Flash Video Encoding Part 1

Before you can add on-demand video to your web site, you have to acquire the video and encode it, which involves converting it to the Macromedia Flash video (FLV) format. Here you have several options for how you want to encode your video, including using the following:

• - Flash Professional 8 video encoder
• - Flash Video Import Wizard
• - FLV QuickTime export plug-in
• - Third-party FLV encoder

The Flash Video Import Wizard enables you to encode video clips into the Flash video (FLV) format when you import them. However, the wizard has limitations in that you can encode only one video clip at a time, and the process of encoding can be both time- and computing-intensive.

On the other hand, the Flash Professional 8 video encoder enables you to batch process video clips, which allows encoding of several clips at a time. This stand-alone application also lets you embed cue points into the encoded video and edit the video using crop-and-trim controls.