Good video on the web:

[Wheels]

Thought I would start a new stickie in the hopes that others would share some of the better video they have found on the web.

I'll start it off - a friend turned me onto this site today:

www.bethorton.mu/ // Goto the video link on the upper right - It's Quicktime/Flash. Made with Live Stage Pro.

This is very good as well:

http://www.vw.com/newbeetle/convertible/flash.htm // Flash video.

I don't think the focus of this forum needs to be just Flash video, I would love to see more discussion and exploration of different forms of Flash integration with video.

Broadcast, Flash combined with QT, QTVR's, Windoze Medium (rare), Real - whatever.

Flash is not the end all when it comes to video delivery, it has it's valued place - for sure. I personally believe that QuickTime is the most versatile and offers the best overall quality at similar data rates. I find myself working with QT much more than Flash (and it's much less time consuming I might add).

My favorite software (besides Flash of course) has to be a tie between the Sorenson-3 Suite and QT Pro. Both cheap and easy to use (your sophmoric joke goes here).

It really depends on the need, I don't recommend doing Flash because you can - but using it because it's the best solution for your requirements is proper justification. I guess I'm saying - don't force it, use it if it's right.

Anyway, my .02c.

[Wheels]

Here's a good example of Flash video gone bad, but certainly a worthwhile effort:

http://www.eaglef1.com/opener.html

The main problems are an oversize screen (FV likes 320x240 or less), six or more onEnterFrames running in the background, and likely, incompatible frame rates between the host movie and the video .swf. There is also too much motion for Flash's capabilities.

The compression isn't too hot either - even the QT alternatives are blocked-up.

[phreakdevil]

this one´s pretty cool.
http://www.moviola.com.sg
while your at it wheels.
what kind of acompression do you think they might use on a site like this?

[Wheels]

Thanks Phreak,

To answer you question, it looks like there are a variety of source compression formats that have gone into these pieces. This is often the case when you are getting source from a variety of producers.

Some of the better looking pieces were probably cut down to Sorenson before compression to .flv. According to Ben Waggoner, jpeg is the most compatible with the Flash codec - although I haven't tested it yet.

You can see some of the pieces were double compressed - that's what causes the color banding - reds and blues - and blocking. The source on those was probably saved out to Sorenson-3 first, a common mistake. I've been using Sorenson and None with best quality for most of my stuff recently, but I'm going to try JPEG next time around. It's best to get control of the frame rates and pre-compression with a good source output to get the best final output from Squeeze.

Garbage in - garbage out.

I like the Virgin Mobile clip - kind'a steamy.

[Jonathan_B]

Hi.
One of our users just posted these links in our forum. The BBC is using Flix to provide news updates from the war in Iraq.
The site is very well done.

BBC News Broadband Multimedia Console : Iraq War
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iraqcons/

Narrowband version here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iraqcons/index_nb.html

jb
www.wildform.com

[aa]

www.khfilms.com is something i just completed (not trying to blow my own horn, just thought i would contribute something to the thread).

it took me a while to get the hang of flash video and it's still not quite where i'd like it to be quality wise. but it is a start. i found that buffering a certain amount of it is important.

[Wheels]

Nice job aa!

I just got the new Apple 20", and the video looks super.

I'm wondering how you are buffering? Are you just preloading a set amount or are you adaptively preloading?

[aa]

thanks, i'm glad you like it.

i am buffering i think 40% of the total bytes for the video swf. i thought it was a good number to start with, even though broadband seems to be as fast or faster than the data rate of those swfs. can't ignore the 56kers i guess.

enjoy that apple 20" those are the BEST there is

[phreakdevil]

Really nice site, nice design, really clean, one questin i had wheels already made, however about the compression you used, becaus the vids look really nice and theyr not really heavy.

[aa]

thanks again -- appreciated. for compression i used Sorenson Squeeze and i highly recommend that app. it's kind of a dumbed down version of media cleaner but it is just as good for this type of video.

