Converting MPEG-4 video into QuickTime

I want to convert a large collection of MPEG-4 video files into hinted QuickTime movies. Is there software that can automatically convert the files?

I want to convert a large collection of MPEG-4 video files to hinted QuickTime movies. Is there software that can automatically convert the files?

Examples and instructions for using Apple Script to manage the process with QuickTime Pro are available on Apple’s developer Web site. (Hint tracks tell a server how to package media data for a network.)

If you’re familiar with Macintosh tools, you can automate the task with Apple’s Automator or by creating a custom folder action. The Apple Streaming Server User mailing list is a good place to find information about converting collections of video files to hinted QuickTime movies.

OS X Server comes with two command-line utilities, qtmedia and qtref, used by a streaming server to create hinted movies and QuickTime reference movies, respectively.

The best software I’ve found is qt_tools. It is a collection of five command-line utilities written in Perl that work with QuickTime on a Macintosh to make the export and hinting capabilities of QuickTime Pro available from the command line without requiring a QuickTime Pro license. Qt_export is used to perform the file conversion; qt_info identifies the metadata and settings used to create the settings.

With these tools you can build an automated workflow to convert the video files suitable for streaming with the streaming server and/or progressive download viewing through a Web server.