MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-USING FLASH VIDEO ENCODER Mounting instructions

Using Flash Video Encoder
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Trademarks
1 Step RoboPDF, ActiveEdit, ActiveTest, Authorware, Blue Sky Software, Blue Sky, Breeze, Breezo, Captivate, Central,
ColdFusion, Contribute, Database Explorer, Director, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, FlashCast, FlashHelp, Flash Lite,
FlashPaper, Flash Video Encoder, Flex, Flex Builder, Fontographer, FreeHand, Generator, HomeSite, JRun, MacRecorder,
Macromedia, MXML, RoboEngine, RoboHelp, RoboInfo, RoboPDF, Roundtrip, Roundtrip HTML, Shockwave, SoundEdit,
Studio MX, UltraDev, and WebHelp are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. and may be registered in
the United States or in other jurisdictions including internationally. Other product names, logos, designs, titles, words, or phrases
mentioned within this publication may be trademarks, service marks, or trade names of Macromedia, Inc. or other entities and
may be registered in certain jurisdictions including internationally.
Third-Party Information
This guide contains links to third-party websites that are not under the control of Macromedia, and Macromedia is not
responsible for the content on any linked site. If you access a third-party website mentioned in this guide, then you do so at your
own risk. Macromedia provides these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of the link does not imply that Macromedia
endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content on those third-party sites.
Speech compression and decompression technology licensed from Nellymoser, Inc. (www.nellymoser.com).
Sorenson™ Spark™ video compression and decompression technology licensed from
Sorenson Media, Inc.
Opera ® browser Copyright © 1995-2002 Opera Software ASA and its suppliers. All rights reserved.
Macromedia Flash 8 video is powered by On2 TrueMotion video technology. © 1992-2005 On2 Technologies, Inc. All Rights
Reserved. http://www.on2.com.
Visual SourceSafe is a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Copyright © 2005 Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. This manual may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced,
translated, or converted to any electronic or machine-readable form in whole or in part without written approval from
Macromedia, Inc. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the owner or authorized user of a valid copy of the software with which
this manual was provided may print out one copy of this manual from an electronic version of this manual for the sole
purpose of such owner or authorized user learning to use such software, provided that no part of this manual may be
printed out, reproduced, distributed, resold, or transmitted for any other purposes, including, without limitation,
commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this documentation or providing paid-for support services.
Acknowledgments
Project Management: Sheila McGinn
Writing: Chris Bedford
Managing Editor: Rosana Francescato
Lead Editor: Lisa Stanziano
Editing: Lisa Stanziano, Anne Szabla
Production Management: Patrice O’Neill, Kristin Conradi, Yuko Yagi
Media Design and Production: Adam Barnett, Aaron Begley, Paul Benkman. John Francis, Geeta Karmarkar, Masayo Noda,
Paul Rangel, Arena Reed, Mario Reynoso
Special thanks to Jody Bleyle, Mary Burger, Lisa Friendly, Stephanie Gowin, Bonnie Loo, Mary Ann Walsh, Erick Vera, the beta
testers, and the entire Flash and Flash Player engineering and QA teams.
First Edition: September 2005
Macromedia, Inc.
601 Townsend St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
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3
Contents
Using Flash Video Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
About Flash Video and Flash Video Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
About Flash Video Exporter (QuickTime Export plug-in) . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Supported video compression codecs for Flash Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Comparing the On2 VP6 and Sorenson Spark video codecs . . . . . . 8
Understanding video standards and terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Frame rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Data rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Aspect ratios (frame size) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
About encoding audio-only files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
About cue points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Encoding video with Flash Video Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Saving the encoding queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Removing files from the encoding queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Skipping a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Stopping the encoding of the current file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Selecting advanced video encoding settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Specifying advanced video encoding settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Specifying advanced audio encoding settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Defining and embedding cue points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Cropping and trimming video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Setting Flash Video Encoder preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Viewing the Flash Video Encoder log file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Troubleshooting video encoding errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
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4Contents
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5
Using Flash Video Encoder
Macromedia Flash 8 Video Encoder is a stand-alone video encoding application that lets you
encode video in Macromedia Flash Video (FLV) format. The FLV format lets you easily
incorporate video into a web page or Flash document in a format that almost anyone can view
using the Flash Player. The ubiquity of Flash Player ensures that most visitors to your website
can view Flash Video without downloading additional plug-ins, so you can reach the largest
possible Internet viewing audience with low development, testing, and support costs.
