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Workshops: Streaming Media: QuickTime
QuickTime Basics
A few years ago, a friend of mine worked for a rather conservative
institution. Now this was an organization with a pretty strong social
and even political agenda. He always found it interesting how those
organizational beliefs filtered in to, of all things, computers.
Despite rare flashes of brilliance,he found the Information Technology
department was made up mostly of unimaginative computer science
types. Their job was moving data. They didn't care what the data
was. They just wanted a dictatorial control of how it got from Point
A to Point B.
My friend fought the status quo. He was one of those artist types:
emotional, visionary, and perhaps a bit undisciplined. He insisted
on working with Apple Macintosh computers. He took his department
to publicly acclaimed heights before he was eventually cast out
for not fitting in.
Why the long soliloquy on my friend's employer? It sums up the
streaming struggle for Apple’s QuickTime technology. Information
Technology types, those guys who move your information from Point
A to Point B, typically lean toward Microsoft or RealNetworks solutions
when it comes to picking their streaming solutions. But when it
comes to the people who actually make the message, those scary creative
types, Apple QuickTime is often champ.
The platform politics are pretty understandable. IT types are typically
concerned about the enterprise. They understand PCs and servers.
For many of them, Microsoft really did invent the Internet (true
or not). For artist types, Apple Computer really did invent multimedia.
The Macintosh is the artist's machine. QuickTime is the Macintosh
standard. Most design shops were making impressive QuickTime based
presentations when RealMedia was still in diapers. Nowadays, QuickTime
4.0+ also runs quite well - and with all the same features as the
Mac version - on Windows-based PCs.
But somewhere along the line, Apple got lost. RealNetworks went
on to build a very strong streaming platform. Microsoft joined the
fight with resources and reorganization. Apple, while technically
able to pseudo-stream for a while, jumped in late. But the company,
under the leadership of Steve Jobs, has come roaring back. So as
we walk through QuickTime basics, I'll cover a common theme. QuickTime
is an absolutely gorgeous Internet delivery platform. The quality
is high and the capabilities are impressive. But in my opinion,
they do have some work to do to improve their place in the live
streaming market. From the looks of the latest streaming video created
in iMovie 2.0, they may finally be on their way.
QuickTime Basics (2)
Courtesy of Apple Computer, Inc.
Two Versions
With QuickTime 4, Apple has sought to make a splash in the Internet
waters. That is instantly reflected in the look and feel of their
player. The QuickTime 4 player has a high-tech consumer electronics
look that is very similar to many MP3 players available. That look
does make it harder to shrink the player down to a minimal size
in the corner of your computer screen. But much like their iMac
and iBook computers, it is a step away from the status quo of past
media players.
The software is available in two versions (but one download). The
basic player is free and is included by default in the operating
system of currently shipping Macintosh computers. It is also easily
available as a download
from their Web site. For $29.99, you can upgrade
to the Pro version. For the average user, the Pro version offers
little. But if you are creating your own content, QuickTime 4 Pro
does pack a lot of basic editing and content creation power for
a mere player.
Slices, Dices, and Even Makes Julienne Fries
One of the strengths of QuickTime 4 is the wide array of formats
it supports. Long before streaming was even on the radar, QuickTime
supported video, audio, text and its own brand of MIDI music. Want
VR
imaging or 3D? It can do that too. MP3 and Flash? Yep. In fact,
a quick look at the list
of built-in supported formats is enough to make the jaw drop.
That wide open approach is one of the points that makes QuickTime
an ongoing darling of content developers. If there is a digital
media format out there on any hardware platform, QuickTime 4 can
probably work with it. So many Macintosh and Windows content creation
packages speak QuickTime by default. No extra work required.
QuickTime Basics (3)
What About Servers?
In the area of servers Apple is playing on their rebel standing.
Borrowing from the Linux versus NT playbook, Apple has released
their streaming server technology as an open
source project. "No server tax" is their rallying
cry. The small catch is that currently the provided code compiles
only for the Mac OS X and Red Hat Linux 5.2 server platforms. But
with modification to the code, ports to other environments can and
will occur.
