Embedded Movies at DVinfo.net

Jeff Cottrone · July 12th, 2006, 11:02 AM

I don't quite understand how this works. Let's say I have some video work (short film, wedding videos) I want to post on my website, and I don't want people to be able to download them to their computer, but just watch them streamed. What are my options? How does this work exactly? Is the player embedded in my website so there is no need for anyone to have certain sotware to play it? I have Flash but haven't used it yet. I have Sorenson Squeeze but haven't used it yet. Right now my videos are in Premiere Pro 1.5. What are the steps and options here?

Ervin Farkas · July 12th, 2006, 02:02 PM

Dreamweaver has all you need to embedd your Flash movie. Go to Insert > Media. If you work with some other editor (or NotePad), you will need a script... you can probably find it somewhere on the Internet.

Dreamweaver produces this code for autoplay (it gets more complicated if you want player control buttons):

<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0" width="363" height="266">
<param name="movie" value="file:example.swf" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
<embed src="file:example.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="363" height="266"></embed>
</object>

Henry Cho · July 14th, 2006, 09:17 AM

the most popular options for web delivery of video are quicktime, wmv, real, and flash. quicktime is native on the mac, and wmv is native on the pc. regardless, someone will need a plugin to see your video somewhere down the line. flash video is gaining a lot of popularity as playback capability is integrated into the ubiquitous flash plugin. it is considered best practice to offer viewers a choice to see the video in quicktime, windows media, or real, etc.

first step is to encode your video to one, or several, of the formats outlined above. your encode settings depend on your target audience's bandwidth. another common best practice is to offer different versions for different connection types - 56k modem users, and varying levels of broadband. use the presets included in the adobe media encoder included with premiere. if you're encoding to flash video, output your timeline to a single video file and use the video encoder that comes with flash, and import the output flv file into the flash timeline and publish out the swf. or just use squeeze and export to swf, not flv (basically automates what i outlined).

to embed the output video in your html page, each video format has a different way of handling this. just google "embed quicktime" or "embed wmv" and someone should have some code you can copy and paste into your file.

with the info above, you can achieve "fake" streaming by using progressive download, which should be fine for your purposes. the drawback here is that the file will be downloaded to the person's computer, in their browser's cache. true streams will not be cached. to achieve true streaming, you will need to host the video on the appropriate video streaming server -- no surprise, each format has it's own way of doing this as well.

that's my take on an overview... hope it helps.

Jon McGuffin · July 12th, 2007, 03:15 PM

Henry,

Do you happen to know of any service providers that can video stream flash video files well? I'm looking around and have found some who advertise the ability to stream, but I have a feeling they aren't "true" streaming sites..

Jon

David Hurdon · July 19th, 2007, 01:03 PM

If I understand your intent you aren't talking about embedding a player, you're talking about streaming versus progressive download. A true streaming file isn't written to your hard drive and hence can't easily be "copied" or kept. I don't try to capture other people's video so I'm not up on the methods, but the new Real Player claims to be able to capture any video on the web, with one button click, and I've read other posts in which it's been said that anyone who wants a copy badly enough can find a tool to rip it off. Digital rights management is the high end answer to copy protection, but I don't know where you'd get it or what it would cost for non-Hollywood style content (in value terms).

David Hurdon

Jon Jaschob · July 19th, 2007, 04:57 PM

Hi,
Try looking for a service provider that runs Flash Media Server:
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/
This is the best way to use flv streaming. I know this service costs more so I've never tried it.

As far as outputting to flash goes, I have CS and Flash 8. PPRo2 to full res avi imported to After Effects, then exported to flv using the flash 8 media encoder is my workflow. I do the resizing in AE. Most of the time I'm going from 720p to FLV and I use Cinform, so really the file only gets stepped on once, at the flv encoding. I run a high bitrate, 800, and it runs fine on broad band. The media server uses the same flv files to stream.

Hope this helps,
Jon

Examples of progressive DL flv files, some originated in HD, some in DV.
http://www.fotgfilms.com/reel_index.html

Mike Ripberger · September 4th, 2007, 11:49 PM

I would agree with the other comments about Flash video, it's the way to go. 97% of all users will have it and the video will just play. A user could potentially copy it, but they have to be pretty sophisticated to do it.

