Cannot Export JPEG still picture from MPEG

Question

I am trying to use Quicktime Pro 7.1.3 to export a still picture (in JPEG format) from an MPEG video, but this is not working. I followed the directions in the QTPro User Guide: I play and then pause the video once it reaches the desired frame. Then I select FILE->EXPORT and in the "Export" selection box, I select "Movie to Picture". Then I click on the "Options" button, and select the Compression Type of "Photo - JPEG". I must say I am puzzled as to why I then see a ".PCT" extension added to the filename. Also, I don't understand why, in the "Save as" selection field, there is no selection for "JPEG" file extension, and instead there is but a single type available which is called "All Files (.)". It makes me think I am not understanding how to use this function. After I click on the "Save" button, a small popup windows appears, and it shows that a file is written. When I try to open that file (on my local hard drive) with my Firefox browser, I get a plain text message in my Firefox screen which merely names the file. I also tried specifying other compression formats under "Export to Picture", and also tried using Firefox and other programs to open the files written by this Export operation, all without success.
If I use s different Export operation (Export to BMP instead of Export to Picture), I can get a usable BMP, and I can use another tool to convert this BMP to a JPEG, but the resulting JPEG is only a little over 30k in size, and I believe I am getting a lot lower picture quality than what I might get if QTP could directly Export to a JPEG.
Here is some info on my environment: I am running Windows XP Home Edition with SP2. Hardware is a Dell Pentium 4 with 2.8GHz cpu, 512MB ram, and over 50GB of free space on the hard drive. I just installed QuickTime Pro 7.1.3 today (and I have already tried de-installing it, and re-installing it, and this did not help).
Am I mis-understanding the instructions in the User Guide? Can anyone suggest how I can get QTP to Export a still image from an MPEG video directly to a JPEG file? Thanks!

Answer 1

QT Pro does not export to jpeg or other image formats. Instead, the picture export (Movie to Picture) creates a PICT format file which contains the frame in the specified compression inside the PICT file. PICT is thus a container file format which can contain image in many different compression formats. If you need an actual jpeg format file you will have to export to one of the uncompressed formats and then use some other graphic utility to convert that file to jpeg format.
Alternately, you can use QT Pro to Copy (Edit menu) the frame to the clip board and then a graphic application to import that frame from the clip board and export it in jpeg format.