To convert an open movie, slide show, or image sequence to a SheerVideo QuickTime movie:

1. In QuickTime Player's menu bar, select File > Export… to bring up the Save exported file as… dialog box.
   




2. Name the output movie file in the Save As text field at the top of the Save dialog box.
   
3. Select Export: Movie to QuickTime Movie in the pop-up menu near the bottom of the Save dialog box.
   
4. Select Use: Most Recent Settings in the pop-up menu at the bottom of the Save dialog box, once it's enabled.
   
5. Click the Options… button on the side of the Save dialog box to bring up the Movie Settings dialog box.
   




6. Check the Video checkbox at the top of the Movie Settings dialog box.
   
7. Uncheck the Prepare for Internet Streaming checkbox near the bottom of the Movie Settings dialog box. The Internet Streaming option is tuned for distribution over very low bandwidth channels, and greatly slows down SheerVideo playback.
   
8. Click the Settings… button at the top of the Movie Settings dialog box to bring up the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box.
   




9. In the Compression Type pop-up menu at the top of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box, select the generic Sheer codec (See the Formats section for help.):
   
• Sheer, to let SheerVideo automatically choose the appropriate Sheer pixel type according to the video format that it receives from QuickTime.

  The generic Sheer codec perfectly codes all QuickTime pixel formats that represent color directly without a color table at 8 to 10 bits per component, including ARGB, 10-bit 'b64a' and 'L64A', 10-bit 'b48r', 'R10k', 'r210', 10-bit 'r4fl', 'V416', 'v410', 'v408', 'VUYA', 'r408', 'v210', 10-bit 'v216', 10-bit 'Y216', '2vuy', '2Vuy', 'yuvu', 'yuvs', 'yuv2', and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR.

  For RGB[A] formats, this codec can also output to B555, and, on PC+Windows, L555 and L565.

  Note that the generic Sheer codec is the only SheerVideo codec that encodes the obsolete wide-range 'yuvu' or 'yuv2' (Y'CbCr 8bw 4:2:2) pixel format.
  

You should only use one of the specific Sheer codecs if you know the source pixel format, since otherwise you are likely to degrade the image. See the instructions on selecting the Mode, Pixel Format Conversion, and Video Target below. Certain pixel-format conversions are inherently destructive, and will almost certainly degrade the image. Inherently destructive conversions include reducing the sample precision, such as from 10-bit to 8-bit; reducing the chroma sampling, such as from 4:4:4 to 4:2:2; and converting between RGB and Y'CbCr without adequately increasing the sample precision - even with Synchromy™.

• Sheer RGB[A] 8bf, for broadcast-quality scanned film and computer-generated imagery.

  Perfectly codes pixel formats ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR.

  In Best Conversion mode, this codec also converts pixel formats 'b64a', 'L64A', 'b48r', 'R10k', 'r210', 'r4fl', 'V416', 'v410', 'v408', 'VUYA', 'r408', 'v210', 'v216', 'Y216', '2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs'.

  This codec can also output to B555, and, on PC+Windows, L555 and L565.
  

• Sheer RGB[A] 10bf, for studio-quality scanned film and computer-generated imagery.

  Perfectly codes pixel formats 10-bit 'b64a' and 'L64A', 10-bit 'b48r', 'R10k', and 'r210', as well as ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR.

  This codec also nondestructively converts 'v408', 'VUYA', and 'r408' using Synchromy technology.

  In Best Conversion mode, this codec also converts pixel formats 'r4fl', 'V416', 'v410', 'v210', 'v216', 'Y216', '2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs'.

  This codec can also output to B555, and, on PC+Windows, L555 and L565.
  

• Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4], for compositing broadcast-quality digitized video.

  Perfectly codes pixel formats 'v408', 'VUYA', and 'r408'.

  In Best Conversion mode, this codec also converts pixel formats 'V416', 'v410', 'r4fl', 'v216', 'Y216', '2vuy', '2Vuy', 'yuvs', 'b64a', 'L64A', 'R10k', 'r210', ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR.
  

• Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4], for compositing studio-quality digitized video.

  Perfectly codes pixel formats 'v410', 10-bit 'V416', and 10-bit 'r4fl'.

  This codec also nondestructively converts RGB[A] 8bf formats using Synchromy technology: ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR.

  In Best Conversion mode, this codec also converts pixel format 'b64a', 'L64A', 'R10k', 'r210', 'r4fl', 'v408', 'VUYA', 'r408', 'v216', 'Y216', '2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs'.
  

• Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4], for cutting and archiving broadcast-quality digitized video.

  Perfectly codes pixel formats '2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs'.

  In Best Conversion mode, this codec also converts pixel formats 'V416', 'v410', 'r4fl', 'v210', 'v216', 'Y216', 'v408', 'VUYA', 'r408', 'b64a', 'L64A', 'R10k', 'r210', ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR.