If you're *REALLY* worried about your intellectual property, Windows Media is the only platform with a real digital rights management (DRM) platform for video that will prevent unathorized use. However, that's usually more trouble than its worth.

We offer a Flash streaming service for vidoegraphers here: www.viddia.com

James Metz · September 8th, 2007, 09:42 PM

If you don't want to dig into the server side of streaming, apache web server httpd.conf settings for files on a linux server, I don't know what the paramaters are in IIS for windows server - take a simple approach, load the videos on a youtube account, create a playlist and embed that code into your website. Yes, you could loose a customer to surfing the rest of youtube, but it's a simple fast way to provide video jukebox functionality on a site quickly. I have no problems streaming .wmv 's on my site, but I'm experimenting with the youtube solution because it's so quick and easy.
Check out the jukebox I put on http://www.videodiamonds.com/corporate_video.htm
you can customize it to roughly match your site's colors, etc...

Jim Long · September 10th, 2007, 10:02 AM

Jeff,
We're a small video production company and book publisher (www.lightcatcherprod.com) and have discovered a great resource called Brightcove.com for our website. It's "free" as long as you allow them to embed a short ad at the end of your video. They provide you with what they call their "Publishingpod" which allows you to upload video (whether it's Quicktime, Mpeg4, WMV,etc.) which then encodes it as a FLV and uploads it as an asset.

If you are ready to distribute your movie via the web, they also have an option whereby you can encode your longer-form projects (movies and docs) into a high res Windows Media file. This allows people to download your movie--at whatever price you set--and Brightcove splits that price with you. They get 30% you keep 70%.

Another feature that I like, Brightcove allows you to customize your player. You can even put your logo or "bug" in the corner of the video clip. After you'd done all of that, you're given the code which allows you embed the videoplayer on your website. Best of all, viewers watch your clips or movies on your own website. The player does not re-direct viewers away from your own website.

July 12th, 2006, 11:02 AM	#1
Jeff Cottrone Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 100	Embedded Movies I don't quite understand how this works. Let's say I have some video work (short film, wedding videos) I want to post on my website, and I don't want people to be able to download them to their computer, but just watch them streamed. What are my options? How does this work exactly? Is the player embedded in my website so there is no need for anyone to have certain sotware to play it? I have Flash but haven't used it yet. I have Sorenson Squeeze but haven't used it yet. Right now my videos are in Premiere Pro 1.5. What are the steps and options here?

July 12th, 2006, 02:02 PM	#2
Ervin Farkas Inner Circle Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Atlanta/USA Posts: 2,515	Dreamweaver has all you need to embedd your Flash movie. Go to Insert > Media. If you work with some other editor (or NotePad), you will need a script... you can probably find it somewhere on the Internet. Dreamweaver produces this code for autoplay (it gets more complicated if you want player control buttons): <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0" width="363" height="266"> <param name="movie" value="file:example.swf" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed src="file:example.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="363" height="266"></embed> </object> __________________ Ervin Farkas www.AtlantaLegalVideo.com

July 19th, 2007, 01:03 PM	#5
David Hurdon Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 484	If I understand your intent you aren't talking about embedding a player, you're talking about streaming versus progressive download. A true streaming file isn't written to your hard drive and hence can't easily be "copied" or kept. I don't try to capture other people's video so I'm not up on the methods, but the new Real Player claims to be able to capture any video on the web, with one button click, and I've read other posts in which it's been said that anyone who wants a copy badly enough can find a tool to rip it off. Digital rights management is the high end answer to copy protection, but I don't know where you'd get it or what it would cost for non-Hollywood style content (in value terms). David Hurdon __________________ Site:http://www.faceliftmarketing.ca Blog:http://www.websitevideo.blogspot.com

September 4th, 2007, 11:49 PM	#7
Mike Ripberger New Boot Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 14	I would agree with the other comments about Flash video, it's the way to go. 97% of all users will have it and the video will just play. A user could potentially copy it, but they have to be pretty sophisticated to do it. If you're REALLY worried about your intellectual property, Windows Media is the only platform with a real digital rights management (DRM) platform for video that will prevent unathorized use. However, that's usually more trouble than its worth. We offer a Flash streaming service for vidoegraphers here: www.viddia.com __________________ Mike www.viddia.com