[Wheels]

Here's another:

http://www.robbiewilliams-usa.com/

Very well done, not too much bad to say - just the standard buffering issue and some minor lip sync problems. I got stuck on the "videos" page when I tried to load another - but I was trying to break it. Still loaded eventually.

I think this is a good example of how much it helps to start with broadcast quality source. Most of the problems with quality are a result of having to start with poor source.

[mudgy]

Orange County Earth Day 2003


I love the Williams site... clean and well designed. Some might think the boxes are distracting, but I liked it.

[MookieVision]

http://www.thefilmbusiness.com.au/

nice site. A little low res on the video side though.

Also, hey hey hey, liked the hk films site.

Any info on means of preloading video content?

[grish]

hey my workflow would be much much faster if i could not place a controller/preloader in my video.swf does anyone know of a good system for this.

aa's site works really nice. say aa, i wonder if you ran into any of the probs i've posted here:
http://www.flashkit.com/board/showth...hreadid=448665

i surfed your site a bit and didnt notice any sound dropping or player crashing but if i left a downloading video and began to load another one it seemed like i was downloading both, like the first one didnt stop loading. are you using unloadMovie() or removeMovieClip()? are you loading into a target clip and do all the videos share the same targetclip or do they each have their own?

sweet video controller btw. i like how it stopps the movie on mouseDown then adjusts the movie on mouseUp. is it in the video .swf? does it adjust itself for _totalframes for any loading .swf? if so i'd love to see how it works. if you are cool with that, could yo post it or email it to me?

thanks if you have time to answer some of these q's
grish

[blipstation]

check out

www.blipstation.com

uses flash video to present a full-screen video wall diary of a journey from London to Istanbul. Plays for between 12 and 18 mins and is different each time it is played. In other words there is no definitive or final cut version, but countless variants of the same story. Like it or hate it , it is certainly different.

[mudgy]

Why do people think it's cool to take over my screen?? Can’t see a damn thing due to two monitors and you can accomplish the same thing without taking over the screen.

Also, never got into the presentation because it shows 10-minute download. Really don’t have that time to wait. Oh well....

[Wheels]

Alright, the title of the thread is "Good video on the Web" - not "Shameless self-promotion".

Although this blipstation thing is video - I would like to see someone other than the creator posting it up as something they consider to be good.

Blip, it's an alright piece - nice concept. But it falls short on the "Good video" part. I'll leave it up for now, at least until someone else complains.

[phreakdevil]

Yeahh 10 mn for u for me it was like 30 or 23 or 15 mn on that blip thing, closed it, anyways. . .
Starting over: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/matrix_reloaded.html
I think the trick on this one is the Keyframes. . . also check: http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/ theres a cooler one and has a "ultra bandwith" version wich is 1000 X 540 . .. but i think they are having some problems with the downloads . . too many pcs . . on mac i was doing a 56 kb/s and 1.5 for pc, you´ll see what i mean.
Try playing it frame by frame.

Qt rules.

[mudgy]

I disagree....

QT is a pain in the butt. All the downloads, extended install, version problems. Not to mention platform issues.

Flash video is just as good, smaller file size, and less downloading and installing. Interactivity is also better.

Case in point: Lord of the Rings Flash Video Example

[kelly2shirts]

i have a site that is flash based with links to quicktime movies of my commercial work and such. they range in size from 1-4 megs (i'm pretty sure...) i can get them pretty small while looking fairly descent with media cleaner pro 5. so loading isn't too bad.

you can check it out at http://pupo.com/kelly

i'm an editor by trade. the flash site is my first attempt so be gentle. side note: i have used flash mx for use with the Avid (editing tool) for previsualizing animation with graphics and such. the only draw back is it doesn't export to quicktime video with alpha. i have to bring it into after effects to create the alpha. something flash will need to look at for future versions i'm sure. kind of a standard with the video world.

let me know what you think of the commercials.
kvl