Authoring Playlists with the JW Player for H.264 and Flash Downloadable and Real-time Streaming Videos

Posted by Derrick on January 17, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Authoring playlists with the JW Player for H.264 and Flash downloadable and real-time streaming videos is an approach that many should consider.  Creating playlists with the JW Player is tricky but once you’ve creatied your first playlist you can easily deliver H.264 and Flash downloadable streaming videos from your web server or CDN.  You can also deliver real-time streaming videos in the Flash and H.264 flavors from a Flash Streaming Server such as the Wowza Media Server Pro.

What’s nice about the delivery of your videos is viewers will not know if your videos are downloadable or real-time streaming.  The delivery works for both PC and Mac platforms. Viewers also can’t tell if content is in the H.264 or Flash format.  Another great feature about playlists is you can set-up them up and then have them updated by novices not as well versed in authoring streaming video content.  With the xspf playlists, for example, you can stack your videos to play and then whenever you have new video content you can just add a new reference and upload the new .XML file to the web server.

To learn more about authoring Playlists with the JW Player attend one of the 2-Day Video Streaming and Compression Training classes.  You can take the class on-line, on-site or in Orlando, Florida.

Authoring Flash Videos with Dreamweaver and the Web Stunning Player

Posted by Derrick on December 1, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Authoring Flash Videos with Dreamweaver and the Web Stunning Player is something that many will start to do.  Many have heard of the JW Player for authoring Flash content but the Web Stunning Player is another player available.  In this tutorial you’ll learn how to install the Web Stunning Player as a Dreamweaver Extension and use it to author a Flash Real-time Streaming video.

Let’s get started.  First go the Web Stunning website and download the Web Stunning FLV Player.

Once you download the player double-click the .zip file and install the Web Stunning Video Player Extension for Dreamweaver.

When you finish installing the Extension click the OK button.

With the Web Stunning Extension running you can see it displayed in the Extension Manager. Notice that the Web Stunning Player is supported on Dreamweaver 8.  It also works with newer versions as well.  Now we’re ready to start authoring our Flash Real-time Streaming video.

To get started we first need to create a new .html  web page.  In Dreamweaver go the the File Pull-down menu and select New.

At the dialog window choose HTML

and click the create button.

With your page open click Save from the File pull-down menu and save your file as WebStunningFlash.html.  You can save your web page to where you save your .html pages.

Once you name your file choose your destination click the Save button.

Now let’s insert a table to help keep the video where we want.  Select the Insert Pull-down menu and choose Table.

In the Rows text box type in 2 and in the Columns text box type in 1.

Next, click the OK button

Select the newly created table and in the Properties Inspector under Align choose Center from the Drop-down menu.

Notice that there are two rows for the table with only one column. In the first row let’s give our video a name.  Type in Web Stunning Flash Real-time Streaming for the name.  This will appear above the video.  Now, to insert the streaming video you’ll need to select inside the second row.  This space is where your video will appear.

From Dreamweaver, select the Insert Pull-down menu, then choose Media and from the Sub-menu click the Web Stunning Video Player.

Now you can see the Web Stunning Player options available.

First let’s look at the Playlist Tab.  For this tutorial you can remove all the options outside of what is mentioned here.  Remember we are authoring a Flash Real-time Streaming video which is a video that is sitting on a Flash Streaming Server.

For this exercise we’ll use a video titled bunny_532L_RT_HD12fpsS.flv that is located in the content folder of our Wowza Server.  We are using the Fastplay application for On-demand streaming.

For the next step specify the name of your Flash .flv file.  For my video I’m using bunny_532L_RT_HD12fpsS.flv.  Under Element Title type your video name.

Under Type of Main Video Select the RTMP Stream (rtmp://Server_Path/Stream_Name) option.   For Main Video type in RTMP for the protocol, the IP Address to the Server, the application name and the name of your file.  In my case I’ll input the following:

rtmp://ServerIPAddress/fastplay/bunny_532K_RT_HD12fpsS.flv

You should see your video that you’re authoring displayed in the Preview.  Select Save to retain your information.   Now switch to the Player Tab.

On the Player Tab go down to  Playback and click Auto Play.  Save your settings and click the Insert/Update button on the right hand column.

Once you choose Insert/Update your Flash video populates the 2nd row of you table in Dreamweaver.  Save your .html web page by choosing Save from the File Pull-down menu.  Now upload your .html web page to your website.  When the Dialog appears for Put dependent files? choose Yes.  This will make sure any associated files get to your web server.

Once you upload your .html web page refresh the server and type in the URL to your web page in a Web Browser.  Your video should appear and play automatically.  Here’s what my video looks like using the Web Stunning Flash Player.

Streaming H.264 Videos with Wowza Media Server

Posted by Derrick on November 2, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Streaming H.264 Videos with Wowza Media Server is common place and a great benefit of the Wowza Server.  If you have a collection of H.264 real-time streaming videos you can move the entire library to the Wowza Server since it supports real-time streaming of not only Flash videos but also H.264 videos as well.  Now, it’s important to note that the server doesn’t support real-time streaming of MPEG-4 files but only the H.264 files.  Remember in most streaming and compression applications MPEG-4 Part 2 is listed as MPEG-4 and MPEG-4 Part 10 is listed as H.264 or AVC.  Why move all of your content to the Wowza Media Server Pro?  Well, if you’re moving the H.264 real-time content form a server such as the QuickTime Streaming Server, the move will give your content the cross-platform and cross-browser compatibility that Flash provides.

To learn more about encoding and authoring H.264 real-time streaming videos for Flash using the Wowza Media Server attend one of our 1-Day Wowza Media Server Trainings.  The class also covers many other topics and is available on-line, on-site or in-class.

Dreamweaver Great for Authoring Streaming Video

Posted by Derrick on October 31, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Dreamweaver is great for authoring streaming video.  So, if you need to start putting video content on-line then it’s a tool you should have in your arsenal.  The application is featured in our 2-Day Video Streaming and Compression Trainings.  One of the benefits of Dreamweaver is that is doesn’t insert a lot of unnecessary code.  Also, if you’re authoring Flash content the task becomes a breeze.  The tool automatically inserts the proper code whenever you insert a .SWF or .FLV file.  You can use Dreamweaver to also authoring Windows Media, Real Media, QuickTime, and MPEG-4 content.  Attend one of our Video Streaming and Compression Trainings to find out how to use the Dreamweaver and how to author your streaming video.

Freeman Compression Inc. Looking for Trainers in Rome, Italy

Posted by Derrick on October 30, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Freeman Compression Inc. is looking for Trainers in Rome, Italy that can teach video streaming and compression training classes.

Trainers with expertise in the following are needed:

Go Stream Surf
Sorenson Squeeze
Episode Encoder Pro
Wirecast
Video and Audio Podcasting
Video Streaming
Video Compression
Sawmill Professsional
Authoring Streaming Videos with Dreamweaver
Streaming Servers

We can be reached at 407.477.5837 or by email at info@freemancompression.com.