Opinion Needed on AVI to Flash File

[isabel95]

and then compressed to Flash with Moyea's FlashVideo MX Standard. Original PTE AVI file size 158mb. Flash file 56mb (converted in FlashVideo MX with the h264 codec).

Want to know if the file streamed immediately and smoothly, because it is a large file...and also if you have a less powerful computer in the house how it ran on that computer.

http://www.isabelcutler.com/Shebang2FlashFiles.html

(This was created for Shebang's owner, who was quite devastated when she died, and asked me to put together a slideshow with her pictures. Some of her friends have Macs and couldn't see it.)

Thanks for anticipated feedback.

Isabel

[Ken Cox]

STARTED AS SOON AS I CLICKED THE PLAY IN CENTRE OF SCREEN

smooth as silk - pict quality could not be better

show a bit long but i can live with it

8:49mins

flv 56 mb

ken

[isabel95]

Thanks for the feedback - I agree about the length. The original show was shorter and then I got a request from Shebang's owner to add a whole new bunch of shots. She was incredibly bonded with Shebang, who had been featured on the TV show "Pet Star" performing some of her amazing tricks. She died at only 8, leaving her owner completely devastated. This slideshow was played at a memorial for her. If you had a chance to meet her and see her perform you would understand why her loss was so tragic for her owner.

By the way, I just tried for the second time to upload the AVI to youtube, because Tammy has a lot of Shebang's videos over there. As happened the first time the uploading has just hung.

FlashVideo MX converted that 158mb file to the flash file you saw in just a few minutes. It's very fast. Fortunately I have my own storage space on the web, so I don't need to use YouTube, which can be a royal pain!

Isabel

STARTED AS SOON AS I CLICKED THE PLAY IN CENTRE OF SCREEN

smooth as silk - pict quality could not be better

show a bit long but i can live with it

8:49mins

flv 56 mb

ken

[isabel95]

Thanks for the feedback - I agree about the length. The original show was shorter and then I got a request from Shebang's owner to add a whole new bunch of shots. She was incredibly bonded with Shebang, who had been featured on the TV show "Pet Star" performing some of her amazing tricks. She died at only 8, leaving her owner completely devastated. This slideshow was played at a memorial for her. If you had a chance to meet her and see her perform you would understand why her loss was so tragic for her owner.

By the way, I just tried for the second time to upload the AVI to youtube, because Tammy has a lot of Shebang's videos over there. As happened the first time the uploading has just hung.

FlashVideo MX converted that 158mb file to the flash file you saw in just a few minutes. It's very fast. Fortunately I have my own storage space on the web, so I don't need to use YouTube, which can be a royal pain!

Isabel

[Ronniebootwest]

Hello Isabele,

Your flash ran without a hitch on my system.

Very sharp images and no sign of any glitches.

It ran smoother on Firefox than on Internet Explorer though.

I am very interested to learn what software you used to produce

the flash, perhaps you can give some more details please.

Ron West

[isabel95]

Tthanks for the good feedback. Interesting that it runs faster on Firefox. That's my browser of choice, but I do have the IE tab for it for use when a website doesn't seem to be working right.

I used Moyea FlashVideo MX Standard.

It is extremely easy to use and does a great job.

Processing gives you four files (flv, swf, jpg, and html) which you upload to your website space (I have a Yahoo Small Business website for which I pay about $35 every three months).

Here's a link to their site, where you can download a trial: http://www.moyea.com/video-to-flv

Isabel

Hello Isabele,

Your flash ran without a hitch on my system.

Very sharp images and no sign of any glitches.

It ran smoother on Firefox than on Internet Explorer though.

I am very interested to learn what software you used to produce

the flash, perhaps you can give some more details please.

Ron West

[Limey]

and then compressed to Flash with Moyea's FlashVideo MX Standard. Original PTE AVI file size 158mb. Flash file 56mb (converted in FlashVideo MX with the h264 codec).

Want to know if the file streamed immediately and smoothly, because it is a large file...and also if you have a less powerful computer in the house how it ran on that computer.

http://www.isabelcutler.com/Shebang2FlashFiles.html

(This was created for Shebang's owner, who was quite devastated when she died, and asked me to put together a slideshow with her pictures. Some of her friends have Macs and couldn't see it.)

Thanks for anticipated feedback.

Isabel

Hi Isabel,

No worries on low power machine. Streamed perfectly on netbook with atom processor and 1GB RAM.

Limey.

[Ratpets]

Hi, Isabel!

