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QuickTime 7.4 causes issues with After Effects

After some users found problems with QuickTime 7.3, some are reporting issues with 7.4 as well.

The QT 7.3 update broke non-current versions of Final Cut Pro, causing log and capture dropouts among other things. If you were hoping the latest update fixes the problems caused by the previous patch, I'm afraid you are out of luck. You will need to downgrade to QT 7.2.

Additionally, After Effects users are reporting that version 7.4 is causing rendering issues for them. They are finding that AE will stop rendering after exactly 10 minutes with the message "After Effects error: opening movie - you do not have permission to open this file (-54)". The only solution so far is to downgrade back to QT 7.2 or 7.3.1 or wait for Adobe or Apple to issue a patch. Windows users have been reporting these issues as well, and the issue seems to affect widespread versions of AE.

There is a post on Apple's support boards that gives a way of "hacking" QuickTime back to 7.2 by installing 7.3 or 7.4 and then copying over the old 7.2 files. This is a quick and dirty way of doing it but I would not advise it. Final Cut Pro is a professional and complex application and for best results, I recommend backing up your files and performing a complete Erase and Install. This creates the most stable environment for running the software. You do not want it to fail at an important moment, particularly if you make your living from using it. Remember not to reinstall QuickTime 7.4 again afterwards!

Always remember the Golden Rule: Don't install updates on a production machine unless you have a way of quickly getting everything back to normal (such as a clone), and DEFINITELY don't install anything in the middle of a project.

Update: Some After Effects users are coping by rendering out their sequences in 10 minute segments, putting them together in Final Cut Pro and then exporting them as one movie clip. Obviously this significantly increases the total rendering time and you should make allowances for the extra time burden.

Update #2: Apparently, this issue also affects Cinema 4D and is related to an update in QuickTime's Digital Rights Management (DRM) code. Presumably this is a conflict with code designed to prevent people from copying or distributing iTunes-rented movies.