hi - i've been using the F8 video encoder and F8 to create streaming flash
video. i was recently asked by a colleague if we should buy into the flash
media server.

can someone tell me what the benefits of it are and what it will allow us to
do that we're already doing with F8 streaming?

thanks.

hmm, this answer doesn't really do it for me. here's why...

i took F8 training a while back. the trainer, who was an expert, told me
that although progressive download acts like streaming, it will work fine with
most applications. so far, of all of the F8 videos i've made, it's worked
great.

so there has to be a better reason than what's stated below for justifying the
F8 server. any other ideas?

To clarify terms... video served to the flashplayer via FMS is a stream. Video
served to the flashplayer via http is referred to as "progressive download".

If all you're doing is serving video, the benifits from using FMS are:

1. Users can seek to any keyframe in the video at any time. With progressive
download, the user can only seek to the last keyframe that has downloaded.

2. FMS streams are not stored on the client's machine... data is dumped as
soon as the video frame plays. With progressive, the entire flv file is stored
in browser cache.

3. With FMS, data transfer will stop when the video is stopped. With
progressive, the data transfer will continue until the entire file is served,
or until the download is programatically cancelled. (or until the client
unloads the page)

If none of those are an issue for you, then there is no need to go dropping a
bunch of money on FMS.

Hello :)

with F8 ou F7 your video flv is not in real stream but in progressive
mode ! Your video is download on the client.

with FMS the flv is in a real stream ! the video is on the server but
not in the client.

EKA+ :)

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