Video Encoding Question

[tombarr]

Calling all video experts!

What are the benefits of using Videos embedded in a Flash element, (Flash Videos) versus, .mov, or .wmv, or mpeg?

Is there any bandwidth savings?

Can flash be deconstructed by end users and reused again as other types of video files can ?

Can users save Flash Videos to local drives?

anyone with any experience in this could you please give me your advice and opinions?

Thanks Tom

[gaybucks_chip]

Flash is a lil harder to save than othe rfile types, but with the advent of YouTube, there are now a ton of tools to allow you to save the videos.

Badpuppy has been working in cooperation with Macromedia on a DRM solution for Flash, but I don't think it's going to be available for another year or so.

As far as I know, the bandwidth usage of Flash is pretty close to WMV for an equivalent resolution file.

The one major advantage in my book is Flash is installed in something like 80% of the computers out there... a much higher % than Quicktime or Real, and surpassed only by Windows Media. Also, Flash is totally platform independent and works fine on Apples or Linux boxes, while Windows Media only sorta works sometimes on Apples, and not at all on Linux.

If I were adding a second video source, it would probably be flash. But if I have to choose one only, as much as I hate Microshaft, I'd have to go with WMV.

[basschick]

in sorenson, flash videos of the same quality as wmvs are bigger in k.

i've read that flash is installed in 95% of computers, but i'm not sure how accurate that is. flash banners send traffic less well than regular banners, significantly. we were talking about that on another board. so it makes me wonder if the flash stats i hear are accurate.

in any event, i'd go with wmv and quicktime because usually the only people who can't see wmv 8 (i don't use the newest codec) are people on mac, and quicktime is the mac native video format.