Websites running away from Qucktime?

mi5moav

mi5moav

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Another one bites the dust. First it was MSNBC that went windows only with their video clips. Now it looks like CNN is going Windows media only with their video clips. Does anyone know of a good news outlet that still uses QT clips and if no... why all the defections and does Apple even care about QT anymore? Does it even make any money off of it anymore?
 
mi5moav said:
Another one bites the dust. First it was MSNBC that went windows only with their video clips. Now it looks like CNN is going Windows media only with their video clips. Does anyone know of a good news outlet that still uses QT clips and if no... why all the defections and does Apple even care about QT anymore? Does it even make any money off of it anymore?
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Have you forgotten what the MS in MSNBC stands for? As for CNN, you will notice that its news videos are now free. You will also notice that clicking to play them sends you to a window which implores you to download Windows Media Player. This is called an advertisement. CCN's news videos are now paid for by Microsoft advertisement money. Do you really think that it is in Apple's best interests to get into a bidding war with Microsoft over news videos?
 
Well, let's see. BBC uses Real Player now mostly. They don't have any affiliation with Microsoft... nor Real for that matter.

It's all about choices, and lately, Quicktime gets bigger and bigger, filesize. And in the Flash that I use, *.wmv seems to be getting smaller and smaller. Especially when I use Microsoft's Media Encoder to crunch it down... does an even better job than Sorenson Squeeze.
 
QuickTime movies have not been getting bigger and bigger in terms of filesize -- in fact, the exact opposite has been happening.

We first had .mov in the 90s (which is still used, filesize has remained pretty constant)... then we had MPEG4, which was MUCH smaller (and better!)... now, we have H.264, which makes the file size even smaller still (and even better still!)... when exactly did QuickTime file sizes get bigger?

Microsoft does have a pretty good stronghold in the small-scale streaming video market... it's unfortunate. QuickTime peaked every once in a while for the last 10 years or so, and was almost the de-facto standard in the beginning. It's unfortunate that a technology so widespread (runs very well on both Intel/Windows and Mac hardware/software -- unlike WMP) and transparent to the user is not dominant... but then, we have to remember that our computing world is dominated by Microsoft, so it shouldn't be surprising that use of WMP over QuickTime is extremely widespread.

A lot of websites used to offer a choice between 2 or 3 media players (WMP, QT, Real) and offered a "smart" preference so you only had to select once (probably a simple cookie on your system). That takes server space and triples the amount of streaming video support (in terms of both machine and human) those companies would require.

Sucks.
 
I think Microsoft invests more in their streaming video technology than Apple does. It's because Microsoft desperately wants WMV to be the standard for Video On Demand and other such services. They would make a hell of a lot of money doing that.
 
As long as whatever is used is playable on Macs and as on as many platforms as possible, I'm not really bothered. But many sites I've tried using Microsoft video formats seem to offer poorer performance than Quicktime equivalents, never really objectively tested it though. Real as used on the BBC (and I use BBC pages a lot) seems to be very lumpy on Linux and Mac compared to Windows, again I've not wasted time testing it but that seems to be my impression.
 
It also matters that most of these sites aren't the friendliest to navigate through and so they cater to Windows folks, which makes up the most numbers. But, if you notice, most movie trailers are in Quicktime.

QT is doing quite well, on the PC and Mac side.
 
Although I did notice Revenge of the Sith didn't appear on the Apple site, unlike the previous two, I thought that was odd. Unless I just missed it.
 
fjdouse said:
Although I did notice Revenge of the Sith didn't appear on the Apple site, unlike the previous two, I thought that was odd. Unless I just missed it.
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This is why you don't see the Star Wars Episode III trailer on the QuickTime webpage.
 
It looks like if Microsoft gets all the news media outlets to use windows media then all the cell phone companies will have no choice but to use Windows media in their cellphones to bring us video content. So, this is not good if Apple is looking to bring itunes to mobile phone users. So, if this Cingular deal does goe through, Motorola will have to include both QT and Windows Media Player on their phones. I think MLB is already using Windows Media. Of course their are java players but I have a feeling within 3 years or less every cell phone out their will have a Windows or Windows Media Logo load before any video clip is payed on a cell phone.

I know that MSNBC is in partnership with Microsoft...though speculation is that may end.(wonder if Apple and NBC may team up now that Microsoft has gone with CNN) The problem is that unless you have Windows they won't even let you play their video. Supposedly becuase of DRM issues or whatever...though I can watch MSNBC videos using virtual pc.

Apple to acquire NBC
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
QuickTime movies have not been getting bigger and bigger in terms of filesize -- in fact, the exact opposite has been happening.
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Matters... between 5.0, 6.0, and now 7.0, I've seen some bloat. Only via tweaking do I keep the same filesizes as the prior version.
 
