Quicktime trailers (1 Viewer)

[Anders Englund]

I've been thinking about something: Why is it just about every trailer is only available in Quicktime format? Is there some conspiracy to make us (me) install yet another software that will be used for one purpose only? Or is there an actual reason for this?

--Anders

 

[Patrick Larkin]

superior results. what other formats are there? avi? quicktime was the first and is still the best. check the quality on some of those trailers and then look at the file size. amazing. plus, apple hosts them.
and you only need to install software if you don't have a mac.

 

[Michael*K]

What about sites that force me to use the crappy Real Player software? And I agree that QuickTime produces the best quality trailers.

 

[Anders Englund]

And I suppose I don't hate Quicktime per se, but rather the fact that there's no codec available for Windows Media Player (same goes for Real media). I use it for all other media, so it just bugs me to have yet another software just for this.

I can't vouch for the quality as I haven't done any head to head comparisons to, say WMV. It beat's MPEG, but I think I still prefer it anyway (easier to make trailer VCDs). The fact that Apple hosts the trailers are probably a major reason.

--Anders

 

[Patrick Larkin]

well, Quicktime plays AVI files, why doesn't Media Player play QT?

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

A couple reasons. Yes Quicktime is very good in terms of quality vs. file size. BUT, this is not easy to come by. Most of the trailers you download from Apple, etc...take a programmer 2-3 DAYS to encode. If you set out to make a quicktime of high quality and just do it quickly......it will look like crap. It is really hard to do actually. A lot of Key framing is the key. They usually go frame by frame through the trailer to encode it and mark a lot of key frames.

Also....in general, quicktime movies are harder to download and store on your computer. Ever try to right click on a quicktime movie and "Save file AS..."? Oh sure, it can be done if you know how.....but the average person will not know how and that keeps the number of people who store the file on their computer down. So...."Hollywood" believes Quicktime to have better copy protection when used over the internet.

 

[Michael*K]

Also....in general, quicktime movies are harder to download and store on your computer. Ever try to right click on a quicktime movie and "Save file AS..."?

Yeah, I have and it works 100% of the time. Amazing what can be done with QuickTime Pro.

 

[Nigel McN]

Apple makes it worth their while. Seriously. Apple is concerned with getting as many people as possible installing their software, as is Real. They use different techniques to do this, I don't know if Apple outright pays the various movie companies to host the trailers, it might just be that the compression and hosting is value enough for most. I know this because Real did pay Newline for exclusive rights to LOTR for a year which is why all the LOTR/FOTR stuff was realmedia for a year.
avi as an identifier has been diluted, a lot. .avi (the extention) is a generic extension that doesn't actually indicate what format the media is compressed with, it is a media wrapper like .ogm. Both an .avi or an .ogm can be compressed with divx, xvid, or any other flavour of the month compression format. Quicktime is still both a wrapper and compression method, & apple wants you playing your .qt files in mediaplayer just as much as microsoft want you playing your wmv/asx in the quicktime player .

 

[Don Black]

As Nigel mentioned this is purely about business folks. There is certainly a lot of payola going on. Do you actually think that the best technology wins?

 

[JasenP]

and you only need to install software if you don't have a mac.

That would be 99.8% of computer users.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Most of the trailers you download from Apple, etc...take a programmer 2-3 DAYS to encode.

Not true. All you need are good tools. The trailers are encoded using something like media cleaner and the sorenson codecs.

 

[Anders Englund]

well, not everyone chooses a Mercedes Benz either.

No, who'd wanna drive that??
--Anders

 

[JasenP]

Are you comparing a Mac to A Mercedes? I don't see the comparison except that both are overpriced and hard to get parts for.

OK, OK...I'm done. Let the poor horse rest in peace.

Happy Holidays!!