Streaming Flash Files? FLV? Whaat?

[Christina]

Yeah so I spent the better part of last night with Flash since that is how I want to serve up my videos on my website. Having been out of the loop a bit (as far as Flash goes) I discovered FLV (Flash Video Files).

Anyways, I downloaded Riva FLV Encoder 2.0 (http://www.download.com/Riva-FLV-Encoder/3000-2140-10320097.html?part=dl-RivaFLVEn&subj=dl&tag=button) which chomps down a .mov file like you wouldn't believe!! It also allows you to preview how your streaming file would look like.

Then all you need to put on your website would be a FLV player of some sort. I used the standard media components in Flash to create a simple one. It will call the FLV file and "stream" it as it plays. My files have been pretty fast so the streaming doesn't last very long.

More info can be found here if you all are interested. I managed to smash a 40mb file down to about 2.5mb! ;) That is with excellent quality I may add.

Macromedia FLV (http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/video.html?promoid=home_dev_flash_video_021104)

FLVPLayer.com (http://www.flvplayer.com/forum/)

[the_pm]

Awesome C! I just received a file from a customer that they want streamed. It's encoded as a high quality .mov file. It's 14 minutes and 1.2 Gb in size. That's not a typo!

Let's see what this thing can do with it. I'm almost scared to try because of how large that initial file is though...

[Christina]

If it ends up to be too huge, you can construct your .swf file (your custom player) so that will call the .flv file to stream in parts I believe. I'm sure there are tips in the forum or even on google somewhere on the best way to do larger files. But I doubt you should have too much trouble! :)

[Corey Bryant]

Just what I have been looking for actually. Flash - since I would say most browsers have it and smaller files :)

[vito]

Yes, Christina, you have discovered the wonderful world of FLV. I use it with all (most) of my Netasis products. You can reduce an avi or mov to a mere shadow of itself. Amazing stuff.

You used Riva. I've never used that. I use FlixPro from Wildform. I would dare say that your 40 MB down to 2.5 MB, while impressive, is not the best you should expect. For instance, I just did an experiment (I normally work with avi so I tried a sample mov to compare apples with apples).

I outputted a .mov at 720 x 480 and it was 286 MB. I then encoded it to FLV using Flixpro. I kept the same 720 x 480 size, and I gave it fairly decent quality parameters (512 kbps, 30 fps, etc), and the resulting FLV was 432 KB. Yes, KB!!

Vito

[Christina]

Ahh..that is nice but I hate losing quality in animations. I'm sure I can tweak the settings but I only like to sacrafice so much for myself :lol: I did see the FlixPro from Wildform....

[vito]

I just tried outputting the same mov at 1000 kbps (which is the highest possible setting) and the result was still only 450 KB. This is considered CD quality, so you might want to either tweak your settings or give Flixpro a try.

Just curious - what settings did you use for the output? What kbps? What size?

Vito

[Christina]

Not sure, just tried a 300mb file but it only crunched it to about 39mb. It was on the highest settings. After watching it, it didn't do such a great job on compressing. Live video action, animations, still end up being a tad choppy looking (to me at least, I'm picky!). 720x486 1600 bit rate 29.97 frame rate. Oh well, can't complain with free. At the moment, it's just for my own site so $149 price tag is not something I am in dire need for at the moment ;)

[vito]

I understand. Unless you're using it on a regular basis, it's hard to justify spending the $150. Well, if you ever need anything compressed with Flixpro, just let me know. Provided you can get the file to me somehow, I'm happy to process it for you. It's a shame to have to play a 40 MB FLV on your site when you can get away with under a meg.

Vito

[Christina]

True..maybe by Xmas I can get some new goodies :lol: For now though, it'll just have to be put on the list ;)

Oh, I'm not playing the 40mb file on the site! :lol: I cringe when I watch my old retarded demo reel :shock:

Thanks for the offer though ;)

[Christina]

I'm going to try their demo software and see if FlixLite does the same.

[vito]

NP. Just let me know if/when you would like me to encode anything.

BTW, here's an example of how much you can compress. Go to www.pagedevil.net and watch the movie I made for this customer. It is 300 x 225 at 512 kbps and lasts just under 5 minutes. File size is 11 MB.

Vito

[Christina]

Ahh, I've seen that page. Hopefully the Lite version works for the compression. I don't need the extra features such as cropping and what not....

Thanks Vito! :)

[rosschapman]

Hey Christina,

Any luck on the lite version? I need to make some FLV, and it looks like Riva is for Windows, not a mac man like me. Any other thoughts/options?

[Christina]

The lite version was restricted and only for evaluation. I stuck with what I normally tried out. Works fine and I don't mind the file size, everything still streams quite nicely.

[rosschapman]

I've been using the FlixExport trial, and I've been pretty pleased with the results (basically in FCP, you can export to FLV).

What I'm wanting to know is:

Vito - I know you use FlixPro, which I may consider buying soon, but what settings are you using?

Christina - How are you making the flash player in flash? Being a newbie to flash, I'm not familiar with the preload function.


thanks,

R

[vito]

Ross, I typically use the preset of 512K [MX FLV].

Vito

[Christina]

This article should help! (http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/flash/articles/getstart_flv.html)

[crazyfish]

Stop playing around with flixpro and get the flix engine its only $2500 :lol:

[vito]

$2500??

Can you provide a link, Nick?

Vito

[crazyfish]

http://flix.on2.com/flix/flix_sdk.php

Thats the engine. There is no price on there, the salesman quoted me $2500 for the flash 7 and 8 version. I believe it was $1000 for the flash 7 version.

[vito]

Ah, yes. This is the engine we were discussing in PM, yes?

Vito

[crazyfish]

Yes it is. I think I have found a different solution to the $2500 engine. Just not sure if it will work well.

[rosschapman]

I've created a .swf linking to a flv on my server.

Is there a way to make the .swf to play on flash player 7? At the moment flvs seem to be only played on flash 8, unless I embed them and they go wrong (audio and video flv you see).

Vito - how do you get flvs to play in flash player 7?

thanks!

[vito]

I don't believe they will work in 7, Ross. I may be mistaken, but I recall last year when I first started working with FLVs, my developer told me I had to upgrade my Flash 5 ( :blush: ) to MX 2004 in order to work with the files.

Vito

[rosschapman]

sorry vito, what I meant is - is there a way for users NOT to upgrade to flash player 8, yet still watch flvs linked to a .swf.

Sorry if it sounds confusing. I just don't want users to navigate to my site, then find they have to upgrade from flash player 7 to flash player 8.

[the_pm]

Ross, you can choose to export your files in an older format from the Publish menu. You can also just eliminate the version checker from your source code, and the movie will play in whatever it finds :)

[vito]

Oh sorry, I misunderstood. Well, all the FLV files that I create can be seen in Flash 7. I display a link to http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash which I guess upgrades someone to the "latest" version, but 7 is all that is required. How are you creating the FLV files?

Vito

[rosschapman]

in flash 8, i drag the flv in. A menu box comes up asking how I'd like to deploy the flv file and i select "Progressive download from a web server".

It creates a .swf, and when I come to export it, it says that only flash player 8 supports flv.

[vito]

Unfortunately, I don't have Flash 8 so I am unable to replicate your problem. :(

Vito

[rosschapman]

No worries Vito. I think we've decided to stick to QuickTime anyway.

thanks,