A Practical Streaming MediaPlayback Component Example

[berry_lthird]

Greetings, All,

After reading several of the posts here, I decided to create an example of Flash MX 2004 Pro's MediaPlayback Component. In my opinion, this is the best means by far to utilize video in the Flash player quickly and easily, yet with a nominal set of features.

The MediaPlayback Component, native only to Flash MX 2004 Pro, can accept either .FLV video files or .MP3 audio files. You can manage its features rather easily from the Component Inspector.

I have submitted my example to FlashKit for posting, but you can preview my example HERE:

http://www.grabtv.tv/examples/intell...example_1.html

Or download the source files from HERE:

http://www.grabtv.tv/examples/components_1.zip

You can use my example as a utility to profile your media files and test to see how they will stream: It will accept both .FLV and .MP3 media files from a remote URL that you specify, or you can simply browse for those types of media files that are stored local to your computer system. When playing .MP3 files, my example will parse the ID3 tag information, if it is available.

For those of you who are still new to video compression for Flash: I highly suggest you start with the MediaPlayback component. Third-party utilities such as Squeeze by Sorenson (http://www.sorenson.com) and Discreet Cleaner (http://www.discreet.com) have templates and presets that will make compressing your .FLV video files a no-brainer. If not, you can always import your videos into a Flash document and 'embed' them via the Sorenson Spark codec, and then export the .FLV files individually directly from the document's main library. ('Linking' the videos will only mean that you must publish your final Flash document as a QuickTime movie.)



For more information about getting video into your Flash movies, follow THIS LINK:

http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/...deo_print.html

Ignore the first two sections and skip-down to the heading, "Embedding Video Directly in a Flash Document".

I sometimes use Flash's built-in library of components as a "quick-and-dirty" solution when I am up against an impending deadline. However, I still prefer to develop my own custom solutions: What little you can customize about the native cache of Flash components is more than the hassle it is worth. They are quirky at best, if not buggy. And after dealing with the proprietary object model associated with each component, you might quickly find yourself stuck in a quagmire of sloppy, messy ActionScript code.

Well now...I certainly hope my example will be of use to the members here at FlashKit. Please let me know what you think!

Good Hunting,
--Link.

[berry_lthird]

.....Just got through updating the example. Fixed some bugs, added a cookie feature for the history list, and threw-in some cool new special dragging effects!