Quicktimes on Linux

From IRIDAS Online Documentation

Overview

Apple does not support Quicktime playback on LINUX., therefore playing Quicktimes on a LINUX machine poses some challenges. If you can avoid playing Quicktimes on LINUX and go with compressed frame formats (JPEG sequences are great for example) it will make things considerably simpler.

If you need to do so, there are two technologies that allow you to playback Quicktimes on Linux:

Using IRIDAS Native QT functionality

All IRIDAS applications include native Quicktime encoding and decoding functionality. This functionality is available without the need for third-party libraries or applications, but it is limited to the following Codecs:

• Apple Uncompressed (8 bit)
• AJA Kona RGB 10 bit and 8 bit (uncompressed)
• AJA Kona YUV 10 bit and 8 bit (uncompressed)
• Blackmagic RGB 10 bit (uncompressed)
• Blackmagic YUV 10 bit and 8 bit (uncompressed)
• Photo JPEG (decoding only)
  

For all other Codecs IRIDAS applications rely on the LibQuicktime Open Source library.

Using LibQuicktime

LibQuicktime is a library developed by the Open Source community to support Quicktime playback and encoding on Linux.

Please note: LibQuicktime is not under IRIDAS’ control and has sometimes seen considerable changes from one version to the next, quite often breaking compatibility with existing applications.
Currently IRIDAS supports LibQuicktime 0.9.7– newer versions of LibQuicktime will not work at this time.
If you attempt to run an incompatible version of LibQuicktime, a warning dialog will be displayed and the Quicktime functionality disabled.

Legal Note: Some of the Codecs loaded by the Open Source libraries may contain proprietary algorithms that are protected under intellectual property rights. Please check with your legal department whether you have the proper licenses and rights to use these Codecs. IRIDAS is not responsible for any unlicensed use of these Codecs.

Install FFmpeg (optional)

For enhanced Codec support, you may want to try to get FFmpeg compiled and installed. There are no official FFmpeg modules released, so you need to get the latest version of the source code from the CVS and hope it compiles and works correctly. The developers label FFmpeg as an experimental project and you should be prepared to invest some time to get it to run.

• unzip/untar the CVS snapshot
• cd into the ffmpeg directory
  

./configure --enable-shared
make
make install

Install LibQuicktime

Download version 0.9.7 from:

[1]

• unzip/untar
• cd into libquicktime directory

./configure
make
make install

Compile and Install FFmpeg plug-in
(This step is only necessary if you have FFmpeg installed)

Note: The following instructions assume you are still in the libquicktime directory.

cd plugins/ffmpeg
make
make install

After completing these steps, you should have a file called libquicktime.so.0.0.0 in the /usr/local/lib directory and another file called lqt_ffmpeg.so in the /usr/local/lib/libquicktime directory (along with any other codecs).

Finally:

ldconfig /usr/local/lib

LibQuicktime should now be working in your IRIDAS application. If in doubt, check the log files in the /log directory in your FrameCycler or SpeedGrade installation for any errors encountered while loading the libraries.

Notes on the Idconfig Command

• 'You need root privileges to use the ldconfig command.
• The ldconfig command must be executed in order to update the dynamic linker cache (or the linker won't find the new libraries).
  

More information: [2]