Flash Video Encoder comes with Macromedia Flash Professional 8 or Macromedia Studio 8.
This chapter contains the following topics:
About Flash Video and Flash Video Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Supported video compression codecs for Flash Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Understanding video standards and terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
About encoding audio-only files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
About cue points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Encoding video with Flash Video Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Selecting advanced video encoding settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Setting Flash Video Encoder preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Viewing the Flash Video Encoder log file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Troubleshooting video encoding errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
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6 Using Flash Video Encoder
About Flash Video and Flash Video
Encoder
Flash Video offers technological and creative benefits that let you create rich, immersive
experiences that combine video presentations with data, graphics, sound, and interactive
control.
Flash Video provides full creative control and integrates easily into your website. You can use
video skins (graphic themes) to customize video presentations, incorporate your organization’s
branding, and design unique controls that let visitors to your website interact with video
content.
Flash treats Flash Video simply as a media type, so you can layer, script, and control video like
any other object in a Flash SWF file. Flash Video is an integral part of the viewing experience,
not a separate pop-up window that plays video externally and interrupts the experience.
Flash Video Encoder lets you encode video files in either the On2 VP6 or Sorenson Spark
video codecs. A codec is an algorithm that controls how video files are compressed during
import and and decompressed during playback. You can use Flash Video Encoder on a
computer that does not have Flash or other Macromedia Studio products installed. This
configuration lets you continue working with Flash, Dreamweaver, or another application
because video encoding is a processor-intensive activity that often prevents you from
simultaneously working in other applications.
Using Flash Video Encoder on a dedicated computer for video encoding lets you batch-
process multiple video clips; in environments where video is a significant form of content,
batch processing produces an expedited workflow. You can add, reorder, and change the
encoding settings of files in the batch processing queue while Flash Video Encoder is
encoding video files.
About Flash Video Exporter (QuickTime
Export plug-in)
If you have Macromedia Flash Professional 8 and QuickTime 6.1.1 or later installed on your
computer, you can use the Macromedia Flash Video Exporter (QuickTime Export plug-in) to
export FLV files from supported video-editing applications. You can then import these FLV
files directly into Flash to use in your Flash documents. The QuickTime Export plug-in is
installed by the Flash 8 Video Encoder installer.
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Supported video compression codecs for Flash Video 7
The following video-editing applications are supported by the QuickTime Export plug-in:
■Adobe After Effects (Windows and Macintosh)
■Apple FinalCut Pro (Macintosh)
■Apple QuickTime Pro (Windows and Macintosh)
■Avid Xpress DV (Windows and Macintosh)
Exporting FLV files from either Flash 8 Video Encoder or video-editing applications using the
QuickTime Export plug-in significantly streamlines the workflow in using FLV files in your
Flash documents. With the QuickTime Export plug-in, you can select encoding options for
video and audio content as you export, including frame rate, bit rate, quality, and other
options. You can import FLV files directly into Flash without needing to re-encode the video
after you import them.
Supported video compression codecs for
Flash Video
By default, Flash Video Encoder encodes video using the On2 VP6 codec for use with Flash
Player 8 and the Sorenson Spark codec for use with Flash Player 7. To understand how Flash
achieves high-quality video with low bandwidth requirements, you should understand video
compression.
There are two types of compression that can be applied to digital media: spatial and temporal.
