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Remember the “old” days where you had to struggle with bandwidth selectors, video player choices and codec nightmares before you could watch a video online? I know it’s kind of a bold statement, but Flash really did change all that and the continuously increasing Flash Video market share proves that. I also often hear people complain about the quality of Flash Video. Most of the time, these people don’t know that Flash Player can actually play high definition video up to 1080p using the H.264 industry standard video codec.
In a press release yesterday, comScore released the latest “Video Metrix” numbers. Once again, these numbers are record breaking and impressive!
Video: Brightcove about Flash Player 10.1 on mobile devices
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, I bumped in to Cameron Church from Brightcove. We talked about the Brightcove Mobile Experience and Cameron explains how Flash Player 10.1 expands Brightcove’s reach to smart phone users.
Where to watch the Michael Jackson memorial online
Today we say goodbye to one of the biggest (if not the biggest) pop icons of our time. Some already call this the media event of the century. Over 1.6 million people registered to get a ticket for the event in Los Angeles. Only 8700 people were selected.
This is surely going to be an event that is going to watched by many. If not on TV, then most certainly on the web. I watched that other big event earlier this year (Obama’s inauguration) live on CNN.com with no hiccups whatsoever so I’ll probably watch the memorial there as well. I thought it was a good idea to give a quick overview on where you can watch the event online.
CNN.com (CNN is teaming up with Facebook)
FoxNews
ABCnews
CBSnews (using uStream.tv)
Hulu (Not available outside the US)
USAToday (Using Livestream.com)
NYTimes
MySpace
MSN/MSNBC
E! Online (via Justin.tv)
Coincidentally/As far as I know all of the above are using Flash to stream this event to no doubt hundreds of thousands of viewers. Yes… You are right… This post should not be about promoting the Flash Platform.
(Image by Kristof Saelen)
(Via NewTeeVee.com)
The power of the Flash Platform part 3: Video
Remember the “old” days where you had to struggle with bandwidth selectors, video player choices and codec nightmares before you could watch a video online? I know it’s kind of a bold statement, but Flash really did change all that and the continuously increasing Flash Video market share proves that. I also often hear people complain about the quality of Flash Video. Most of the time, these people don’t know that Flash Player can actually play high definition video up to 1080p using the H.264 industry standard video codec.
But Flash Video is about more than just video. With Flash, you can easily make your video interactive. A piece of video in a Flash project is just like any other visual object. You can animate it, change it’s dimensions, layer it with other videos, make it interactive, … Heck… You can even personalize it. No other web technology currently available on 99% of all Internet-connected PCs is able to do this. And bloggers who claim otherwise should get their facts straight. (Are you reading this TechCrunch?)
Flash Video is everywhere and sites like YouTube, Vimeo and many other like it would not be as popular today without Flash Video! Traditional media companies like the New York Times, CNN, ABC, MSNBC also use Flash for the delivery of their video content. Hollywood studios use it on Hulu and the recently announced Epix site.
But like I said, Flash Video isn’t just about playing on demand video. Lots of people also use it for live video every day. Sites like UStream, Justin.tv, Qik and FlixWagon allow users to quickly setup a live video stream and stream it to hundreds of viewers. Ever sent a recorded video message to someone on FaceBook or Tokbox?
So how about interactive video? There are tons of amazing examples out there! Remember the immensely popular Elf Yourself campaign? Or what about those really cool augmented reality cases? Augmented reality is actually another great example of how Flash changes the web. AR has been around for years now but it wasn’t until the recent availability of the FLARToolkit that the technology was used online and even in campaigns for big brands like Doritos, Jack Link’s and Microsoft.
Flash on!
White House streaming live with Flash
Imagine you are the most powerful man on the planet. You want to organize a town hall meeting online so that anyone anywhere can view the meeting online without having to install anything new. Which technology would you choose? The answer is simple: Flash.
Barack Obama just started an online town hall meeting where he will answer the questions people could submit and vote for online. I’m currently on a hotel network and it’s still streaming in nicely.
They are streaming this using Flash Media Server 3.5 (the latest version of FMS) which does dynamic streaming and even allows you to pause the live broadcast. Check it out on http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquestions/
Flash on!
Flash Video market share continues to grow
In a press release yesterday, comScore released the latest “Video Metrix” numbers. Once again, these numbers are record breaking and impressive!
In December 2008, Internet users in the US watched 14.3 billion online videos (yes… 14.3 billion videos in one month!). A big chunk of those were watched using Flash technology. I don’t have the specific numbers yet but looking at the list of video sites surveyed, I think it’s safe to say that Flash Video is the absolute number one video format on the web. In fact, 41 percent of all those videos were watched on YouTube.
The other numbers in this press release are absolutely amazing:
- 78.5 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
- The average online video viewer watched 309 minutes of video, or more than 5 hours.
- 98.9 million viewers watched 5.9 billion videos on YouTube.com (59.2 videos per viewer). YouTube uses Flash Video.
- 48.7 million viewers watched 367 million videos on MySpace.com (7.6 videos per viewer). MySpace uses Flash Video.
- The duration of the average online video was 3.2 minutes.
- The duration of the average online video viewed at Hulu was 10.1 minutes, higher than any other video property in the top ten. Hulu uses Flash Video.
I think it’s pretty obvious that the Flash Video market share continues to grow. Then again, when 99% all internet users can watch Flash Video, why wouldn’t you use Flash Video? ;-) Go Flash!
Video tutorial: Add video to your Flex application
In this video I show you how to add a simple video player to your Flex application by using nothing but standard Flex components.
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.