I'm Peter from Germany, and I've seen your flash movie with Shebang's photos. They are great, and I envy you for this

I'm trying to make a swf.-file for days now. I've been using Panos' PS action, and everything worked fine (well, with the help of Panos I have to admit). Anyway, I succeeded to make an .avi-file out of the animation I made, but now here comes my problem. I tried out, as you did, Moyea Flash Video Studio to convert the .avi into .swf. It worked really fine with that software, but it's not a full-working copy. It will create a watermark on the movie, and it's very defocussed. The .avi-file, however, that I made with PicturesToExe looks much better. Is this because of the comprimation, or is it because of the watermark? Or both of it?

Can you tell me what else I can do?

Kindest regards, and have a nice Sunday!

Peter

[isabel95]

I've found it helps to use uncompressed avi to start with and also you can improve video output by raising the baud rate. The files will be larger, but that's the price you have to pay.

To get rid of the watermark you have to buy the program.

Which codec did you use in PTE to make your avi file? (I was a little confused about that.)

Isabel

Hi, Isabel!

I'm Peter from Germany, and I've seen your flash movie with Shebang's photos. They are great, and I envy you for this

I'm trying to make a swf.-file for days now. I've been using Panos' PS action, and everything worked fine (well, with the help of Panos I have to admit). Anyway, I succeeded to make an .avi-file out of the animation I made, but now here comes my problem. I tried out, as you did, Moyea Flash Video Studio to convert the .avi into .swf. It worked really fine with that software, but it's not a full-working copy. It will create a watermark on the movie, and it's very defocussed. The .avi-file, however, that I made with PicturesToExe looks much better. Is this because of the comprimation, or is it because of the watermark? Or both of it?

Can you tell me what else I can do?

Kindest regards, and have a nice Sunday!

Peter

[Lin Evans]

Hi Peter,

You have several options. First, if you own PTE Deluxe you can use it to create either an AVI which can be converted via programs such as Isabelle uses, or you can also output a high definition MP4 h.264 file which can then be uploaded automatically to either Vimeo or Youtube. You can then embed the Vimeo or Youtube link directly into your website and your visitors can play the file when they visit your site. You may have seen embedded Youtube links right here. Several members use them including theDom.

I'm assuming you want to play your snowglobe animations from your post on Panos' site. If so, tell me if you have your own website where you want to embed the Flash or other files and it will be easier to help you get started.

The various Flash converters all make SWF Flash files. Some also make Flash FLV files. If your entire animation is fairly short (under 8 minutes or so) then Flash SWF sometimes will be just fine. For larger Flash files or for longer play time, Flash FLV allows what it know as "preload." Preloading lets a chosen percentage of the file spool to the user's hard disk on a hidden and temporary folder then playback begins after this amount of the file has downloaded. The preload prevents people with low bandwidth from having start/stop action and assures a smooth presentation. The advantage of Flash over other types of output such as MP4 h.264 is that it can easily be embedded on your own website. The down side is that you need to purchase a converter, or search the web for a free converter. There are some free converters available, but generally, these are not as good as the ones you purchase.

The advantage of embedding a Youtube or Vimeo show on your website is that you don't have to pay for it. If there is a disadvantage, it's that the Vimeo or Youtube identity splash will always be shown. If you sign up for a free Vimeo or Youtube account, then that information is placed in your PicturesToExe upload file and once that has been done, you can automatically upload to either of these sites. Both provide link scripts so you may embed them in your own website and the visitor to your site never has to leave it to play the slideshow.

So let us know whether you have a website and whether you own PTE or not, and then we can help you decide on the best way to proceed.

Best regards,

Lin

Hi, Isabel!

I'm Peter from Germany, and I've seen your flash movie with Shebang's photos. They are great, and I envy you for this

I'm trying to make a swf.-file for days now. I've been using Panos' PS action, and everything worked fine (well, with the help of Panos I have to admit). Anyway, I succeeded to make an .avi-file out of the animation I made, but now here comes my problem. I tried out, as you did, Moyea Flash Video Studio to convert the .avi into .swf. It worked really fine with that software, but it's not a full-working copy. It will create a watermark on the movie, and it's very defocussed. The .avi-file, however, that I made with PicturesToExe looks much better. Is this because of the comprimation, or is it because of the watermark? Or both of it?

Can you tell me what else I can do?

Kindest regards, and have a nice Sunday!

Peter

[Ronniebootwest]

Hello Peter,

Ken Cox has pointed me to your recent post about creating flash files from your PTE slide shows and I may be

able to offer some advice.