Spatial compression is applied to a single frame of data, independent of any surrounding
frames. Spatial compression can be lossless (in which no data is discarded from the image) or
lossy (in which data is selectively discarded). A spatially compressed frame is often called an
intraframe.
Temporal compression identifies the differences between frames and stores only those
differences, so that frames are described based on their difference from the preceding frame.
Unchanged areas are simply repeated from the previous frame(s). A temporally compressed
frame is often called an interframe.
Both the On2 VP6 and Sorenson Spark are interframe codecs. Although many other codecs
use intraframe compression (for example, JPEG is an intraframe codec), the efficient
interframe compression of the On2 VP6 and Sorenson Spark codecs, among other features,
distinguishes them from other compression technologies because these codecs require a much
lower data rate (also known as the bit rate) to produce high-quality video.
NOTE
Avid Xpress DV does not support the encoding of an alpha channel when you use it
to export to the FLV video format.
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8 Using Flash Video Encoder
It’s important to note that interframe codecs also use intraframes. Intraframes are used as the
reference frames (keyframes) for the interframes. Both the On2 VP6 and Sorenson Spark
codecs always begin with a keyframe. Each keyframe becomes the main reference frame for
the following interframes. Whenever the next frame is significantly different from the
previous frame, the codec compresses a new keyframe.
Comparing the On2 VP6 and Sorenson Spark video
codecs
The On2 VP6 codec is the default video codec to use when encoding FLV content for use
with Flash Player 8. Using the On2 VP6 codec provides the following advantages when
compared to the Sorenson Spark codec:
■Encodes higher quality video at the same data rate
■Supports the use of an alpha channel to create composite video
In order to support better quality video at the same data rate, the On2 VP6 codec is
noticeably slower to encode, and requires more processor power on the client computer to
decode and play back the video data. For this reason, you should consider the lowest common
denominator of computer that your audience will use when they access your Flash video
content.
If you anticipate a large user base that is using older computers, it may be advisable to
consider encoding your FLV files using the Sorenson Spark codec.
Understanding video standards and
terminology
The following section introduces digital video concepts and terminology you should know
when working with video content. If you are new to digital video or want to learn more about
digital video and encoding high-quality video content, this section can help you understand
the trade-offs related to encoding video for different applications and Internet viewing
environments.
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Understanding video standards and terminology 9
Frame rates
Video is a sequence of images that appear on the screen in rapid succession, giving the illusion
of motion. The number of frames that appear every second is known as the frame rate, and it
is measured in frames per second (fps). The higher the frame rate, the more frames per second
are used to display the sequence of images, resulting in smoother motion. The trade-off for
higher quality, however, is that higher frame rates require a larger amount of data to display
the video, which uses more bandwidth.
When working with digitally compressed video in a format such as Flash Video, the higher
the frame rate, the larger the file size. To reduce the file size, you must lower either the frame
rate or the data rate (for more information, see “Data rates” on page 10). If you lower the data
rate and leave the frame rate unchanged, the image quality is reduced. If you lower the frame
rate and leave the data rate unchanged, the video motion may look less smooth than desired.
Because video looks much better at native frame rates (the frame rate at which the video was
originally filmed), Macromedia recommends leaving the frame rate high if your delivery
channels and playback platforms allow it. For full-motion NTSC, (the standard defined by
the National Television System Committee in the U.S.), use 29.97 fps; for PAL (Phase
Alternating Line, the dominant television standard in Europe), use 25 fps. If you lower the
frame rate (which can significantly reduce the video data that must be encoded), Flash Video
Encoder drops frames at a linear rate to achieve the new fps rate. However, if you need to
reduce the frame rate, the best results come from dividing evenly. For example, if your source
has a frame rate of 24 fps, then reduce the frame rate to 12 fps, 8 fps, 6 fps, 4 fps, 3 fps, or 2
fps. If the source frame rate is 30 fps, in most cases you can adjust the frame rate to 15 fps, 10
fps, 6 fps, and so on.
