What you should know about Flash Video - Part A

Whenever a new subscriber signs up for an iPlayer account, I call as soon as I can to arrange a live one-on-one tutorial. During the tutorial, I focus on three primary subjects. The first, of course, is how to use iPlayer's tool set. Although iPlayer is very easy to use, a small amount of coaching goes a long way towards saving my subscriber's time while building value in our relationship. The second concerns the various ways subscribers can use iPlayer to earn additional income, particularly for those who earn a living creating video content. The third subject typically saves them the most time, frustration and headaches. That subject is how to create Flash video content. I've learned that most folks I work with do not have a clear understanding of this subject and I do everything I can to change that.

The first thing we must all understand is that Flash has become the dominant format for the Web. Right or wrong, good or bad, it is the simple reality. The reasons are long and complicated and there is no need nor is there space here to explain why. Rather than fight it by delivering competing formats like QuickTime or Windows Media, neither of which can come close to Adobe's very accurate claim of 98% penetration on all computers WORLDWIDE, smart businesses with video on the Web choose Flash.

Ok. That's the why. The how is much more complicated. It seems there are as many tools to create Flash content as there are stars in the sky. Deciding which software to use can be difficult. Then, after you purchase the software, how do you use it? What settings create the best looking result? In this post and others to follow, I'll attempt to answer those questions.

Of all the encoding tools available to create Flash content, three emerge as the leaders: Adobe Premiere, Sorenson Squeeze 5 for Flash, and ON2 Flix Standard and Pro. All three will create VP6 Flash video - the VP6 Flash codec was invented by ON2 and is the primary reason Adobe delivered Flash Players 8 and 9. While all three softwares will create excellent Flash video, I choose ON2 because - well, honestly it is the one I know best and have come to trust. The others, I am sure, provide the same comfort level to those who use them as ON2 does for me.

Having said all of that, it is in my next post that I will talk about the encoder settings that will create the best looking video. The settings I will provide are those I use in ON2 Flix Pro but they are also settings that can be used in any multi-pass Flash encoder. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, let's talk about the various Flash codecs and what they should mean to you and the choices you make. Earlier I stated that 98% of the world has Flash Player. To be more accurate, 98% of the world has Flash Player 9, a distinction that is important to note. Flash Player 8 is required to play ON2's VP6-E codec. All other codecs created prior to VP6-E will also play in Flash Player 8. Flash Player 9 plays all codecs that play in Flash 8 but also plays two newer codecs: VP6-S and H264. These are two HD competing formats, the former created by ON2 and the latter by MPEG-LA. There is a caveat to these two codes however and you need to know it. VP6-S and H264 require Flash Player 9 with Update 3 to be viewed. If you don't have Update 3, neither VP6-S or H264 will play. Extensive testing by iPlayer confirms that while 98% of machines have Flash 9, only half have Update 3. This is why we recommend iPlayer subscribers not use VP6-E or H264 until a larger share of the world's machines have Flash 9 with Update 3. Most of us are not in the position to require a software upgrade to view our video, even one as easy as Flash.

Here is some good news: You Tube will soon convert to H264. This insures the adoption of the latest Flash Player 9 will soon reach the level of it's predecessor. The world is watching You Tube and You Tube knows you'll upgrade when prompted.

Next up: Encoder settings that create excellent video