Re: QuickTime for Java

[Brian Schlining]

On Friday, July 15, 2011 at 11:35 AM, Schlining, Kyra wrote:

>
> Hello, I am trying to run the annotation program. However when ever I
> try and grab video from a directory to play and annotate it says open
> failed, check to make sure file exist. The file opens and play in
> standalone quicktime but not in Annotation. Also how do I go about
> installing Quicktime for Java -it is no where to be found at the apple
> site? By the way I am using vars 6.0.2-video for windows.
>

What platform are you running? Mac or PC?

if You're on a PC:

Apple has hidden the QuickTime for Java install for users. The way to install it is:
1) make sure that you have Java installed.
2) Download and run Apple's QuickTime installer or iTunes installer. Either of those will install QuickTime for Java if Java is already installed.

To verify that quicktime for Java is installed you can check by looking in the Java directory. The file you're looking for is QTJava.zip. The directory to look in should be something like:
C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\ext

If you have more than one Java, sometimes the QuickTime installer installs it in the wrong one. You can install it any Java directory by copying 'QTJava.zip' to the lib\ext directory in each Java installation. If you're running JDK's (Java Developer Kits, the directory name will be start with 'jdk') QTJava.zip get's copied into that directories jre\lib\ext directory.

If you're on a Mac:
QuickTIme for Java is already installed. However, Mac's use a 64-bit JVM by default and QuickTime for Java will only run on a 32-bit JVM. To change which JVM you are running:
1) open Applications->Utilities\Java Preferences
2) Click on the general tab
3) Drag Java SE 6 for the '32-bit' CPU type to the top of the list of JVM's
4) Start the annotation app

Hope that helps.

p.s. Yes, I know getting QuickTime for Java setup is a pain!!

--
Brian Schlining

[Brian Schlining]

On Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 15:24, Gary Harris <hlha...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for the help.  I cannot get quicktime to play any of my video files.  It has got to be one of the most frustrating video player out there.  I am stuck, because there is not one file that this video player will play on windows.  Is this the only video player that has java support because it is not working for me at all.

Sorry to hear about your frustration. To answer your question; No, it's not the only video player with Java support; there are other's. Please keep in mind that we designed VARS for a specific use case (i.e. video files hosted on a web server); at the time we wrote the video file support, QuickTime was by far the best choice for this use case. For windows-only-use, your best bet is to encode your files using a QuickTime movie container (.mov) using an H.264 codec. Your files will work fine then. Also, on a technical note: QuickTime for Java also allows VARS to control video capture cards (see http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/decklink/ and http://www.aja.com/products/kona/) which we use quite extensively at MBARI. 

Just a note that the video file support in VARS can pretty easily be swapped out. For now, QuickTime for Java meets our needs at MBARI. If someone wants to write a Java interface with support for something like DirectShow (i.e. the Windows native media API), GStreamer (linux) or QTKit (Mac) or possibly JavaFX (when it's finally released) I'll be happy to provide guidance to help with the development. 

Cheers

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Brian Schlining
bschl...@gmail.com