If your video clip is encoded with a higher data rate, a lower frame rate can improve playback
on lower-end computers. For example, if you are compressing a talking-head clip with little
motion, cutting the frame rate in half might save only 20 percent of the data rate. However, if
you are compressing high-motion video, reducing the frame rate has a much greater effect on
the data rate.
NOTE
If a video clip is longer than 10 minutes, the audio will drift noticeably out of sync if you do
not adhere to the 29.97 fps rate or an accurate even division for lower frame rates (such
as 14.98 fps, which is half of 29.97).
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10 Using Flash Video Encoder
Data rates
The data rate affects the quality of a video clip and the audience that can download the file
given their bandwidth constraints.
When you deliver video using the Internet, you should produce files using lower data rates.
Users with fast Internet connections can view the files with little or no delay, but dial-up users
must wait for files to download. If you anticipate an audience of dial-up users, you should
make short video clips to keep the download times within acceptable limits.
Flash Video Encoder lets you specify data rate settings for encoding video at a low, medium,
or high quality. If the available settings in the Quality pop-up menu do not produce the
desired results with your particular source footage, select Custom, and enter a higher data rate
in the Maximum Data Rate text box.
Keyframes
Keyframes are complete video frames (or images) that are inserted at consistent intervals in a
video clip. The frames between the keyframes contain information on movement and scene
changes that occurs between keyframes. For example, if a video depicts a person walking past
a doorway, the keyframes contain the complete image of the person and the door in the
background, and the interval frames contain information describing the person’s movement as
they walk in front of the door.
By default, Flash Video Encoder automatically determines the keyframe interval to use based
on the video clip’s frame rate. The keyframe interval value tells the encoder how often to re-
evaluate the video image and record a full frame, or keyframe, into an FLV file. In Flash Video
Encoder, this setting is the keyframe interval value, which represents the number of frames
between keyframes. Flash Video Encoder approximates frames that reside between keyframes
by estimating the full value of all pixels on the screen by comparing multiple frames and
eliminating redundant information.
The keyframe interval value can be any number up to 100. When you select Automatic as an
interval setting, Flash Video Encoder places a keyframe every two seconds of playback time.
For example, if the video you’re encoding has a frame rate of 30 fps, a keyframe will be
inserted every 60 frames. In general, the default keyframe interval value provides a reasonable
level of control when seeking within a video clip. If you need to select a custom keyframe
placement value, be aware that the smaller the keyframe interval, the larger the file size.
If your footage has a lot of scene changes or rapidly moving motion or animation, then the
overall image quality may benefit from a lower keyframe interval. In general, a higher
keyframe interval produces better image quality because data is not wasted describing the
areas of an image that remain unchanged from frame to frame.
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Understanding video standards and terminology 11
An important dependency of the keyframe interval is that it affects the ability of Flash Player
to seek (fast-forward or rewind) through an FLV file. Flash Player can only advance from
keyframe to keyframe, so if you want to skip to different places and pause the frames, you
must use a lower keyframe interval value. If you want to advance to every frame in an FLV
file, use a keyframe interval value of 1. When you reduce the keyframe interval value, you
must raise the data rate for the Flash video to maintain comparable image quality.
Aspect ratios (frame size)
As with the frame rate, the aspect ratio (or frame size) for your document is important for
producing high-quality video. At a specific data rate (connection speed), increasing the frame
size results in decreased video quality. When you select the frame size for your document,
consider the frame rate, the aspect ratio of the source video clip, and your personal preferences
to create a successful video presentation. Standard video display resolutions on the Internet
include 640 x 480, 512 x 384, 320 x 240, and 160 x 120 pixels.
