Installation guide

Ifyourwebsiteorblogreliesheavilyonvideo,audio,orreal-timedatasharing,youcangiveyour
user the best experience by using the features in Flash Media Server.
Delivery comparison
e following table provides a comparison of the three video delivery techniques in Flash
Media Server.
Embedded video Progressive download Streaming delivery
Encoding Video and audio is encoded
on import into Flash using
a Sorenson Spark or VP6-E
codec. Alternately, FLV les
(encoded elsewhere) can be
imported and placed on the
Flash Timeline (re-encoding
is not necessary).
Video les are encoded
in either the built-in or
standalone version of Adobe
Flash Media Live Encoder,
through Flash Video Exporter
and a third-party nonlinear
editing or encoding product,
or using a standalone video
encoding application such
as Sorenson Squeeze or
On2 Flix.
Same as progressive delivery.
In addition, you can capture
and record live video feeds
from client-side webcams
or DV cameras, or using
Adobe Flash Media Live
Encoder, and control live
encoding variables such as
bit rate, frames per second,
and video playback size
programmatically.
File size SWF les contain both the
video and audio streams as
well as the Flash interface,
resulting in a single,
substantially larger le size.
SWF and video les are
stored separately, resulting
in a smaller SWF le size.
Same as progressive delivery.
Start time Large SWF les often require
users to wait before the video
starts playing, resulting in a
negative user experience.
Starts relatively quickly,
after enough of the video
has downloaded to begin
playback.
Immediate. The fastest way
to go from initial load to
actually playing the video.
Timeline access When embedded in the
Flash Timeline, video
appears on individual frames
and can be treated like any
other object on the Stage.
Video is played back only at
runtime. Individual frames
are not visible on the Stage.
Timeline events can be
triggered at selected times
during video playback using
ActionScript.
Same as progressive delivery.
Publishing Each time a Flash movie
is published or tested,
the entire video le is
republished. Changes to
video les require manually
re-importing the les into
the Timeline.
Video les are only
referenced at runtime.
Publishing to SWF les is
much faster than embedded
video. Video les can be
updated or modied without
recompiling the SWF le.
Same as progressive video.
You can dynamically pull
video les from virtual
locations, such as your
storage area network (SAN),
a FVSS, or other content
delivery network (CDN).
Frame rate Video frame rate and SWF
movie frame rate must be
the same.
The video le can have a
dierent frame rate than the
SWF le.
Same as progressive delivery.
Live video capture has
programmable control over
frame rate.
ActionScript access Video playback and control
is achieved by manipulating
the movie’s playback on the
Timeline.
The NetStream class can be
used to load, play, and pause
external video les.
Seek can also be performed
on the portion of the video
that has been downloaded.
Same as progressive delivery.
Server-side ActionScript
can also be used to provide
additional functionality such
as synchronization of streams,
server-side playlists, smart
delivery adjusted to client
connection speed, and more.
Components No video-specic
components.
Media components (Flash
8 Professional and later)
can be used to set up and
display external video and
audio les together with
transport controls (play,
pause, seek, and so on).
Same as progressive
video. Also, you can
use Flash Media Server
communication components
for streaming live and
multiway video.
Seek and navigation
ability
Requires the entire SWF le
to be downloaded before
the user can seek or navigate
the video.
User can only seek to
portions of the video that
have been downloaded.
User can seek anywhere at
any time.
Web delivery Entire SWF le must be
downloaded to the client
and loaded into memory to
play back video.
Video les are progressively
downloaded, cached, and
then played from the local
disk. The entire video clip
need not t in memory.
Video les are streamed
from Flash Media Server,
displayed on the client’s
screen, and then discarded
from memory in a play-as-
you-go method.
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