After first previewing QuickTime technology with MPEG-4 support in April of 2001, c|net reports that QuickTime 5.1 is due at QuickTime Live! next week with support for MPEG-4, according to c|net's Rumor Mill.
Comments
woooooohoooooooooo!
good things come to those who wait (for years)
but why is this info coming from the rumor mill? can anybody confirm this?
while i'm at it, anybody know if 5.1 fixes the audio synch bug with avi files?
I remember from the expo when Jobs presented the MPEG4 strategy the first time. He made it sound like MPEG4 was DEVELOPED by Apple and some other big companies who together formed the MPEG4 group. He made it sound like MPEG4 would be the next quicktime, kind of.
What exactly IS mpeg4? Is it ONLY a codec or is it much more?
I read a very lengthy interview with a QT design head a couple months back, and Apple's QT team is part of the mpeg4 group, and has played a major role in encouraging other media companies like Real to adopt mpeg4 as well, and they are.
It's slated to replace mp3 audio as well giving better quality and smaller file sizes (among many other advantages). It will be competing with Microsoft's new codecs and streaming technologies that they are trying to push onto DVD media companies as the new standard for DVDs.
I hope QT and Real can keep mpeg4 anchored, I don't want any silly Microsoft codecs hogging my bandwidth and entering my home video experience.
But, I may have confused some details recited from memory, so here's the URL:
http://www.creativemac.com/2001/12_dec/features/applequicktimelive011217.htm
db
Apple Rulez.
Despite the first poster's "Apple's implementation has been glacial" misinformation, the true MPEG-4 standard is only just emerging.
The holdup is mostly in the licensing. This article has factual errors, but gives the jist of the matter:
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-833247.html
The best thing I've read on the subject, "The Many Faces of MPEG-4" at DV.com http://www.dv.com/magazine/2001/0501/waggoner0501.html was written by Ben Wagonner. This guy's credentials are awesome. There's a lot of misinforation floating around the web on the subject, and he does a great job of explaining what MPEG-4 is and isn't.
Does this also mean that we finally can see proper Divx's?
What is a "proper Divx"?
MPEG-4 is a standard. ISO/IEC-14496. In theory, a mpg4 file will play in any ISO compliant player. Right now that means QT or Real. MS still hasn't publically announced whether it will support the standard. Without a base (standard) this industry will fracture in every direction, which means you and I will suffer. If you think you've got problems now, just wait a couple of years. This could get out-of-hand in a hurry, IMHO.
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Glacial...
Yes, I read somewhere (online, today) that Apple's progress in bringing MPEG-4 support to QT has been monumentally glacial...