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- QuickTime FAQ by Phil Taylor
- -----------------------------------
- As BarFly is becoming increasingly Quicktime-oriented, I thought
- I'd pass on some information which I've gleaned about Apple's
- multimedia software. All of this applies to the Macintosh
- platform, but may also apply to Quicktime on Win32 systems too.
-
- The usual disclaimers apply - i.e. don't blame me if something
- horrid happens; it worked OK for me!
-
- GETTING QUICKTIME
-
- The download site for QT (Mac and PC) is :
-
- http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/index.html
-
- Current version is 4.1.1
-
- What you get when you download here is a net installer; this
- is not at all obvious until you start it up and click the
- install button - then it fires up your modem (if that's
- what you use) and logs in to Apple's site to download the
- appropriate bits for your installation. In some ways this
- is very efficient, as you only need to download the bits
- you actually need, but it's no good if you are going to install
- on a machine other than the one you are downloading to.
-
- If that is the case you need to go to:
-
- http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/support/
-
- where you can download the entire installer in one chunk
- (7.2 Mb).
-
- Note that Quicktime 4.1.1 only runs on Power Macs and
- Windows 95/98/2000/NT. If you have a 68K Mac you need
- version 4.0.3, which you can get from:
-
- http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/4.0.3/us/mac
- (8.4 Mb).
-
- INSTALLING
-
- The standard QT installation does not include Quicktime
- Musical Instruments, so if you are installing to use
- with BarFly you need to do either a custom or full install.
- (Entertainingly, if you do a standard install and then start
- BarFly, QT will put up a message telling you that there's
- a component missing, then fire up your modem and go fetch
- it.)
-
- If you choose to do a custom install, the bits you need
- for BarFly are:
-
- Quicktime essentials
- Quicktime still image
- Quicktime music
-
- GETTING RID OF THE NAG SCREEN
-
- You don't have to pay for QT pro to use it with BarFly,
- (or for anything except editing movies), but when you
- start up the movie player you get an annoying screen which
- prompts you to pay and register. There are two things
- you can do about this:
-
- 1. Get the latest version (nag screen only comes up
- once a week).
-
- 2. Put your machine's clock forward to 2010, start
- the QT Player, click on the 'Later' button in the nag
- screen, quit from QT Player and reset the clock back
- to todays date. Then you won't see that screen again
- for ten years.
-
- IF YOU HAVE PAID FOR QT PRO
-
- You may be a little disappointed at first, as the extra
- features you get are not at all obvious. All apply to
- the Quicktime Player application, and allow you to edit,
- export and import movies in various ways.
-
- There are lots of (apparently) undocumented features to
- be discovered. (Try all the menus while holding down
- combinations of ctrl-option-shift-cmmd)
-
- For musicians here is the number one all time QT hack:
-
- Open up a music movie (either one created by BarFly, or
- created by importing a Midi file into a new movie).
- Do a Get Info (from the movie menu). In the information
- box, set the left popup to Music Track, and the right
- one to Instruments. At this point, double-clicking
- on an instrument name will bring up the QT Instrument
- selector dialog (same as in BarFly) so you can change
- the instruments. However, if you hold down the option
- key while double-clicking you will discover a new edit
- button in the dialog. Clicking on this puts you into
- the concealed atomic instrument editor (click on the
- black square in the middle to access the 'advanced'
- features). This will let you twiddle all of the Quicktime
- synthesizer's knobs, and create entirely new instruments
- for your listening pleasure. Absolutely miraculous!
-
- If anybody discovers any other QT hacks, I'd be
- delighted to hear from you.
-
- Phil Taylor