I recently bought the Flash Video Kit and converted the majority of the video on my site to .flv files ( the new Flash video format, different from Flashes standard .swf files.) After seeing some amazing examples out there of video in flash I decided to make the switch hoping for bigger videos with faster load times that were also cross platform. In the past I was having to render out 4 versions of each video I posted, a high quality and low quality version of both wmv and QuickTime.

So far the reviews are mixed. Many who have been to my site say that even the large videos load almost instantly and look amazing. Others have reported having some choke and a couple have said that the videos fall out of synch.

So in the end it wasn't quite the magic bullet I had hoped it would be. Overall I do like it a bit better than wmv or QuickTime. The quality and size, at least when I watch em, are still pretty impressive. I also like the pop-up semitransparent control bar on the video itself ( though one mac user told me that this feature did not work for them. )

You can check out the vids on my site to see what you think, they're under the " Media " section.

- Ray

www.undergroundplanet.com

P.S. Forgot to mention that I do use Dreamweaver but use Sorenson Squeeze 4.0 to convert my files to flv. as opposed to the Flash program. If my understanding is correct, there is a lighter version of Sorenson Squeeze that comes with Flash but it is not as robust as the standalone.

All the mini vids on my tutorial site were made in Vegas, then rendered as highly compressed WMV files then imported into Flash where they were again compressed at tad more with the built-in video software. The result is decent (suitable for web site) quality with comparatively small file size.

Click below and goto Pan/Crop, click on 2nd thumbnail (boy) then play the two little vids for example of quality. Since they are converted to Flash they load very fast on a broadband connection and in a reasonable time with dial -up. I think a nice feature is to show file download progress so would be viewers can bail out if they think downloading is taking too long.

www.bb-video.net

Ted, I would second what Muttley said. I would highly recommend you go the Sorenson route--great software and the compressed files deliver stunning video!

I've made some Flash files with it and it looks as good as the Windows Media stuff I've done. You won't be disappointed.

... and the files weight vs. quality: amazing !

Jay or Muttley,

I'm looking at the "Sorenson Squeeze 4 for Macromedia Flash MX" but its not clear to me, does it require Flash MX? I have Flash 4. The requirements don't mention Flash at all, but perhaps that's implicit.

Thanks, Greg

Greg, no it doesn't require Flash MX.

[EDIT]
I forgot to mention, if you do compression work for clients, you may want to seriously consider Sorenson Squeeze 4 Compression Suite.