cocoaforge

The new Perian 1.1.2 seems to work fine on my G4 (OSX 10.4.11 1.2Ghz 1.5GB, QT 7.5.5), unlike the 1.1 version.
What I want to be doing is converting files (.avi with external subs and.mkv files). However, no matter what I try, I cannot get any acceptable output selection.
Necessary file outputs would be Xvid based .avi or .mp4/.m4v files. However, I would expect to be able to output MP3 for the avi, and AAC for the MP4, and have quantized Xvid output. There is apparently no way to do this.
Of the dozens of "Export to..." choices none of them allow me to export MP3 audio, and the video output through "Export to MPEG4" has a really crappy encode and only allows constant bitrates. A file that should only be 100MB in length (using OpenShiiva or FFmpegX) and looks pristine, comes out nearly 500MB and only visibly acceptable.
I have LAME and several other codecs installed (none of which are suggested to be removed on the Perian homepage), but for quicktime output they don't seem to hook in (they work fine through independent video and audio applications that require them.

Is there something bugged up in my Quicktime framework, or is there possibly some Quicktime component I need to gain access to MP3 audio for .avi, and Xvid quantizer support for any output?

Welcome to the weak editor that is Quicktime Player. The deficiencies you list are in QuickTime's encoders and muxers. This is an area which Perian strictly doesn't touch, to avoid legal issues which may arise.

The lack of ability to save a .mp3 is a QuickTime limitation. The lousy MPEG4 quality again is a QuickTime limitation.

Put simply, Perian is not an encoder, nor does it have anything to do with it. It is primarily designed for playback, with input support for other media apps, such as Final Cut.

One of the big raves about Perian that I have seen in various places is that you can save matroska in other formats by going through Quicktime. (I have actually done this with a 2 minute clip, but it took nearly 8 hours <OUCH> and it looked like crap... but it did work ^_^)
I assume, then, that there is no way, even by obtaining other specific QT plug-ins/codecs, to get this capability?

GD_Himes wrote:One of the big raves about Perian that I have seen in various places is that you can save matroska in other formats by going through Quicktime.

Well, you can. It sounds like you are using the wrong settings or something. When converting MKV files, most use Perian to either save as a .mov file (which is limited by your HD speed), or transcode using a professional tool. Compressor in Final Cut does a great job BTW. Maybe you should also look at turbo H.264 if you are interested in H.264 as it's a hardware encoder.

Sorry, I guess you need to read the first bit, as well as that just above.
I work mostly in cross-platform and cross-OS work. This requires in most cases, not to alienate more than 2% of receipients. Using matroska automatically alienates 20% of everybody, and using .mov actually does worse (which only currently works on modern windows and macs, and is hated by most windows professionals). However, as a plug-in or native, both .avi and .mp4 (as well as mpeg1&2) are playable on all platforms with Xvid and MP3 or AAC. And apparently play quite well even under much older windows systems on slower machines.
So my goal is to try and find a bulletproof way to get a few of these to be easily converted, especially since most people have no clue how to use some of the packages correctly (bad header, fps, size, and other info).
Unfortunately h264, and worse "x264," are severely processor intensive, and though I have no problem with them, most of our clients will (and do).
Also, a two-step conversion process which exacerbates degradation, and makes a 30 minute video take 28 hours to convert, are not acceptable processes. If I can convert basic video (720x480x30fps) at four times real-time, I really would like to see these matroska files take at absolute most (after possibly at most demuxing them) 4 times real-time.
One problem, of course, with a lot of know-nothing users with a free windows program and the x264 package, tend to create matroska files which do not demux without corruption (using mkvtools, both command line, and a couple of recent GUI frontends). Since I refuse to use this crappy experimental package, I still haven't tracked down exactly why this garbage happens, though I have my suspicions.

So, at the moment, unless there is a QT component that will allow either direct conversion (quantized Xvid) using Perian, or somebody tweaks the ffmpeg/mkv toolnix/other packages to avoid the matroska corruption issue with demuxing or actual throughput, I will just have to avoid that crap ^_^