Ever played back a DV MOV file in Quicktime on your Mac, and wondered why it looks like total garbage? But when you play it via firewire, external monitor, export to tape, or burn to DVD…it magically looks better.

The reason is that by default, Mac DV movies do not have the “high-quality flag” set. This default is to provide better playback performance on underpowered machines, something that is less and less of an issue on today’s Apple computers. Without the flag set, the MOV will play back on your desktop slightly blocky and blurred.

The good news is that you can set the flag using Quicktime Pro. But there is an easier and quicker way (and for those without QTPro also). It’s a free utility from Synthetic Aperture that quickly and simply sets the flag for you. The utility is called HiQual, and is available at Synthetic Aperture’s site.