Sending Clients Flash Videos

[Joseph Moore]

No need for QT or anything else. Just point a Flash video player at a correctly encoded H264 file and Flash 9 can handle it exactly the same as it does FLV’s. This goes for AAC audio, as well.

[Ed Dooley]

Yes, Flash 9 can handle it, but penetration of Flash 9 may be a while away. It only came out recently. H.264 needs QT7 or Flash 9. I can’t wait for Flash 9 to be on everyone’s computers, but it’s going to be a while. I encode to H.264 all the time, but I don’t use it in Flash yet. I’m still using ON2VP6 for .flvs.
Ed

[Joseph Moore] “No need for QT or anything else. Just point a Flash video player at a correctly encoded H264 file and Flash 9 can handle it exactly the same as it does FLV’s. This goes for AAC audio, as well.”

>>Sean asked:
How does that work? Does the client still need QT installed?

[Joseph Moore]

Actually, it has far more penetration than QT … even the newest sub-version. Flash is the defacto universal plug-in.

https://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flashplayer/version_penetration.html

[Kc Allen]

I like to bounce to Flash right out of FCP because I have the Flash program (use export using QT Conversion). Then I create a quick Dreamweaver page and upload the whole kit-and-kaboodle to my website, then e-mail the client and tell them where to go to look at it online. Benefits are vast – no cost in burning DVDs and no worries as to whether the client can view a QT or WMV. Further, several people involved can all look at it at their leisure, all at the same time without having to pass a disc around. If you need to make a change, export it to the same file name, FTP it to the site and the spot is automatically changed online for the client. Presto-chango…

KC Allen
Allen Film & Video

“Who’s the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows?”

[Sean Oneil]

Player penetration is always a concern. As long as the browser tells you to “Click here to install plugin” and the installation is really fast (my memory says that installing Flash takes 2 seconds) then it shouldn’t be a problem.

Sean

[Ed Dooley]

I’m glad you chose an unbiased source like Adobe to prove market penetration of their own product. 🙂
It may not be a problem for some folks to get an “Upgrade Your Flash” message, but in some worlds (the corporate world, for example) you can’t upgrade. Only your IT department can upgrade to the latest, or even penultimate, version of QT, Flash, or Windows.
I like Flash, I like H.264, but not all my clients can see H.264 in Flash yet. If yours can, then by all means give them the best video you can.
Ed

[Joseph Moore]

You’re kind of missing my original point. I’m not promoting Flash so much as I’m promoting H264 as the most universal codec. The most players can handle it. Current versions of Flash, QT, WMP and Real can all display it. Encoding once is a beautiful thing.

Of course if your paying client is stuck with older browser technology, you do what you have to for them to see it, of course. But in general practice, H264 is currently, and for the foreseeable future, the HQ standard for online delivery. I count this as a “good thing.”

PS. There is a reason YouTube, Vimeo et. all use the Flash Player. Like it or not, more surfers have Flash than any other plug-in, and no one is even remotely close. (That’s not coming from Adobe, that’s coming from server logs.)

[Ed Dooley]

I love the look of H.264, and I can’t wait for it to be the universal choice (it’s coming, I know). If you can get WMP to play H.264 without installing FFDShow or one of the other 3rd party plug-ins, that’s news to me. It gets right back to a big segment of viewers for some of us, corporate clients. On a typical PC installed at a medium to large corporation, you will find WMP installed by default, you won’t see Real (hard to believe they still exist), you won’t see QT, and you most likely won’t see Flash 9. All this is said knowing that there are exceptions, a forward thinking IT department will keep everything up to date. “hello, IT? I really want you guys to install FFDShow on my PC so I can play H.264. No? How about QT? No? How about Real? No? How about about the latest version of Flash? No? Ok, I guess I’ll have to look at WM9 video, thanks.” In my experience, my university clients have QT, but 2 corporations considered large companies only have WM9 capability. And BTW, YouTube is only recently encoding to higher than Flash 7. They’ve stayed at the low res version for exactly the reasons I’ve been saying, lowest common denominator.

[Joseph Moore] “You’re kind of missing my original point. I’m not promoting Flash so much as I’m promoting H264 as the most universal codec. The most players can handle it. Current versions of Flash, QT, WMP and Real can all display it. Encoding once is a beautiful thing.

Of course if your paying client is stuck with older browser technology, you do what you have to for them to see it, of course. But in general practice, H264 is currently, and for the foreseeable future, the HQ standard for online delivery. I count this as a “good thing.”

PS. There is a reason YouTube, Vimeo et. all use the Flash Player. Like it or not, more surfers have Flash than any other plug-in, and no one is even remotely close. (That’s not coming from Adobe, that’s coming from server logs.)”

[Joseph Moore]

If the IT high priests demand WMP9, then you encode appropriately. I don’t do those kinds of gigs, but I feel you, Ed. 😉 Even so, you’re down to two encodes, H264 and whatever WMP9 compatible codec you choose. That’s a darn sight better than the “old” days when you routinely had to encode for at least 3 different players and two or three bitrates bitrates each! Tools like Sorenson Squeeze were a must.

The net take-away on Flash is that the old proprietary FLV codecs have been deprecated in favor of a standard, and that is great news for both the production and the consumption side of the chain.

[Ed Dooley]

I agree. What we do for now is encode most things to one setting each of H.264 and WM9. It’s amazing how WM9 used to look so good compared to older QT and Flash codecs, but now looks terrible next to H.264 QTs. That covers everyone, and we have the H.264 ready to include in an FLV SWF wrapper when we want it.
Ed

[Joseph Moore] “If the IT high priests demand WMP9, then you encode appropriately. I don’t do those kinds of gigs, but I feel you, Ed. 😉 Even so, you’re down to two encodes, H264 and whatever WMP9 compatible codec you choose. That’s a darn sight better than the “old” days when you routinely had to encode for at least 3 different players and two or three bitrates bitrates each! Tools like Sorenson Squeeze were a must.

The net take-away on Flash is that the old proprietary FLV codecs have been deprecated in favor of a standard, and that is great news for both the production and the consumption side of the chain.
“