Quicktime Pro: poor record quality

I've been trying to record into Quicktime Pro from my DV camera and find the resulting picture quality to be really bad (audio is fine). It's so bad it's pretty unusable. Compared to recording into iMovie the comparison is huge. Even exporting from iMovie as an mp4 is considerably better.
Reading about the H264 codec I expected better, or has the codec got nothing to do with Quicktime's record feature? Maybe there's something I need to do that I'm not. Tried the various settings in preferences - doesn't help. Can anyone enlighten?
Thanks.

I've been trying to record into Quicktime Pro from my DV camera and find the resulting picture quality to be really bad (audio is fine). It's so bad it's pretty unusable. Compared to recording into iMovie the comparison is huge. Even exporting from iMovie as an mp4 is considerably better.
This feature is basically a QT Pro 7 "after-thought." While performance has dramatically improved with each upgrade, you are still basically using a unstable, non-dedicated utility. Remember, when not using "Device Native," you are both capturing and converting "on-the-fly." If you want quality, use a dedicated application and reconvert as needed. If all you need is a simple capture utility, try Vidi (free).

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Quicktime Pro Video Recording Times Out

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Thanks!
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I haven't seen a time out like that, but perhaps it's related to reaching a 2 GB file size. You might try later QuickTime, or different compression settings to keep the file smaller.

How long will quicktime pro movie record?

how long will quicktime pro movie record? i'm would like to record a 10+min onscreen movie clip. dont want to purchase if there a limit to recording time. thanks. owen

I'd suggest you ask this question in the QuickTime for Mac forum. QuickTime for Windows doesn't have the video capture feature, so this probably isn't the best place for you to get a quick answer.
Regards.

How long will quicktime pro movie record for?

how long will quicktime pro movie record? i would like to record a 10+min onscreen movie clip. would like to find out before I purchase it. thanks. owen
Message was edited by: ODog

how long will quicktime pro movie record?
That depends. How much free space do you have available on a single drive? Which compression format do you plan to use? How fast is your CPU. Barring the unexpected, QT 7 Pro will record until it runs out of scratch space. Frame rates are dependent on your CPU power which means newer, more powerful platforms record more frames per second and thus tend to have higher data rates up to the max standard for the system. Lastly, the compression format/device type/device capture size/graphic complexity combination also determines the average data rate. So, as long as the average data rate times the duration of the clip is less than the amount of free space available on your hard drive, you can record continuously.
i would like to record a 10+min onscreen movie clip.
If by "oncscreen" movie you are referring to a "screen capture" of a movie, the QT 7 Pro will not do this. You either need to use a third-party screen capture application or upgrade to Snow Leopard for QT X "screen capture" capabilities.

Best settings in Quicktime Pro for highest quality Youtube results.

I recently purchased Quicktime Pro so I could post my videos created in Final Cut Express 3.5 to Youtube with higher quality results than any of the 'quicktime conversion' settings such as 'iPod' or 'Lan/Intranet'. None of the suggested settings I have seen create a small enough file (the video is only 6 mins long).
Could anyone give me a step by step guide of the exact settings required.
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I recently purchased Quicktime Pro so I could post my videos created in Final Cut Express 3.5 to Youtube with higher quality results than any of the 'quicktime conversion' settings such as 'iPod' or 'Lan/Intranet'. None of the suggested settings I have seen create a small enough file (the video is only 6 mins long).
Could anyone give me a step by step guide of the exact settings required.
Many thanks.

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Can anyone help?
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Templeton Peck wrote:
Mustek scanners are awful and they have never fully supported Macs...
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Thanks Templeton, but I think the image quality would be below the standards of even a value brand company such as Mustek. It does scan, but I am wondering if some setting is off or even if there is a hardware issue.
I was aware of Mustek's questionable reputation when ordering the scanner, but there were enough good reviews warrant giving it a shot. Cost is an issue and you you can find an A3 or larger scanner that works with the latest OS X for well under $1000, I'd be interested. As it is, I don't have the $2000+ that it looks like it would cost.
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ITunes AAC import settings relative to QuickTime Pro settings