I now include similar slide shows on my own web site and I use the same program as Isabelle (you will have to

obtain the full working copy in order to improve the quality and remove the watermark)

Have a look at the slide shows on my site and check that it is what you are trying to achieve.

Ron

My Web Site Slide Shows

[isabel95]

I've been linking to blank pages with my flash slideshows.

I'm not an html expert and am wondering if I use a page with design elements on it, which I would create using Yahoo's SiteBuilder (since I buy my web space from Yahoo) how do I indicate how much space to leave for the video window and how do I direct the placement (left, right, middle, etc.)

I'm glad someone else here uses Flash Video MX.

Isabel

Hello Peter,

Ken Cox has pointed me to your recent post about creating flash files from your PTE slide shows and I may be

able to offer some advice.

I now include similar slide shows on my own web site and I use the same program as Isabelle (you will have to

obtain the full working copy in order to improve the quality and remove the watermark)

Have a look at the slide shows on my site and check that it is what you are trying to achieve.

Ron

My Web Site Slide Shows

[Ken Cox]

Ron has also posted a show at youtube

see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl1KWUs8avw&feature=sdig&et=1256365466.37

ken

[Ratpets]

Hi, Lin!

To keep you informed: I've uploaded my swf.file with the snow globe to my server. I coverted the .mpeg4-file to swf by using the Free Video and Flash Converter (trademark of DVD Videosoft.com), because this software doensn't have any restrictions, at least no visible ones, and if you like you can watch it:

www.rattenzauber.de/Weihnachten/index.htm

It's thought to use that index.file as the entry to our website at Christmas time.

It's a site on pet rats and the URL is

www.rattenzauber.de

(Another one on African Giant rats is at

www.riesenhamsterratten.info)

That swf-file is around 3 Megs, and because so many users over here have got a fast internet access, DSL or whatever, I hope an interested user who wants to visist my site will wait these few moments until the movie has loaded. If not, he can click on "Herzlich Willkommen" (Welcome!)to go to the main page immediately.

Because I'm not experienced with flash movies I'd like to ask if there are means to preload the movie.And whatelse would you make different?

Kindest regards!

Peter

Hi Peter,

You have several options. First, if you own PTE Deluxe you can use it to create either an AVI which can be converted via programs such as Isabelle uses, or you can also output a high definition MP4 h.264 file which can then be uploaded automatically to either Vimeo or Youtube. You can then embed the Vimeo or Youtube link directly into your website and your visitors can play the file when they visit your site. You may have seen embedded Youtube links right here. Several members use them including theDom.

I'm assuming you want to play your snowglobe animations from your post on Panos' site. If so, tell me if you have your own website where you want to embed the Flash or other files and it will be easier to help you get started.

The various Flash converters all make SWF Flash files. Some also make Flash FLV files. If your entire animation is fairly short (under 8 minutes or so) then Flash SWF sometimes will be just fine. For larger Flash files or for longer play time, Flash FLV allows what it know as "preload." Preloading lets a chosen percentage of the file spool to the user's hard disk on a hidden and temporary folder then playback begins after this amount of the file has downloaded. The preload prevents people with low bandwidth from having start/stop action and assures a smooth presentation. The advantage of Flash over other types of output such as MP4 h.264 is that it can easily be embedded on your own website. The down side is that you need to purchase a converter, or search the web for a free converter. There are some free converters available, but generally, these are not as good as the ones you purchase.

The advantage of embedding a Youtube or Vimeo show on your website is that you don't have to pay for it. If there is a disadvantage, it's that the Vimeo or Youtube identity splash will always be shown. If you sign up for a free Vimeo or Youtube account, then that information is placed in your PicturesToExe upload file and once that has been done, you can automatically upload to either of these sites. Both provide link scripts so you may embed them in your own website and the visitor to your site never has to leave it to play the slideshow.

So let us know whether you have a website and whether you own PTE or not, and then we can help you decide on the best way to proceed.

Best regards,

Lin

[Lin Evans]

Hi Peter,

The little guy (is that Rocky or Romeo?) looks like the candles are keeping him warm in spite of the snow! Very nice - I'm glad you found the free converter which seems to work fine.

I think it's fine the way it is. To preload, you generally need Flash FLV which is a bit more complex and usually requires a commercial converter which also creates a player. For no more size than the three meg for your animation, I think the SWF file is fine. You might want to put a little text reminder for visitors to "wait" for a few seconds until the animation begins.

Best regards,

Lin