HPAVC/HPAVC CD-ROM.iso/pc/FAQSYS18.ZIP/FAQS.DAT/QT_FAQ.18/text0000.txt

Text File | 1995-12-12 | 18.2 KB | 512 lines

This is the first draft of my QuickTime FAQ. If you have additional info,
please contribute, there are still some major gaps.

(Note that I have set the Followup-To field to poster, which means that all
 followups are mailed to me. If your news software doesn't support that, make
 sure that you post to the appropriate group and maybe send me a copy of your
 post. I might sometimes miss posts in alt.binaries, since I don't receive
 these groups on my home machine)


                QuickTime FAQ

        ($Id: qt.faq,v 1.8 1994/09/18 23:18:45 alex Exp $)

This file attempts to answer some of the questions that appear frequently on
alt.binaries.multimedia and other groups about QuickTime movie files. The FAQ
is more centered on technical problems and not the QuickTime file format.


0. Meta
0.1 Copyright
0.2 How to get this document?
0.3 Notation, Abbreviation, etc.
0.4 Mirror sites
0.5 Additions
0.6 Contributors

1. General
1.1 What is QuickTime?
1.2 Where to get documentation about the QuickTime file format?

2. QuickTime software
2.1 Macintosh
2.2 PC/MS Windows
2.2.1 Sample ftp session
2.3 unix/X11

3. Macintosh file formats
3.1 QuickTime
3.2 BinHex
3.3 MacBinary
3.4 Segmented files
3.5 Stuffit
3.6 Compact Pro

4. Decoder/Convertor software
4.1 Macintosh
4.2 PC/DOS
4.3 unix

5. Exchanging QuickTime files between Mac and other platforms

6. Where to get QuickTime movies.


0. Meta

0.1 Copyright

This file is copyright 1994 by Alexander Lehmann. This file may be copied and
redistributed in whole or excerpts for any purpose. The author disclaims any
responsibility about information contained in this file. You're on your own.

0.2 How to get this document?

As long as this posting is not approved by news.answers, the file will not be
available from any archive. The file will be posted regularly and is available
>from the author by email.

0.3 Notation, Abbreviation, etc.

Archive locations in this file use the URL notation, which is used in
WorldWideWeb.

ftp://site.edu/pub/foo/bar would be the anonymous ftp archive at site.edu in
the directory /pub/foo/bar.

Note that if a filename contains a space or other `unsual' character, it is
encoded as 2digit hex number escaped with %, e.g. "File Name" -> File%20Name.
If you access such a file with a terminal based ftp client, the name has to be
enclosed in quotes. (see: sample ftp session)

Unless otherwise mentioned, all values are stored in big endian form.

0.4 Mirror sites

Some of the FTP archives listed in this file have mirror sites, which might
be nearer to you. If you use a mirror site instead of the root sites, this
has a couple of advantages. The connection is probably faster, you take some
load of the probably much more used server, and some archives have access
restriction, which might be more relaxed with mirror sites.
The easiest way for finding mirror sites is using archie to seach for the
directory in which the file is contained or you can search for the filename.

The following sites have many mirror sites:

ftp://oak.oakland.edu/pub/msdos (also known as SimTel), e.g.
ftp://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/simtel

ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac (not all dirs are mirrored)

0.5 Additions

If you have any additions or corrections for this file, please mail it to
[e-mail]. Please do not mail large files without prior
notification, since this address receives mail over a telephone link, which
costs money.

0.6 Contributors

This file draws from a number of sources:

- articles in alt.binaries.multimedia and alt.binaries.pictures.d
- the macutil source code
- especially the following people:

Wayne Brissette <[e-mail]>


1. General
1.1 What is QuickTime?

QuickTime offers several tools for adding video, animation, sound, and
other time-based data to applications.  QuickTime also ensures that
developers can create code and data for it now, and not have to scrap the
work when QuickTime takes advantage of new technology later.

Apple engineers designed QuickTime to meet the Macintosh computer future
needs.  In particular, the Component Manager enables your program to choose
needed services in an implementation-independent way.  For example, you can
write a QuickTime program to use the best image compression to which it has
access.  Today it can get the job done with one of Apple's software-only
compression components.  Later, you can to put in a third-party hardware-
compression card, and the program will be able to make use of it, even
though the program was written before the compression card was designed.

