Streaming Flash Video -- Help Please

LostRiver · 10-16-2007, 11:22 PM

Hello. I am new this forum, but am hoping you might be able to help out a "stranger". I am the web designer for my brother-in-laws business -- I have basic web design knowledge and have been able to learn anything else I needed on the fly . . . until now.

My brother-in-law surprised me with two professionally made videos he would like me to include on the site in streaming format right away (I am pretty sure he spent quite a bit on those). The videos were given to me in Adobe Flash (.swf) format. I tried having them play using streaming flash, but on many connections the video output is "jerky" (it usually works OK on my cable connection). My guess is that it has to do with our site host (HostGator) and that I probably need to get the videos hosted on a site that specializes in hosting streaming flash video. If this is correct any advise on hosting sites would be welcome.

As a temporary solution I have converted the videos to Windows Media Player format and this is working, but we have lost quite a bit of quality.

Like I mentioned before I am not experienced in this at all, so I would greatly appreciate any advice on how I can make this work.

Thanks in advance.

Costin Trifan · 10-17-2007, 09:57 AM

A quick search for "hosting streaming flash video" and there were hundreds of results to choose from...

**3ncryptabl3_lick** · 10-17-2007, 10:13 AM

Well my first question would be, can you get the files as original media files and not swf? I don't know why he would give you them in swf format.

Next, what version of flash are you using?

Third, do you need a 'streaming server'? I wouldn't think so unless your planing on streaming live broadcasts or want to handle hundreds of users at a time.

LostRiver · 10-22-2007, 09:11 PM

I just wanted to thank everybody who took the time to respond and apologize for taking so long to get back to you.

My problem has been resolved. The guy who produced these videos had portrayed himself to me as web design savvy, so I deferred to him on what format would be best. I have since found this not to be the case -- the formats he provided to me were not suited for web deployment which resulted in the problems mentioned in my original post.

Thanks again for your assistance.