FireAnt for Mac can play FLV, provided that the raw FLV file is syndicated, not the SWF wrapper. FireAnt for Windows does not yet play FLV, but it does play SWF. We are working on improving this.
I think there are many benefits to being able to download and cache videos for local playback. This can become especially valuable if you want to watch a lot of videos from a lot of different sources... just the same way that people use RSS now. Some people like web based aggregators, but I've always preferred a desktop RSS reader. Its nice to be able to play videos when offline. I use a laptop and carry it with me, so my Internet connection is not permanent. Its easier to skip around and control your viewing experience when you're dealing with local files... its not about "lean back" for me. I'm always clicking around on different videos and I really enjoy this sort of freedom in my viewing experience. You cannot do this on the web without siginifcant latency even when dealing with Google Video (I happen to think Google Video is designed to be more of a Lean Back experience). However, not many people are syndicating FLV yet. Maybe because they do not want their video to play in another SWF wrapper. Perhaps they have some branding or special interactivity included in the SWF portion that they do not want to lose in syndication. For instance YouTube has a water mark and a few interactive features that are not part of the FLV but rather part of the SWF wrapper). Most people using Flash Video are not individual video creators, but rather upload-your-video-here type of services (to do Flash Video well is still rather difficult for the individual, there are many steps involved and you have to be rather proficient with Flash, which is both expensive and confusing). These services are probably not fond of the download-and-cache model of RSS enclosures because once the file is downloaded locally then they cannot track imprressions, which may be a core component of their business strategy. The next thing about Flash Video is that downloading it can be easily prevented by a good Flash designer. I'm actually really surprised that Google made it relatively easy to reverse engineer their process so that I could discover the direct download link for the video. I'm sure they do not want people to know about this loophole if they intend to get mainstream content owners to put their stuff onto Google (these content owners would cringe at the thought of people potentially downloading, remixing, redistributing their content). If they wanted to make it easy for people to download, Google could have provided a simple download link, but instead I took the time to do a little hacking with a Greasemonkey script: < http://www.joshkinberg.com/blog/archives/2005/11/greased_google.php > This type of hack is not always available with Flash Video. The YouTube hack relies on another method, which again is a loophole that YouTube could close if they wanted to (and I'm sure they do want to based on some of my discussions with them, they probably just haven't seen the Greasemonkey script yet). I've looked at Brightcove video players and have not yet found a method to download the video files. This is certainly by design -- the Brightcove player is an entire Flash application, not a video embedded in a webpage, so there is very little you can discover from a simple "View Source" of the HTML. I don't buy the argument that its hard for people to install Quicktime. Its just as hard to install the latest Flash Player plugin if that's the case (the newest Flash Video requires version 8 of the Flash plugin). If you are dealing with some sort of corporate blockage when it comes to installing programs, then you won't be able to install Flash plugin either. All in all I have no problem with Flash Video. I do think however that it is more often used to restrict the freedom of the viewer and control the experience from the point of view of the service provider (which may not be the same as the content creator) rather than to enhance the experience for the viewer. If I want to download and view the video later why shouldn't I be able to? If I want to put it on an iPod, why can't I? If I want to aggregate it with other videos so that I can view things in offline and skip around seemlessly, why not? -josh On 12/23/05, Michael Meiser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > My only problem is you can't vlog it because of the flash wrapper. I > even tried vlogging the flash wrapper. Doesn't work. > > I thought I heard something about a greasmonkey script or plugin for > uncovering the permalink directly to the video so you can vlog it. > But I never followed up on it and seem to have misplaced the reference. > > -Mike > > On Dec 23, 2005, at 1:19 AM, andrew michael baron wrote: > > Has anyone been keeping up with Google Video? I'm starting to think > that it may be a good solution for people who are just starting out > or want to incorporate video into their site with links, kinda like > people use flickr (an off-site compilation). > > I just gave it a shot this week. If you have a gmail account, you > just login and upload a video. It's pretty much that easy. They have > assured me up and down and I have it in writing that they can not own > it or do anything if I decide to take the video down one day. > > The worst part is the verification process which takes at least a day > or more. The bit rate is not great though again, from the perspective > of making it easy for people to experiment with getting their videos > online, in an easy way which may help as a stepping stone to a more > dedicated and integrated way of doing it, it seems to be pretty good, > for free. > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! 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