QuickTime is more than just a file format for video, it is more of a
technology. QuickTime 2.0 for the Macintosh (and soon for Windows), allows
you to have Video, Sound, Timebase code, Text Tracks, Midi music Tracks all
in one file. QuickTime 2.0 also supports multiple Codecs, including MPEG.
However, QuickTime 2.0's implementation of MPEG does require an actual MPEG
board. It is not done through software decompression.

QuickTime is available for the Macintosh, MS-Windows, SGI, FM-TOWNS (Japan).

1.2 Where to get documentation about the QuickTime file format?

Apple made the specification of the QuickTime movie file format public. The
format is published in the Inside Macintosh series, and Apple is also
working closely with developers in the hope that the QuickTime movie format
will become an industrywide standard for time-based data for the Macintosh
and other computer platforms. The Inside Macintosh books are available at
most book stores. The format is also available as part of the QuickTime
Developer's Kit from APDA. There are two kits, one for the Macintosh, and
one for Microsoft Windows.


2. QuickTime software
2.1 Macintosh

QuickTime is available as a system extension for Mac and is shipped with the
current OS version (System7) [correct?]. The file is available as
ftp://ftp.support.apple.com/pub/Apple%20SW%20Updates/Macintosh/Supplemental%20System%20Software/QuickTime%20(1.6.2).hqx

2.2 PC/MS-Windows

QuickTime for Windows is available as commercial product from Apple. The
program is also included in a couple of CD-ROM games that use QuickTime to
play their animations (e.g. Critical Path, Myst etc.). The QuickTime player
is not redistributable due to copyright restrictions. The program is
available as
ftp://ftp.support.apple.com/pub/Apple%20SW%20Updates/Macintosh/Supplemental%20System%20Software/QuickTime for Windows (1.1.1).hqx
This file is a hqx'ed file that contains a self-extracting DiskDoubler archive
containing two disk images. This file is not extractable on non-Mac computers,
since the version of DiskDoubler is not supported by non-Mac software [info,
anyone?]. You will either need a Mac or a Mac emulator to execute the sfx
archive.

After decoding the archive, you get two disk images that either can be
written to disk (3 1/2 HD)

- Mac using DiskCopy

To install and use Apple DiskCopy 4.2, follow these steps:

1) Copy the DiskCopy 4.2 folder to your hard drive.

2) Open the DiskCopy 4.2 folder and double-click the DiskCopy application
   icon.

3) The title screen appears; click the mouse to continue.

4) The main screen appears; click the Load Image File... button.  (As
   an alternative, from the File menu, you can select Load Disk Image or
   press Command-L.)  A file selection dialog box appears.

5) Choose the image file you want to copy to floppy disk.

6) Click the Open button. A message appears: "Reading the master disk
   image into memory..." After the image is loaded into memory, the Make A
   Copy button is highlighted.

7) Click the Make A Copy button and a prompt appears: "Please insert a
   disk to COPY ONTO..."

8) Insert a floppy disk (formatted or unformatted) into the main floppy
   drive. This message appears: "Now copying and verifying a disk..."

   If there is already data on the disk, a beep sounds and a dialog box
   appears.  If it's okay to write over the disk, click the Duplicate
   button. Otherwise, click the Eject button.  If you eject the disk, the
   main screen reappears.  Click the Make A Copy button again and insert a
   different disk.

   When the image file has been transferred to the floppy disk, the disk
   automatically ejects.

9) For each image file you want to put on floppy disk, repeat steps
   4-8. When you are finished, click the Quit button.  (You also can
   select Quit from the File menu or press Command-Q.)


Hints and Help
--------------
- To launch Apple DiskCopy 4.2 and load the image file into memory at
  the same time, double-click the image file icon.

- PC using the following C program (BorlandC):

/* NOTE: this program doesn't have any safety precautions for */
/*       overwriting disks */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <dos.h>

/* #define DRIVE 0 /* A */
#define DRIVE 1 /* B */

char buffer[36*512];

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  FILE *file;
  int i;

  if(argc!=2) {
    fprintf(stderr, "usage: hd3write imagefile\n");
    exit(1);
  }

  if((file=fopen(argv[1],"rb"))==NULL) {
    perror(argv[1]);
    exit(1);
  }
  if(fread(buffer, 1, 84, file)!=84) {    /* skip header */
    perror("fread");
    exit(1);
  }

  for(i=0;i<80;i++) {
    if(fread(buffer, 1, 512*36, file)!=512*36) {
      perror("fread");
      exit(1);
    }
    if(abswrite(DRIVE, 36, 36*i, buffer)) {
      perror("abswrite");
      exit(1);
    }
  }
  fclose(file);
  printf("Disk written successfully...\n");
  return 0;
}

- unix using dd. skip the first 84 bytes and write the file directly to the
disks.

