Flash Player 10 reached a penetration of 86.7% (87.2% in the US/Canada) within a couple of months after its release - a new record for Flash Player penetration. The new statistics are available on the Adobe website. For the online video world this means H.264 dynamic streaming is now available for the majority of all internet users. With with the upcoming dynamic streaming support from all major CDNs, it will allow the next generation of seamless HD viewing experiences (1080p dynamic streaming demo).
Great news for the Flash community - Google adds Flash indexing support for external resources. Although Google had index support for SWF files before, it didn't include any externally loaded content (XML data, SWF files, etc). This added functionality is an important component for more complete searchability, and doesn't require any updates or special preparation of existing Flash content.
Adobe released the RTMP specs last week, which empowers Flash video streaming.
"The Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) was designed for high-performance transmission of audio, video, and data between Adobe Flash Platform technologies, including Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR. RTMP is now available as an open specification to create products and technology that enable delivery of video, audio, and data in the open AMF, SWF, FLV, and F4V formats compatible with Adobe Flash Player"
It doesn't include Adobe's unique secure RTMP measures.
Flash Media Server 3.5 in combination with Flash Player 10 offers dynamic streaming support, which automatically adjusts the bitrate and quality based on the available bandwidth, the client performance (fps) and numerous other variables.
The feature allows to offer HD quality video on the web without having to worry about different bandwidth conditions or hardware configurations. This demo demonstrates a high-end player with full 1080p resolution (1920x1280) - which is not the standard quality for the web (yet), requires some decent hardware (Flash Player 10 HD hardware recommendations) and a high resolution screen (e.g. 1920x1200). It would be possible to build this demo to automatically downscale to low-end machines with some additional logic (e.g. no 1080p fullscreen resolution for slow machines, VP6 (s) for single core, etc).
Hillman Curtis was so kind to provide his latest short movie "Bridge" for the demo and Uvault provided the Flash Media Server hosting.
For own player development it's important to follow some best practices for fullscreen and H.264 encoding.
The demo above uses the fullscreen acceleration available since Flash Player 9. As alternative Flash Player 10 allows the use of Direct and GPU mode acceleration even in the regular, non-fullscreen mode. Tinic Uro posted a good explanation of the new modes. A use case for GPU mode would be the desire for crisp video controls in fullscreen mode while maintaining the performance (a common issue with most players). GPU mode in this case would HW support the scaling of the video object on the stage, and allow to use a fullscreen resolution that is larger than the actual size of the video source without significant performance impact. The downside of GPU acceleration is the higher hardware requirements.
Although the player is not optimized for screen resolution based scaling of the video controls (1080p screen as target), here is a version of the same player with GPU acceleration. The fullscreen best practices post explains how to enable the GPU mode.
Enjoy the demo - with the right setup it shows what's possible with Flash and HD on the web today. And all those techniques (including full 1080p with the right encoder) work also for live.
The Flash website for Big and Small is one of the best examples of Papervision3D on the web today featuring an amazing interactive environment with great quality and rendering performance. The integration of comic characters with the 3D world is truly remarkable, also the overall artwork - watch the "making of" video below for more detailed information.
Flash Media Server 3.5.2 has been released on the Adobe update site with a variety of improvements around stability and live video streaming. In addition a server-side DVR application called DVRCast and an updated FLVPlayback component is available in the Flash Media Server tools section.
Read the new DevNet article to learn how you can deploy this new functionality. There is also detailed information is available on Kevin Towes' weblog.
I'm hereby supporting Hulu's efforts to take over the world by posting this clip on my "Bliggy-di-blog". The technology behind the master plan is certainly less scary. But let's assume for a second Hulu will take over the world, one of the important themes with the massive amount of video content will be be searchability.
Here is a great example how this can can be achieved by using the existing Production Premium CS4 speech-to-text and video search feature. The use cases for this are numerous, ranging from close captioning, to in-video search and content based advertisement. MSNBC uses similar functionality for their video player, which was especially popular during the election season. There are numerous indicators that the future of web video is searchable - which certainly will help to pursue any sort of evil (or good) plot, no matter it's originated from aliens or with the focus to find content in your news achieve.
There has been a lot of discussions recently about the definition of HD for the web. In a lot of cases it depends on the target audience. 720p (1280x720) satisfies most users needs, especially given the current average screen resolutions, but for certain high-end users (HDMI to TV), 1080p (1920x1080) might be a valid option.
Since most of these discussions were theoretical at this point, it's good to see that CBS put their foot down and is starting to offer 1080p for their HD episodes. No dynamic streaming yet, but impressive for sure.
Akamai announced this week support for FMS 3.5 dynamic streaming to efficiently improve the delivery of HD content with Flash. Part of the announcement is one of the first customers EPIX, a new Flash based HD video portal.
"EPIX has the unique advantage of partnering with three of the leading Hollywood studios which gives us exclusive access to their blockbuster movies, original series and special events programming on-air and online," said Emil Rensing, Chief Digital Officer, EPIX. "The EPIX approach of providing commercial free, uninterrupted current Hollywood movies in HD, will set a new online content bar. Akamai's dynamic streaming solution enables us to be one of the first to provide the accessibility, HD quality and convenience which today's digital consumers demand. [...] "Video quality is emerging as a competitive battleground for online publishers and a variable bit rate streaming solution is critical to help them navigate the diverse terrain of the Internet to deliver on the promise of High Definition video online," said Tim Napoleon, chief strategist for Digital Media at Akamai. "Media companies have increasingly turned to Akamai for support as they look to create premium experiences around their valuable online assets. Uninterrupted HD video over a standard Internet connection is a key piece of those experiences. HD video online is at its tipping point and a mission critical element for media companies to stay competitive and open up new revenue streams."
Festival de Cannes launched a public showcase site that uses FMS 3.5 dynamic streaming over Akamai's network for the majority of the content. One of many sites that will use the new feature for HD video delivery.
Google adds indexing support for dynamic Flash websites Great news for the Flash community - Google adds Flash indexing support for external resources. Although Google had index support for SWF files before, it didn't include any externally loaded content (XML data, SWF files, etc). This added functionality is an important component for more complete searchability, and doesn't require any updates or special preparation of existing Flash content.... Flash Player 10 at 86.7% penetration in June Flash Player 10 reached a penetration of 86.7% (87.2% in the US/Canada) within a couple of months after its release - a new record for Flash Player penetration. The new statistics are available on the Adobe website. For the online video world this means H.264 dynamic streaming is now available for the majority of all internet users. With with the upcoming dynamic streaming support from all major CDNs, it will allow the next generation of seamless HD viewing experiences (1080p dynamic streaming demo).... RTMP specifications available Adobe released the RTMP specs last week, which empowers Flash video streaming.... Short film: Bridge - 1080p Flash FMS Dynamic Streaming demo Flash Media Server 3.5 in combination with Flash Player 10 offers dynamic streaming support, which automatically adjusts the bitrate and quality based on the available bandwidth, the client performance (fps) and numerous other variables. ... Big and Small - amazing Papervision3D site The Flash website for Big and Small is one of the best examples of Papervision3D on the web today featuring an amazing interactive environment with great quality and rendering performance. The integration of comic characters with the 3D world is truly remarkable, also the overall artwork - watch the "making of" video below for more detailed information.... Flash Media Server 3.5.2 and DVRCast available Flash Media Server 3.5.2 has been released on the Adobe update site with a variety of improvements around stability and live video streaming. In addition a server-side DVR application called DVRCast and an updated FLVPlayback component is available in the Flash Media Server tools section. ...
