Brad's Smith's 9/21 iQT column discusses how interactive (wired) QuickTime movies are great for web use because of their small file sizes.
There's a PowerBook firmware update that improves support for FireWire on PowerBooks with built-in FireWire ports. You can get it at Apple Software Downloads Library article #11849.
You can now get software that will allow you to play back MPEG-2 video via QuickTime on the Mac. Go to the lukifer.com DVD Utilities for Macintosh page and check out the MPEG2 Decoder.
If you've made a really good movie with iMovie, you might want to enter it in a contest. Read a MacWEEK.com article, "Outpost, Apple sponsor iMovie contest" for more info.
Uni Software has released version 1.2 of easy beat, a Mac-only QuickTime Music Architecture based music program; it lets you compose music that can be exported as a QuickTime music track. Get more info and find links to download the software at the easy beat home page.
Digital Origin's EditDV (DV editing tool) is now optimized for Apple's dual processor machines. Read a 9/22 Digital Origin press release for more info.
We'll no longer be co-posting the Little QuickTime page at BMUG's web site. If you're still going to the BMUG address, you're now being re-directed to our judyandrobert.com address. Since we don't know how long BMUG's web site will be working, it's a good idea to change your bookmarks now.
Some stuff about QuickTime and Mac OS X Public Beta:
Steve Jobs talked some about the OS X version of QuickTime at his keynote at Apple Expo. Go to the Apple Expo 2000 Keynote page, click one of the buttons to watch the video stream, and check out what Steve has to say at about 1 hour 11 minutes into the stream.
If you're curious about the look of the Mac OS X QuickTime Player, check MacAddict's OS X Screen Shots 4 page.
MacWeek's Mac OS X in Pictures: System preferences page also has links to screenshots showing the various System preferences dialog boxes, including the QuickTime Preferences dialog box. There's a screenshot of the Connection speed panel, a screenshot of the Browser panel (with stuff about the plug-in), and a screenshot of the Media Keys panel.
Various Tech Info Library articles report on minor bugs when using QuickTime in Mac OS X:
Tech Info Library article #58716 reports on delays in opening web sites from QuickTime Player.
Tech Info Library article #106006 reports that some movies aren't playing in the Finder's Preview pane, and offers a solution.
Tech Info Library article #60748 reports that QuickTime TV channels don't open correctly when you click on a link in Internet Explorer.
Tech Info Library article #31248 provides a work-around for entering a QuickTime Pro registration key, given that there's no place to do so in the System Preferences.
A WebTools article, "Remembrance of QuickTime Past", discusses QuickTime 4's features and offers an opinion about what QuickTime 5 should include.
Brad's Smith's iQT column for this week comments on Apple's poor marketing of QuickTime.
A couple of high-profile areas where QuickTime is being used:
QuickTime is being used to enhance some web sites covering the Olympics. At NBC's Olympics website you'll find lots of audio clips of the athletes talking about their experiences, some video clips, and even QuickTime VR movies of the various venues. Foxsports is also providing Olympic coverage in QuickTime (as well as Real and Windows Media, however); scroll to the bottom of the FOXSports.com - Games of the XXVII Olympiad page to get to the video clips.
Madonna's s website, www.madonnamusic.com will use only QuickTime for streaming all ten tracks from her ìMusicî CD. An Apple press release, "Warner Bros., Maverick and Apple Bring Madonnaís 'Music' to the Web", has the details.
More and more Macs are being equipped for QuickTime movie-making. The new iBooks announced at Apple Expo last week include a FireWire port and iMovie 2; check out Apple's iBook page. The new PowerBooks now come with iMovie 2, to go along with their FireWire ports; see Apple's PowerBook page.
For those who don't own a Mac that came with iMovie 2, you can now purchase the tool for $49. Go to Apple's iMovie page and follow the link for purchasing iMovie.
Terran's website has been completely redesigned. (To be honest, we're not completely sure what's new and what's old.) A good place to visit is Terran's Learn page, with lots of links to various resources for learning about streaming media development.
