Happy Holidays!
[flash medium=3 f={image=http://www.webkitchen.be/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/xmas.jpg&showdownload=false}]
8 misconceptions about Flash video
I recently came across a couple of serious misconceptions about Flash Video and I thought it was a good idea to set the record straight.
#1 – Flash Video is progressive download only.
While progressive download is an option, streaming live or pre-recorded content is also possible using a Flash media streaming server or service provider. Obviously Adobe has it’s own offering in this space but third party and open source alternatives are also available.
#2 – Streaming Flash Video is expensive.
With an open source alternative available, streaming Flash Video can cost as little as $0 (obviously not counting hardware or bandwidth costs).
#3 – Flash Video quality is terrible. Just look at YouTube.
With Flash Video, you can publish video to any quality ranging from a stamp-size video in a banner to 1080p full HD video. The publisher has complete control over the quality of the video.
#4 – Flash Video streams can’t be protected.
There are a couple of ways of protecting your Flash Video stream. Adobe’s Flash Media Server provides RTMP-based streaming directly into Flash Player, avoiding the browser cache. SSL encryption and additional authentication mechanisms can also be added to more directly target the client player (Whitepaper PDF). With the recently released Flash Media Rights Management Server, publishers can further protect their streams with DRM.
#5 – Flash is a closed format that works with proprietary video codecs.
Both the SWF file format specification and the FLV/F4V specification are available to the public as part of the Open Screen Project. Flash Video can be published with 3 different codecs which are part of the Flash Player (so no additional installs are required). The Sorenson Spark codec and On2′s VP6 codec are the oldest codecs. The industry standard H.264 video codec was added in Flash Player 9 and allows you to publish video to the Flash Player up to 1080p full HD video.
#6 – I can only use Flash Video in a browser.
Adobe AIR (available for Mac, Windows and Linux) allows you to build real desktop applications with web technologies including JavaScript, HTML and Flash. Since the Flash Player is at the heart of the AIR runtime, it is obvious that you can also use all of the Flash Player features including Flash Video. Adobe AIR 1.5 also supports the DRM capabilities provided by the Flash Media Rights Management Server.
#7 – Flash Video is difficult to use.
For developers: Adding Flash Video to a Flash project (made with Flash Professional or Flex and targeted for Flash Player or Adobe AIR) is as easy as adding any other asset to your project. If you can add an image to your project, you can also add Flash Video.
For end-users: The majority of internet users won’t need to install anything extra. 98.3% of all internet connected PCs have Flash Player 8 or higher installed, meaning they can instantly view Flash Video encoded with either the Sorenson Spark or On2 VP6 codec. 89.4% have Flash Player 9.0.115 installed. That version of the Flash Player has H.264 video and HE-AAC audio playback, multi-core support and hardware scaling of HD quality full-screen video. This means that most users can play your HD H.264 video from the instant the page is loaded.
#8 – Only YouTube uses Flash Video.
According to comScore, 80% (up from 72%) of online videos are viewed Worldwide using Adobe Flash technology. This makes Flash Video the #1 video format on the web. Renowned broadcasters like CNN, BBC, NBC, FOX and many others use Flash Video as their main video format.
RIAs take Christmas shopping to a whole new level
Around Christmas time, shopping malls and streets are crazy. Everyone seems to want to buy their Christmas gifts at the very last moment which usually turns this task in to a an absolute nightmare. Why not get your Christmas gifts online? I know some people will say that you can’t really browse through an online store and they are right. Well… They used to be right. There are a couple of really good examples online that let you browse an online store just as you would browse a physical store.
Amazon’s Windowshop is still in beta but is already very promising and it actually works! While preparing for this blog post, I was browsing through the Windowshop and found a book about the Obama campaign. When I clicked on it to get more information, a female voice started reading the synopsys of this book. Right after that, I bought the book.
When you click on a DVD or video game, you get a trailer to get an idea on how it looks. When you click on an album or audiobook, you hear an excerpt from it. When you like something, you just add it to your shopping cart and continue browsing. No need to wait in line to pay for your gifts, no need to wait in line to get giftwrapping. You can just do it from the comfort of your home.
The Magic Shelf on the homepage of Borders.com is another great example.
The Magic Shelf is the first thing you’ll see when you point your browser to Borders.com. It’s like the first shelves you see when you walk in to an actual Borders store. It displays all the new releases and staff picks. The Magic Shelf gives you detailed product information and customer reviews while making it easy to add the products to your wish list or shopping cart.
This is what rich internet applications (RIAs) are all about. Using the best of the web to make tasks like this easy to use and fun. And it also pays off for the retailer. First of all, they can quickly and easily update these RIAs so that their homepage is constantly changing, creating reasons for shoppers to return regularly. It also allows them to quickly respond to events (e.g. the election of a new president). By putting The Magic Shelf RIA on their homepage, Borders.com already dramatically improved their key metrics.
11% of all users are likely to recommend a product using The Magic Shelf. 41% more products are viewed and they also saw a 62% higher conversion after putting this RIA on their homepage (Source: Allurent).
I absolutely love these RIAs and wish that European e-tailers would soon follow their example. With numbers like these, they would be stupid not to…
Weekly blend – the one with the MP4 watch, Google, massive screens, Apple netbook, pirates and opening sequences
Tell Time, Snap Photos with Thanko MP4 Video Watch
Looks like the watch that Tim Buntel used during the MAX keynotes
Google off list of 20 most trusted companies
Title says it all
120 (36.5 meters) Feet of Video Art
Final Exams at NYU’s Big Screens Class
Macworld to bring netbook?
I wouldn’t mind an Apple Netbook but don’t think it’s going to happen
How to successfully guilt-trip software pirates
We should also add a similar message to our software ;-)
30 Unforgettable Movie Opening Sequences
Lots of inspirational stuff here
Troubleshooting AIR 1.5 on Linux
The AIR team has just published a pretty comprehensive blog post that can help you if you run in to a problem while installing AIR 1.5 on your Linux machine. In all honesty, I also ran in to a few glitches when I tried to install it on my Ubuntu machine… and the reason was very simple. I did not read the release notes (PDF). If I had done that, I would have known to remove any previous version of the AIR runtime and all AIR applications before installing AIR 1.5. Doh!
From now on, I will read the release notes before I install anything… Well… Probably not… But this certainly is a lesson learnt. ;-)
Feel free to follow me on: 
