Which video format is Flash friendliest?

I am working on a golf website. I found a really cool video on the web that I want to use in a flash movie on the front page. Here is my dilema.

The video is available in three different formats:
Quicktime = 4.23 MB
MP4 = 1.30 MB
WMV = 1009.32 KB

This video costs $10 to download so before I pay I have two concerns I would like to clear up. The first is that I do not want to download this video in a format that Flash can't import. I think QT is the most compatible format but it is also the largest file size. The second concern is that once I choose a format and import the video, my flash movie will be too large to be of any practical use. Thererfore I would think going with the format which has the smallest file size would be the best option but that gets me back to the compatibility issue.

FYI - The video is 30 fps which is more than I care for. My flash movie will be 12-15 fps. I dont know how much this will bring the files size down.

As far as I know, regardless of what format you download, you will need to convert it to FLV. I would then simply put the FLV file on your sever and then load it in externally.

Fine but which format will yeild the smallest FLV file?

Well that will depend a lot on your export settings, but I guess if I was paying for it, I would get the best possible quality one and then play with the FLV export settings until I got something that I was happy with size and quality wise.

So Flash can import Quicktime with no problem? I dont want to buy the vid and find out that I need to a codec or something.

Ok I bought the Quick Time format. Using the Flash Video encoder I put it on Flash 8 low quality settings and dropped it 15 FPS from 30.

The FLV has a file size of 163KB. This is usable however the quality leaves much to be desired. I went ahead and authored the SWF and placed it on the golf website here.

I am now going to work on using the Medium quality settings which creates an FLV that is 411kb. This is substantially bigger and I will therefore need to add a preloader to my Flash movie. I will post the results here when I am done.

Why are you putting it directly into the movie? Just load it into a player from an external folder.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kortex

Why are you putting it directly into the movie? Just load it into a player from an external folder.

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What is the benefit of that?

Will it allow for a larger FLV file to be played without preloading it first?

yep, you can then start playing the FLV while the rest of it is downloaded and it keeps the file size of the SWF small, so that loads faster as well.

Flash will play mp4 file without converting it to flv, but you can only view it if you have one of the latter players ( 9.0.something ) . Also the mp4 version may not play progressively. You may have to use a program that places moov atom info ( google it ) at the beginning of the file

If converting to flv it makes no difference which you start from, file size will be the same. Bit rate determines file size. The only thing to look for is the original quality. Better quality will obviously end up looking better after conversion.

Well I finally got around to switching my movie around. Now instead of embedding the FLV, I am using FLVPlayback to pull in externally. However, I just discovered that unlike the embedded clip, the FLVPlayback does not automaticlly repeat the FLV. Worse yet, there is no easy way to make this happen. I am only now researching the work around. If someone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

SOLUTION TO LOOPING THE FLV

Add this action on the FLVplayer object:

Quote:

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on(complete){
this.autoRewind = true;
this.play();
}

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I have a .mov file which I want to play in flvplayer component.
But it doesnt do anything.
Through help I have found that its property is 16bit integer(Big Endian), Mono, 22.050kHz, H.264, 1008*567, Millions .
How to play that .mov file in flvplayer.
The rest .mov file which I got plays fine in flvplayer component.
Eg-AAC, mono, 44.100kHz, H.264, 1000*567, Millions.

Any help ???

change the container format from .mov to .mp4 (you'll need to reencode your source) and make sure you're exporting for and testing with flash player 9 and above.

Dan

How to change the container format from .mov to .mp4 ??

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hcaraway

Well I finally got around to switching my movie around. Now instead of embedding the FLV, I am using FLVPlayback to pull in externally. However, I just discovered that unlike the embedded clip, the FLVPlayback does not automaticlly repeat the FLV. Worse yet, there is no easy way to make this happen. I am only now researching the work around. If someone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

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playerdiy.com offers one-click solution to make flv auto rewind, and with no actionscript required. You can configure this here - http://www.playerdiy.com/configurati...ay-videos.html

flash player 9+ will play .mov fine so long as it's encoded h.264 file extension not an issue.

yes Player 9 and above supports .mov, .mp4, .m4v and some other formate..
but still flv format is much better, because all the flash player version supports flv format...

can an m4v be controlled by a skin....without converting it to flv? I like the filesize and quality better of the m4v but want to have the control to scrub through the video by using a seekbar. I found a tutorial on pausing, rewinding etc, but nothing is said about seeking.

Thanks!