  Note: For nondestructive coding of the obsolete wide-range 'yuvu' or 'yuv2' (Y'CbCr[A] 8bw 4:2:2) pixel format, use the generic Sheer codec.
  

• Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:2:2[:4], for cutting and archiving studio-quality digitized video.

  Perfectly codes pixel formats 'v210', 10-bit 'v216', 10-bit 'Y216', '2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs'.

  In Best Conversion mode, this codec also converts pixel formats 'r4fl', 'V416', 'v410', 'v408', 'VUYA', 'r408', 'b64a', 'L64A', 'R10k', 'r210', ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR.
  

RGB stands for {Red, Green, Blue}, the color representation used by the human eye, scanners, and displays.

[A] stands for an optional Alpha channel specifying opacity or coverage, used for compositing.

Y'CbCr stands for {luma (Y), Chroma blue-yellow, Chroma red-cyan}, the color representation used by television.

8b stands for 8 bits of information per color channel, the standard precision of digital displays.

10b stands for 10 bits of information per color channel, the standard precision of digital displays.

u stands for unbiassed video-range, with headroom for filter overshoot but no footroom for undershoot, otherwise per ITU-R BT.601-4.

v stands for video-range, with foot- and headroom for filter under- and overshoot, per ITU-R BT.601-4.

w stands for wide-range, without foot- or headroom; obsolete.

4:4:4 means that for every 4 luma pixels, there are 4 chroma pixels (on both even and odd lines).

4:4:4:4 means that for every 4 luma and chroma pixels, there are 4 alpha pixels.

4:2:2 means that for every 4 neighboring luma pixels, there are only 2 chroma pixels (on both even and odd lines), as in television.

4:2:2:4 means that for every 4 luma pixels (and for every 2 chroma pixels), there are 4 alpha pixels.

Note that in some cases the application or QuickTime itself may degrade the image by converting the source to a different pixel format before passing it to an encoder. Unfortunately, QuickTime does not provide any mechanism for the encoder to determine the source format.

10. In the editable Frame Rate pop-up menu at the top of the Motion section in the upper left of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box, select Current fps unless you want to resample the video at a different rate.
    
11. Alpha: In the Depth pop-menu at the top of the Compressor section in the lower left of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box, select one of the following:
    
    • Millions of Colors, if there is no alpha channel or you want to ignore it.
      
    • Millions of Colors+, if there is an alpha channel and you want to preserve it.
      

    Note that for 10-bit codecs, the Depth pop-up menu erroneously offers "Millions" instead of "Billions" of colors. Nevertheless, QuickTime Player Pro does properly support 10-bit codecs.

    To find out whether your input movie has an alpha channel, see the Alpha instructions in the Formats section.

12. Ignore the Quality slider in the middle of the Compressor section of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box. It has no effect on the compression quality of SheerVideo QuickTime movies, which is always perfect or best (Quality=Best=100).
    
13. Click the Options… button at the bottom of the Compressor section of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box to bring up the SheerVideo Options dialog box.
    




14. Mode: SheerVideo's self-check mode verifies each compressed video frame by decompressing it to the original pixel format and comparing the restored frame to the original. You should only use self-check mode when no pixel-format conversion is required or when perfect pixel-format conversion is possible.

    Self-check mode must be turned off to allow destructive conversion. Unfortunately, you must use One-way Mode for all Sheer Y'CbCr[A] codecs except Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4], because the preview image in the QuickTime Compression Settings dialog box requires RGB 8b encoding support, and even with Synchromy technology, RGB[A] 8bf pixel formats cannot be perfectly converted to any Y'CbCr[A] formats of precision less than 10 bits or to perfectly convert RGB[A] images back to 4:2:2[:4] chroma-subsampled images.

    At the top of the Algorithms section, select one of the following radio buttons:

    • One-way (faster), to have SheerVideo just encode the video. This is the default value.
      
    • Self-check (safer), to have SheerVideo encode, decode, and compare the result, to verify that each frame is encoded with perfect fidelity.
      

    Note that SheerVideo is so fast compared to other system bottlenecks that you may not notice any slowdown in using the self-check mode, especially for frames small enough to fit in the CPU cache.

15. Code: Many of SheerVideo's codecs are available in two forms: scalar code, to run on a scalar processor; and vectorized code, to run on a vector processor. The vectorized code speeds up encoding and decoding by nearly a factor of two, but increases energy consumption, which can be an important consideration on battery-powered computers.

    At the bottom of the Algorithms section, select one of the following radio buttons:

    • Scalar (energy saver), to have SheerVideo execute a scalar code version of the codec, to save battery power on a laptop with a vector processor, such as a PowerBook G4.
      
