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kevinsb1
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June 9, 2006
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Flash Video Advice

  • June 9, 2006
  • 1 reply
  • 320 views


I have the responsibility of overhauling the current flash based video player for a major media company, and would love some feedback.

We need to own/control the code as much as possible, and the site will have a dynamic play list.

http://dsc.discovery.com/beyond/?dcitc=w99-532-ah-0036 – we have something very similar to what the discovery channel has done.


QUESTIONS:

What role does flex play in streaming video?

Is it worth moving to Flash 8? (for video)

Have there been any major improvements in flash video? Should we just stick with the technology in our current solution (similar to the link above)

How can we make it scalable, easy to maintain.

Should we contact Macromedia for a consultant? Or look for somone from the outside?

We are integrating this into ASP.NET 2.0
    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer
    What role does flex play in streaming video?

    None whatsoever. Flex is for data handling and does not have facitities for streaming audio or video. I suppose you could use Flex to manage your playlists and other data, but you'll use another technology for serving the video files.

    Is it worth moving to Flash 8? (for video)

    I think it makes sense to target Flashplayer 8, as thet's the first version with the Om2 VP6 codec, which I've found to be far superior to the old Sorenson Spark codec in terms of quality to bandwidth ratio. To deliver Flash 8 video you don't actually need the Flash 8 authoring tool. There's lots of video conversion software out there that will generate VP6 encoded .flv's

    Have there been any major improvements in flash video? Should we just stick with the technology in our current solution (similar to the link above)

    I suppose the key improvement is the new codec. I prefer to use Flash over other technologies like wm, mov, and rm becuase I like to have control over the environment the video is displayed in.

    How can we make it scalable, easy to maintain.

    Depends on how you're serving the video. With Flash, you can either stream the video with Flash Media Server, or you can use progressive download (the video is served via http). With progressive, you scale your deployment just as you would any other website resource. With FMS, you'd either write your own code to chain servers together, or you would use the Origin/Edge model provided in the FMS architecture (origin/edge requires a major up-front investment for the license). In the end, scaling a flash video application is fairly easy.

    Should we contact Macromedia for a consultant? Or look for somone from the outside?

    If you want to buy software, contact Adobe. If you want support, you can also contact Adobe but I wouldn't hold my breath. I've heard lots of reports of people not getting responses for FMS related questions. I'd say the best way to go is to find yourself a well qualified Flash developer to handle everything beyond the purchase of required software.

    1 reply

    A
    Anonymous
    Correct answer
    June 9, 2006
    What role does flex play in streaming video?

    None whatsoever. Flex is for data handling and does not have facitities for streaming audio or video. I suppose you could use Flex to manage your playlists and other data, but you'll use another technology for serving the video files.

    Is it worth moving to Flash 8? (for video)

    I think it makes sense to target Flashplayer 8, as thet's the first version with the Om2 VP6 codec, which I've found to be far superior to the old Sorenson Spark codec in terms of quality to bandwidth ratio. To deliver Flash 8 video you don't actually need the Flash 8 authoring tool. There's lots of video conversion software out there that will generate VP6 encoded .flv's

    Have there been any major improvements in flash video? Should we just stick with the technology in our current solution (similar to the link above)

    I suppose the key improvement is the new codec. I prefer to use Flash over other technologies like wm, mov, and rm becuase I like to have control over the environment the video is displayed in.

    How can we make it scalable, easy to maintain.

    Depends on how you're serving the video. With Flash, you can either stream the video with Flash Media Server, or you can use progressive download (the video is served via http). With progressive, you scale your deployment just as you would any other website resource. With FMS, you'd either write your own code to chain servers together, or you would use the Origin/Edge model provided in the FMS architecture (origin/edge requires a major up-front investment for the license). In the end, scaling a flash video application is fairly easy.

    Should we contact Macromedia for a consultant? Or look for somone from the outside?

    If you want to buy software, contact Adobe. If you want support, you can also contact Adobe but I wouldn't hold my breath. I've heard lots of reports of people not getting responses for FMS related questions. I'd say the best way to go is to find yourself a well qualified Flash developer to handle everything beyond the purchase of required software.
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