macromedia flash flashcom: Hi,

I just purchased the Flash Communication Server so I can stream on demand
video to users with the Flash 6 player. I'm having a little trouble getting
started. I'm finding there isn't much documentation on how to install, set up
and configure the server. I have basic questions like:

What should my doc root folder be?
Where should I put my html, flv, and swf files?
Do I need to make any special configurations in IIS or Windows on my server?
Lastly, once it's all up and running how would I link to my flv file using
netStream (what's the path)?

I was appalled to see that while there were many cool sample apps included
with FCS, NONE of them were for doing basic video streaming which seems like it
would be the meat and potatoes of what this software does. Also very poor
documentation of how to install and set up the server.

If anyone can answer these specific questions I'd really appreciate it. Also
if there are some good resources online I should read to educate myself on how
all this works, please let me know.

Thanks!

Here is a huge list of articles that you should read:


Creating a Dynamic Playlist for Streaming Flash Video
Delivering Flash Video Dynamic Bandwidth Detection with Macromedia Flash
Communication Server
Encode, Deliver, Design Getting a Grip on Flash Video
Encoding Best Practices for Live Video
Encoding Best Practices for Prerecorded Flash Video
Flash Video Learner's Guide Capturing and Encoding Video
Macromedia - Developer Center Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX Coding
Guidelines
Optimizing Video Streaming with Dynamic Buffering Strategies
Overview of Best Practices for Delivering Flash Video
Peldi's Coding Caf? Flash Communication Server Best Practices

All of these are on the Flash Com Developer site. I just downloaded Flash Com
server today and I am looking forward to on demand and live event streaming in
the near future. I hope you find what you are looking for because just starting
out as well.

Thanks for the help. By taking another stroll through the Flash Comm Dev area
with your tips, I was able to find a sample that seems to stream flv files on
demand. http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/flashcom/articles/broadcast.html I
got it set up on my server and it seems to work fine.

When I try to modify the sample files to use different FLVs it just doesn't
work. It never loads the video. I put my FLV files in the same place as the
tutorial's FLV files and I just changed this block of script:

link_low.onRelease = function()
{
streamName = "video_tutorial_1_modem";
gotoAndStop("play");
}

link_high.onRelease = function()
{
streamName = "video_tutorial_1_broadband";
gotoAndStop("play");
}

stop();

so it reads:

link_low.onRelease = function()
{
streamName = "myflvfile1";
gotoAndStop("play");
}

link_high.onRelease = function()
{
streamName = "myflvfile2";
gotoAndStop("play");
}

stop();

Thinking that maybe I'm doing something wrong in the creation of my FLV files,
I grabbed some flv files from other samples and tried using them. Still no
video showed up in the window. Any ideas what I'm missing?

Our organization is interested in on demand as well as live video streaming so
I will read the tutorial that you have linked to and I will see if I can figure
it out. I will try to get back to you after I complete the tutorial and
attempts some customizations.

Keep me posted on your progress and please provide any solutions you encounter!

I can't even get my connection to work!

I have the flv files in:
c:\intepub\wwwroot\flashcom\applications\video_tutorial\streams\video\

I have the fla, swf and html files in:
c:\intepub\wwwroot\flashcom\applications\video_tutorial\

I am accessing the html file at:
http://localhost/flashcom/applications/video_tutorial/video_tutorial.html

I changed the actionscript on frame 1 to reflect the real file path:

From:
nc = new NetConnection();
nc.connect("rtmp:/video_tutorial/video");

To:
nc = new NetConnection();
nc.connect("rtmp:/video_tutorial/streams/video");

I am getting this error message:

Connection problem: NetConnection.Connect.Closed

Please note:
Upon install Flash Com server did not create an applications folder in
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\flashcom\ or C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash Communication
Server MX\flashcom\
Therefore I created the applications folder manually in
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\flashcom\ since I am running on top of IIS.

I don't know why, but that line in the first frame actionscript should be
nc.connect("rtmp:/video_tutorial/video"); Even though the files are in
video_tutorial/streams/video. I don't understand it, but it works. What
doesn't work for me is when I try to use any other flv files other than what
came with the example.

I'm putting the new flv files in /video_tutorial/streams/video/ along with the
videos that work and changing streamName = "video_tutorial_1_modem"; in the
sixth frame actionscript to streamName = "myvideo1";

After making these changes, it doesn't work. The video never loads. I've
checked to make sure the name of the file matches the actionscript and that I
really have the flv files in the same place and I've even tried using some flvs
from other tutorials in case something was wrong with the one's I created.
Nothing has had any effect. The tutorial samples work. No other flv files
will load.

I changed it back and I still get the same error. In the Flash Communication
Server Administration Console I clicked the tab for "Live Logs" and the
messages says "(_defaultRoot_, _defaultVHost_) : Application
(video_tutorial/video) is not defined. "

Why is my connection closed?

Once I get this figured out I will try to use my own FLV file as you have and
will help you with your situation if I can. Unfortunately, it looks like we are
all alone on this forum thread.

I think I figured out what was wrong in my particular case. The quick and
simple answer is that I was looking at the wrong flv files. Here's the more
complicated answer:

I created one directory at doc root (in my case the samples directory). In
that directory I put all the tutorial files, created the streams directory,
etc. I know the tutorial says to put all the files under the applications
directory, but since my doc root was set up by my IT guy as "samples" I put it
there, because that's where I can get to it.

Somehow a copy of the flv files have shown up in the applications directory in
applications/video_tutorial/streams/video/ I don't know how they got there,
but that's why the tutorial samples seemed to work. As I added new flv files,
I put them in samples/video_tutorial/streams/video/ and they wouldn't work.
So my environment has the client side files in the samples directory and the
flv files in the applications directory (I'm still not sure how they got
there). This seems to work.

This brings me back to my original question of are there tips or instructions
out there for configuring the FCS and related web server? I'm going to check
this issue answered and start a new thread about establishing doc root, etc.

Thanks for everyone's help!