FLV Embedding, anyone?

Is it possible to get a high quality flash video embedded into a site? Similar to what they have here with the Dark Knight trailer:

http://atasteforthetheatrical.com/deathtrap/default.htm

Oh, and for free.

 

Generally i tend to just open it up in Flash and create a swf file that will just stream it, add a little player etc. Then embed the swf in a page.

 

I imagine alot of us don't have Flash, though, Rhys.

 

I was curious too so I did the google research for you. Keep in mind I haven't tried any of this myself, and I'm assuming you want free programs that run on Windows.

First you need a program to convert your files to .flv. Free Riva FLV Encoder looks straightforward, or if you want something more exciting, you could tackle the multi-talented program FFmpeg. Both free, the former has an optional buyable upgrade, the latter is open source.

Then you need a player. Looks like Riva has a free player available on the same site. FLV Media Player is another one I know of, and I'm sure there's lots of others. All it is is the interface with the play and pause and volume buttons.

Last, you need a host and the right embedding code. I haven't a clue if freewebs lets you code your own pages or if it allows embedding of videos. Based on this, I suspect not. I know my webhost has an interface to automatically do all this and gives you code, so I assume most other paid hosts have such a thing too, but of course they're not free.

Which probably brings you back to square one.

- Phi

 

30 day trial is your friend. For the most part, you don't really play the flv straight off the site, you tend to get an swf to play the flv for you. Dreamweaver is also capable of setting this up, let me take a look.

Yeh. Dreamweaver does pretty much the same thing, in creating a swf, which presumably handles video information like fps and so forth, adding a player and creating a little JavaScript to detect Flash version. All my video on rhys-works.com is FLV, but controlled through small SWF files, since i believe you will always need some kind of controller to handle the FLV, in the form of an SWF.

 

Do you think there's any chance you can set up these SWF players if I send you the videos (there's three, each about two minutes in length), Rhys?

 

I daresay, PM me the links and i'll see what i can do.

 

If you have Dreamweaver you can very easily embed flash or quicktime movies you know...

just hit the insert flash video button or insert "activeX" or "Plugin" button.

If you don't have that do this:

1. Insert this code into the webpage changing the parameters I've set in color to your own needs.

<object classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="360" height="288" id="FLVPlayer">
<param name="movie" value="FLVPlayer_Progressive.swf" />
<param name="salign" value="lt" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
<param name="scale" value="noscale" />
<param name="FlashVars" value="&MM_ComponentVersion=1&skinName=Corona_Skin_2&streamName=path to file relative from this document (e.g. media/movie&autoPlay=true&autoRewind=false" />
<embed src="FLVPlayer_Progressive.swf" flashvars="&MM_ComponentVersion=1&skinName=Corona_Skin_2&streamName=path to file relative from this document (e.g. media/movie&autoPlay=true&autoRewind=false" quality="high" scale="noscale" width="360" height="288" name="FLVPlayer" salign="LT" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" />
</object>

download these files (the skin files for the player) and put them on your webserver in the same directory as the html page.

http://www.ricardo-musch.com/web_assets/stuff/Corona_Skin_2.swf
http://www.ricardo-musch.com/web_assets/stuff/FLVPlayer_Progressive.swf

If you changed the parameters above correctly you should have a working player.

Note that Flash player will not always work when previewing the page on the computer itself. Make sure you upload the files to the server (correctly) and then preview the page.