Can anyone tell me the best way to export my CS3 footage to a flash (flv) video.

I have premier CS3, Adobe Flash CS3 Pro, and Adobe CS3 Video Encoder.

I have not had very good luck, and hoping someone else has.

Thanks

It works fine. Since most pieces I do end up in several formats (HD, SD, Web, etc.), I create a lossless master exporting to Quicktime with the Animation or Avid DNxHD codecs. From there I'll transcode to Flash using the Flash encoder. Those settings should be pretty straightforward.

"Best" is a subjective word. It will depend on your criteria. For me, I'm never satisfied with results that any non-professional could achieve with minimal knowledge and basic tools. I think that's what you get when you go with the rudimentary Flash encoder that comes with the software.

If you truly are after the best encoding software, you should consider tools that offer more than just a simple conversion. Filtering is an essential part of any professional compression job. Things like sharpening, smart de-interlacing, noise reduction, buffer verifier settings, real-time preview, gamma shifting, and a whole host of other options should be available to you. And, you should take the bull by the horns and learn how to use that software to wow your audience. A lot of folks will disagree with me. That's fine.

IMO, the best jack-of-all-trades compression tool that offers FLV (among many other output options) is Episode (Episode Pro if you do a lot of compression) by Telestream. Nothing else touches its power.

So no telling if this is honest, legal, good, bad whatever, but here's what I've been doing for flash video lately.

Upload H.264 .mov file at 5000kbps to vimeo (or some other HQ codec at a decent data rate), then once the site has converted it for playback, use the web video downloader add-on for firefox.

I'm no expert at flash, but from what I see, an HD flash file on vimeo looks pretty good, and equally as good playing on my desktop. All at deliciously small file sizes to boot.

These are only my own videos of course, and since I got a "plus" membership they're supposed to be converting my stuff with 2-pass encoding. Not a professional approach, as I know how fine an art compression is, but for quick and dirty, it works.