MisterMe said:
This is why you don't see the Star Wars Episode III trailer on the QuickTime webpage.
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Yeah I know it was on that site, but Apple carried the last two as well, that's what I mean't. I just thought it was odd. Anyway...
 
fjdouse said:
Yeah I know it was on that site, but Apple carried the last two as well, that's what I mean't. I just thought it was odd. Anyway...
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It's not odd at all. Even though it was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the Universe changed a lot between Episode II and Episoode III. Fox wants you do join up before you can can view the Episode III trailer. Otherwise, they won't let you see it.
 
Yep, the Star Wars 3 thing has not much to do with "sites moving away from QT". In General, though, I think Apple has to maybe rethink their strategy with QuickTime. They've done a lot for video in General, but good deals with news sites etc. could help QuickTime even more.
 
I don't know much about what's happening in the content serving side of the business, but my personal experience is that users tend to *hate* the Quicktime player.

Most users I talk to (admittedly mostly Windows users) avoid the Quicktime player like the plague. Not because of anti-Apple sentiment, but because compared to alternatives the player just stinks.

I have to admit I have a lot of sympathy for this. Here are the common complaints (that I share, though most of these are Windows-oriented):

* Player quality is just terrible. Slow, unreliable, memory hog, especially on Windows. The player underneath is largely unchanged from the OS 9 days, and the interface just doesn't *feel* modern, no matter how much brushed metal and shalack is laid on top of it.
* Nagware. NO, I do NOT want to spend $30 so that I can view movies in full screen. Stop asking me (or, in QT7, stop reminding me that I'm running crippleware with the "Pro-only" upgrade reminder menu items)
* The fact that I have to spend $30 so that I can view movies in full screen! Come on, guys, you might as well charge users $20 for popup blocking in Safari, or spam filters in Mail.app... I don't care how many other features I will never, ever use come with it.
* Sneakware. QT historically has really, REALLY wants to be the default player for everything in Windows. This is one of the main things that lost Real so much market share. Admittedly, both players have gotten a bit better about it, but the memory remains (and QT is much less obvious about what it's going to do)
* iTunes sneakware. Yes, you and I know that there used to be that tiny link on the iTunes download page for the version that didn't forcefully install QuickTime without telling you. However, 99% of users wouldn't notice that during the first download, and 95% wouldn't know any better on the second. Good bundling for Apple (I guess), but when the download doesn't mention that Quicktime will be installed, neither does the Installer, and there's no way to deselect Quicktime installation, you can't help but think they're up to no good. Certainly when Microsoft does the same thing it enrages armies (and lawyers).
- I notice that the download page no longer has a Quicktime-free option. Does that mean that they got smart and don't force-install Quicktime, or that it's installed by default without ANY option not to??
* Horrible browser plugin/integration. Why, oh why, in 99.999% of cases, can't I select to view movies in a separate viewer (not embedded in a standalone page)? At the very least, give me the option to view the movie at x2 magnification so I can actually **SEE** those 180x120 movies on my 20" widescreen.

Sadly, at this point I'd rather watch movies in Real Player than in Quicktime. I'd say so would the majority of non-zealot users. Think about that.

QT 7 is a baby step in the right direction. However, a new codec and slightly spiffed interface is not what it needs. Apple has let their QT opportunity dwindle for waaay too long. Please, just hire a few more developers (or SOMETHING) and show the other guys how it's done!
 
Actually, I guess the installer mentions that it will install Quicktime (and at least now allows the user to turn "Make Quicktime my Default Player" off, which is on by default)...However, it looks like they've eliminated the Quicktime-free installer altogether?? At the very least they're hiding it better, but can anyone confirm that I'm wrong?
 
I've got one to add to that. Why oh why would I want a Quicktime icon in the system tray? I only need it running when I actually want to play a movie. I don't want it there all the time.

On that note, why does iTunes insist on running the iPod service in the background? I haven't even got an iPod and I want to disable it but it keeps coming back.
 
Erhm, I hope this thread won't just become a discussion of whether or not QT on Windows is any good...

But fact is: iTunes _depends_ on Quicktime, therefore QT must be installed on Windows - or iTunes just doesn't run. They could've put another copy of Quicktime _inside_ iTunes, but I guess _that_ would've been called bloatware, then. That the installer wants QT to be the default for everything was a reaction to Microsoft (illegally) taking over every filetype with every update to Windows and/or Windows Media Player. At least Apple's installer _asks_ about it. (Well, I guess Windows does now, too, since that was part of what they had to change when they were found guilty.)
 
how many windows apps DONT just associate themselves, or ask when first launched?

the iPod service is running so that you dont have to do anything when you do finally get one. it provides the apple "it just works"(tm) experience.
 
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