Does H264 mean the end of FLV?

In an earlier Post, I wrote that the two competing Flash HD formats, H264 and VP6-S, both play in Flash Player 9 with update 3. When You Tube moves to H264, these two Flash HD formats are going to soon command your serious attention. To repeat my earlier post, You Tube will force the 50% or so of you that do not have update 3 to get it. It is an easy and fast upgrade but its going to take a force like You Tube to get the world to act. Once they do, H264 and VP6-S become viable.

Over several months, prior to launching iPlayer, we encoded a lot of video in both the H264 and VP6-E formats. The results showed marginal differences between the two formats. H264 has a slightly better visual quality, probably not enough to be noticed by the untrained eye. VP6-E used slightly less processing power while producing an excellent visual result. On balance, I'd say the two formats are even.

Having said all that, will H264 win this battle of the online Flash formats? Probably not. There are many encoders on the market creating both formats and the folks marketing them will work hard to preserve their share of revenue. Until there are more compelling reasons why one format should dominate, we'll see both formats used extensively.