Page 1 of 1 Have you ever had the need to stream in video to your web site and worried about the side effects of plug-ins, page size and slow download times? Well, your worries are at an end. Today, Macromedia announced the forthcoming release of their new "Flash Video Kit" for Dreamweaver!
Yes, you read that correctly, not Flash, Dreamweaver. The Flash Video Kit will open the door for all of us to easily create and add streaming video content to our web sites. OK, I can hear you say:"This sounds great, but I know nothing about video, streaming or otherwise, what sort of knowledge am I going to need to implement this functionality?" The answer to that is very little; certainly you won't need any video knowledge. You need only be a proud owner of Studio MX 2004 with Flash Pro. That is where all your required knowledge and expertise of working with FLV - Flash Video Format- files starts and ends. The Flash Video Kit handles all the technicalities for you. Let me explain the ease of which this can be implemented, and how you can get your hands on it, come the release date of September 1st, 2004.
As you might expect, the Flash Video Kit is installed via an .mxp file and the Extension Manager. Once installed, the Flash Video Kit is available from the Insert Bar as an Object, and provides us with many options for both setting preferences and appearance in our movie. The Flash Video Kit comes with six skins to choose from, and it also allows us to create our own skins for that unique feel if we need to customise. We are also provided with the option of setting preferences on our FLVs. For instance, we can choose when the movie starts to play, perhaps onload, or should it be event driven? We can also decide what happens when our video has run its course, does it stay at the final frame or does it rewind? All video files deployed through the FLash Video Kit can be accessed through the flash player, so no plug-in problems there. Not with over half a billion flash player installations world-wide!
The inclusion of a free version of Sorenson Squeeze 3 Lite - which includes much of the functionality that can be found in the full version - further enhances the Flash Video Kit. This provides us with the ability to easily create FLVs from existing files, and we can capture digital video directly from our camera. Now that is cool. I can think of one project I have coming up where that will provide exactly the functionality I need. The extension is not only simple to use, it also comes with complete documentation, ensuring you can get up to speed and deliver new media content to your clients quickly and easily.
When you install the Flash Video Kit you have a free flash streaming trial account that you can take advantage of. This is an ideal opportunity for getting to know and understand the benefits of streaming media. It also provides a great facility for you to familiarise yourself with the many benefits of being able to stream video into your web pages. Streaming is quick, efficient and effective. It is a compelling way to promote both your own business and your clients. If you decide that streaming media is not for you, no problem. The Flash Video Kit can handle your files as progressive downloads, maybe not as elegant as streaming, but it still provides a dynamic means of presentation to your users.
Macromedia Flash Video Streaming Service Lite, powered by VitalStream, is a subset of the Flash Video Streaming Service, and gives users access to VitalStream's award-winning content delivery network. The network empowers users to deliver high-performance streaming video into their web pages. The service also includes interactive real-time reports for monitoring audience viewing habits and media popularity. While the Lite service is designed specifically for use with Dreamweaver, the full Flash Video Streaming Service enables customization and interactivity when authoring video files in Flash Professional.
It's all about demand and listening to the customers needs. As ever, Macromedia has been monitoring and listening to what we need for our clients of tomorrow. Nothing stands still in this business for long, and it is hard to argue against the compelling nature of video promotion from the web.
"We are seeing a real explosion of video on the Web. Macromedia recently surveyed web professionals and the majority are already planning to add video to their sites: 70 percent want to use Dreamweaver to embed Flash video on the sites, and 74 percent want to build interactive video applications with Flash MX Professional 2004. The Flash Video kit and Studio MX 2004 with Flash Professional address both of those desires."
Adidas and the Discovery Channel web sites are two sites that have made good use of FLVs; both are available from the links below. I'm sure you've seen the Adidas advert that features Laila Ali giving Muhammad a right hook. Well, this was done with a feature rich, customizable user interface delivered with the Macromedia Flash Video Streaming Service, powered by Vitalstream, that furthered the company's reach to young consumers. This advert inspired Yahoo! to proclaim it as "Hands down, the best ad of the year".
Take the time to have a look around the videos and imagine how you could implement video to suit your clients needs. The possibilities are endless, and thanks to the Flash Video Kit they are also quick and easy to deploy!
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Keywords
Macromedia, Flash, Video, FLV, Extension, streaming, Dreamweaver, Stusio MX 2004, Flash Pro
