macromedia flash sitedesign: Hey all,

I just started with Flash Video (and i didn't see a topic so i figured this
would be the best place for it) and I need to integrate it onto a website. Is
it possible to get quality like in the commercial on the
http://www.heineken.com/usa/thematrix_microsite/usa/

They have a 640x480 movie of the commercial and it looks clear. I know that it
is a quicktime file, but is it possible to export something of that quality in
the FLV format. My boss is getting on my back about it, and they are ready to
call it a limitation of Flash Video.

I'm hoping this is not the case, but I really don't know.

If it is possible, what would be the best way to compress it? I'm using final
cut pro with the Flash Exporter

Hi,

if I'm not wrong the flv is a MPEG4 based encoder. You can produce very
hi-quality video with the the highest settings (not so with CG or toons).
try this:

Encoding: 2 pass
Date rate: 544 kbits/s is the High value. Play around it becouse you can reach
the same visual quality with a lower rate-file size
Keyframes: again try first Auto, if your not satisfied try with lower
Motion estimation: better

And here is a flv player:
www.martijndevisser.com/archives/000021.php
very useful!

Cheers

Hi,

if I'm not wrong the flv is a MPEG4 based encoder. You can produce very
hi-quality video with the the highest settings (not so with CG or toons).
try this:

Encoding: 2 pass
Date rate: 544 kbits/s is the High value. Play around it becouse you can reach
the same visual quality with a lower rate-file size
Keyframes: again try first Auto, if your not satisfied try with lower
Motion estimation: better

And here is a flv player:
www.martijndevisser.com/archives/000021.php
very useful!

Cheers

Hi,

if I'm not wrong the flv is a MPEG4 based encoder. You can produce very
hi-quality video with the the highest settings (not so with CG or toons).
try this:

Encoding: 2 pass
Date rate: 544 kbits/s is the High value. Play around it becouse you can reach
the same visual quality with a lower rate-file size
Keyframes: again try first Auto, if your not satisfied try with lower
Motion estimation: better

And here is a flv player:
www.martijndevisser.com/archives/000021.php
very useful!

Cheers

Hi,

I recently spent a lot of time playing with exporting FLVs from Final Cut Pro.
You can definately get great quality video with the FLV format. I'm not sure
if the quality vs file size is better than quicktime but it is definately good.
The biggest issue you face is deciding on what bandwidth to go with. You have
to guesstimate the available badwidth you expect your users to have. Once you
have that down your other option is to play with the buffer.

If you look at krentz.com you can see some examples of 320x240 video
compressed using the 2 pass method at 300kbs. The video source was already
compressed quicktime files. If I had the source files I'm sure the quality
would have been better. There is also no need to buffer the video for someone
using DSL or cable. That is what my client wanted - no wait time for the video.
It is true that a lot of the 'video' is actually stills that transition with
fades but there is some clear shots of moving footage in the Hiwus movie. [Note
that the news footage was compressed from a quicktime movie that was made from
footage captured by a VCR from the TV and is fairly crappy]. When I was
testing deifferent settings I used a clip that was predominantly moving footage.

When I viewed the Heineken/matrix site at 640x480 using my DSL connection I
had to wait for the movie to load and then the playback exceeded the buffer and
stopped the video 3 times. Not the best user experience. I think that the
'letterbox' widescreen shot that they are using is also not really 640x480. I
am sure you could get that same quality of footage in an FLV and you would just
need to set the buffer to an appropriate size.

I couldn't find very much in the way of helpful examples showing the different
compression options so I spent a lot of time compressing different ways.
Hopefully you have a fast machine with lots of memory. I tried using the demo
version of Sorenson Squeeze. It lets you batch compress FLVs which would let
you set up a huge range of exports for comparison and then walk away for a few
days and let them go. I couldn't figure out how to do that in Final Cut and
Compressor didn't seem to support FLV.

Anyhoo, good luck.