What's the best way to allow users to upload video and convert to FLV format?

[OM2]

I have a client who want to allow users to upload video to his website.

I know Flash really well. And can create Flash video with no problems.

BUT... in this case... the problem is allowing people to upload video.
Most people won't have a clue how to create Flash video.

Whatever happens... I want all my videos to be Flash video.

I can't think of how I can allow people to upload different types of video and have this automatically converted to Flash?

When I get rich, I will buy Flash Comms server and donate this to my client (who is a charity).
This will probably solve my problems.

I've seen somewhere where someone has video on their website... which is hosted on Google.
This sounds like a good solution for me.
Has anyone used this?

Can anyone suggest anything else?

Thanks.


OM

[deadbeat]

You need something like the On2 Flix engine running on your web server...it's not cheap though...

http://www.on2.com/developer/flix-engine-sdk/

K.

[Dstoverden]

OM2 you describe the dilemna facing me also. I want to give videographers the chance to upload their videos and the chance for viewers who like what they see to download the same videos. Google is doing that right now, so is Dave.tv and youtube.com. You might want to go to their web sites and review what formats they accept. I see this process as being very labor intensive, accepting videos in various stages of acceptabililty and in a variety of formats. Receiving files in .avi, .mov, mpeg1, mpeg2 or mpeg4. wmv. and then encoding them to flv files to be placed on the web,....wow that sounds like a bunch of work.

At present I haven't figured out how to upload the videos using the flash components or how to build a flash viewer for that same purpose.

[OM2]

Dave

Thanks for the reply.
It's a problem I will have to solve.
So... I'll definitely post back to this thread to let you know how I did it in the end.

Thanks.


OM

[deadbeat]

It's not labor intensive at all if you have a server side solution set up...

K.

[MyFriendIsATaco]

you guys definitely need to use the On2 engine running on your server, but im pretty sure that's around $2000+, so start saving! but if you have that, it will take out all the hard work. youll only need to handle uploading the file, and from there, On2 will do the conversion for you.

[OM2]

thanks for the reply.
$2000+ isn't that bad actually.

can u remind me how much flash comm server costs?

and which is better...?

thanks.

[MyFriendIsATaco]

use red5...its still in beta...but its free http://www.osflash.org/red5 its basically the same thing as flash comm, which is now called flash media server. the only thign different is that red5 is written using java, so creating applications for it will be a bit trickier. it's also not as documented as well as flash media server. but the big plus...its absolutely free! it works exactly the same from the flash end. functions and things work the same. the only difference is the server end.

[OM2]

kewl... looking into it now.

when u say right an application...?
not sure what u mean?
can u give an example of what you might want to do with an application you'll need to code urself...?

ALSO... i'm sure there was another free server.
can't remember the name.
i'm sure it was open source.

[MyFriendIsATaco]

by writing your own application, i mean by making a custom chat server, or a multiplayer flash game. but for the typical video recording/playback, you can use one that comes with it.

[OM2]

hey kewl... i might give it a go!

i'm just about to get virtual private server...
it would be good to test on that.

[deadbeat]

Flash Comm Server won't solve your server-side FLV encoding issue though...

K.

[OM2]

Flash Comm Server won't solve your server-side FLV encoding issue though...

K.

how come...?
i thought it would?
all i have to do is write an application to allow people to upload videos and a flash application to then pick it up from the server??
surely thisis what flash comm server does?

let me know!
thanks.

[deadbeat]

Flash Comm doesn't convert videos from other formats to FLV...once they have been converted, you can use Flash Comm to stream the videos to your flash application...

K.

[MyFriendIsATaco]

correct. flash comm does NO conversion. that is what On2 is for. the only way that could work is if people only upload .flv files. then flash comm can stream them to a user. also, flash comm can handle recording directly from a users webcam, and saved on the server as a .flv