The most common aspect ratio is 4:3 (standard television). Increasingly, 16:9 and 2:1 (wide
screen) aspect ratios are becoming more commonplace as well. Typically, you should encode
the video using the same aspect ratio at which it was originally captured. Altering a video clip’s
aspect ratio may result in a distorted video image. An exception to this practice is when
encoding digital video (DV) formats, whose aspect ratio is slightly different than the 4:3
aspect ratio because DV uses rectangular pixels. When encoding video content captured with
a digital video camera, you must manually specify the frame size of the DV format you are
using to preserve the video’s aspect ratio. For more information see, “About encoding video
with non-square pixels” on page 12.
The following list of standard frame sizes can be used as a guideline. You can experiment to
find the best setting for your project.
Frame sizes for 4:3 aspect ratio video:
■Modem (56k): 160 x 120
■DSL: 320 x 240
■Cable: 512 x 384
■Cable/corporate LAN: 640 x 480
Frame sizes for 19:16 aspect ratio video:
■Modem (56k): 192 x 108
■DSL: 384 x 216
■Cable: 448 x 252
■Cable/corporate LAN: 704 x 396
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12 Using Flash Video Encoder
About encoding video with non-square pixels
Most static computer graphics use square pixels, which have a width-to-height ratio of 1:1.
When working with digital video, pixels often have a different width-to height ratio and are
referred to as rectangular pixels. The reason for this behavior is to allow analog video (e.g.
broadcast television) and digital video (e.g. DVD video) to coexist. When encoding video
formats with non-square pixels (also known as anamorphic video), you need to resample the
video image to the correct Display Aspect Ratio (DAR).
For example, standard NTSC digital video (DV), has a frame size of 720 x 480 pixels, and it’s
usually displayed at an aspect ratio of 4:3. This means that each pixel is rectangular, with a
pixel aspect ratio (PAR) of 10:11 (a tall, narrow pixel). Both MPEG 1 and 2 video are also
produced in various sizes (720 x 480 or 480 x 480 are common) even though they are
typically displayed with either a 4:3 or 16:9 (wide screen) aspect ratio.
To calculate the image frame size to use when encoding video using non-square pixels, you
must first decide which dimension—width or height—is the preferred master dimension, and
then compute the other dimension as follows:
If height is the master dimension, calculate the width using the following formula:
For example, if your video uses an aspect ratio of 4:3 the equation would appear as:
If width is the master dimension, calculate the height using the following formula:
For example, if your video uses an aspect ratio of 4:3 the equation would appear as:
As an example, if you are encoding a video whose frame size is 720 x 480 pixels, and you want
to encode it with a 4:3 aspect ratio, you must determine the width at which to encode the
video frame in pixels:
The result is a video image height of 640 pixels.
Thus, you need to encode the 720 x 480 image to 640 x 480, a standard 4:3 aspect ratio.
width height aspect ratio width
aspect ratio height
--------------------------------------------
×=
width height 3
4
---
×=
height width aspect ratio height
aspect ratio width
--------------------------------------------
×=
height width 4
3
---
×=
640 480 4
3
---
×=
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About cue points 13
To correct the image size when encoding using Flash Video Encoder, deselect the Maintain
Aspect Ratio check box in the Advanced Encoding Settings dialog box, and enter the
corrected dimensions at which to encode the video. For more information, see “Selecting
advanced video encoding settings” on page 17.
About encoding audio-only files
The same considerations exist for audio production as for video production. To achieve good
audio compression, you must begin an audio file that is free of distortion and audible artifacts
introduced from the source recording. If you are encoding material from a CD, try to record
the file using direct digital transfer rather than your sound card’s analog input. The sound
card introduces an unnecessary digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversion that can
create noise in your transferred audio. Direct digital transfer tools are available for both
Windows and Macintosh platforms. If you must record from an analog source, use the highest
quality sound card available.
About cue points
Cue points cause the video playback to start other actions within the presentation and let you
synchronize the video with animation, text, graphics, and other interactive content. For
example, you can create a Flash presentation that has video playing in one area of the screen
while text and graphics appear in another area.
