macromedia flash flashcom: I know there's been a lot of talk about the NellyMonster codec. I've spent a
week coding my own linux based equivalent of Flash Media Server/Red 5, which
I'm happy to say already it works better than both the aforementioned servers
(although in the spirit of being a tight-fisted developer I won't be releasing
my tool :D). However, now I have come to a crossroads where I need to convert
my .FLV generated files into .WAV/.MP3 format for post-processing. So I'd like
to know which way is best to take this. So far I see:

i) Reverse engineer the infamous NellyMonster codec. (so far no one has
managed to accomplish this feat, and I'm not an audio compression genius. So
this can be crossed off).

ii) Create a Flash App that plays the .FLV sample, and redirect the Audio
Output into the Audio Input, while running a second program that records the
Audio Input in a more sane format. (this is possible but quite elaborate. but
I'm sure I could buy quite a few computers for $2k or $7k and get them to
simply function as .FLV -> .WAV converters :D)

iii) Buy Flash Media Server for $2k or NellyMonster's Conversion tools
(Crispa?) for around $7k.
Now, this is the point where I need more clarification. I've heard that Adobe
have developed a tool that can convert/decode the .FLV format into .WAV/.MP3 .
What I'd like to know is how this is packaged in the licensed version of FMS. I
have a trial version on my computer and I can't seem to find this NellyMonster
..FLV->.WAV/.MP3 converter. What is the command line parameters for the tool.
And would it be possible to use a trial version of such a tool while
development/testing, and then purchase the license for any commercial uses?

iv) Wait for Adobe to release a new version of Flash which records Audio using
a codec that is more open source friendly. Hopefully this may happen before my
multi-milliondollar award winning project will be released...

If you've written your own server to handle recoding the rtmp stream, then you
wouldn't need FMS at all. You could just use Crispa to handle the transcoding.

About the Adobe transcoding app, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it.
I've heard some chatter about Adobe releasing it in the future, but I've also
heard that the license agreement between Adobe and Nellymoser prevents the
distribution of such an application.

As for reverse-engineering the codec, I'm not so sure that's a good idea if
you plan to deploy it commercially. I'm certianly no lawyer, but I don't think
that this sort of revers engineering falls under the protection of the DMCA.
It'sa closed source proprietaty codec, and I don't think it would be consistent
with the DMCA's definition of engineering for interoperability.

Now that on2 has the vp6 encoder working fast enough for 1:1 (or better)
encoding, plehaps we'll see the encoder in Flashplayer 10. That said, I'm not
sure if vp6 will be made open source (AFAIK it's also closed and proprietary),
so I would guess that we'll have the same issues with transcoding.

My best suggestion... pony up the cash for Crispa. It works like a charm, and
it's the legal way to go.