September 8th, 2007, 09:42 PM	#8
James Metz New Boot Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: san diego, ca Posts: 8	quick & easy If you don't want to dig into the server side of streaming, apache web server httpd.conf settings for files on a linux server, I don't know what the paramaters are in IIS for windows server - take a simple approach, load the videos on a youtube account, create a playlist and embed that code into your website. Yes, you could loose a customer to surfing the rest of youtube, but it's a simple fast way to provide video jukebox functionality on a site quickly. I have no problems streaming .wmv 's on my site, but I'm experimenting with the youtube solution because it's so quick and easy. Check out the jukebox I put on http://www.videodiamonds.com/corporate_video.htm you can customize it to roughly match your site's colors, etc... __________________ James Metz http://www.videodiamonds.com

July 14th, 2006, 09:17 AM	#3
Henry Cho Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 516	the most popular options for web delivery of video are quicktime, wmv, real, and flash. quicktime is native on the mac, and wmv is native on the pc. regardless, someone will need a plugin to see your video somewhere down the line. flash video is gaining a lot of popularity as playback capability is integrated into the ubiquitous flash plugin. it is considered best practice to offer viewers a choice to see the video in quicktime, windows media, or real, etc. first step is to encode your video to one, or several, of the formats outlined above. your encode settings depend on your target audience's bandwidth. another common best practice is to offer different versions for different connection types - 56k modem users, and varying levels of broadband. use the presets included in the adobe media encoder included with premiere. if you're encoding to flash video, output your timeline to a single video file and use the video encoder that comes with flash, and import the output flv file into the flash timeline and publish out the swf. or just use squeeze and export to swf, not flv (basically automates what i outlined). to embed the output video in your html page, each video format has a different way of handling this. just google "embed quicktime" or "embed wmv" and someone should have some code you can copy and paste into your file. with the info above, you can achieve "fake" streaming by using progressive download, which should be fine for your purposes. the drawback here is that the file will be downloaded to the person's computer, in their browser's cache. true streams will not be cached. to achieve true streaming, you will need to host the video on the appropriate video streaming server -- no surprise, each format has it's own way of doing this as well. that's my take on an overview... hope it helps.

July 12th, 2007, 03:15 PM	#4
Jon McGuffin Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Carlsbad, CA Posts: 634	Henry, Do you happen to know of any service providers that can video stream flash video files well? I'm looking around and have found some who advertise the ability to stream, but I have a feeling they aren't "true" streaming sites.. Jon

July 19th, 2007, 04:57 PM	#6
Jon Jaschob Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 232	Hi, Try looking for a service provider that runs Flash Media Server: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/ This is the best way to use flv streaming. I know this service costs more so I've never tried it. As far as outputting to flash goes, I have CS and Flash 8. PPRo2 to full res avi imported to After Effects, then exported to flv using the flash 8 media encoder is my workflow. I do the resizing in AE. Most of the time I'm going from 720p to FLV and I use Cinform, so really the file only gets stepped on once, at the flv encoding. I run a high bitrate, 800, and it runs fine on broad band. The media server uses the same flv files to stream. Hope this helps, Jon Examples of progressive DL flv files, some originated in HD, some in DV. http://www.fotgfilms.com/reel_index.html

September 10th, 2007, 10:02 AM	#9
Jim Long Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Springdale, Arkansas Posts: 55	Brightcove Fan Jeff, We're a small video production company and book publisher (www.lightcatcherprod.com) and have discovered a great resource called Brightcove.com for our website. It's "free" as long as you allow them to embed a short ad at the end of your video. They provide you with what they call their "Publishingpod" which allows you to upload video (whether it's Quicktime, Mpeg4, WMV,etc.) which then encodes it as a FLV and uploads it as an asset. If you are ready to distribute your movie via the web, they also have an option whereby you can encode your longer-form projects (movies and docs) into a high res Windows Media file. This allows people to download your movie--at whatever price you set--and Brightcove splits that price with you. They get 30% you keep 70%. Another feature that I like, Brightcove allows you to customize your player. You can even put your logo or "bug" in the corner of the video clip. After you'd done all of that, you're given the code which allows you embed the videoplayer on your website. Best of all, viewers watch your clips or movies on your own website. The player does not re-direct viewers away from your own website.