2010 mac applications to convert to photo Jpeg for scoring CPU

[bensaddiction]

Hi sorry if this has been answered somewhere else on the forum but I have been unable to find it.


I'm doing the score, foley, sound fx and final mix (yeah basically everything non-visual) for an entry in an amateur short-film competition down in Melbourne Australia. Amateur is the operative word here, its my first time venturing into soundtrack work.

Since Quicktime is now version 10 - the export options are all h.264 formats and there is only about 4 options, and quite limited. I've been told that quicktime pro was the answer as it has lots of conversion types (from forums and youtube advice) - but quicktime pro is for version 7 and a bit old. Is it still o.k. to purchase and use when running Snow Leopard (I'm only on 32-bit for O.S. if that is a relevant consideration)

Currently the film is 29.97 FPS and MPEG2 and only 640x480

But I have heard that uncompressed formats - including photo JPEG - are best. Saving CPU is my priority over disk streaming a larger movie file (I intended to stream it from its own Firewire external I have sitting around & the movie is only 7 minutes long anyway) as its being running from my double HDD MBP not a quad core pro


Are their any applications that you would recommend (something free or cheap would be great) or is quicktime pro 7 still the choice. I'm running Logic & I thought Compressor could work but that application confuses me a little so if that is the answer then I will look there. & some help there would be great

My Other relevant apps include basic iLife (imovie and garageband), Toast, Ableton 8 - I don't have any other video editors or audio editors that can handle movies (actually Max5 can but please don't suggest a patch)


In the meantime I'm going to just use the video as I got it. The director has little knowledge of video editing (had to teach him SMPTE burn) he's not a film student etc but he still makes great films every year which place highly in comps and this is his first time with somebody doing a score. With the deadline - it would be best for me to convert it myself here before somebody suggests he does it.


Any quick advice would be great guys, cheers

[mikevarela]

Quicktime 7 is still around in Snow Leopard - THANK GOD.

If you elected to install it along with Snow Leopard then it's in the Utilities folder, if you bought a new Snow Leopard Mac, then check there first. If it's not there then go to apple.com and grab the download.

Once finished, by PRO for the extra codecs and if they won't let you because they've upgraded --- hunt the interwebs for a serial... Though 30$ is very worth the cost.

Then, go into prefs and select 'show legacy codecs' to enable MJPEGA - or use DV (it's near the same)

I'd also go to Avid's site and download the DNxHD codecs as well - for future HD transcoding (It's a highly efficient frame accurate codec like Pro Res)

Good Luck

[bensaddiction]

Cheers mikevarela,

I just hunted down Quicktime7 from the apple website then. Its actually a snow leopard version it says and I just exported as photo jpeg with resolution and audio settings available which I don't remember being there on the non-pro version a year or so ago. So I did it for free! awesome, I'll get pro if I find out that I need it further down the line. I have no idea why I didn't think of that, but its exporting right now & I'm sure it will be great.

So thanks for the help mate, apple preview now even plays midi files with that cheesy built in quicktime midi instrument again! which is always good for a laugh.

& while I've been writing this it is finished, its in Logic and it looks great. Thanks heaps - I'll also look into those avid HD codecs for future use!


As we sometimes say, "bloody beautiful mate"

[mikevarela]

Not sure about photo jpeg as a codec, maybe others can chime in... think it's similar to Motion JpegA however, which I've used extensively, though now only DV for SD projects, or Pro Res SD.

Happy Mixing

[Fajita]

love the Mjpeg A

[gmarinov]

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