On Mac OS X, InqScribe relies on QuickTime to handle media playback. As a general rule, if you can play the media file using QuickTime Player, you’ll be able to play it in InqScribe.
On Windows, InqScribe will use QuickTime if it is installed (which we recommend). InqScribe can also play back media using Windows Media Player. As with QuickTime, if you can successfully play the file in Windows Media Player, InqScribe should be able to play it as well.
Since QuickTime and Windows Media support playback of so many different formats, we aren’t going to try to provide an exhaustive list here. Instead, try these official pages.
Quirks and issues with specific formats are discussed below.
DivX provides a QuickTime codec for Mac OS X, but not for Windows. This means that normally you’ll need to use Windows Media Player to handle DivX files on Windows.
However, 3ivx.com’s 3ivx MPEG-4 5.0.2 does have a QuickTime codec for Windows that can play back DivX files. We haven’t tested this solution, but if you want QuickTime-based DivX playback on Windows (e.g. because QuickTime enables more playback controls), it’s worth a try.
We’ve heard from a number of people transcribing MP3 files (or other audio formats like WAV) that have a recording in one channel and time code (LTC) in the other.
InqScribe handles MP3 playback just fine and lets you adjust the audio balance so you don’t have to listen to the awful sounds that LTC makes when it is played back. However, InqScribe does not interpret the LTC signal and convert it to actual time code. There are pretty heavy technical challenges to doing this. If we ever manage it, we’ll let you know.
MPEG-2 playback using QuickTime is only possible if you buy the MPEG-2 Playback component from Apple. This isn’t terribly expensive, but it is an additional step.
Note that if you are trying to view MPEG-2 because you have DVD-based content, you might be better off ripping the DVD to MPEG-4 instead, which results in smaller files and can be played by QuickTime without any add-ons.
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