Converting to Flash

sean@oregonsound.com wrote on 7/3/2007, 3:05 PM
What's the consensus on the best options for creating Flash files? From my poking around I've surmised that there is nothing that would allow this to happen directly from Vegas, correct? I know the full (and pricey) Macromedia software must be the best way to go, but if simple conversion for web placement is all we're after, is there any reason to avoid cheaper utilities like Blaze Media Pro?

Comments

LReavis wrote on 7/3/2007, 5:09 PM
On2 developed the flash codec for Adobe; you can get their cheapo compressor for about $40 from

http://on2.com/products/flix/flix-standard/?sid=6G1D-DC3E-468adf32e68b5&ref=

However, it does not support 2-pass encoding. Personally, I chose to upgrade my old Camtasia Studio for (as I recall) about $150. It will convert almost any video file to .flv format, and it does support 2-pass encoding. In order to get it to work, I had to disable ffdshow. Excellent tech support from Techsmith found that problem and told me how to solve it in a (pardon please) flash.

I sometimes encode to .WMV from Vegas, but .WMV when used as an intermediate is quite slow if longer than, say, 20 minutes in length. Uncompressed formats are good, but you'll probably want to delete the huge intermediate uncompressed files after getting your flash .flv file.

At the moment, I'm compressing to .flv from an .AVI that I created in Vegas using the Pegasus MJPEG compressor. That 69 minute file is taking quite a long time to compress, but I don't know if it's slower than when uncompressed intermediates are used. In any case, Camtasia/flash codec seems to use only one of the 2 cores in my core-2 duo CPU, so it's never going to be a speed demon (the Pegasus codec utilizes 100% of my CPU when compressing from Vegas, and this 109-min. .AVI required about 2-1/2 hours to compress).

If you go the uncompressed intermediate route, I've had good luck with the MSUlossless codec. The Microcosm codec for Quicktime may be a better codec, and it produces somewhat smaller lossless files than most alternatives, but I don't know if Camtasia can open .MOV files. If so, it might be the best option for creating intermediate files from Vegas.
rmack350 wrote on 7/3/2007, 5:16 PM
Well, Looking at the Blaze Media Pro web site, I can think of two reasons to avoid that particular program:

1. no mention of FLV or SWF format
2. The page is just plain hard to look at.

Now, for a more useful opinion. Not all encoders are created equal. Some will encode a movie to FLV in the older Sorenson codec while others offer the On2 VP6 format. VP6 is the better of the two so that's what you want.

The other thing you probably want is for the encoder to also create a SWF player for the FLV movie. Some programs do a nice job, others don't.

I'm using Flash and can't really recommend a third party encoder, but they're out there and some are very good.

Rob Mack
sean@oregonsound.com wrote on 7/4/2007, 3:41 PM
They say they can do it here:

http://www.blazemp.com/convert_video_to_flash.html

You're right, though. Their funky website sends up little red flags. I'll look further into the other options offered here after consulting with my web designer. We'll want to be able to post 1-3 minute demos in as high a quality as we dare while still assuring smooth streaming.
auggybendoggy wrote on 7/4/2007, 7:20 PM
what about swish?

I've been looking into this as well and I found swish max

http://www.swishzone.com/index.php?area=products&product=video

Aug
jday wrote on 7/4/2007, 8:36 PM
I use both SwishMax and Namo FreeMotion. both are very good programs and much cheaper (less expensive) than Flash. Between the two, I think Namo FreeMotion is easier to use, but SwishMax is more popular and there is a lot more support and downloadable files for it.
BrianStanding wrote on 7/5/2007, 7:40 AM
Anybody tried the Flix VP6 exporter from On2? Looks like it will do the trick.

http://on2.com/products/flix/exporter/?sid=FMJ9-IP5I-468d01723ae12&ref=

I forget, does Vegas support QuickTime plug-ins?
rmack350 wrote on 7/5/2007, 8:47 AM
I know that some people do use the On2 encoder, however, I think Vegas doesn't see the codec even though it's quicktime. I'd love to be wrong about this.

I'm pretty sure that the VP6 encoder will see Satish's frameserver AVIs and this would essentially give you an uncompressed file to make FLV renders from. Nice.

Rob Mack
rmack350 wrote on 7/5/2007, 9:06 AM
I just hunted through the online manual for Swish Video and found no reference to VP6, which says to me that they probably don't support it.

That's not to say that the Swish Video encoder might not meet Sean's needs, but I think the VP6 codec looks better than the older Sorenson codec.

One thing about the On2 encoder that I didn't like was their selection of player controls. I just thought they weren't very attractive.

On2 also sells the encoder as a plugin, don't they? I wonder if they have a list of programs that can use the plugin?

Rob Mack