QuickTime 4,
New Capabilities, Broader Audience

Lucasfilms’ recent QuickTime posting of the Phantom Menace trailer generated more than 10 million downloads--making it the most popular Internet video clip of all time. The decision to use QuickTime exclusively to promote what has been termed "the most anticipated movie ever" heightened interest in the already popular technology for delivering sound and video over the Internet.

Then, about a month after the Phantom Menace trailer debut, Apple released a beta version of QuickTime 4 featuring new streaming capabilities that challenge RealVideo/Real Audio and Windows Media Player for Internet dominance. QuickTime seems to have a lot going for it right now. But is this industrial-strength multimedia Swiss army knife sharp enough to cut its rivals down to size?

One Tool, Many Formats

QuickTime’s primary appeal for developers has always been, "Create it once, deliver it many ways." PhotoShop allows you to open an image in one format, make adjustments, then export the file to another format. QuickTime-enabled applications take this ability a step further by adding sound and video reformatting too. Additionally, QuickTime content seems to fare equally well in both Macintosh and Windows environments.

Sometimes misunderstood as a single piece of software, QT is actually an integrated collection of technologies that bores deep beneath the applications that tap its power. Each new version of QuickTime fills the well a little more with new codecs and formats, bringing it to this current high level of capability.

• 27 Import Formats including AVI, BMP, GIF, JPEG, MPEG, WAV, PhotoShop, FlashPix and DV.
• 22 Export Formats including AVI, DV Stream, PhotoShop, PNG, QuickTime Movie, Tiff and WAV.
• 15 Video Compressors including Cinepak, Intel Indeo Video 3.2 and 4.4, Photo JPEG and Sorenson Video 1 and 2.
• 12 Sound Compressors including IMA 4.1, QDesign Music2 and QualComm Pure Voice.
• 14 Video Effects.
• 21 Predefined Settings for specialized compression formats ranging from "streaming 20kbps music" to "2x CD-ROM using Sorenson video".
• Top 3 Browsers including AOL 3 or later, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 or later and Netscape Navigator 3 or later.

Lots New in QuickTime 4

Enhancements focus on four areas: enhanced streaming capabilities (HTTP, RTP/RTSP and FTP), improved versions of the popular Sorenson and QDesign codecs, new export formats including AVI, and a brushed aluminum appearance with audio EQ display and controls. Other niceties include:

• Automatic selection of the best-quality movie for a given Internet connection, processor speed or spoken language.
• Internet decompressors--H.263, GSM, MS DVI, RTP, DVI, MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3).
• Small, fast dynamic Internet installer--Component installation updates your system as you need it.
• Media import and export for PNG, TIFF, TARGA, MacPaint, Macromedia Flash, and FlashPix formats (import only for FlashPix).
• Improved editing capabilities in QuickTime Player.
• Image sequence movie exporters.
• Online connections within QuickTime Player for "help," "updates" and a link to the QuickTime site.

"Just-in-Time" Streaming With QT4

Unlike HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) "fast start" streaming which was built into QuickTime 3, RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) can deliver live content and is a new feature in version four. Both protocols have a valuable role in your on-line multimedia experience.

HTTP "fast start" streaming downloads the file from the server to your hard drive and begins playing it once enough content has been received to provide uninterrupted viewing. The "fast start" enhancement in QT 3 enabled users to begin watching their videos before the download was complete. The faster your Internet connection, the sooner playback began. This was a dramatic improvement over staring at a big "Q" on your screen for five minutes as you waited to for the download to finish.

QuickTime then gives you the option to save and replay the file as many times as you wish--hence the advantage of HTTP "fast start." One reminder, however, is that you have to set your connection speed in the QuickTime control panel for the streaming to work correctly.

RTSP, on the other hand, does not download the movie to your hard drive. Your computer receives a steady flow of information displayed in your web browser and discarded once you’ve viewed it. To help offset minor network interruptions, a cache is filled and maintained with three to 10 seconds of data.

The advantages of RTSP via this tool vs. competitive technologies are that you can enjoy traditional QuickTime strengths such as alternate language tracks, MIDI and overlays in the streaming medium. QuickTime RTSP allows you to watch long presentations such as concerts, have great sound, yet not worry about your hard drive filling up and crashing.

Clearly though, RTSP content is much more dependent on connection speed and processing power than data received via HTTP. Using www.hardradio.com as a test site for audio streaming, we discovered that the best experience required at least a 56k connection and relatively modern computer.

Audio (Streaming)

• 28000bps connect to a 120MHz processor:
  Good sound, occasional stream interruption.
• 42000bps connect to a 216MHz processor:
  Great sound, minimal stream interruption.
• 112k connect to a 300MHz processor:
  Great sound, no stream interruption.

One nice touch about the HardRadio folks is that they bypass the plug-in and instruct your computer to open QuickTime Player for their streamed audio. This allows the listener to use Player’s balance, bass and treble controls with full EQ display.

Audio/Video (Streaming)

The ante was further raised for simultaneous audio and video streaming. Consistent, true, real time streaming wasn’t achieved until a 112k connection was coupled with a 300MHz processor. We tuned-in to the BBC Network for our video streaming sample.

• 28000bps connect to a 120MHz processor: Choppy video, frequent sound interruption.
• 42000bps connect to a 216MHz processor: Good video and good sound initially, but buffer kept running out of data causing interruption.
• 112k connect to a 300MHz processor: Good video, good streaming sound for longer duration than 56k connection.

QuickTime 4 hasn’t changed the inevitable message: If you want streamed multimedia over the Internet, get as much bandwidth and as fast a computer as possible. And if you have the horsepower, QuickTime’s ability to deliver streaming content seems effective.

QuickTime 4’s Appeal to Content Developers

Probably the most startling feature of QT is its reasonable price. The Pro Version is available for downloading on the Apple website for $29.95. The Standard Version (basically the same as the Pro Version minus the authoring tools) remains free for the downloading. If you already purchased the Pro Version of QuickTime 3, you can upgrade to version 4 for no additional charge—just use your existing registration number. The packages include QuickTime Player (Pro Version supports authoring), PictureViewer, the browser plug-in, and the complete set of codecs and filters.

If you want to extend your authoring capability beyond QuickTime Player, there are excellent professional level tools available such as Adobe Premiere, Adobe CyberStudio and Terran Media Cleaner Pro. Regardless of which application you use, you’ll be able optimize your content for CD playback, web download, web streaming and inclusion in a host of other applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint.

Serving Streaming QuickTime

Apple recommends a dedicated server for QuickTime streaming. The minimum configuration is a Power Mac G3, 256MB memory, 1GB of free disk space, current version of Mac OS X server software ($499) and QuickTime Streaming Server 1.0 (free). Mac OS X can serve up to 1,000 concurrent streaming users. Apple has pledged to make the streaming source code available to anyone who wants to improve it.

The Apple Store is selling a complete "streaming" hardware/software package for $4,999 that includes a 400MHz G3 Server with 256MB SDRAM, (2) 9GB Ultra2 SCSI drives, CD-ROM, 4-port 10/100 Ethernet and Mac OS X server software (with free streaming Server 1.0). According to Apple, this is the total investment to serve streaming QuickTime because there is no per-stream charge.

QuickTime 4 Is a Player

Whether for forging ahead, or merely keeping pace with the competition, QuickTime 4 is a good value and a powerful collection of tools. In February 1998, the International Standards Organization adopted the use of the QuickTime media format as the basis of the MPEG-4 specification because of its flexible format and ability to stream media across different network protocols. QuickTime 4 is showing promise to living up to those lofty expectations.