Each cue point consists of a name, the time at which it occurs in the video, type of cue point,
and optional parameters. You specify cue point times using the format:
hour:minute:second:millisecond. When the encoded FLV file is played back within a Flash
SWF file, and the FLV plays or seeks to the elapsed time specified by the cue point, the action
you’ve specified is triggered.
Flash Video Encoder lets you embed cue points in video clips using the Advanced Settings
dialog box. You can assign each cue point an event type and parameter that can be used with
ActionScript or the Flash FLVPlayback component to programmatically cause the video
playback to start other actions in the presentation.
For more information, see “Defining and embedding cue points” on page 21.
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14 Using Flash Video Encoder
Encoding video with Flash Video
Encoder
By default, Flash Video Encoder encodes source videos using the On2 VP6 codec, which is
compatible with Flash Player 8. The Flash Video Encoder uses the Sorenson Spark codec to
encode video for Flash Player 7.
When configuring encoding settings, you can select individual files and specify different
settings based on the type of video format and quality required for each file, or you can select
multiple files and specify the same settings for all of them.
To encode video with the Flash Video Encoder:
1. Start Flash Video Encoder by selecting Start > All Programs > Macromedia > Macromedia
Flash 8 Video Encoder (Windows) or open the folder that contains the Macromedia Flash
8 Video Encoder application, and double click the application icon (Macintosh).
2. In the Flash 8 Video Encoder, add source video clips to the list of files to encode. You can
drag a file into the list, or click the Add button and select a file on your computer.
3. Click Settings (Edit > Encoding Settings) to display the Flash Video Encoding Settings
dialog box.
Flash provides several pre-configured encoding profiles that you can use to encode your
video. In the Encoding panel, you can select an encoding profile to determine the level of
compression to be applied to the video clip.
The encoding profiles are based on the Flash Player version for which you intend to
publish content, and the data rate at which you want your video content to be encoded. If
you choose an encoding profile using Flash Player 8, the On2 VP6 video codec is used to
encode the video. If you choose an encoding profile using Flash Player 7, the Sorenson
Spark video codec is used to encode the video.
For information on advanced video encoding settings, see “Specifying advanced video
encoding settings” on page 18.
4. Verify that the encoding profile you’ve selected is appropriate for your intended
application. The text box below the Flash Video Encoding Profile pop-up menu displays
the Flash Player version, video codec, video bit rate, and audio encoding information for
the selected encoding profile.
TIP
You can select multiple video files and drag them into the list of files to encode.
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Encoding video with Flash Video Encoder 15
5. Enter a filename for the encoded FLV file. If you don’t specify a filename, Flash Video
Encoder uses the filename of the source video clip. When naming a file, do not enter the
.flv extension; Flash Video Encoder does this automatically.
You can specify a destination folder in which to save the encoded FLV file relative to the
folder containing the source video clip. When specifying a destination folder:
■The destination folder you specify must already exist. If you specify a folder that
doesn’t exist, an error message informs you that the file cannot be encoded because the
folder cannot be found.
■When specifying a folder, you must separate the folder name and the filename using
either a forward slash (/) or backward slash (\) (Windows), or a forward slash (/)
(Macintosh).
6. Do one of the following:
■Click Show Advanced Settings to further adjust the encoding settings, embed cue
points, or to modify the video clip’s size or playback length using the crop and trim
controls.
■Click OK to close the Flash Video Encoding Settings dialog box.
7. Click Start Queue to begin encoding your files.
Flash 8 Video Encoder starts encoding the first file in the video encoding list. While a file
is being encoded, the Status column of the video encoding list provides information on
the status of each video:
Encoding indicates that the file is currently being encoded. Flash 8 Video Encoder
encodes only one file at a time.
Waiting indicates that the file is in the encoding queue but has not been encoded. You can
remove a file from the queue that has not been encoded or that is not being encoded. For
more information, see “Removing files from the encoding queue” on page 16.
