As you must have heard by now, Adobe have announced the upcoming support for H.264 video in the Flash Player. I guess On2 kind of gave the game away when they shifted their focus somewhat into the direction of H.264, yet my jaw is still firmly on the floor - I didn't think this would come around so quickly.
The bottom line: a huge step forward for web video. The Flash Player will incorporate what is arguably the most versatile and most widely adopted video codec around (it's used for much more than just web video), and it's an open standard at that with a huge eco system of encoders and tools to boot. Let it sink in and expect some big waves from this. You will be able to test this out via progressive download (I know I will) once Flash Player Beta Update 3 hits the streets later today on labs. Both Flash Media Server and Flash Media Encoder will support the codec in upcoming versions.
Tinic Uro has the most comprehensive set of information on his blog. Go check it out.
More coverage here.
#1 by Owen van Dijk on 8/21/07 - 8:38 AM
#2 by Stefan on 8/21/07 - 8:43 AM
#3 by Ryan Stewart on 8/21/07 - 9:23 AM
I couldn't be more excited about this.
=Ryan
#4 by Stefan on 8/21/07 - 9:38 AM
I feel exactly the same, I cannot wait for the new Player drop, I so want to give this a spin. How's this for some great news?!
#5 by Super Dave on 8/21/07 - 2:31 PM
#6 by Steve on 8/21/07 - 3:25 PM
Nice job On2 and Adobe.
Good call Stefan!
#7 by mikeintj on 8/21/07 - 4:31 PM
maybe it is too early, but how do you think this will impact 3rd party media streaming servers and websites that use them?
#8 by Stefan on 8/21/07 - 4:36 PM
'I am not in a position able to explain to you why we will not allow 3rd party streaming servers to stream H.264 video or AAC audio into the Flash Player. What I can tell you is that we do not allow this without proper licensing. Refer to Adobe's friendly Flash Media Server sales staff for more information.'
#9 by Ro on 8/21/07 - 5:50 PM
Thanks!
#10 by Brad on 8/21/07 - 6:36 PM
Stefan, I think your jaw is going to go through the floor once you start playing with HD trailers in Flash.
There will still be many use cases for the Sorenson and On2 codecs in Flash. Don't rule them out.
And by the way, Tinic rocks!
#11 by mc on 8/21/07 - 7:59 PM
I see Tinic mentions the impending release of FMS3 in his article (Any hints as to when this will be? Ryan? Brad?) and also the latest video article on the dev center gives streaming (and FMS) a big push.
#12 by Ryan Stewart on 8/21/07 - 8:22 PM
=Ryan
rstewart@adobe.com
#13 by Brad Outlaw on 8/22/07 - 12:16 AM
#14 by Hank on 8/22/07 - 1:04 PM
Now as for file formats and codecs Adobe committed to the MPEG-4 standards. But for transport (RTSP being the true open standard for virtually all content, including MPEG-4). Heck, even Microsoft and Real adopted RTSP over their own PNA and MMS protocols. Adobe chooses the wrong path: RTMP. Yuch.
This really sucks. I understand Adobe wants to make a buck on FMS, but there are so many great RTSP servers out there. And Adobe saves a lot of costs since they don't have to develop file formats, codecs etcetera.
It feels a bit like using free, open technologies, covering them with a proprietary sauce and then asking too much money for the package. It's very anti-consumer and anti-customer.
#15 by Ney on 8/23/07 - 12:52 AM
First time a play with flash back in 96 I knew that Flash will be the next big thing related to video... And HD video is just a begining of a new world of Interactive Television. The future of OPEN-TV is near and flash is a big part of it.
Anyway, I did discover/create a new way of making flash play almost or even the same quality of H.264 codec, check the SUPER quality (SUPER is 60% from original) and you see how amazing it look:
http://www.interactivedna.com/HD_720p
#16 by Dave Dugdale on 9/8/07 - 6:17 AM
What company will be the first to offer such an export feature?