QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component for Mac OS X

Reviews for QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component for Mac OS X

Customer Reviews and Ratings

2.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 181 reviews

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    ironically, works well, but not in Quicktime

    • Written by from North York

    I purchased this product to allow me to convert my own homemade DVDs (made from dubbing analog tapes to my DVD/HDD recorder) to other formats (DV, MOV, MPEG-4) for importing and editing into iMovie. For this purpose, the codec enhances the functionality of the freeware MPEG Streamclip. However, within Quicktime itself, audio support is less than desirable, and it took a close reading of some of the fineprint of the product's description for me to realize why I wasn't getting sound even though the video of VOB files play fine. If you want to get this item just to play DVDs in Quicktime, don't bother. The DVD Player that ships with OS X does it a lot better, and I think there are other freeware players too that work fine. But this seems to be an essential investment for anyone wanting to do conversions in something like MPEG Streamclip, and for that reason I think it was worth the money.

    80 of 96 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    It works

    • Written by from Aldan

    I purchased a Sony HD camcorder for my husband last year, but it was impossible for him to import videos into iMovie or anything else on his PowerBook. Now that he has this, he's able to convert the MPEG-2 format videos from the camcorder into iMovie 6 .mov files and share them with far-flung family.

    70 of 74 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Meh...

    • Written by from orlando

    Works well. Does what it says. In my opinion this should have been included in an upgrade. After a drive failure I have to buy this again? What a disappointment.

    47 of 53 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Wonderful product.

    • Written by from Evansville

    I have a Panasonic Camcorder that is hard drive based and I had family come out to see me last month and I told my brother what I was wanting to do with this camera so he bought this for me and I ran some footage that was taken with the camera and converted it to import into iMovie and it worked as advertised. Nice job Apple.

    56 of 75 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Nice Product, but Difficult to Purchase

    • Written by from Hot Springs

    The MPEG 2 component is a nice component to own, but the fact that you can only purchase it online makes it a downfall. I like doing my orders over the phone, so having to purchase an Apple giftcard just to order it online was a hassle. Nice tool, but wish you'd include it with QuickTime Pro 8 or QuickTime Plus 8.

    45 of 63 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Beggars belief

    • Written by from Ely

    It beggars belief that, after spending the best part of £1000 ($2000) on a Mac that Apple want another $20 off me so I can do all the wonderful whizzy things that the adverts told me Macs are so great at and PCs are rubbish. Well, Apple, Windows Media Player manages my MPEG-2 files fine out of the box, so why can't Apple? Oh, and, really, I want to playback and edit AVCHD, that is, a format that has been around less than 10 years, but no chance...

    76 of 96 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Poor audio support

    • Written by from Western Springs

    Poor audio support - I can not get the content I want on my cellphone.

    62 of 85 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    It's a Hassle, But It Works

    • Written by from Rochester

    I had been trying to import footage from a Sony MiniDVD Handicam (#405) into my Macbook, but found that it was incompatible. After calling Sony multiple times, they finally told me to download this product. It definitely works. This, combined with the MPEG Streamclip 1.8, allows you to import video and audio from your Sony camera and change it to a Quicktime .mov format, which you can then easily import into Final Cut, iMovie, etc. I agree with the other users who say that all this hassle is ridiculous, but spending $20 on this product sure beats paying $80+ for an external DVD drive (don't listen to Radio Shack!). Maybe someday everything will be universally compatible.....

    90 of 107 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Need More Software!

    • Written by from austin

    This playback component works well. One of the lower comments says that to use your digital media in Quicktime and iMovie you would only need to get Streamclip 1.8 but the problem is that you do have to buy this product for Streamclip to work! Buy it if you want to edit your films or burn a dvd but if you are just wanting to watch your film on a bigger screen then just hook it up to a tv!

    84 of 116 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Handy for importing, not needed for viewing

    • Written by from Miami

    If you need to import MPEG-2 video into Quicktime, this codec works great. But if you just want to view MPEG-2 video, there are better free solutions out there, including VLC and MPlayerOSX.

    73 of 92 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Comcast DVR to DVD

    • Written by from Denver

    It has worked for what I am doing: taking shows off my comcast DVR and putting them on my computer as .m2t files then converting them using MPEG Streamclip to any file I want. I can then use quicktime pro also to convert to any type file. I am still playing around with all these programs. I am having a harder time getting iDVD to burn the file and be playable in my home stereo DVD. I think it will work but I'm still tinkering with it. I did get sound and everything from the shows that I converted from .m2t while using MPEG streamclip. hope that helps someone.

    70 of 96 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Best Import ??

    • Written by from Copenhagen

    After reading these reviews i can import and watch my video in Quicktime Pro 7, but the sound is missing. So i installed Streamclip 1.8 thinking it was a plug-in for Quicktime... But no, you have to run the footage in the program Streamclip and then save it. (correct me if im wrong) My question is; How and in what format should i save it in, to obtain the highest quality in both sound and picture ??

    The fact that Quicktime Pro isn't able to show, decode, the MPG2 format, is just ridiculous. It can't be that hard to throw in a 600 kb plug-in - C'mon !!!