Skip indicates that the file will be skipped during the encoding process. You can choose to
skip files or change their status to Waiting. For more information, see “Skipping a file”
on page 16.
Encoding complete icon indicates that the specified file has been successfully encoded.
Error icon indicates that Flash 8 Video Encoder encountered an error when attempting to
encode the specified file, or that the user canceled the encoding process while the file was
being encoded. Errors are recorded to a log file.
TIP
You can specify a folder in which to save encoded files using the Flash Video
Encoder Preferences. For more information, see “Setting Flash Video Encoder
preferences” on page 26.
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16 Using Flash Video Encoder
If you exit and restart Flash Video Encoder, or if you stop and restart the queue, a dialog
box appears that lets you select the file to encode.
8. The FLV encoded files are saved to the same folder as the source video files with a .flv file
extension to identify them. If you encode the same file more than once, an incremental
number is appended to the filename for each additional encoding.
Saving the encoding queue
You can manually save the current encoding queue—including all encoding settings. If you do
not choose to save the encoding queue, it is saved automatically when you exit Flash Video
Encoder.
To save the encoding queue:
■Select File > Save Queue.
Removing files from the encoding queue
You can remove any video from the encoding queue before it is encoded.
To remove a video from the encoding queue:
1. Select the video (or videos) that you want to remove from the source file list.
2. Click Remove.
A dialog box prompts you to confirm that you want the selected files removed from the
encoding queue.
Skipping a file
You can specify that Flash Video Encoder not encode a file in the current encoding queue.
To skip a file:
1. Select the file or files that you want to skip in the encoding queue. To select multiple files
in the encoding queue, Control-click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh).
2. Select Edit > Skip Selection.
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Selecting advanced video encoding settings 17
To reset a skipped file for encoding:
1. Select the file or files in the encoding queue that you want to reset to the Waiting to Encode
state. To select multiple files in the encoding queue, Control-click (Windows) or
Command-click (Macintosh).
2. Select Edit > Reset Status.
The selected file or files will be reset to the Waiting to Encode state. You can reset the status of
files while Flash Video Encoder is encoding.
Stopping the encoding of the current file
You can stop the encoding process for any file that is currently being encoded. If you want to
specify that Flash Video Encoder not encode a file that is waiting to be encoded, you can
either remove that file from the encoding queue, or specify that the file be skipped. For more
information, see “Removing files from the encoding queue” on page 16.
To stop encoding a file:
■Select File > Stop Current File.
A dialog box prompts you to confirm that you want to stop the current file from
encoding. Click OK to stop the encoding process. An error message that states “The
operation was interrupted by the user” is written to the log file. For more information, see
“Viewing the Flash Video Encoder log file” on page 27.
Selecting advanced video encoding
settings
The Advanced Setting options of Flash Video Encoder let you create custom video encoding
settings.
Before creating custom video encoding settings, be sure you understand the different video
encoding options. For information about video encoding options, see “Understanding video
standards and terminology” on page 8.
To specify advanced video encoding settings:
1. Select the file or files whose encoding settings you want to modify.
To select multiple files in the encoding list, Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
(Macintosh), or select File > Select All to select all files in the encoding queue.
2. Click Settings (Edit > Encoding Settings).
The Flash Video Encoding Settings dialog box appears.
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18 Using Flash Video Encoder
3. Click Advanced Settings.
The Advanced Flash Video Encoding Options are displayed. This dialog box lets you
perform the following actions:
■Specify alternate encoding settings to deliver video for different bandwidths and
applications.
■Create cue points to trigger events.
■Crop and trim the video clip to alter its dimensions as well as beginning and ending
frames.
To learn about the options available in the Advanced Settings dialog box, see the following
sections:
■“Specifying advanced video encoding settings” on page 18
■“Specifying advanced audio encoding settings” on page 21
■“Defining and embedding cue points” on page 21
■“Cropping and trimming video” on page 24
Specifying advanced video encoding settings
The advanced video and audio settings let you select the quality of your FLV files. The
Encoding tab is divided into two categories: Encode Video lets you specify the encoding
options for video files; Encode Audio lets you select the bit rate for MP3 audio encoding. The
following sections describe the encoding options.
