Posted by: DarthNvader on 2025-01-16 07:21:31Was there ever a software solution to MPEG2 playback on Mac OS 9?
Posted by: Powerbase on 2025-01-16 07:47:20From a quick looks, it seems Quicktime 6 could once you got it the MPEG-2 playback component (a separate purchase at the time).
Edit: Initially available for classic OS, it seems. I'm not sure if the Pre-X Mac OS Quicktime 6 could use the MPEG2 component. That might have been a OS X only thing.
Posted by: Snial on 2025-01-16 09:27:55MPEG2 software playback was possible under Mac OS 8 as a QuickTime plug-in. It worked on PowerMacs as lowly as my PowerMac 4400/160.
QuickTime MPEG Extension was a system extension that was developed by Apple Computer for classic Mac OS. It allowed playback of MPEG-1 video on Power Macintosh computers without the need for additional dedicated hardware, such as the Apple MPEG Media System card.[1][2] Version 1.0 of the...
apple.fandom.com
I presume there are later versions too. Aaah, this is MPEG-1!
Posted by: NJRoadfan on 2025-01-16 13:58:16Apple shipped a DVD player with a software decoder in MacOS 9, so QuickTime should have MPEG2 support via a plug-in.
Posted by: s_pupp on 2025-01-16 15:52:57The Quicktime 6 MPEG-2 plugin does indeed give the ability to play MPEG-2 files when booted to OS9. There is also a hacked version of the Apple DVD Player 2.7 that allows the playing of mounted DVD disk images in the absence of a hardware DVD drive.
Posted by: DarthNvader on 2025-01-17 06:53:21
The Quicktime 6 MPEG-2 plugin does indeed give the ability to play MPEG-2 files when booted to OS9. There is also a hacked version of the Apple DVD Player 2.7 that allows the playing of mounted DVD disk images in the absence of a hardware DVD drive.
Can you elaborate on that?
All I can find is the "QuickTimeMPEG2.component", is this the file I need for OS 9?
Posted by: thecloud on 2025-01-17 11:50:07Files with the .component extension are for OS X and go into /Library/QuickTime/. For OS 9, you are looking for a file named "QuickTime MPEG2" that goes into :System Folder:Extensions:QuickTime Extensions:. I think you probably need to install the third download here.
Posted by: GorfTheChosen on 2025-01-17 12:49:06
Files with the .component extension are for OS X and go into /Library/QuickTime/. For OS 9, you are looking for a file named "QuickTime MPEG2" that goes into :System Folder:Extensions:QuickTime Extensions:. I think you probably need to install the third download here.
👍
Posted by: thecloud on 2025-01-17 15:03:15Just to make sure, I set up a new Mac OS 9.2.2 install in a VM, installed QuickTime 6.0.3 on top of that (since Mac OS 9.2.2 comes with QuickTime 5), then opened the .qup update file mentioned above. It installed the QuickTime MPEG2 file into the QuickTime Extensions directory.
Posted by: DarthNvader on 2025-01-18 07:21:48
Just to make sure, I set up a new Mac OS 9.2.2 install in a VM, installed QuickTime 6.0.3 on top of that (since Mac OS 9.2.2 comes with QuickTime 5), then opened the .qup update file mentioned above. It installed the QuickTime MPEG2 file into the QuickTime Extensions directory.
Yes, the .qup is the QuickTime Update Package.
Thanks all!
Posted by: DarthNvader on 2025-01-18 07:43:23It seems to not require video acceleration or altivec, the test files I found playback just fine at full speed in Qemu even with the CPU set to a 604.