Playing Apple QuickTime movies
 

I'm new to the Linux OS. (My PC recently died. A friend of mine gave me a computer that runs on the Linux platform.)

My digital camera records movies in Apple QuickTime (.MOV) format. When I try to view these movies on the Linux platform I receive an error message stating that "Totem" requires a plugin in order to run QuickTime. What plugin do I need and where do I get it?

Thanks!

Hi and welcome to LQ.

What Linux distribution are you using and what app were you using to try and play the mov files?

try vlc (video lan client) it's in your distro's repositories (in the software management system) or you can find it here:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

I find, some quicktime things are played but some aren't, quicktime support on Linux is poor. Does anyone have a better solution? I'm also curious about that, I have some friends and family with macs and I always have problems with their movies.

You can use any player you want: mplayer, xine, vlc. But you need the right CODECS. With the right codecs, any of these players will play pretty much any movie in existence (with the exception of a few rare, proprietary formats).

I usually use the 'all' codecs pack from mplayer:
http://www3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/

In whatever player you use make sure to point it to your codecs. Typically, codecs are installed in '/usr/lib/codecs' and many players expect them to be there.

Also, I don't really recommend totem, because it's strange. I don't exatly know what it is ... maybe just a wrapper for xine, but it doesn't do a good job of anything.

Playing QuickTime Movies
 

Thanks for responding to my query. In the end what worked for me was installing Wine and then Apple QuickTime for Windows. ~Tikhon

You didn't really need to use WINE or Quicktime. Native Linux apps like Xine, Mplayer and VLC can play mov files if you install win32 codecs. Unfortunately you didn't mention which distro you were using, so we couldn't provide you with accurate info on how to install the required codecs.

Playing QuickTime Movies
 

Thanks. Again, Linux is COMPLETELY new to me. I need to get used to the acronyms alone. For instance, when you asked what "distro" I'm using I assumed you meant "distribution" (but I wasn't even sure of that). I did a Google search on "Linux QuickTime" and followed the recommendation I found. ~Tikhon