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Selecting advanced video encoding settings 19
To specify custom video encoding settings:
1. Select the file or files whose encoding settings you want to modify.
To select multiple files in the encoding list, Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
(Macintosh), or select File > Select All to select all files in the encoding queue.
2. Click Settings (Edit > Encoding Settings).
The Flash Video Encoding Settings dialog box appears.
3. Click Advanced Settings.
4. The Advanced Flash Video Encoding Options are displayed.
The Encode Video checkbox is selected by default.
5. Select a video codec with which to encode your content from the Video Codec pop-up
menu.
If you are authoring for Flash Player 7, select Sorenson Spark codec; if you are authoring
for Flash Player 8, select On2 VP6 codec.
6. Select a frame rate. Flash Video Encoder uses the same frame rate as the source video by
default. If you need to alter the frame rate, be sure you understand how modifying the
frame rate affects the video quality. For more information, see “Understanding video
standards and terminology” on page 8.
7. Select the key frame placement for the video. Keyframes are video frames that contain
complete data. For example, if you specify a keyframe interval of 30, Flash Video Encoder
encodes a complete frame every 30 frames in the video clip. For frames between keyframe
intervals, Flash stores only the data that changes from the preceding frame.
By default, Flash Video encoder places a keyframe every 2 seconds of playback time. For
example, if the video you’re encoding has a frame rate of 30 fps, a keyframe will be
inserted every 60 frames. In general, the default keyframe value provides a reasonable level
of control when seeking within a video clip. If you need to select a custom keyframe
placement value, be aware that the smaller the keyframe interval, the larger the file size.
CAUTION
If you are modifying the encoding settings for a video clip that will be embedded
within a SWF file, the video frame rate must match that of the SWF file. For more
information, see “Embedding video in a SWF file” in the “Working with Video”
chapter of Using Flash.
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20 Using Flash Video Encoder
8. Specify the quality setting for the video from the Quality pop-up menu. The quality setting
determines the data rate of the encoded video. The higher the data rate, the better the
quality of the encoded video clip.
■Select a preset Quality setting (Low, Medium, or High) to automatically select a Data
Rate value. When you select Low, Medium, and High from this menu, the Maximum
Data Rate text box value is updated to reflect the specified value.
■Select Custom and enter a value, in Kilobits/Sec, in the Maximum Data Rate text box.
9. Resize the video clip:
a. Select the Resize video check box.
b. (Optional) Select the Maintain Aspect Ratio checkbox to keep the aspect ratio the
same as the original video clip.
c. Specify values for Width and Height. You can specify a frame size in pixels or as a
percentage of the original image size.
10. When you finish specifying advanced encoding settings, you may select either the Cue
Point or the Crop and Trim tab to further modify the video’s encoding settings, or click
OK to return to the main Flash 8 Video Encoding dialog box.
If you are ready to encode your video clips, or need to add additional source video clips to
encode, see “Encoding video with Flash Video Encoder” on page 14.
To learn about the other options available in the Flash Video Encoding Settings dialog
box, see the following sections:
■“Specifying advanced audio encoding settings” on page 21
■“Defining and embedding cue points” on page 21
■“Cropping and trimming video” on page 24
NOTE
If you find that the preset quality settings do not work with your source footage,
try specifying a custom maximum data rate. For more information on data rate,
and how it affects video quality, see “Data rates” on page 10.
NOTE
If you resize a video clip’s frame size, and do not select the Maintain Aspect Ratio
checkbox, the video may become distorted.
NOTE
When you encode the video, the original source video clip is not changed. You can
always re-encode a video clip and specify new settings if your initial attempt doesn’t
produce the results you want
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