mp4 error message with new file

ELAN
1

We are using ELAN 5.0.0 alpha on one computer running mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.6, and ELAN 5.0.0 beta on a computer running mac OS Sierra 10.12.5. Both are having the same problem: When trying to create a new .eaf and link media files (in .mp4 format), we get this error message:

No player could be created for [file name]. The Cocoa QT Player cannot handle the file. quicktime QTException.

If it matters, we are using QuickTime 10.4 on both computers.

Any thoughts on this? I’ve seen some other threads to this effect that said the problem wasn’t always reproducible; we are having this problem consistently, with different mp4 files.

2

The different mp4 files you mention, are they also different in the way they are encoded? ELAN’s player on MacOS is based on an older library (corresponding to QuickTime 7) and maybe there is something in the mp4’s that is not supported by that library? The message “Cocoa QT Player cannot handle the file” seems to point in that direction (although error messages can sometimes “hide” the real problem).
Did you try already with other media files, other mp4 files or even mpeg-1 files, to see if the player in principle works?

-Han