The streaming itself is based on the Real-Time
Transport Protocol (RTP) and Real-Time
Streaming Protocol (RTSP). The good news is that these are industry
standards (as much as this industry can have a standard). The bad
news is that some network equipment has not met these standards.
For example, a friend found their Netopia DSL router unable to handle
the streaming capability of QuickTime 4 until configured. Prior
to QuickTime 4, I had not experienced any configuration issues with
receiving Windows and RealNetworks streaming.
Judging the quality of QuickTime streaming media is difficult.
Pre-recorded streaming content that is processed can be quite good
even at a sluggish 28.8 Kbps modem speed. But I find the live QuickTime
content doesn't currently hold its own compared to the best of RealNetworks
and Microsoft. This is where Apple still has some work to do.
No Server?
Of course, most streaming formats support HTTP or "psuedo"
streaming. QuickTime is no exception. What this means is that you
can stream your content from a standard Web server. At the most,
you may have to ask your server administrator to configure
a data-type so that the server knows how to handle the streaming
files. This approach typically is not as robust for any streaming
format. There is often a delay while enough content loads to start
the presentation. But psuedo streaming does get you into the game
without additional cost. And if the connection is DSL-based or faster,
pseudo-streamed Quicktime is gorgoeus.
QuickTime Basics (4)
The Future
All of these features of QuickTime 4 are nice. But what I want to
know is how does the streaming format address the future? What I
mean by that is streaming as most of you know it now is not what
streaming is rapidly becoming. Today, most people watch video or
listen to audio. It's a one medium thing. But in the very near future,
streaming content will be integrated and interactive multimedia.
Streaming formats that can stitch a variety of resources together
in a multimedia presentation is where the real power is at.
For Microsoft and RealNetworks, streaming Web multimedia is about
stitching multiple media files together with languages like HTML+TIME
and SMIL.
Apple has been deeply involved in developing MPEG standards and
is staking its claim on a one file approach that is probably more
futuristic but also currently less flexible to rapid updating.
But once all of the media elements are pulled together into the
QuickTime 4 file, it is powerful environment. Companies like BusinessWorks
have massaged QuickTime into self-contained presentations that offer
text, images, and moving video. For the multimedia producer, Flash
and QuickTime integrate for a dynamic presentation embedded
right in the browser window. QuickTime
channels give but a taste of sophisticated streaming multimedia
interfaces to come.
Next up: How do I make QuickTime presentations?
QuickTime Basics (5)
Editing with QuickTime 4 Pro
Source Material
Since we are starting this overview with the basics, I want to focus
on what it takes to put a short video online. With most streaming
media, if you can get a video online, you are most of the way to
being a streaming guru. In fact, one of the neat areas about streaming
is that it so easy and yet so intimidating that it isn't hard to
look like a Web wizard to your colleagues. There, I have given you
a big secret. Don't let it out or we'll all be just average Web
producers again!
Hopefully, you have a small clip of video already digitized. Digitizing
video need not be a difficult prospect when you are starting out.
Many computers these days either have audio/video input on the back
of the machine or offer inexpensive add-ons that will take your
VCR or camcorder footage and shove it into the computer. Devices
like Iomega's
Buz and Video
Creator from Dazzle Multimedia are relatively inexpensive solutions
to start with. Even your portable computer can get into the act
with an iREZ
Capsure. (Visit the tools
category of Streaming Media World's Video section for a full
range of cards available.)
Since QuickTime supports a variety of formats, your only concern
is saving or exporting your digital video file in a format QuickTime
understands. On the Macintosh, this is typically a default QuickTime
movie. On the Windows side, QuickTime is preferable but a standard
AVI
works just fine.
QuickTime Player (No Selection)
QuickTime Player (With a Clip Selected)
Editing with the Player?
Cut and paste editing with a player? If you have upgraded your
QuickTime 4 player to the Pro version, that is exactly what you
get. Sure, there are far more sophisticated programs to edit with.
Adobe
Premiere is a common application for desktop video editing and
it will output your files in QuickTime. But for now, we'll use the
mightly little QuickTime Pro player.
Open a digital movie in the QuickTime Pro player and you will see
a little split pyramid next to the time counter. Those triangles
make up our clip selection pointers. The dark gray shading shows
how much is selected. That little diamond shows where the player
currently is in the movie. Look at it as your cursor or insert point.
