Flash Help at DVinfo.net

Federico Dib · December 22nd, 2003, 01:20 PM

Hi,
I need to embed a short clip inside a Flash Site...
(I´m new to FLash MX Embed Video feature)

The problem is that no matter what I do... audio is not in synch with image...

I´ve tried all I´ve read on tutorials... but I can´t seem to make it work, and migraine is kicking in.. so I quit for today, leave a message in this board... and hope tomorrow I get the magic answer, from someone who had this trouble before... or expect that the client changes his mind and let´s me put the video in plain old quiktime.

Any suggestions?

Rob Lohman · December 24th, 2003, 02:58 PM

I've never worked with it before, but what resolution and framerate
is the video going in? I'm thinking that it must be quite low for
it to playback correctly through such a system?

Federico Dib · December 24th, 2003, 10:56 PM

The source video is a Quiktime 320 X 240 at 25 fps, stereo... about 2 minutes long and 2.8 megs in size.
I also did a test on lighter version that goes at 15 fps, mono... but it still won´t play the sound right.

I quit trying.. and Used a demo version of Wildform flix Pro.. which did a good job converting the MOV to .SWF... and I can easily call that .SWF from within the main Flash site and it plays pretty well and "streams" about the same speed as the origninal MOV...

But still I want to use Flash for this.. I know it can be done, but these past few days I can´t seem to do anything right, so I´ll wait a few days before trying again... (I´m in luck the client is taking holidays until january).

Zac Stein · December 24th, 2003, 11:48 PM

Are you trying to embed it as a .fv, swf or quicktime?

You have to make sure you are embedding the audio and video together, otherwise the audio will play at the frame rate of the project and not the video.

Zac

Kevin Lee · December 25th, 2003, 01:10 AM

I have some tips...

1. (Best solution) Install and use the latest Flash MX 2004. It's handling of video through .flv is almost perfect. A lot more encoding options, streaming capabilities and quality of playback is great. The .flv codec is installed with the flash application allowing you to directly export ready-to-go files in Quicktime (Pro). Then, it's a simple case of calling it externally. You can add a simple code to show the standard quicktime-like player controls in your flash file. The only drawback is Flash Player 7+ is required for playback. I've tested this on some of our videos and the quality is excellent.

2. Failing that, try adding a slight blur to smooth out fine details in your clip and do some adjustments to reduce unneeded contrasts. Finally, use a jpeg codec in your source clip like Apple Photo JPEG.

3. The usual - reduce frame rate and size of your clip. If your flash file is set to playback at 12/15/18, i would keep my movie clip to those as well.

4. I might even try striping the audio to just mono.

5. Long clips have an issue going through the import/encode process in flash. Try cutting long clips into multiple sections and stitch on timeline with actionscript calls.

6. We once had a perfectly synced long clip until it reached one frame of black inserted between 2 full-motion video frames. The black completely threw th audio out of whack.

7. Reduce encode quality and do not import at a frame-size larger than what you intend to use.

Hope that was helpful.

Kevin Lee · December 25th, 2003, 01:19 AM

adding...
We just finished a CDROM project that contained about 2hrs of videos. We used MX 2004 and shrunk the file size considerably while increasing video-quality three-folds. MX 2004 makes Flix pro (which i never liked in the first place) kinda obsolete.

Merry Xmas.

Federico Dib · December 27th, 2003, 09:30 AM

Ok.. so I guess I´ll give MX 2004 a try... I don´t think the client cares about the player version, the clip is actually a whim that not many will even want to see... and I just used the Flixpro to have a Beta Version to show... (I like to stay in Flash as much as possible).

But... I´m still puzzled by why it isn´t working..

To answer Zac.. I´m trying to use the IMPORT VIDEO option that Flash MX gives you .. where it shows you a Sorenson window to compress... and then it fills the timeline and creates the .swf.

Then from another movie I call the .swf created with the above method.

I haven´t tried anymore since the holidays and all.. but I guess on monday I´ll go for it again.

