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Idea MP4 and MOV files - How to export videos that can be played on an Apple Mac?

Hi Derek.
I had a client ask if I could render a video for him as both an MP4 and an MOV so PC and MAC could read it.
I didn't realize some MAC people cant read the MP4s??
Anyhow, wondered which MOV settings you would recommend to be like the MP4 settings we typically use.
Thanks again.
Last Edit:23 Mar 2016 14:48 by soniceden

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Hi soniceden and thanks for posting on the forum.

The .mov Encoder Options in Vegas Pro and Movie Studio Platinum are only basic, so you need to do a few tricks when creating videos for people who use Apple Macs.

You can't render to H.264 in a .MOV container in Vegas Pro and Movie Studio Platinum.
The technique that I have learnt comes from John Rofrano, who is one of the most knowledgeable Vegas Pro experts you will find anywhere.
So everything I am about to say comes from him and not me.

Method 1
Render out of Vegas Pro or Movie Studio Platinum in a high quality format like Avid DNxHD and then encode it to H.264 in QuickTime Pro.
You will have to download and install the Avid DNxHD codec but it's free.
You will also have to buy a license for Quicktime Pro, which costs $29.95 and is active for life.
www.apple.com/quicktime/extending/

John has a tutorial which shows how to export to Avid DNxHD here:
johnrofrano.com/training/video-tutorials/avid-dnxhd-template-for-vegas-pro/

Steps are:
1. Download and Install Avid DNxHD
2. Render project to Avid DNxHD with .mov extension using Vegas Pro or Movie Studio Platinum. In Movie Studio Platinum, go to Make Movie/Save to Hard Drive/Advanced Options/Quicktime 7 and select the 3Mbps template as a starting point. Then press Customize Template and use drop down box for Video Format/Configure to access these special options.
3. Import new video into Quicktime Pro
4. Go to File/Export and then select Options - inside here is a large amount of options you can select. This will allow you to export a .mov video using H.264 codec
If you would like help with these settings, I can upload screen shots later.

Method 2
Alternately you could render a QuickTime file out of Vegas or Movie Studio and use the Motion-JPEG B codec or Photo-JPEG codec which would give very high quality output that all Mac's should be able to play. Once the person received this video file, they could then convert it into a regular .mov H.264 video file.

You often see Motion JPEG videos being used on Royalty Free Video websites like VideoBlocks.com, because they are super high quality and can be re-rendered into new projects without quality loss.
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