Questions about Quicktime...

I have an Intel iMac (early 2006). I have not really used Quicktime except to play movie trailers. I don't really know what to use it for.

I have been using Handbrake and recently Mediafork to compress DVD movies I own. I read today where you can now do that with the latest version of Quicktime Pro.

First of all, is the Quicktime that came with the iMac "Pro" or just plain ole' Quicktime?

What else can you do with Quicktime or is it always working in the background - in other words, is Quicktime what makes 'DVD Player' and 'iTunes' work?

Give me some info on it. Thanks.

QuickTime is the multimedia layer built into Mac OS X. It is used by iTunes, and iMove, and many other apps, including GraphicConverter, PowerPoint, and the Finder for those little previews in Column view. (But not DVD player, I don't think.)

It's also used, via Flip4Mac, to play Windows Media files on the Mac.

QuickTime Player is a dinky little media player that plays any format supported by QuickTime.

QuickTime Pro is a $30 option that unlocks some features of QuickTime Player and the QuickTime browser plugin.

Compare it to Windows Media Player. It plays back most kinds of media, and you can install additional codecs like 3ivx to enable support for video files that don't work at first.