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CosmoTopper · May 3, 2005, 09:23 AM

My computer is 64-bit.
Tiger is 64-bit.
QuickTime 7 Pro when being used with 10-bit DV encoding is very data-intensive which I would think would make it a good candidate as a 64-bit application.
Why isn't QuickTime 7 Pro a 64-bit application?

Kristoff · May 3, 2005, 09:32 AM

64, 64, 64 Zoo Lane

Millennium · May 3, 2005, 09:42 AM

QuickTime Pro is nothing but a frontend to the QuickTime system, and so making it 64-bit would not make any difference. I do not know if the QuickTime libraries are 64-bit or not, though you are right that they could probably benefit from such a thing. My guess is that they are not, however, simply because doing so would have broken compatibility with almost every QuickTime-enabled app in existence, most of which would need fundamental rewrites in order to be made to work again. That's an awfully compelling reason to wait.

Goldfinger · May 3, 2005, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by CosmoTopper

My computer is 64-bit.
Tiger is 64-bit.
QuickTime 7 Pro when being used with 10-bit DV encoding is very data-intensive which I would think would make it a good candidate as a 64-bit application.
Why isn't QuickTime 7 Pro a 64-bit application?

I don't think you know what 64-bit means

OptimusG4 · May 3, 2005, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by Goldfinger

I don't think you know what 64-bit means

Nope, newbie

Kristoff · May 3, 2005, 10:18 AM

Hence the humor in my reply...buy I guess you guys missed it.

Am I the only one here with kids?

CosmoTopper · May 3, 2005, 10:25 AM

Wrong, very wrong!
Do you think you know what 64-bit means? If so, tell me, is Tiger a true 64-bit operating system?

Kristoff · May 3, 2005, 10:29 AM

Oh, boy.......

No. I got my Masters in Computer Science, and in 6 years of post high-school education it never came up. I have no idea what 64-bit means. Can you please help me out?

eggman · May 3, 2005, 10:36 AM

Quicktime Pro is so much more than 64-bit.

It cost me 240 bits.

Kristoff · May 3, 2005, 10:46 AM

let me help you find material to cut and paste into your reply so that you sound smart: I bet there's some nice info at http://developer.apple.com/macosx/64bit.html you could crib, and then past here while telling us how dumb we all are because we really don't know the extent of Tiger's 64 bit support, because you have the lock on that info.

piracy · 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by CosmoTopper

Wrong, very wrong!
Do you think you know what 64-bit means? If so, tell me, is Tiger a true 64-bit operating system?

Ahem.

64-bit means a LOT of things to a lot of different people.

In the desktop world, there are varying interpretations of what constitutes a "64-bit OS". It's not that black and white, and it's simply *not* a matter of exclusively whether a single GUI application can access more than 4GB of RAM, or whether a media player is 64-bit. While these posts are old, and pre-Tiger, for excellent analysis of the general strategy with "64-bit-ness" on Mac OS X, see:

"Apple on 64-bit-ness", from Dr. Ernie Prabhakar of Apple
http://lists.apple.com/archives/scit.../msg00105.html

"64 bit ad nauseum", with followup from Dr. Ian Ollmann of Apple
http://lists.apple.com/archives/scit.../msg00053.html
http://lists.apple.com/archives/scit.../msg00052.html

Apple's method - slowly migrating things to 64-bit support, and allowing 32/64-bit compatibility - is FAR superior, all things considered, than Microsoft's method of having two completely different OSes, one for 32-bit platforms and one for 64-bit platforms. To say nothing of the nightmarish driver and hardware support issues with things like Windows XP 64-bit Edition.

There is NO reason for freaking QuickTime Player to be 64-bit. What it actually *does* need is to become reentrant, thread safe, and SMP aware. Asking why QuickTime isn't 64-bit, for most purposes, is like asking why a fish doesn't have a hat.

Phil Sherry · May 3, 2005, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by piracy

Asking why QuickTime isn't 64-bit, for most purposes, is like asking why a fish doesn't have a hat.

It would just be soggy all the time, duh.

P · May 3, 2005, 10:57 AM

It isn't 64 bit to the extent that it doesn't get a memory area that is bigger than 4gigs. longlongs are still compiled into 64 bit operations (if compiled with 64-bit optimizations on, but I assume Apple did that with everything). The only reason for making an app (or a lib) "fully 64 bit" is that it needs a total of more than 4 gigs of virtual memory. Does even your encoding require the system to have more than 4 gigs of information in RAM at the same time? Doesn't it just stream it from disk and keep a smaller amount of data in RAM?

wadesworld · May 3, 2005, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by CosmoTopper

Wrong, very wrong!
Do you think you know what 64-bit means? If so, tell me, is Tiger a true 64-bit operating system?

So tell us, what would be the advantage to Quicktime being 64-bit? Specifics, please.

Wade