MPEG-4 videos that will be streamed on our Darwin Streaming server must be hinted with hint tracks. The hint tracks tell the server how to package the media data for the network. This page is for ‘hinting’ MPEG .MP4 videos; Apple.com has step-by-step instructions for hinting .MOV video files with Apple QuickTime on a Mac here: Apple.com QuickTime Hinting Tutorial.NOTE: If you want your video to have a higher quality and/or resolution when streaming on our Darwin streaming server, you will need to convert your video to a QuickTime .MOV file. The Darwin Streaming server is more liberal with the formats and quality of .MOV video files than with .MP4 video files.
A QuickTime Pro license can be purchased directly from Apple.com (for $29.99). QuickTime X (on Snow Leopard) includes some of the QuickTime Pro features. If you have Snow Leapard, you may not need to purchase the Quicktime Pro license.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuickTime
http://www.apple.com/macosx/technology/
Adding hint tracks to prepare your movie for streaming.
Step 1. Open the movie in QuickTime Pro
Step 2. Choose Export… from the File menu.
Step 3. Select your new hinted video filename and location. In the Export: field, choose Movie to MPEG-4. Click on the Options… button.
Step 4. Set video parameters as shown below.
Step 5. Set audio parameters as shown below.
Step 6. Set streaming parameters as shown below.
Step 7. Select OK
Step 8. Select Save on the Save exported file as: dialog box.
NOTE: The Save could take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours depending on the size of your video and the speed of your workstation.