Questions Before Buying

There are a few questions that I have in regards to FlixPro before buying it:

1) What is the difference between the FilxPro codec and simply using the built-in compression utilities built into Flash Professional 2004?

2) Does FlixPro compress files smaller than Quicktime?

3) Apparently I need to keep my video files under 25MB for my CD-ROM project, roughly how many minutes of video would be under 25MB?

4) Will there be an export option in my video editing applications (Final Cut Pro, iMovie) directly to FlixPro?

5) How good does the streaming video work and how is it different from having a dedicated streaming video server?

Please let me know.

Thanks
DigitalMac

Hi.
1. Wildform has developed our own Flash video codec with 2-pass vbr. We find that it works better than the one in Flash MX Pro, but they are comparable. The main differences are the many other features included with Flix Pro (these include vector video, batch encoding, automatic player output, Flash 3-7 output, automated SWF functions such as preloaders, etc.):
http://www.wildform.com/flix/features_flix.php
2. Flix Pro can often compress videos smaller than Quicktime. But it really depends on many factors including: how compressed is the source video (it is hard to re-compress a very highly compressed source video), what is the codec being used, what are your Flix settings, and so on.
3. Size to duration ration is completely dependent on the image dimensions and framerate, so there is no direct correlation.
4. No. Flix is a standalone application.
5. Flash video uses "progressive download" so the video files actually are downloading to the viewer's computer as they play which is different from how a streaming server works. However for most applications the video "streams" very well as long as you encode video for the appropriate bitrate. You can check out the MX video jukebox shown here:
http://www.wildform.com/flix/flix_video.php

jb
www.wildform.com