So the editing process is pretty simple. Launch the player. Pull
down the File menu and choose New Player
to open a new player window. Open an existing digital movie. Drag
the triangles to make a selection in that movie. Pull down the "Edit"
menu to the Copy command. Click on the new player window
that you opened earlier. Pull down the Edit menu and
choose Paste to paste the movie clip into the new player
window. Proceed to cut and paste your other movie clips into the
new player window. Position the diamond as your cursor or insert
point. That is all there is too it with QuickTime Pro. Cut and paste
editing as easy as working with any word processor.
QuickTime Basics (6)
Additional Editing Features
Cut and paste editing in the movie window is handy but QuickTime
offers additional tools for you to take advantage of. Need to extract
the audio or video tracks from a movie? The QuickTime Pro player
offers Extract Tracks, Delete Tracks, and
Enable Tracks under the Edit pulldown menu.
Need to import a sequence of images in as a movie? Choose Open
Image Sequence under the File pulldown menu. Want
one image to serve as the initial poster for the entire
clip? Choose Set Poster Frame under the Movie
pulldown menu. These are all basic commands but they do give you
extra ways to work with your content.
My Test Project
So for my sample project, I borrowed four digital video clips from
a Four Palms
sampler. I then used the used the following steps.
Launched QuickTime Pro player and Opened a New Player
Window Opened a ocean clip and, using selection triangles, selected
a 6 second clip of a wave crashing in. Using Copy from the Edit menu, I copied the wave
clip to the computer clipboard. Clicked on the new player window and, by choosing Paste
from the Edit menu, copied the wave clip to the new window.
Using the same technique, copied a 6 second clip of palm trees.
Positioned the insert point of the new window (that diamond)
at the beginning of the clip to paste the palm trees before the
wave. Using the selection triangles, copied a 6 second clip from the
middle of a movie featuring the Concorde. Positioned the insert point (that diamond again) of the new
player window on the frame between horse scene and wave scene.
I pasted the Concorde clip in between the palm tree scene and
wave scene. Opened clip with Four Palms logo. This had music I didn't want.
So I chose Extract Tracks from the Edit pull down
menu and selected the video track to pull out. Then I selected 6 seconds of logo and copied it to the computer
clipboard. Positioning the insert point at the end of my new window clips,
I pasted the logo into my new movie. I now have a finished piece but it needs a poster scene to introduce
the clip on a Web page. I move the diamond forward to the Four
Palms logo and choose Set Poster Frame under the Movie
pulldown menu. I'm done. 14 quick and simple steps. Now I'm ready to save it
for posting on the Web.
QuickTime Basics (7)
QuickTime Export Window
A sampling of Built-In Presets
Saving QuickTime for the Web
Tons of Settings
Saving a movie from QuickTime Pro is as simple as choosing Export
from the File pulldown menu. But if only life was that easy.
Unless you want people to wait hours for your clips, compressing
your large QuickTime file to a smaller file size is pretty important.
Since QuickTime supports so many formats, it is natural that it
also supports a ton of compression settings. And that is a challenge
in working with QuickTime. With QuickTime, there is a very fine
line between video with outstanding quality and muddy blocks of
color sliding around the screen. Some background research and gold
old-fashioned experimentation is in order.
Fast Start versus Hinted Streaming
First, we need to choose the format for our streaming. QuickTime
supports both HTTP Web server streaming (using Fast Start) and RTSP
streaming (using a Hint track). No dedicated streaming server? Use
Fast Start. QuickTime streaming server? Use Hinting
to enable the server to understand the best way to ship the data
to the consumer.
Since I am starting with QuickTime basics, I'm going to choose
the Fast Start option. That means my clip will download into the
player and then it will play once enough data has been received.
QuickTime Basics (8)
Movie Settings available
under Options
Sorenson Settings
Choosing a Codec
Next, I need to choose an audio and video codec. The
word codec refers to the compressor and decompressor used to
make your clip smaller for serving and larger for viewing. Every
codec has its strengths and weaknesses. The challenge is knowing
those strengths and weaknesses in order to get the most out of your
streaming media. Codecs are intimidating. It is right about now
that people start reaching for wizard driven software like Terran
Interactive's Media Cleaner or calling up streaming service
bureaus like encoding.com.