QuickTime Pro has the following two additional AAC import settings that iTunes does not have:
Quality: Faster, Fast, Normal, Better, Best
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iTunes does have a Use Variable Bit Rate check box, though.
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I tried converting the same WAV file in both iTunes & QuickTime Pro. I varied the settings in QuickTime Pro, and used VBR in iTunes. The closest files that I generated in QuickTime Pro used Normal Quality with either Average Bit Rate or Variable Bit Rate (though I didn't try every permutation of settings). Both files were different than the iTunes file, however.
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FWIW, you're not alone - I am hitting this bug too.
version: iTunes 10.0.1 (22)
OS: MacOS 10.6.4
machine: iMac 27", Core i7, 8GB.
I did find a workaround just now:
In my experience, when you choose "Custom..." from the "Settings:" drop list, the custom settings window flickers (as in, appears/disappears) rapidly for a couple of seconds before iTunes finally crashes and you are prompted to send a support dump to Apple.
I have found that after selecting "Custom..." and seeing the flickering custom settings window, if I very quickly hit and release Command-Tab to switch to another application (in this case Safari, with an open browser window - not sure if it makes a difference), instead of iTunes crashing, I will see iTunes bouncing away in the Dock as if it has something to say to me, and when I Command-Tab back to it, the custom settings window is sitting there, not flickering, and I have now successfully made changes to the AAC import settings in this way.
The weird thing is, I found this out a few minutes back as I was composing iTunes feedback to Apple stating how to reproduce the bug in a Safari window, and so I was carefully noting what steps I needed to take to cause the bug... after seeing the flickering custom settings window, I Command-Tab'd away from iTunes to Safari, and in doing so stumbled upon this workaround.
I hope this is of help to you,
Jason

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I read on another discussion board that QuickTime Pro could record/extract audio only from a video file. So I purchased the QuickTime Pro upgrade today (for Windows XP) but can't seem to find out how to do it, assumimg that post was correct and it can be done at all.
The Nero video editing software I use can get the video file in MPEG-2, MPEG-1, AVI and other formats. I tried MPEG-1, but even the conversion to QuickTime's .mov format came up with no audio at all. I noticed a post here saying that was a limitation of the software. I could purchase the QuickTime MPEG-2 add-on but that seems to only allow playback and doesn't look like it will help any.
Another post on the other discussion board said that virtualdub.org has a software program that could do this extraction, but silly me I went with Apple and was delighted to read about the no refund policy just now. :-/
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MPEG Streamclip (free) can convert .mpg and .mpeg files to QuickTime formats.
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I have, in the past, converted .mov files to mpeg-4 with Quicktime Pro successfully, without quality being an issue. However, now the quality of the movie is grainy and pixellating. What am I doing wrong? Please help me. Thank you.

Sounds like a setting has changed on you. Have you done an upgrade of QuickTime? Have you exported a low-res version of something recently. My QT Pro setting always seem to default to the most recent settings.
Also, when exporting to .mp4, I find that the H.264 setting seems to work better...especially when I crank up the data rate.
Hope this helps.
DLar

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I've got Mac Pro with QuickTime Pro.
I just recorded over an hour of a live presentation with a camcorder hooked up to the Mac Pro via Firewire, using QuickTime Pro's "record" button. I've done this kind of recording many times before and never had a problem. I would hit the record button at the beginning, hit the stop button at the end, and have a QuickTime file on my desktop of the complete video.
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The file is gone.
Sorry.

Can you record a video from your desktop screen in HD with QuickTime Pro ?

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If someone is also familiar with what kind of computer or monitor i should play my video off of for best quality - i welcome answers to that as well.

QuickTime Player Pro can't record the screen.
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My system details:
Mac OS X 10.5.4, QuickTime 7.5.
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It's just a normal computer monitor. But the thing is if I a-b the exported video compared to the video before it was ever dropped into final cut pro, there is an obvious difference. So, I didn't think the monitor was an issue although I am sure it doesn't help. But, in the end the videos I do end up getting converted to flash and put on the website. Perhaps I should deinterlace?
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9) Panasonic PV-GS300 3CCD

Changing audio recording depth and sample rate in QuickTime Pro?

Last week, I set up QuickTime Pro 7.4.5 to record audio in 24-bit, 48 KHz format -- only now, I can't remember how I did that. I think that I may have used some other software to change the settings of my Mac Pro's built-in sound card. Does anyone know how to do this?
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Thanks for your response.
I will use Apple MIDI Setup, as you suggest.
I want to change the sample rate to 48 KHz, as the final destination is DVD and I don't want to convert from 44.1 to 48 and thus suffer a possible loss in quality.
As for bit depth, I want to sample at 24-bit, since I'll be processing the sound afterwards and don't want audible rounding errors during the number "crunching". Afterwards, I'll just drop the eight least significant bits, or perhaps round them up or down (to zero or 256).

Quicktime Pro: poor record quality

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