Apple ProRes Codec Support in Ubuntu?

[seventhsamurai]

I do a lot of video encoding as part of my work and have been using Ubuntu extensively for my needs. I have found a simple, open source encoder like Handbrake to give far superior results than other encoders costing several hundred dollars. With MPEG-4 and x264 universally accepted as the best distribution codec for video, Handbrake is godsent. It reads everything, well, almost.

Handbrake does not read mov files with the Apple ProRes codec and after doing some google searches, I haven't found anyone who has been able to really rig any support for it in Ubuntu.

I was wondering if anyone had successfully been able to read ProRes quicktimes in Ubuntu or encode from them.

My current fix is to run the ProRes quicktimes through Sorenson Squeeze on a Windows machine and encode with a lossless codec without further compression, then take it to Handbrake and encode to MP4. Obviously this takes double the amount of time.

With almost all codecs being supported in Linux, I wonder why one of the most popular codecs today is left out.

[andrew.46]

Hi seventhsamurai,

I was wondering if anyone had successfully been able to read ProRes quicktimes in Ubuntu or encode from them.

It is possible for a 32 bit system to at least play these files by using the svn MPlayer according to this guide:

Howto: Build the svn MPlayer under the latest release version of Ubuntu
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1542240

and then manually adding the following codec to the codecs installed with w32codecs:

http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/drivers3...ResDecoder.qtx

All the best,

Andrew

[seventhsamurai]

Thanks andrew. I installed the player. I cannot figure out how to add the codec manually. Can you please help? Thanks.

[andrew.46]

Hi seventhsmurai,

I will admit that I did not spell that out in great detail as your post was unanswered for a couple of months and I did not know if you would receive this answer .

As long as you have installed the latest svn MPlayer according to the guide I linked to, and you are running a 32 bit installation, the following single command should place the required codec in the correct location:

sudo wget \
     'http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/drivers32/new/AppleProResDecoder.qtx' \
     -O /usr/lib/codecs/AppleProResDecoder.qtx

I attach a screenshot of SMPlayer playing a sample Apple ProRes file.

Andrew

[seventhsamurai]

I did as you asked, hoping against hope that it would work, because I am running a 64bit installation.

So I guess there is no way to really get this to work in a 64 bit system huh?

[andrew.46]

Hi seventhsamurai,

I did as you asked, hoping against hope that it would work, because I am running a 64bit installation.

So I guess there is no way to really get this to work in a 64 bit system huh?

Unfortunately at the moment access to this codec only comes with the 32 bit MPlayer. Having said that I believe it is possible to compile the 32 bit MPlayer on a 64 bit system and thus use AppleProResDecoder.qtx but I have had no experience with this. Hopefully others can guide on this one?

Andrew