Due to the copyright restriction of Apple, it is not allowed to redistribute
the program, neither as hqx nor as decoded file.

Maybe the program is archived on some sites, but I will not mention sites,
since this might cause legal trouble (for the site operators). Try archie.

2.2.1 Sample ftp session: (using a unix ftp client)

~/tmp/ % ftp ftp.support.apple.com
Connected to ftp.support.apple.com.
(welcome message)
220 ftp.support.apple.com FTP server (Version wu-2.1c(1) Tue Mar 29 16:39:51 PST 1994) ready.
Name (ftp.support.apple.com:alexlehm): ftp
331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password.
Password: [e-mail] (use your address here)
(another welcome message)
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
ftp> cd "pub/Apple SW Updates/Macintosh/Supplemental System Software"
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> get "QuickTime for Windows (1.1.1).hqx" qtw111.hqx
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for QuickTime for Windows (1.1.1).hqx (2238138 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
2238138 bytes received in ss.ss seconds (k.kk Kbytes/s)
ftp> bye
221 Goodbye.

Be sure to also read the License Agreement in /pub/Apple SW Updates.



2.3 unix/X11

A program for playing QuickTime movies, including sound on some platforms
under unix/X11 is called xanim, available at
ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/podlipec/xanim*.tar.gz.
This program is updated very frequently at this site. A maybe more stable
older version is available from the X11R5 contrib mirrors.


3. Macintosh file formats

First of all, Macintosch files usually consist of two files, a resource fork
and a data fork.

3.1 QuickTime

A QuickTime movie can be in two forms, unflattened or flattened. An
unflattened file has part of the data necessary for displaying the movie
stored in the data fork, which means that the file is not playable when the
resource fork is removed (e.g. on QuickTime for Windows or when transfering
via ftp). A flattened movie has no necessary data in the resource fork,
which means that the file can be played when only the data fork is available.

The two variations can be distinguished by the first 4 bytes in the file:

Unflattened file:
00000000: 00 00 00 00 6d 64 61 74    ....mdat

Flattened file:
00000000: hh hh hh hh 6d 64 61 74    !"$%mdat

(hhhhhhhh big-endian hex number slighly less that the filesize)


QuickTime movies can also contain references to other files (in addition
to the data in the resource fork), which are not supported by e.g. Windows.
This means that even if the file header indicates the movie as flat, it
might still be unusable on non-Mac systems (or even on Macs, if the files
pointed to are missing or the movie references itself and is renamed).
Most QT software has options to save files for non-Mac playback, which will
put all data into one file. This is also referred to flattening.

3.2 BinHex (hqx)

The BinHex format encodes data and resource fork of a file in a 7bit ASCII
format (like uuencode). The file includes a CRC, allowing transmission
errorchecking.

A hqx'ed file starts with something like

(This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0)

The data lines are usually 65 chars long and the first line starts with a
colon.

3.3 MacBinary

MacBinary files combine data and resource fork in a single file for binary
trasmission. Several MacBinary file can be concatenated to form a MacBinary
stream.

A MacBinary file starts with a 128 bytes header, which includes the filename,
the creator and type of the file, file date, etc. The data fork starts at
offset 128 and the resource fork after the data fork. Both data and resource
fork are padded to a multiple of 128 bytes.

The header starts with a zero byte, then the length of the filename (1 byte)
and the filename. The file type and creator appear at offset 65 (0x41). The
length of data and resource fork are at offset 83 (0x53) and 87 (0x57).

Example:

00000000: 00 0a 48 61 6b 75 6e 61:2e 73 69 74 00 00 00 00 |@JHakuna.sit@@@@|
00000010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
00000020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
00000030: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
00000040: 00 53 49 54 44 53 49 54:21 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |@SITDSIT!@@@@@@@|
00000050: 00 00 00 00 1f 14 b4 00:00 00 00 aa 2f df fa aa |@@@@_T.@@@@./...|
00000060: 2f e0 25 00 00 00 00 00:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |/.%@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
00000070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00:00 00 81 81 78 4b 00 00 |@@@@@@@@@@..xK@@|
00000080: 53 49 54 21 00 01 00 1f:14 b4 72 4c 61 75 02 fc |SIT!@A@_T.rLauB.|

Filename Hakuna.sit (10 chars), file type StuffIT Deluxe, creator StuffIT!.
Data fork is 2036916 bytes, resource fork is empty. The data fork starts at
offset 0x80 with the archive data.