The Final Updater for LiveStage Pro 2.1 (for creating interactive QuickTime movies) is now available at Totally Hip's home page. (This is only useful if you already have LiveStage Pro.)
Version 5 of Media Cleaner Pro, the premier tool for post-processing movies, is coming out next month. They've greatly expanded the tool, adding DV capture capabilities, the ability to add interactive and synchronizing elements (such as HREF tracks for URL flipping), various web publishing enhancements, and much more. Get lots more info at Terran's Introducing Cleaner 5 page.
Peter Hoddie's XMLtoRefMovie has been updated to version 0.93.. (This is a tool that allows you to convert an XML description to a reference movie.) For more information and to download this free tool, go to Peter's XMLtoRefMovie page.
A Macinterpreter.com article, "Interactive QuickTime" , provides a short introduction to wired QuickTime movies. The same author, Brad Smith, also has a new Macinterpreter column called "iQT", which focuses on interactive QuickTime in more depth.
Brennan Young has updated his Applescript for generating QuickTime styled text tracks created with Tex-Edit plus. Check it out at Brennan's QuickTime Styled Text Track Generator page.
Apple has released Final Cut Pro QTM Reader, version 1.2.6. This plug-in fixes problems with dropped frames in rendered scenes. Read the description and get the software at Document #11843 of Apple's Software Downloads library.
Digital Origin has released a new version of its DV codec optimized for Apple's G4 multiprocessor Power Macintosh. You can download and read about it in the EditDV section of the Digital Origin Software Downloads page.
Starting Wednesday, check out the Studio Web Apple Expo 2000 page, where you can find live broadcasts from Apple Expo in Paris this week. (The public beta of MacOS X will be released at this show, which includes its own version of QuickTime and the Player.)
LiveStage 2 owners can get an updater to get you to version 2.1fc2 of Totally Hip's LiveStage Pro (for creating interactive QuickTime movies). Go to either the VersionTracker LiveStage Pro page or Totally Hip's Web site.
www.icanstream.com (the website that's been designed to help those beginning with web video) has been updated, with new tutorials. If you haven't been there in a while, it's worth a visit.
Etchelon Tracer, a vector-based morphing animation program that outputs as QuickTime has been updated to version 3.7.1. More info and a download are at the Etchelon Tracer page.
Tribeworks has made version 2 of its iShell multimedia authoring tool (which is based on QuickTime and has good QuickTime support) available to the general public via a 30-day public preview release. (Version 2 was released last November, but only to Tribeworks full members, who pay $2000.) Tribeworks also announced a change in their membership policy, so it'll be possible to be an almost-full member for only $1000. Check out Tribeworks website for lots of info and to download the software.
Some minor updates:
LiveStage 2 owners can get an updater to get you to version 2.1fc1 of Totally Hip's LiveStage Pro (for creating interactive QuickTime movies). Details and links are at the VersionTracker LiveStage Pro page.
You can now get version 2.01 of FinalChapter (for adding and editing chapter list tracks). Details and links to a download page are at the VersionTracker FinalChapter More Info page. (This update fixes some minor bugs.)
Escape Information Services has released version 1.2.1 of their QuickTime import component for the DICOM image format. (DICOM is an image format used by health care professionals.) You can read more about it, purchase it, or download an evaluation copy at the DICOM Import Home page.
A MacCentral Online article, "Jobs' keynote video on the Web -- but not in QuickTime", points out that Apple CEO Steve Jobs' recent keynote address at the Seybold conference is available only as a RealVideo stream.
Apple has set up a Web Studio to broadcast (using QuickTime, of course) portions of Apple expo 2000 (the European version of Macworld). Go to the Apple expo 2000 Web Studio page. (Note: though this page says that it will go live on September 4, we're not seeing anything, yet.)
If you're interested in preparing media (including still images) for the web, check out a MacCentral article, "Totally Hip plans new digital media tools".