Just need a bit of clarification here regarding producing FLASH video from Edius 5:

- First, can E5 create a FLASH video/file from the timeline?

- If E5 can't do this, what are the alternatives to doing so with E5?

export timeline to Canopus HQ (very fast)

make the flash with FlixPro (the best)
On2 Flix Pro - Professional Flash Video Editing & Encoding Software for Windows and Mac (http://www.on2.com/index.php?365)

You can generate H264 MP4 files, that are valid for Adobe's Flash Player. From what little experimenting I've done exporting H264 (with Neo 2), the encoder seems like decent one. I'm pretty sure Neo 2 and Edius 5 use the same H264 encoder. You are limited to 3 consecutive B frames though. Adobe's Flash Player will work with H264 encoded MP4s using more consecutive B-frames, and that can help when compressing heavily for web video. I like using x264 for H264 encoding. It's one of the best quality H264 encoders out there and is free.