Madison 27 Octobre 1993
SUBJECT: QUICKTIME MOVIES, WHICH COMPUTERS CAN PLAY THEM?
>I saw your news postings and would like to check out your movies. I have
>access to a VAX (VMS) and a Sun (unix) as well as PCs. Can these machines
>use QuickTime? Thanks for your help.
>Greg
>--
>Greg Tobin, Ph.D. tobin at lcms-1.ncifcrf.gov>LCMS
>PO Box B
>Frederick, MD 21702
Here is a simple yet complicated question... I'll answer with
(of course!) what I happen to know. *THE* THRUTH might be more
simple.... or more complicated.
SIMPLE ANSWER: QuickTime will NOT run on a VAX or a Sun.
------------- Unix has no meaning in this context.....
QuickTime 1.0 but *NOT* later will run
on a Silicon Graphics workstation.
It should run on a PC but that depends....
MORE COMPLICATED:
---------------- QuickTime was developped by Apple to run
primarily on Macintosh computers that have the system extension
"QuickTime" installed in their system folder. This extension
is distributed with new Macs and with System 7.1 update purchase.
It is also available on numerous anonymous ftp sites, including
mine (see signature below). The latest version of QuickTime is
QuickTime1.6.1.
Quicktime movies can also run on other computers, provided they
have been SAVED AS.... from the application that created them,
as a movie to play on non-Macintosh computers. In computer
jargon it means that all the information is now contained
within a single area of the file rather than 2 separate
areas in the Mac. So QuickTime movies dowloaded from my
anonymous ftp site will *NOT* run *as is* on another computer.
They would have to be opened on a Mac and Saved As... or I would
have to post a different version. Which I won't do yet, or maybe
never (see below).
Supposing that you obtain a QuickTIme movie playable on a
non- Mac computer you still need to be able to play it. Until
recently I had no source for a Windows-compatible player. As of
today I learned that the following packages can run QuickTime
movies:
- Adobe Premiere 1.0 For Windows (don't know price)
- Apple's developper's package for WIndows.
At least $300 on a CD-ROM. Not available
elsewhere.
CONCLUSION:
---------- Considering the widespread presence of Macintoshes
in the educational world, the *ease* of creating and the ease
of using a QuickTime player this has been my favorite medium.
I may continue to make more FLI movies for the DOS world but
MPEG may quickly come up as a better substitute in the near
future for use in MAc, PC and Unix (X-WIndows) world.
And finally, it is very tiring to deal with all these different
formats! I hope that e.g. MPEG becomes dominant so I won't have
to have each file in 4 or 5 different format for each type
of computer. I admit also that it is with great reticence that
I compose anything else than quicktime simply because I like
simple ways to create things....:)
Macintosh prices are so low now that I assume any institution can afford
at least one! Then the files can be savbed as, frames extracted etc. etc.
Sincerely,
Jean-Yves
Jean-Yves Sgro, Ph.D.
Assistant Scientist
Institute for Molecular Virology
Robert M. Bock Laboratories
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1525, Linden Drive
Madison Wi 53706 -USA-
e-mail: sgro at macc.wisc.edu
anonymous ftp: rhino.bocklabs.wisc.edu
(Internet # : 144.92.19.130)
telephone: (608) 262 - 7464
facsimile: (608) 262 - 7414
[USA International country code is 1]
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