QuicTime 6 Public Preview released

[athos]

A public preview of the new QuickTime codec, with MPEG-4 (including AAC) support has been released:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/preview/quicktime6/
Here’s what’s new with QuickTime 6 (in addition to all of the stellar features in QuickTime 5):

MPEG-4 File Format (.mp4): Since the QuickTime file format is at the foundation of MPEG-4, QuickTime 6 supports .mp4 files as first-class citizens. So with QuickTime 6, you can author professional-quality, ISO-compliant MPEG-4 audio and video files that can be played back not only by QuickTime 6, but by any other MPEG-4-compliant player. Learn more about MPEG-4.

MPEG-4 Video: The high-performance MPEG-4 video codec included in QuickTime 6 provides the highest quality results across a wide spectrum of data rates — from narrowband to broadband and beyond. This revolutionary codec offers compression times and video quality that rival those of the best proprietary codecs, yet it provides interoperability with other MPEG-4 players and devices. Tour the MPEG-4 Video Gallery.

AAC Audio: AAC is the new standard in professional audio. It provides more efficient compression than older formats such as MP3, yet delivers quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio. The QuickTime AAC codec builds upon new, state-of-the-art signal processing technology from Dolby Labs, and brings true variable bit rate (VBR) encoding to QuickTime. Listen for yourself in the MPEG-4 (AAC) Audio Gallery. Learn more about MPEG-4 AAC audio.

Instant-On: Instant-On means instant gratification for broadband users. Instant-On gives you an immediate and smooth playback experience — and instant access as you jump or “scrub” through a movie using the time slider. Tour the Instant-On Gallery.

Skip Protection: Apple's patent-pending technology for preventing interruptions or skips in streaming media just got better. QuickTime 6 and QuickTime Streaming Server 4 iron out the bandwidth bumps on the “information super-highway.”

Updated User Interface: QuickTime 6 includes up-to-date access to the best in QuickTime content as well as a new, easy-to-use “Favorites” interface.

And Much More: QuickTime 6 also includes a new DVC Pro PAL video codec, support for Macromedia Flash 5, a new JPEG 2000 still image codec for Mac OS X, enhanced AppleScript support, and a host of new developer application programming interfaces (APIs).

[Neo Neko]

Well there is still hope for the future. But as for now QT6 preview is a dissapointment. I fed it an MP4 and it choked and died. It simply said there is an error in the program. Wether it has no audio MP3 audio or AAC audio it dies.

[Abismo]

Same thing happened to me ;p . I even tried converting the avi file with no sound to an mp4 stream via the tools here on Doom's site (wasn't expecting it to work , but oh well) I think you need to have the apple software or something...

Oh well ;p Check the demos on there site, looks pretty good.

[athos]

has anyone found any specs what parts of mpeg-4 is supported, such as quantizers, b-frames, gmc, qpel?

[tanksimpson]

you need to make sure you UNinstall the Envivio MPEG-4 plug-in if you have it installed. I used DivX 5.02 and MPEG4IP 0.9.4.1 to make a video-only .mp4 and QT6-beta played it OK. Visual quality was a little bright and washed-out, and CPU usage was WAY to high for an Athlon 1.33Ghz - about 60%! When I muxed an Psytel 2.15 encoded .aac audio track into the .mp4, QT6-beta then refused to play it, dunno why yet. Also, the QT6 decoder does NOT handle B-frames well. I also tried the QT6 .mp4 encoder and it pretty much sucked - it's not designed for the DVD-ripping crowd. Still, considering that the Envivio plug-in has had a couple of revisions and has NEVER worked, this progress from Apple is a step in the right direction.