

Active member
It was probably saved with a codec on. If we save with an avid codec on, you can't play the file back with out downloading the codec update. These are on the quicktime website.
 

Alaska cameradude

Well-known member
Try to open the file, and when it won't open get info on the file (control-I). See what kind of codec was used. Then do a google search and see if you can find the codec to download. I've got just about every codec that quicktime can use on my system. If the file wasn't too big, I could convert it for you...
 

bluffton

Well-known member
BS,

If I remember correclty you use FCP, You may want to try using compressor also. Another option is window media player and Real Player.

A partner of mine recently compressed a clip with QT and emailed it. He could play it but the recipient could not. After walking him through a few things we found out it was in his preferences.

Who ever sent it may have to trash the prefs and start over. Same on your end. The other option is that they may have sent you a reference file instead of the actual file (but it would only be about 24kbs)

Tough spot to be in... Good luck.
 

Baltimore Shooter

Well-known member
Thanks Bluffton. I received it on a DVD. I'll try clicking 'get info' to see what I can get from that. BTW, I tried saving it to the desktop and opening it in Compressor but there were so many choices that I don't know where to start.

Warren
 

Baltimore Shooter

Well-known member
Okay, after messing with this damn thing, I've finally determined that somehow video wasn't encoded into this .mov file. Maybe they accidently set it to encode the audio only, because I can get the clip to work in MPEG Streamclip and FCP but all I get is audio, no picture.

In FCP, there is just a blank gray space where the picture should be. In Streamclip, the scrub bar works and I hear audio but the 5 blue dots are where the picture should be. So I can only figure that audio was the only thing that was encoded into the .mov file.

Why the hell can't people either do it right or let someone more experienced handle it???!!! ARRRGH!!!!

Warren
 

bluffton

Well-known member
One other thing just dawned on me =+)
Is there a lock on the movie? Look on the bottom right hand side of the file icon. If there is a little gray looking lock, you need a password. If you can't see for sure, you can check it out under "get info." At the bottom is where you will find ownership and permissions. All of them should read "Read & Write." if any of them read anything else your toast probably.

If it's not locked I'm out of ideas (should the clip actually work).
 

ontrackp

Member
Did they make the file on a Mac or PC? If PC there could be other issues that have to do with the extension --- for instance if your system cannot play wmv files but their system encodes wmv files and then for some stupid reason puts a mov extension on the file.

Also, confirm with them that the file plays on their system. In the ideal world they should have done a confidence playback of the DVD before sending it out. They may just have to re-encode, and you should give them the specs you want.

I have also recieved avi files that had .mov extensions but just don't play on the Mac.

Good luck.
 

Baltimore Shooter

Well-known member
I think they just didn't encode it properly, probably just did the audio only and not the video too. They were new to the process and didn't know how to do it. They encoded it again and the new one worked.

Warren
 

BluesCam

Well-known member
I just had a similar experience. I'm using Vegas Video and was brought a DVD with QT files. They opened as audio only. They were encoded in FCP, but the guy didn't know much about his settings.
 

Canonman

Well-known member
I just had a similar experience. I'm using Vegas Video and was brought a DVD with QT files. They opened as audio only. They were encoded in FCP, but the guy didn't know much about his settings.
That means you have the necessary audio codec on your PC, but not the video codec. The best way to pass files back and forth across platforms like this is to export to a Photo JPEG sequence. The file sizes will be much larger, but either platform should handle the video without problems.

You can also attempt to locate the missing video codec on your system via the internet. Since it came from FCP and QT, I'd start with the latest version of QT for your PC.

cm
 

amp

Well-known member
You may have to to an old school solution. Dump it to tape or burn it on another DVD and then ingest it into the computer. Sucks to have to do that, but it will work. If you can find anywhere you can play it, good.
 

Max Girth

Well-known member
I think they just didn't encode it properly, probably just did the audio only and not the video too.
They did it right the first time, just in a codec you didn't have. Somebody mentioned this above.

Next time this happens, open in QT player, hit apple-I, and it will tell you both video and audio codec used.

This happens a lot when people make QTs out of FCP with "Current Settings"...there's codecs in FCP that are used for editing (HDV, DVCPRO HD, ProRes, Uncompressed 10-bit) that the average Mac user probably doesn't have. Some even people with FCP don't have.
 
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