Flash video and FLV player resources
Sometimes I get very excited when I find a new Web site that I expect to be useful to me for a long time. That happened yesterday when I came across Flashstreamworks.
(1) They have a free FLV player that you can download and use, as is. That means that if you have some FLV files (the Flash native video file format), you can play them locally or online. You do need to understand how to modify the HTML in the (supplied) index.html file to make a particular FLV load and play. And you need to know the width and height of the FLV. But that’s not a heck of a lot. You do not need to own Flash — or know how to use it — in order to use this FLV player.
(2) There’s a very helpful tutorial titled “Flash Video Demystified,” by Eyal Menin. At first it looks like a text-only article, but keep going — there are step-by-step instructions with screenshots to guide you.
(3) The home page of the site is a news blog with links to great examples of high-end Flash applications.
And if you’re just getting started with Flash video, don’t miss the fabulous FREE tutorials by Lee Brimelow at gotoAndLearn.com. They are the best!
Technorati tags: video | Flash journalism | Flash
I’ve had pretty good luck with VLC - http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0oGkijzpe9ECJgAhbBXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTB2cXVjNTM5BGNvbG8DdwRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDc3IEdnRpZAM-/SIG=11g84ella/EXP=1156642675/**http%3a//www.videolan.org/vlc/ playing downloaded youtube videos. It doesn’t require any additional changes to the vlc file once you download it and save it with the .vlc extension.
August 26, 2006 at 1:44 amSorry, that link didn’t come out right:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
stupid yahoo search link.
August 26, 2006 at 1:45 amThat’s awesome, Bryan! Thanks! I installed the VLC Media Player without any difficulty and started playing FLVs immediately. I had a little trouble with the interface, but once I realized (1) that most of the player controls are at the top, and (2) that lots of functions are on a right-click menu, I was fine.
The big difference with the FLV player I linked to is that you can embed THAT ONE on a Web page and play FLVs — without resorting to a bloated Flash Component player.
August 26, 2006 at 1:56 pm