Seamus Byrne22 January 2007, 5:20 AM
The time has come to cross your fingers and hold your breath for video streaming that 'actually works': the latest free Beta from Adobe Labs is set to deliver video streams via the trusty Flash format.
Has video streaming ever worked like it should? It seems we’ve been promised a lot over the years, but we’re still waiting for a video stream that ‘just works’.
The time has come to cross your fingers and hold your breath, because the latest Beta from Adobe Labs is set to deliver video streams via the trusty Flash format.
While Quicktime and Windows Media struggle to deliver cross platform reliability, Flash Player is now found installed on 98% of desktops globally, and it works the same way no matter what browser or computer you’re using — it even has a Linux and Solaris versions.
In its standard form, the Flash Video Encoder is the bedrock of video services like YouTube, and didn’t that work out nicely for them! Add it all up and, compared to all video rivals online, Flash deserves a big tick in the ‘just works’ check box.
 Adobe gives us Flash Video: Google gives YouTube $US1.65billion |
Now the Flash Media Encoder aims to deliver audio and video streaming through the Flash Player engine.
Anyone who has tinkered with streaming tools knows they like to make you work for your rewards.
Flash Media Encoder is spruiking an intuitive interface (aren’t they all) that will be as easy as plugging in any plug-and-play video and/or audio source and setting your desired size and bitrate.
Sadly, this isn’t going to be all that accessible to most users. The good news on pricing is Flash Media Encoder will be free. The bad news is it will only work in conjunction with Flash Media Server, which starts at US$4500, or a hosted service that is similarly priced for serious users.
As users, this is possibly the most promising development since Real Player first arrived. If the big players pick this up, live streams could be seamlessly integrated into any page on a site. No mess, no fuss. Just open the page and get ready for live video.
Longer term, this technology could pave the way for a new YouTube, Google Video or similar service that lets any user set up a live stream of their own. Now that would deserve the title of next web video revolution.
Will Steve Jobs stop streaming his keynotes in Quicktime? Probably not. Will Bill Gates deliver the next keynote from CES in something other than Windows Media? Highly unlikely. But they'll probably be the only people in the entire tech, media and entertainment industries who won't be all over Flash Streaming very soon.
If you want to tinker with the toys, you can get the Beta now from Adobe Labs, and the free developer edition of Flash Media Server (support for 10 concurrent users) from the main Adobe site.