    Anyway, thanks for all the great reviews, without them i probably would have hung myself, before figuring out how to import and watch all my extremly poor and boring video footage...

    Thanks

    80 of 104 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Should have been easier on a mac!

    • Written by from Gahanna

    Last night I spent hours trying to figure out how I can view and listen to my videos made on my Sony handycam. I finally came to the conclusion that I would need to purchase the codec-2 add-on for quicktime. It kind of sucks spending all this money for a computer and video camera and then having to buy something else.

    So to make a long story short, after you buy this add-on you will have to download Mpeg streamclip in order to hear the audio. Now that I have everything bought and downloaded, it all works fine.

    It would have been nice if mac would have supported the mpeg-2 format without all the trouble. It would also be nice if Sony would cater to other operating systems besides windows. Under no circumstances do I want to have to return to windows, I love my mac.

    3318 of 3678 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    No Complaints

    • Written by from Woodbridge

    When used with mpeg streamclip I was able to view and edit (in iMovie HD) all of my video I had taken with my Sony Handycam DVD505. The two (this product and mpeg streamclip) worked absolutely fine, and had no detrimental effects on the quality and ease of access/modification of my clips when used in conjunction.

    81 of 110 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Need more for full functionality

    • Written by from Port Perry

    In reply to the following review: "It works, but shouldn't be necessary."
    Written by DK from Edwards on 17 April 2007:
    The "QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback" is required before you get the "MPEG Streamclip 1.8". I tried downloading Streamclip on it's own but you do need the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback. I haven't had much chance to try all these together and see how my .mpg movies work with iMovie. If it works I would say that it is worthwhile to spend the $30 Canadian. I would also agree with most others that I did not think when I bought my Mac that I would have to pay extra for compatibility.

    69 of 91 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Why is this not included in QT Pro?

    • Written by

    Like most of the people on this thread, I needed to convert some older VHS tapes to digital video. So.. the most efficient method would be, have it converted to a DVD. (Then I'd do some clever editing in QT and imovie!) So, paid to have that conversion done (hey, it's digital right?) I was told no copy protection for consumer DVD transfer etc. So to me, this is such a no-brainer type of consumer desire conversion that I just assumed that QT pro would handle it... step two, purchased QT pro, well, it's not so pro after all. Shame on Apple to charge another bit and nickel and dime me for this basic consumer function (that still does not even work for audio according to the reviews)!!!. I've used Macs since the days of 40mb hard drives for mostly MIDI back then and work mostly with audio now. My thought... if you're going to tout this "it just works" line, then come through, and stop with the flashy media spiel. Disappointed. Might as well go PC.

    67 of 83 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    It works, but shouldn't be necessary.

    • Written by from Edwards

    I bought a Sony Handycam and ran into the same problem as everyone here: no sound on playback. That's how I got to this site.

    Here's my take on it..

    For those just reading this, your problem is not your camera, it's the format it records with (MPEG-2). This is a PC movie format. To view your movies with a mac, you will have to change the movie format to a format readable with quicktime or download the above software. Now read on for further info...


    Yes, this software will get you viewing your MPEG-2, but without sounds! Who wants to do that? MPEG Streamclip Converter 1.8 (you can download this free at www.squared5.com) will convert your MPEG-2 to QuickTime format so that it can be used in iMovie and QuickTime, all with sound.

    I had already purchased QuickTime MPEG-2 playback, so I'm not sure if you can use Streamclip 1.8 without it, my guess is that you can.

    All said, you shouldn't have to download extra software to do this sort of stuff. Apple continues to mock PC's for thier superior media versatility - this is far from versatile; it's nothing but a pain in my butt and elicits flashbacks of using a PC. "Let me calculate the time it took me to figure all this out so I could make movies on iMovie with my Handycam?" Back at'cha Apple. Better fix this blunder fast.

    117 of 140 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    A must item to use iMovie!

    • Written by from Reseda

    I have a Hard Disc Drive camcorder(Panasonic SDR-H18). The combination of this product and MPEG Streamclip is necessary for me to open any filmed footage with iMovie. The moment I installed this product, everything worked!
    However, I had a hard time finding where I could download the file after my purchase. I recommend Apple that the confirmation e-mail should tell the buyer exactly where to go to download it.

    64 of 81 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    No sound....no use!!!

    • Written by from rochester

    I too was suckered into buying this mis advertised product.

    No sound with my DVD import,

    Apple: fix it!

    Plus this board is well hidden so that one does not know about this, with no reference in the apple support discussion groups.

    53 of 66 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    hdd videocameras and mpeg2

    • Written by from Medical Lake

    There are a few reviews here that seem to think that mpeg2 problems are the fault of Apple. They aren't. If I remember correctly, Apple can't include mpeg2 codecs with quicktime because of some complicated licensing thing. If they had put it in with quicktime pro, it would have increased the cost from $30 to $50, for an outdated codec that few people need. Now, for me personally, and my JVC hard disc camcorder, using this (MPEG-2 Playback) and MPEG Streamclip, all my .MOD files playback and convert to other formats perfectly fine. AUDIO INCLUDED! If you don't know where to find Streamclip, it's free and can be found along with almost every other piece of Mac software at versiontracker

    42 of 57 people found this useful

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