Taking Care of Business, In a Flash With almost universal compatibility and near-zero buffering, Macromedia Flash Video lets streaming and Web developers focus on what really matters: customized branding and a seamless user experience.
|
by
Eric Schumacher-RasmussenJune 9, 2004
While Microsoft, QuickTime, Real, and the various MPEG-4 proponents are betting their respective farms on the video quality that their various codecs can deliver, Macromedia thinks they’re missing the point. Consumers want video that works, period, and Web site developers want more control over how they deliver streaming video, says Chris Hock, director of product marketing for Macromedia’s Flash Video division.
"Our codec is probably a little less efficient than the latest versions of Windows Media and Real," Hock says. "But we believe that what really wins with Flash is the whole video experience. For the average consumer, the stream looks about the same."
While Flash Video isn’t new, it’s only in the last year—as broadband penetration has risen to more than 20 million U.S. households—that Macromedia’s been giving it an aggressive marketing push. Companies like Creative Bubble, a New York-based video production and post-production house, have been using Flash Video for client approvals for more than 18 months, and now Macromedia believes it’s ready for its closeup.
On the user end, Hock says, the benefits of Flash Video are readily apparent: minimal buffer time and, with the Flash player on 93% of all PCs in the U.S., little doubt that when the user presses the "play" button, they’ll get what they expect. "Too often, the last thing that happens when you press the ‘play’ button is that the video plays," Hock says of competing codecs and players. First, you get windows asking what size viewer you want, how fast your connection is, or what player you want to use. "I know the answer to those questions, but does my mom or dad? No way," Hock says. When users click on a Flash Video, it opens and plays right in the Web page, no questions asked.
Those factors also benefit developers, of course, who can more wisely assume that users will be able to play their video, and do so without having to open a separate player that takes them away from the Web page. Since it’s not platform-dependent, videographers and Web page developers need only encode the video once, rather than multiple times for multiple players. And since the Flash player is fully customizable, developers have full creative control over not only the video itself, but the window in which it plays. "It’s very good for brand-centric and advertising-centric video," Hock says. "There’s no branding other than the customer’s."
Organizations from Comcast to Ben & Jerry’s to Ford are now using Flash Video presentations--which are really combinations of Flash Video and Flash movies--on their Web sites. A shining example of Flash video’s possibilities can be found on a
Web site produced jointly by Red Bull and the AMA Pro Racing organization. Visitors to the Web site can view a motocross race from several different camera angles, while a Flash movie animation shows the rider’s progress on a map of the racetrack. A digital timer and both a tachometer and speedometer run throughout the race, and the viewer can choose different combinations of music, rider commentary, and cycle noise to accompany the video.
Finally, the scrub bar at the bottom lets the viewer rewind or fast-forward--all without ever leaving the Web site. And if you’ve got a fast machine (1gHz or higher) and broadband, there’s no buffering at all.
How It Works
Developers can create custom players that include the scrub bar, audio controls, and other animations, as a Flash movie (an .swf file), leaving an object window open for the Flash Video (.flv). "You don’t want people to have to download a huge .swf file," Hock says. "So you keep that lightweight, say 20-30K, and then you can stream a 2-3MB video, for instance, through the Flash movie player."
Flash Video—.flv—is Macromedia’s proprietary codec, and the Flash encoder is included in the $699 Flash MX Professional 2004 package. Sorenson Spark also exports to the .flv codec, and Hock says other products are beginning to include .flv as an export option (the codec is licensable from Macromedia). Macromedia also offers a Flash Video Exporter plug-in that will add .flv export capability to Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple QuickTime Pro, Avid Xpress DV, and Discreet Cleaner. Additional NLE compatibility—including Premiere Pro—is on the horizon, Hock says. Macromedia offers detailed guides for using Flash Video Exporter with various NLEs on its Web site.
Live video encoding is done via the Flash player and a Webcam or DV camera. Whether the content is pre-recorded or live, Flash Communication Server MX 1.5 ($499) is necessary to deliver the video. For videographers and Web developers who don’t want to handle the delivery themselves, Macromedia has partnered with VitalStream and Speedera, both of which offer outsourced hosting options for Flash Video.
On the Bubble
Creative Bubble, which has produced video for GE, Verizon, and Viacom, began using Flash Video for client approvals in early 2003, after years of frustration with QuickTime and various MPEG-based solutions. "We would constantly have problems with player configuration; we’d get 10 or 20 calls a day from clients who couldn’t view the files that we sent them," says senior engineer Jens Loeffler. At the time Creative Bubble implemented it, Macromedia wasn’t actively promoting Flash Video. "The technology was new, but the video quality was almost equal to QuickTime, and we hardly get any support requests anymore."
Carl Levine, executive producer and co-owner of Creative Bubble, says that he was also attracted to the potential cost savings. "It’s very inexpensive compared to other applications," Levine says. "There’s no special hardware required, and it’s an open system, unlike some other online approval solutions. Plus, time is money. We can get things approved now with a speed we couldn’t have even dreamed of three years ago."
From a video production and encoding standpoint, Loeffler says, there are no special challenges inherent in using Flash Video. "The challenges are the same you’d face with any streaming video," he says. "It’s good for commercials and promotional videos, and it’s great for interactivity--anywhere the Web has an advantage over traditional or cable TV. For long-form or real rich media applications, you’ll still want to consider DVD."
Creative Bubble is also utilizing Flash Video’s two-way streaming capabilities in a Web conferencing service it calls Focuscast. "With Focuscast, clients can run focus groups or casting calls with a laptop and a Webcam," Loeffler says. "There’s no additional software, and it’s very easy to use. Just plug it in and go."