3.4 Segmented files

Each part of a segmented file starts with a 100 byte header.
The part number is at offset 3 (byte), the length of the name and the name
at offset 4, the file type and create at offset 68, the length of resource
and data fork at offset 86 and 90. The resource fork and data fork are stored
after each other without padding and each part contains the 100 byte header.

3.5 Stuffit

A StuffIt file can either be a regular archive or be self-extracting. The
data fork starts with magic "SIT!".

A regular archive has type SIT! (StuffIT!) or SITD (StuffIT Deluxe) and
creator SIT!. A self-extracting archive has type APPL and creator aust.
The data forks starts with SIT!.

3.6 Compact Pro

A Compact Pro archive can be regular and self-extracting. A regular archive
has type PACT and creator CPCT. A self-extracting achive has type APPL and
creator EXTR. The data fork starts with 0x0101.

A segemented Compact Pro archive, the parts start with 0x0101, 0x0102,
etc.


4. Decoder/Converter software
4.1 Macintosh

Macintosh decoders are available from
ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/cmp
ftp://mac.archive.umich.edu/mac/util/compression

UnStuff, Compact Pro, FileTyper, UULite, etc.

4.2 PC/DOS

DOS programs for Mac files are available from
ftp://oak.oakland.edu/pub/msdos/mac.

binhex13.zip: en/decodes BinHex 4.0 (HQX) files. Extracts only data fork,
              not useful for unflattened files.
macb10.zip: add/remove MacBinary headers, doesn't separate data/resouce fork,
            not useful for unflattened files.
unpakit.zip: extracts packed (.pit) files. (Probably no longer used)
unsit30.zip: extracts .sit archives. Can extract data and resource fork
             separately. Doesn't support all compression types.
unstufit.zip: extracts .sit archives. [Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but
              this one didn't work with the sample sits I had]
xbin23.zip: extracts HQX files. extracts data and resource fork.

There is also a free unstuff program from Aladdin (the company that sells
StuffIt), but I don't have an archive site for this.

4.3 unix

A collection of Mac conversion programs is called macutil, which is available
>from ftp://sol.cs.ruu.nl/pub/UNIX/macutil2.0b3.tar.gz [fixme] or
ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/unix/macutil-20b1.shar

A precompiled binary of this program is also available in the Linux
distribution.


5. Exchanging QuickTime files between Mac and other platforms

When creating a QuickTime movie, you can select a format suitable for
playing on non-Mac systems, which will create a flat movie.
If a movie is unflat, it can be fixed with qtflat (on DOS), if both data
and resource fork are available.

ftp://ftp.rahul.net/pub/hkok/msdos/viewer/qtflat11.zip

A C program for this is also available
ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/podlipec/flatten.c.Z


If you want to distribute a QuickTime movie (e.g. via news), you should
try to observe the following:

- distribute the file in flattened form only or use MacBinary or StuffIt to
  include the resource fork.
- don't use StuffIt with compression methods not supported by macutil.
  (e.g. type 0d, probably a StuffItDeluxe method)
- if you ship the file in a non-Mac format (e.g. zip), be sure to include the
  necessary filetype and creator so that Mac users can fix these entries.


6. Where to get QuickTime movies

First of all, news:alt.binaries.multimedia, if your site carries this group.

ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/grf/qt (usually not mirrored)

ftp://mac.archive.umich.edu:/mac/graphics/quicktime (also contains some
QuickTime utilities)

http://www.portal.com/~podlipec/home.html  contains a list of pointers to
various movie sites, including some with QuickTimes.

gopher://csc.ucs.uwplatt.edu/1d-1%3a1163%3aQuicktime

This site contains a couple of movies, including one called 1984, which is
rather large (>12MB), as a segmented StuffIt archive.

[I have tried to get this file using a unix gopher client, but haven't been
able to decode the file yet. If I figure out how to do this, the procedure
will be here.]


--
Alexander Lehmann,                               |  "On the Internet,
[e-mail]  (plain, MIME, NeXT)      |   nobody knows
[e-mail] (plain)  |   you're a dog."