Editing/creating resources on Quicktime/FCP movies so they open natively in OS9

I am still hoping to regain the transcoding functionality of my old Wired Digital Mediapress encoding/transcoding card. This is the OLD card that only works when booted in OS9. It allows real time or faster transcoding of Quicktime files into MPEG-2 @ 2,4,6, and 8 mbps. The problem is that increasingly it won't recognize the fully contained movies that I export from Final Cut Pro (at present, 5.1, but I had been using FCP 4 when the problem was first manifest).

Movies that open in Quicktime Pro 6 in classic mode under OS 10.4 will not open when I boot up in OS 9.2.2 (which I must do to use the Digital Mediapress transcoder).

I get the following error: Couldn't open the file "<filename>" because file's resource map was incorrect. Or, I might get an error that "it is not a file that Quicktime understands" (or something to that effect).

Resedit reports that there is no resource fork on a test file that opens fine in Q6 in OS X but not in OS9. I'd like to edit the meta data so that it opens in QT6 running natively under OS 9.2.2

Perhaps someone has already dealt with this problem. I fear that I will be swallowed down a black hole if I start on a study of the atomistic structure of Quicktime files.

--Cris


P.S. The quality of the encoding was very good with the Digital Mediapress. I have gotten my money's worth from this card and wouldn't mind upgrading except for the fact that the new Wired Mediapress card takes up to 6X to transcode a quicktime file. This is a very painful point fom me. I know inevidibly I will need to upgrade my hardware, but it really hurts to lose what I already had. Looks like I will have to give up transcoding and print to tape then encode live with my card via firewire while playing back the tape. Or perhaps I will hook up my old Firestore unit, print to tape from FCP inorder to capture on the firestore, then playback from the Firestore to encode via firewire.

I think that sometimes you have to accept that if you buy a new, more powerful engine for your car, you have to replace the gearbox, and then the drive train, and then the brakes, and so on and so on. I am certainly no expert in quicktime source code, but I think the fundamental growth (read : changes) of the application has more and more pulled away from the abilities of OS 9 and QT6.

I could be wrong. There might be a coding guru out there somewhere who can help. But I'm guessing that you either need to stay with your old system or move the whole shebang up to the current system.

>>the new Wired Mediapress card takes up to 6X to transcode a quicktime file<<
Where did you get this info? I don't know the card at all, but it seems really odd that a company would make a new product work so much slower than the old one.

The frustrating thing is to lose what I was had (real time transcoding) and find that it might take kilo dollars to get the same thing with new hardware.

It is true about the new Wired MediaPress card:

> QuickTime Transcoding
> The MediaPress can transcode most QuickTime movies
> to MPEG format. Unlike encoding from external inputs,
> Transcoding is not realtime. Depending on the speed of
> your Mac, transcoding takes approximately 5 times a long
> as your source file (a 10 minute movie takes roughly 50
> minutes to convert.)

Note that transcoding is dependent on CPU speed for this hardware encoder/transcoder. So what does it do? Maybe it gives a little processing assist to Compressor? Maybe none at all?

All of which makes we want to hold on to my current card, if only I can find a work around. That might buy give a few years.

I could try to find another card for my G4, or I could upgrade to a MP G5 and see how fast compressor runs. Maybe I could buy mini-Macs for distributed processing, or maybe I could buy a G5 and purchase or upgrade to a new a hardware trancoder. All of which takes beaucoup dollars.

I'd like some more paying jobs before I spend that money. I'd rather have a field video monitor for my camera!

>>So what does it do? Maybe it gives a little processing assist to Compressor? Maybe none at all? <<

Exactly. What's the point of that? Doing it in software is surely quicker.
Why would they even make that? Weird.

Possible $50 solution:

[www.lacie.com]

LaCie FastCoder
Pocket-sized DV to MPEG transcoder

LaCie FastCoder

User Benefits:

* Pocket-sized DV to MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 hardware encoder
* Compact, silent and FireWire bus-powered
* Full support for QuickTime compatible files
* High-quality, real-time encoding on G3, G4 and G5 Macs with built-in FireWire ports

A unique real-time encoder, this compact, silent device allows you to quickly convert DV NTSC to MPEG-1 and/or MPEG-2 files using a FireWire bus. The LaCie FastCoder is compatible with Mac OS 9.2 and OS X 10.2.6 or greater. It comes bundled with the Capty FastCoder Utility for hardware encoding, Capty DVD/VCD 2.x (Full Version) for DVD and Video CD authoring, and SilverKeeper software for backing up your projects. This easy to use, portable encoder supports QuickTime full quality DV-compatible files exported from Apple?s Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, iMovie, or Adobe Premiere Pro.

specs...

MPEG-2
2 to 10Mbits/s (CBR/VBR)
2 to 6Mbits/s (VBR Elementary Stream)
(from B&H web site)

For $50, might as well give it a try!

--Cris