How To View QuickTime Movies

Currently it is possible to view QuickTime movies on most computer platforms. However, the cross-platform QuickTime movie format is not the same as the standard Macintosh QuickTime format. Using MoviePlayer 2.1 for the Macintosh, we converted the movies to a flattened, cross-platform format by using the "Save as..." option. Since it seems that the "flattened" MooV (QuickTime) files might not run quite as smoothly on the Macintosh, and it often takes some wacky hijinks to get the computer to recognize them as QuickTime movies after downloading, we also include a BinHexed form of the original Macintosh QuickTime format for the movies. Therefore, we have two versions available for downloading. For more help on QuickTime movies, look at the General QuickTime references below.

Directions for Various Computers

QuickTime on Macintosh

If you don't currently have QuickTime on your Macintosh, you should go to the QuickTime Home Page and download the latest release of QuickTime. When you install it, it installs both QuickTime and MoviePlayer. You will have to restart your computer to get everything installed properly. Now you can view the movies simply by dragging and dropping the un-BinHex'd movies onto MoviePlayer.

Several applications, including StuffIt Expander (TM) and BinHex, are able to un-BinHex downloaded.hqx files.

UA Macintosh Support - can download latest version of BinHex here.

Another option available for viewing QuickTime movies across the web on the Macintosh using the Netscape browser is to use one of the many available QuickTime supporting plug-ins. Apple has their own set of QuickTime plug-ins at the QuickTime Home Page, and from the Netscape Home Page there are links to many other multi-media plug-ins which also have QuickTime viewing capabilities. After properly installing the plug-in in the Netscape plug-ins folder on your computer, you can start up Netscape again and view the movies with the .MOV extension without leaving Netscape.

QuickTime on Windows

Apple computers also makes a QuickTime viewer for the Windows environment. It's available by following links to the software page from their QuickTime Home Page. Once you have installed the viewer, you should download the movies with the .MOV extensions which can be read by non-Macintosh systems.

Plug-ins for the Netscape Navigator are available for Windows and Windows95 which make it possible to view the QuickTime movies without leaving Netscape. There are plugins available from the QuickTime Home Page and also some other companies have developed plug-ins with QuickTime viewing capabilities which are listed at the Netsacpe site.

QuickTime on Unix

For good information on how to view the QuickTime movies on Unix, try looking at another page located here at Caltech which also includes links to a QuickTime viewer for Unix. Or you could go directly to the Xanim site which is the actual home page for the Xanim viewer and contains the most recent updates. The XAnim viewer will allow you to view the movies with the .MOV extension which have been "flattened" to run on non-Macintosh systems.

QuickTime Movie Viewer on Unix
The XAnim Home Page

QuickTime on Amiga

One movie viewer for the Amiga is MainActor, both public and commercial versions of this software are available from the MainConcept Home Page. The shareware version is MainActor (Pro). The movies you will want to download from our page are the ones with the .MOV extension, they have been "flattened" for use on non-Macintosh systems.

QuickTime on OS/2

A QuickTime viewer for OS/2 is also available from MainConcept at MainConcept Home Page. The program for OS/2 is called MainActor/2. You will want to download the movies with the .MOV extension. They have been "flattened" for viewing on non-Macintosh computers.

General QuickTime References

Return to Electric Fish QuickTime Movies

Return to Electric Fish Home Page


Web page designed by Rachel Hunter
Last modified June 13, 1995.