Tutorials for Flash Media Server? (Webcam question)

I tend to be a book learner, and when I was first starting out with Flash I found the Friends of Ed ( http://www.friendsofed.com ) books to be quite comprehensive and easy to follow. They have a few beginner level Flash books that might help to get you started with client side flash.

For the fundamentals of Flash Media server, I suggest "Programming Flash Communication Server" ( http://www.flash-communications.net ). Although it was written for FCS 1.5, everything in the book applies to FMS 2.0

calmchess333, Thank you for your answer, there is some great relevant info there that I'm trying to digest now...

JayCharles, thank you also for your response. I am one class away from a B.S. in Computer Science and have an exciting idea for a website.... Unfortunately I have no experience in Flash. Assuming my sole interest in Flash is live webcam broadcasting.... could you recommend a starting point for me to learn? There are copious amounts of info out there, but I'm having trouble pinning down a starting point that involves relevant info. I would much appreciate your input, or anyone else that can help me with this.

Thank you,
Benjamin Gotsens

No. FMS is not an "out of the box" solution. You'll need some experience with Flash (client side flash), but how much you'll need to know depends on the application you plan to build.

Adobe provides a set of communication components and sample applications, and it's fairly easy to drag and drop your way to a simple webcam application. It won't be very flexible, and it certainly won't be secure, but it will get you started.

You'll also need to understand how to install and configure server software, or hire someone to do that part for you. Just so it's said, you can't install FMS on a shared hosting account, so you'll need your own server.

As far as learning curve goes, I suppose it depends on your background. If you already have an understanding of actionscript and client/server communication, then the learning curve isn't horribly steep. If you don't have a background in Flash (client side flash), you might want to cover some of those basics before diving into FMS. Unlike other streaming servers, there is no default player that just pops open on the client side when a stream is requested (like Windows Media or Real)... you need to build the client application (.swf) yourself.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/live_video_switcher_02.html