Is there a FREE QuickTime encoder?

[aLu]

Hi folks,
there's zillions (~~) of apps flyin' around on the 'net to convert FROM Quicktime, but just sometimes it comes in handy to encode 2 QT. Flash 5 can import/ export movies with linked actions, just like DVD menues - but only in QuickTime format (it says '4 or higher' in the help files, but I'm not sure about whether it would work with QT 6). So far I've only found Streambox ACT-L2/ Action (http://www.streambox.com/products/streambox_action_keyfeatures.htm), but it costs ~ 40 $ in the consumer version and puts a logo on the movie if it's unregistered. There is or will be one free encoder for Linux, and Premiere 6(+) maybe has an export plugin, but I'm not sure.

Any suggestions?

[Arky]

The most obvious obstacle is the licensing for creation of Quicktime files.

Consequently, I can't suggest any freeware for the task. Sorry I can't be of more help to you! :(


Arky ;o)

[auenf]

premiere 5 and 6 come with the free version of quicktime, but can export to quicktime files with the free version installed (the free or greater ver MUST be installed to be able to encode to .mov)

Enf...

[aLu]

Thanks, Premiere seems to be the only way, although the Streambox encoder produces really good quality at very low filesizes, it's not free (and usually not packed with Quicktime). Quicktime's usual codecs vary greatly in size/quality, this has to be tested. BTW, any suitable codecs residing in the "quicktime"-folder can be used. Sorenson Video is currently the most common, Indeo and Cinepak a little bit old. There are some more available on the Apple website.

Compared to the the variety of free apps and codecs for AVI creation, Quicktime really is a pain in the butt. Maybe the next version of Flash will support AVI files!

[aLu]

I thought I'd post this in case someone wants to try it too.

Flash MX (30-day trial download at http://www.macromedia.com/trial_download/) can import AVI files now*, but it will recompress them with Sorensen SPARK on export and integrate them into a SWF file (which can be turned into a projector, so the files can be run as standalone apps). It can't handle OGG Media, supposedly nothing but MP3 and WAV. The projector files support fullscreen and calling external apps directly (but without arguments, Flash Jester or a .BAT file is needed for that).
Flash can still export into QuickTime format, which I wouldn't recommend under Windows, because the QuickTime 4/5 Players seem to contain some bugs when launched via a .QTL file in fullscreen mode (the unability to quit, the button-mouseovers don't work correctly, quitting at the end and autoplaying doesn't work either).
The Sorensen codec produces quite good results with moderate compression at 90%-98% quality-setting. Below that, the video starts to look blocky. At 90% the video was roughly about the same size as a high-quality XVID. The Sorensen codec(s) needs some CPU power, especially with a Flash file (which doesn't use any kind of overlay, I guess), playing a 640*368 movie with 25 FPS fullscreen on a Duron 700 is on the edge, but it works. And there's no stuttering sound or jumpy transitions between menu pages. You can set the keyframe interval and framerate when importing the AVI (it gets recompressed at this point - this can take quite long and has to be repeated for a quality change).
The one disadvantage of Flash against QuickTime is its greed for attention and CPU power. You have to make the movie stop while another AVI plays in the foreground (QuickTime does that by itself).
Thinking of menu design, it's a good idea to put all text on a flash layer (and not inside the AVI) because then it will get scaled smoothly as a vector object. All Flash effects are useable, so it's vector effects and high-quality video at the same time. You could even layer movies over each other and put the text in-between like on a sandwich - looks cool.

Any comments or corrections are welcome.
__________________________
*For AVI import, DirectX 8 or higher has to be installed

[atracus]

aLu,

even though this SW is not actually "free" except for Trying: why don't you go for Discreet Cleaner, it comes with a full working demo on their site (50 encodings) - and it outputs Qt!

The encoding format I may suggest to you is Sorenson Pro v3, which is NOT the one you find bundled with the standard Qt6 + Cleaner 5.1 Demo (that's the "vanilla" Sorenson 3), but must be acquired separately.

The advantage over the bundled encoder is for instance the ability to do
- 2-pass VBR encoding
- B-frames
- "playback scalability" (auto-drop frames on low-end PCs)
- ... and others you'll find on the pdf manual

have fun

[atx]