FLASH CS3
User Guide
302
You can apply the following actions to imported video objects in movie clips:
goTo
,
play
,
stop
,
toggle-
HighQuality
,
stopAllSounds
,
getURL,FScommand
,
loadMovie
,
unloadMovie
,
ifFrameLoaded
, and
onMou-
seEvent
. To apply actions to a Video object, first convert the Video object to a movie clip.
To show a live video stream from a camera, use ActionScript. First, to place a Video object on the Stage, use the New
Video Object in the Library panel. To attach the video stream to the Video object, use
Video.attachVideo
.
See also Video and attachVideo (Video.attachVideo method) in the
ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference
, and fl.video
in the ActionScript 3.0 Language Reference.
See also
“Playing back external FLV files dynamically” on page 320
About progressively downloading video
Progressive downloading lets you use ActionScript to load external FLV files into a SWF file, and play them back at
runtime. To initiate playback of the FLV file, and to control the Play, Pause, and Seek behaviors, as well as the buffer
time and size for a given video file, use the
netConnection
and
netStream
objects.
Because the video content is kept external to the other Flash content and the video playback controls, it’s relatively
easy to update video content without republishing the SWF file.
Progressive downloading provides the following advantages over embedded video:
•
During authoring, publish only the SWF interface to preview or test part or all of your Flash content. This results
in faster preview times and quicker turnaround on iterative experimentation.
•
During delivery, video begins playing as soon as the first segment is downloaded and cached to the local
computer’s disk drive.
•
At runtime, video files are loaded from the computer’s disk drive into the SWF file, with no limitation on file size
or duration. No audio synchronization issues or memory restrictions exist.
•
The frame rate of the video file can be different from the frame rate of the SWF file, allowing for greater flexibility
in authoring your Flash content.
Streaming video using Flash Media Server
In streaming, each Flash client opens a persistent connection to the Flash Media Server, and a controlled relationship
exists between the video being delivered and the client interaction. Flash Media Server uses bandwidth detection to
deliver video or audio content based on the user’s available bandwidth. This lets you provide different content for
users based on their ability to easily access and download content. For example, if a user with a dial-up modem
accesses your video content, you can deliver an appropriately encoded file that doesn’t require too much bandwidth.
Flash Media Server also provides you with quality of service metrics, detailed tracking and reporting statistics, and
a range of interactive features designed to enhance the video experience. As with progressive downloading, the video
content (FLV file) is kept external to the other Flash content and the video playback controls. This lets you easily add
or change content without having to republish the SWF file.
Streaming video with Flash Media Server or FVSS provides the following advantages over embedded and progres-
sively downloaded video:
•
Video playback starts sooner than it does using other methods of incorporating video.
•
Streaming uses less of the client's memory and disk space, because the clients don’t need to download the entire file.