But if you have to do it yourself, spend some time researching the
QuickTime
Pro documentation. Another great resource is Codec
Central, a site offered by Terran Interactive.
Exporting
After doing some research, I decide to try the suggestions of Codec
Central for exporting a Sorenson
encoded video. In the QuickTime Pro player, I choose Export
under the File pulldown menu. I choose the Movie to QuickTime
Movie setting under Export. Clicking on the Options
button gives me access to the codec choices and settings. This is
where my research comes in handy. I follow the Codec Central suggestions
for the Sorenson codec and save the file to my hard drive. QuickTime
is beginning to address the issues of codec confusion. There are
a set of preset streaming choices available when you choose "Export."
These are geared toward the QuickTime streaming server and I personally
found the options did not give the clip the quality I was looking
for. But they can make a good starting point for further experimentation.
QuickTime Basics (9)
Putting QuickTime Online
Embedding QT in your HTML
At this point in the process things start to get easier. Making
the clip appear in your Web page requires an EMBED tag. First, I
reference the movie filename.
<embed src="qt4sample.mov">
Next I put in the size of the movie I'm going to display.
<embed src="qt4sample.mov" width="240"
height="180">
Stop and play buttons might be nice. I can add a controller but
I had better make the movie height larger by 16 pixels if I want
things to display right.
<embed src="qt4sample.mov" width="240"
height="196" controller="true">
QuickTime allows the user to control whether or not movies automatically
play when loaded. As a Web author, I probably want to control that
capability myself. If I set autoplay to true, the
movie will start playing once enough of the clip has been preloaded.
For now, I'll turn it off and force the user to hit the play button.
Oh, and let's use good form and end that embed tag with a closing
tag.
<embed src="qt4sample.mov" width="240"
height="180" controller="true" autoplay="false"></embed>
There, my clip now looks like this:
These embedding commands are the basics but you probably want to
look
through the complete list for others that might be handy.
Am I forgetting something? Yes! I have yet to implement that movie
poster image I talked about earlier...
QuickTime Basics (10)
Making a Poster Image
Exporting the Poster Image
Importing and Converting the Poster Image
Compression Settings for the Poster
Make the Image
A poster image displays before a movie. It sets the stage, passes
on any important instructions, and generally just makes the embedded
video clip look better.
I can make a poster image in any graphics or video program. The
catch is just making it work with QuickTime. If you remember our
earlier movie making earlier steps, one
of the things I did was to set a frame of the moive as a poster
image. Now it is time to put that to work.
I open up my original image in the QuickTime player. Under the
Movie pulldown menu, I choose Go To Poster Frame.
This pops up my previously marked poster image. Now I export it
from the QuickTime Player as a "Movie to Picture." For
quality, I choose Uncompressed from the Export presets. I
name it "qtposter.pct" save the image. Now my movie frame
is exported as a single picture.
QuickTime Basics (11)
Finishing touches
Make the Image a Movie Again
Next I import the frame back into QuickTime where it will want to
convert the the picture back into a movie. Great. I name it "qtposter.mov."
But before I save the file, I click on options and try to find a
compressor that does the best job. Looks like the Animation compressor
will work great.
Change the HTML
I put the poster image (now a movie) on the server with the original
movie and start work on my HTML. Our code last looked like this:
<embed src="qt4sample.mov" width="240"
height="180" controller="true" autoplay="false"></embed>
Time to put the poster in. I slide the poster into the "src"
attribute. We will not need the controller so I turn it off with
a "false."
<embed src="qtposter.mov" width="240"
height="180" controller="false" autoplay="false"></embed>
Time to put the movie in. I slide the poster into the "src"
attribute. A target to "myself" makes sure the clip runs
in the same window.
<embed src="qtposter.mov" width="240"
height="180" controller="false" autoplay="false"
href="qt4sample.mov" target="myself" ></embed>
And that is it. The user simpy clicks the poster and the movie
will begin.
That does it for our QuickTime Basics. We'll come back and visit
some additional QuickTime topics farther down. But it is time to
move on. The next seciton in the Understanding Streaming Media series
looks at RealNetworks RealMedia.
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