Flash Video
DV Mag By Ben Waggoner 
A look at Macromedia Flash's new video codec, encoder, and server. There was a time when putting video on the Web meant creating video in multiple formats running at multiple bitrates and allowing your viewers to select the clips that would be compatible with whatever players their computers supported. Apple QuickTime, Microsoft Windows Media, and RealNetworks RealMedia were the warring formats. And Macromedia's Flash kept out of the fray by being thought of as a cool, animated, vector graphic format. Then along came Flash MX, which replaced Flash 5 and its kludgy third-party video solutions. Flash MX included Sorenson Media's Spark video codec (based on but not compatible with H.263). In just a few years, Flash Video became the ascendant Web video technology. Although Spark didn't offer the compression efficiency of its competitors, its integration with Flash was enormously compelling. Macromedia says 98 percent of browsers include the Flash Player. With that kind of player ubiquity, what's not to like about Flash Video? Some would argue codec quality, a point addressed in Macromedia's latest release, Flash 8, which includes On2's VP6 codec. read more...
A look at Macromedia Flash's new video codec, encoder, and server. There was a time when putting video on the Web meant creating video in multiple formats running at multiple bitrates and allowing your viewers to select the clips that would be compatible with whatever players their computers supported. Apple QuickTime, Microsoft Windows Media, and RealNetworks RealMedia were the warring formats. And Macromedia's Flash kept out of the fray by being thought of as a cool, animated, vector graphic format. Then along came Flash MX, which replaced Flash 5 and its kludgy third-party video solutions. Flash MX included Sorenson Media's Spark video codec (based on but not compatible with H.263). In just a few years, Flash Video became the ascendant Web video technology. Although Spark didn't offer the compression efficiency of its competitors, its integration with Flash was enormously compelling. Macromedia says 98 percent of browsers include the Flash Player. With that kind of player ubiquity, what's not to like about Flash Video? Some would argue codec quality, a point addressed in Macromedia's latest release, Flash 8, which includes On2's VP6 codec. read more...
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