    • Vectorized (faster), to have SheerVideo execute a vectorized code version of the codec. When available, this is the default value.
      
16. Coding: Every SheerVideo codec offers two different coding schemes, one which is generally more suitable for progressive-scan images, and one which is usually better for interlaced images.

    In the Coding section, select one of the following radio buttons:

    • Progressive, if you want to encode the image in progressive-scan mode.
      
    • Interlaced, if you want to encode the fields independently.
      
    • Automatic, if you want the coding method to be determined by the images' Field Info image description extension. This is the default value.
      

    Note that choosing the "wrong" scanning mode may reduce the compression power, but the video will still be encoded with perfect fidelity. Some software, such as Apple's Component Video codec, does not set the scanning-mode flags in the video track correctly. Note that the interlaced coding scheme is typically slightly faster.

17. Pixel Format Conversion: The Sheer codecs are designed to be strictly nondestructive, and try to prevent the user from inadvertently losing image information by accidentally choosing the wrong codec and thus reducing the sample precision, changing the chroma sampling, or converting the color space without increasing the sample precision accordingly.

    However, it is sometimes necessary to convert between different representations, even if such a conversion is impossible without some information loss. For example, when combining video and film elements, when using a tool which does not operate in the desired pixel format, or when outputting a low-bandwidth version for review or distribution, such conversion is inevitable.

    To deal with such cases, SheerVideo allows the user to explicitly sanction destructive conversion.

    In the Pixel Format Conversion section, select one of the following radio buttons:

    • Perfect, to accept only pixel formats that can be encoded perfectly.
      
    • Best, to encode using the best possible method even if the pixel format cannot be converted without information loss.
      

    To convert between RGB and Y'CbCr color spaces, SheerVideo uses BitJazz's patented Synchromy™ technology, which is more accurate than any other color-conversion method. In particular, Synchromy converts with absolutely no information loss between the original and final images in the following workflows:

    • Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4] → Sheer RGB[A] 10bf → Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4]
    • Sheer RGB[A] 10bf → Y'CbCr[A] 12bv 4:4:4[:4] → Sheer RGB[A] 10bf
    • Sheer RGB[A] 8bf → Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4] → Sheer RGB[A] 8bf
    • RGB[A] 8bf → Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4] → RGB[A] 8bf
    • Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4] → RGB[A] 12bf → Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4]
    • Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4] → RGB[A] 9bf → Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4]

    Note that if pixel-format conversion does actually result in information loss, the self-check will fail, so self-check mode must also be turned off to permit imperfect conversion.

    Unfortunately, you must use Best Conversion for all Sheer Y'CbCr[A] codecs except Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4], because the preview image in the QuickTime Compression Settings dialog box requires RGB 8b encoding, and perfect conversion from RGB[A] 8bf to Y'CbCr[A] 8b or 4:2:2[:4] is impossible, even with Synchromy.

18. Select the video color standard of the Y'CbCr target for Sheer Y'CbCr[A] codecs, and of the Y'CbCr source for Sheer RGB[A] codecs, by clicking on one of the following radio buttons in the Video Source Default section of the Sheer Settings dialog box:
    • NTSC, for composite NTSC (SMPTE 170-M-1994), digital 525 (SMPTE 125-M-1995, SMPTE 267-M-1995, SMPTE 259-M-1997), or 720x483 progressive 16:9 (SMPTE 293-M-1996)
      This is the default value.
      
    • PAL, for composite PAL or SECAM (ITU-R BT.470-4), or for digital 625 (ITU-R BT.656-3).
      
    • HD, for all current HD formats (ITU-R BT.709-2), including 1920x1080 HDTV (SMPTE 274-M-1995) and 1280x720 HDTV (SMPTE 296-M-1997).
      
    • HD 1035, for 1920x1035 HDTV (SMPTE 240-M-1995, SMPTE 260-M-1992) as well as the obsolete interim color implementation of 1920x1080 HDTV (SMPTE 274-M-1995).
      
19. Click the OK button at the bottom of the Sheer Settings dialog box to confirm the Sheer options settings and dismiss the Sheer Settings dialog box.
    
20. Click the OK button at the bottom of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box to confirm the compression settings and dismiss the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box.
    
21. Click the OK button at the bottom of the Movie Settings dialog box to confirm the movie settings and dismiss the Movie Settings dialog box.
    
22. Click the Save button at the bottom of the Save exported file as… dialog box to dismiss the Save dialog box and export the movie as a SheerVideo QuickTime movie.
    

QuickTime Player remembers all these settings, so if you want to export the next movie the same way, all you need to do is select File > Export, name the output movie file, and click the Save button.

If you save a video track in SheerVideo format in a QuickTime Movie file, then that video track will be openable by any video application that can open QuickTime Movie files, which includes essentially all video applications.

QuickTime movie files have the file type 'MooV', and the filename extension ".mov".