Some QuickTime clips will not play

I recently updated a Mac pro running 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. The updates included Pro Apps QuickTime Codecs version 1.0.3 and Security update 2013-004 Version 1.0. Plus Migration Assistant 1.1 for Snow Leopard. My version of XDCAM Transfer is up to date.

FCP version is 7.0.3

Now some of my XDCAM clips in various folders on different hard drives will not play. The computer identifies these clips as Mpeg 2 video. Other clips, often beside them in the same folder, play normally and are identified as Apple Pro Res 422 HQ. That is the Log and Transfer setting I selected for all of them when downloading.

The clips were shot with a Sony EX3 camera and a Canon 5D mark 3.

The clips all play normally on a Mac Book Pro running Snow Leopard OS 10.6.8

I am wondering if the updates messed up a codec. Cinema Tools says wrong codec.

I appreciate any help

It sounds bizarre, your XDCAM codecs may have been squashed by an update. Have you confirmed your FCP7 actually has access to the specific codec? When I wonder about a missing codec, sometimes I can confirm the problem by pretending to export a loaded MOV from QuickTime Pro 7.x and go in and look under the various Export>Settings for codecs. Normally there is a large list.

- Loren

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Thanks Loren -- I was online yesterday and found several complaints about the same problem, with editors reporting that suddenly they cannot play clips in projects they are editing. There is indeed a problem with the Pro Apps QuickTime codec 1.0.3 update and Apple and Sony are discussing how to fix this. For anyone pushing a deadline this is really serious. They described exactly what I have been experiencing, right down to the green screen I get in FCP when trying to play a clip.

John

For about 10 years, whenever I see the word "QuickTime" in Software Updates, I avoid the update like the plague. It works. These updates were not intended for pro users. Usually, if you need a codec for, say, a new camera format, Apple is the last place to get it.


www.derekmok.com

Here is a link to the Apple discussion page about the faulty QuickTime update. It appears that Sony is working on this.

f[discussions.apple.com]

John

I followed the advice found on the Apple discussion page. (See the link in my last post, and note the advice from the Sony rep.)

I trashed the codecs in the Quicktime folder in the Library folder of the Mac Pro, after backing them up on an external drive. Then I replaced them with the codecs from a Mac Book Pro that had not been updated. And it works. My QuickTime clips now play normally. The only thing missing is the little positive thumbnail image on each clip in the folders. Just a blank square, but I can play the clips in FCP 7 and export them as Apple Pro Res 422 HQ.

I know very little about what goes on inside a computer, so this was something of a victory.

John