OT: Flash Player 10 Beta released

Cliff Etzel wrote on 5/15/2008, 2:16 PM
Adobe announced that they have released a beta of Flash Player 10 beta to the public.

One of the interesting features of the new player is that, according to Adobe:

"...Applications and videos will run smoother and faster with expanded use of hardware acceleration. By moving several visual processing tasks to the video card..."

Looks like Adobe is tapping into GPU hardware to improve the playback of Flash video content.

I also just read that Adobe will be releasing the file format specifications for Flash (.swf and .flv/f4v) and removing all licensing restrictions involved with the Flash format.

Could this be what many have been asking for from SONY to finally be able to render directly to FLV format from the timeline for the next full version of Vegas Pro???

Cliff Etzel - Solo Video Journalist
bluprojekt | SoloVJ.com

Comments

Laurence wrote on 5/15/2008, 4:32 PM
This sounds good all the way around doesn't it!
jabloomf1230 wrote on 5/15/2008, 8:38 PM
Call me crazy, but I have all Flash content on the Internet blocked via a Firefox plug in (Flashblock). Sorry for the rant.
alltheseworlds wrote on 5/16/2008, 3:25 AM
I'm using Flashblock1.5.5 so I can enable/disable all Flash objects on a site. Some sites, especially some news sites, seem to be going nuts with Flash, sometimes 10+ large Flash elements at a high framerate (mostly ads). It's killing my web PCs CPU.

But you need at least the option for see Flash. There's just too much basic stuff in swf and flv format.

As for Vegas doing FLV export, that'd be pretty much worthless unless they're going to also include on the latest On2 codec, and you can be sure that codec won't be free.
Cliff Etzel wrote on 5/16/2008, 6:39 AM
atw - Adobe has to license the codec from On2, why should it be any different for SONY? In addition Flash supports h.264 as of version 9.

It appears that On2 offers a Flash exporter that is supported by any Quicktime supported application.

As much as I question one company having overwhelming dominance of any one form of web based technology - there really isn't anything else out there currently that can do what flash does. The other forms of web based streaming video technologies are left with the scraps so to speak.

If there were an open source equivalent to Flash, I'd be all over it just as I am sure many others would be.

Adobe made a very smart business move by acquiring Macromedia - the alternative is M$ Silverlight and we all know how specific that technology is.

Cliff Etzel - Solo Video Journalist
bluprojekt | SoloVJ.com
riredale wrote on 5/16/2008, 9:03 AM
I feel your pain about all the flash crap on many websites, but I'd suggest a slightly different approach. I use Firefox with the "Adblock Plus" add-in, and it does a beautiful job of quieting down every website I visit. Plus, it won't block legit Flash videos, such as news content, YouTube, or the Flash videos on my own website.

I've gotten so used to civilized website appearances that recently when I surfed with IE on another computer I was blown away by all the noise. Geez, a lot of websites look like the old Las Vegas strip at night.
deusx wrote on 5/16/2008, 11:04 AM
>>>I have all Flash content on the Internet blocked via a Firefox plug in (Flashblock). <<<

And you watch TV blindfolded? Sort of the same thing.
jabloomf1230 wrote on 5/16/2008, 12:46 PM
How is that the same thing? If a commercial comes on TV, I can ignore it by not watching or walking away. When some goofy flash advert come swimming across the screen like a drunken flounder complete with fake, non-working Windows controls, it's a bit harder to ignore. The person above that said that some websites now look like the Las Vegas strip was right on with that comment.
Terje wrote on 5/17/2008, 7:04 AM
How is that the same thing?

Because all (OK, close enough) online video is Flash? This is a video forum after all, and if you are not at all interested in online video in a video forum that would seem a little odd, wouldn't it?