Technical information

by Forest Key and Chris Hock
26
What improvements to video performance have been made with
Macromedia Flash Player version 7?
Flash Player 7 increases playback performance for video significantly by
allowing full speed playback of much larger and longer video files. Flash
Player 7 also adds support for progressive download video, allowing FLV
files to be loaded and played back at runtime.
How does Flash Video work with QuickTime?
The Flash Video Exporter plug-in (included with Flash MX Professional)
enables applications that support QuickTime movies to encode/transcode
directly video and audio into the Flash Video (FLV) file format. Additionally,
Flash MX and Flash MX Professional 2004 support importing QuickTime
movies, which are then encoded into FLV and placed in the Flash Timeline.
Flash does not support playing back QuickTime movies, such as those
encoded in MPEG2 or MPEG4.
Can Flash Player play back Windows Medi a, QuickTime, or Real video
files?
No. Flash Player does not support playback of video files created with other
video codecs such as those used in Windows Media Player, Real Player, or
QuickTime Player. These files can be transcoded into the Flash Video file
format (FLV) with third party products such as Sorenson Squeeze, Agility
from Anystream, or Cleaner from Discreet.
Can I stream Flash Video?
Yes, with Macromedia Flash Communication Server (available separately).
See separate FAQ section on Flash Commun ication Server.
Can I use Flash Video on devices?
Yes, devices that have Flash Player 6 or later support video playback and
video streamed from Flash Communication Server. Earlier versions of Flash
Player, including Flash Lite, do not support video playback features.
Can I use Flash Video on CD/DVD ROM?
Yes, Flash Video files can be played back from fixed media such as CD-ROM
or DVD-ROM. For greater control and enhanced capabilities when using
fixed media, consider Macromedia Director MX.
Can I encode Flash Video using batch-encoding tools?
Yes, batch encoding tools such as Discreet Cleaner and Anystream Agility
support the Flash MX Professional Flash Video Exporter plug-in and
therefore can encode Flash Video files. Batch encoding tools can be used to
encode multiple video clips during one batch process.
Can I encode Flash Video using nonlinear editing tools?
Yes, digital video editing tools such as Avid Media Composer and Xpress,
Apple Final Cut Pro, and Pinnacle Edition support the Flash MX
Professional Flash Video Exporter plug-in and therefore can encode Flash
Video files.