December 22nd, 2003, 01:20 PM	#1
Federico Dib Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Barcelona Posts: 312	Flash Help Hi, I need to embed a short clip inside a Flash Site... (I´m new to FLash MX Embed Video feature) The problem is that no matter what I do... audio is not in synch with image... I´ve tried all I´ve read on tutorials... but I can´t seem to make it work, and migraine is kicking in.. so I quit for today, leave a message in this board... and hope tomorrow I get the magic answer, from someone who had this trouble before... or expect that the client changes his mind and let´s me put the video in plain old quiktime. Any suggestions? __________________ Messenger Boy : The Thessalonian you're fighting, he's the biggest man I've ever seen. I wouldn't want to fight him. Achilles : That is why no one will remember your name.

December 24th, 2003, 02:58 PM	#2
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	I've never worked with it before, but what resolution and framerate is the video going in? I'm thinking that it must be quite low for it to playback correctly through such a system? __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

December 24th, 2003, 10:56 PM	#3
Federico Dib Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Barcelona Posts: 312	The source video is a Quiktime 320 X 240 at 25 fps, stereo... about 2 minutes long and 2.8 megs in size. I also did a test on lighter version that goes at 15 fps, mono... but it still won´t play the sound right. I quit trying.. and Used a demo version of Wildform flix Pro.. which did a good job converting the MOV to .SWF... and I can easily call that .SWF from within the main Flash site and it plays pretty well and "streams" about the same speed as the origninal MOV... But still I want to use Flash for this.. I know it can be done, but these past few days I can´t seem to do anything right, so I´ll wait a few days before trying again... (I´m in luck the client is taking holidays until january). __________________ Messenger Boy : The Thessalonian you're fighting, he's the biggest man I've ever seen. I wouldn't want to fight him. Achilles : That is why no one will remember your name.

December 27th, 2003, 09:30 AM	#7
Federico Dib Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Barcelona Posts: 312	Ok.. so I guess I´ll give MX 2004 a try... I don´t think the client cares about the player version, the clip is actually a whim that not many will even want to see... and I just used the Flixpro to have a Beta Version to show... (I like to stay in Flash as much as possible). But... I´m still puzzled by why it isn´t working.. To answer Zac.. I´m trying to use the IMPORT VIDEO option that Flash MX gives you .. where it shows you a Sorenson window to compress... and then it fills the timeline and creates the .swf. Then from another movie I call the .swf created with the above method. I haven´t tried anymore since the holidays and all.. but I guess on monday I´ll go for it again. __________________ Messenger Boy : The Thessalonian you're fighting, he's the biggest man I've ever seen. I wouldn't want to fight him. Achilles : That is why no one will remember your name.

December 24th, 2003, 11:48 PM	#4
Zac Stein Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 730	Are you trying to embed it as a .fv, swf or quicktime? You have to make sure you are embedding the audio and video together, otherwise the audio will play at the frame rate of the project and not the video. Zac

December 25th, 2003, 01:10 AM	#5
Kevin Lee Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 224	I have some tips... 1. (Best solution) Install and use the latest Flash MX 2004. It's handling of video through .flv is almost perfect. A lot more encoding options, streaming capabilities and quality of playback is great. The .flv codec is installed with the flash application allowing you to directly export ready-to-go files in Quicktime (Pro). Then, it's a simple case of calling it externally. You can add a simple code to show the standard quicktime-like player controls in your flash file. The only drawback is Flash Player 7+ is required for playback. I've tested this on some of our videos and the quality is excellent. 2. Failing that, try adding a slight blur to smooth out fine details in your clip and do some adjustments to reduce unneeded contrasts. Finally, use a jpeg codec in your source clip like Apple Photo JPEG. 3. The usual - reduce frame rate and size of your clip. If your flash file is set to playback at 12/15/18, i would keep my movie clip to those as well. 4. I might even try striping the audio to just mono. 5. Long clips have an issue going through the import/encode process in flash. Try cutting long clips into multiple sections and stitch on timeline with actionscript calls. 6. We once had a perfectly synced long clip until it reached one frame of black inserted between 2 full-motion video frames. The black completely threw th audio out of whack. 7. Reduce encode quality and do not import at a frame-size larger than what you intend to use. Hope that was helpful.

December 25th, 2003, 01:19 AM	#6
Kevin Lee Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 224	adding... We just finished a CDROM project that contained about 2hrs of videos. We used MX 2004 and shrunk the file size considerably while increasing video-quality three-folds. MX 2004 makes Flix pro (which i never liked in the first place) kinda obsolete. Merry Xmas.