In general, InqScribe can play any media that is supported either by QuickTime Player or Windows Media Player.

(Note: we have confirmed reports that some newer versions of QuickTime and Windows Media Player will play formats that InqScribe can't handle. See this article for more information.)

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 7, you’ll be able to play it in InqScribe.

QuickTime supported file formats

(Note: You can also play Windows Media files on Mac OSX using the free Flip4Mac plugin for QuickTime.)

On Windows, InqScribe will use QuickTime if it is installed (note: due to security risks, we do not recommend QiuckTime for Windows users-- more on this subject here). InqScribe can also play back media using Windows Media Player. As with QuickTime, if you can play the media file using Windows Media Player 11, you’ll be able to play it in InqScribe.

Windows Media Player supported file formats

Please test the media file in whichever of those players you have on your system and see if you are encountering the same issue. If you do find the same problem, you should check on the media format of your file— it might require a video codec that you don’t have on your system.

Additional notes regarding specific formats are discussed below.

DivX

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.

MP3 + LTC (Timecode)

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 timecode (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 timecode. There are pretty heavy technical challenges to doing this.

For more information about this, please see our article page on InqScribe and LTC.

MPEG-2

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.

MXF (i.e., XDCAM)

MXF playback using QuickTime is possible if you obtain a third-party MXF plug-in for QuickTime. There are several options on the market, often requiring a separate purchase. Once you enable MXF support within QuickTime, InqScribe will be able to play your MXF files (assuming you have QuickTime selected as InqScribe’s preferred media player). 

If you own Apple's Final Cut Pro, Motion, or Compressor, you can install Apple's Pro Video Formats update to add support for MXF.  (One of those programs needs to be installed in order to install the Pro Video Formats update.  If you don't own any of them, you can purchase Compressor relatively inexpensively.)  Once installed, you should be able to open MXF files in InqScribe.  You can find more information on this blog post by Jon Chappell. 

We’ve successfully tested the MXF Import QuickTime plug-in from Calibrated{Q}, which comes in both Mac and Windows varieties. If you have had success with other third-party plugins, let us know!

YouTube (and Vimeo and other online video formats)

Most youtube video streams in flash, which InqScribe does not support.

One possible workaround is to download the video in MP4 format, which will play in InqScribe, though not all videos will allow download.

Real Media

InqScribe does not support Real Media files.