There are some amazing looking flash films on the web that looks great. Along with others "Web therapy" at www.lstudio.com looks awesome.

I would love to deliver links to flash-films to my clients for their approval which would need to be in decent quality.

It seems like there is a jungle of approaches when it comes to maintaining the quality all the way to the flash-file and I would like to hear if anybody has a brilliant workflow that works for them. Whats the best way of exporting out of the Media composer and what compression tool is the best at this moment.

Thanks for yor help.

i export QTref & use either Sorenson Squeeze or Adobe video Encoder to encode to flash.  Sorenson has more options for encoding (like if you need a SWF file to trigger other flash events on a website, etc.), but i prefer the Adobe Encoder to sorenson for standard FLV encoding.  it's just simpler to use when you don't need to change every parameter available.   Just make sure you're using the On2VP6 Flash codec.  all others look terrible by comparrison.  older versions of Sorenson Squeeze only have the Sorenson Spark coded, which isn't worth your time.

shane

Thanks for your reply. I've worked with the encoder in Adobe CS3 and my films have looked decent but not brilliant but now with CS4 I've managed to make my films look worse. And it seems as my results are better when I have a progressive material compared to interlaced ones. And my FLVs from originating from HDV material seems to be extra hard to handle.

Are there other options besides Sorenson and Adobe that can encode FLVs with the On2VP6 codec?  That must be why my flash files aren't so great.  I don't think my encoder (VisualHUB) is using that one.

Episode Pro with Flash 8 Option is very good.

And MPEG Streamclip (it's free) can encode with On2 VP6, also.

Thanks, I tried MPEG Streamclip but I didn't see how.  I have Perian installed, if that matters.

In MPEG Streamclip open a clip and try "File" > "Exports To Other Formats" > Select "Flash Video (FLV)" in the "Format" Tab > Use "Options" to customize your setting

I think, it has nothing to do with Perian. Perian is a quicktime codec that helps you to use flv files with quicktime. 

Gravpilsk:  if your source is natively progressive, you would expect better results on the progressive playback of a computer monitor.  if by "extra hard to handle" you mean they yeild large file sizes, that is also to be expected if you're using a "high-res" source.  if your file sizes are comming out too big, try compressing more aggressively (lower data rate), or you could mix-down to a lower resolution first and then compress that file.  i'm sure someone out there has a great HDV-to-Flash workflow, but i'm almost always just going SD to Flash.

my workflow (using SD sources) is:  QTref into the Macromedia Flash 8 video encoder (now part of the Adobe CS bundle), i usually customize my settings, selecting the On2 codec & a medium-range data rate (their defaults are pretty good, but you can reduce them if your video doesn't have a lot of motion in it), and i always have to change the default aspect ratio (for some reason, the aspect ratio is never correct when "maintain aspect" is selected.  i've never understood this.  i usually use a 320x240 size, though sometimes move up a little for featured videos (though having to reduce data-rate for optomization... always the trade-off).  of course your HDV aspect ratio would be different.

as for the On2VP6 codec, i've never seen a free version of it.  i have used Streamclip, but seem to remember the On2 codec costing an upgrade fee or something.  i could be wrong, but even Sorenson charges an additiona $100 to get that codec "unlocked."

hope you have better results in the future!

shane

Thx for all the nice feedback.

Has anyone tried On2 Flix? And what framerates has looked best for you?

i keep my flv framerate the same as my source (usually 30 fps).  if you're asking about "keyframes," i usually let the Flash 8 encoder use "automatic"... seems to work well.

shane

Hmm, I don't have the FLV option in MPEG Streamclip. I guess I have to pay for something first?

Bloersch:

In MPEG Streamclip open a clip and try "File" > "Exports To Other Formats" > Select "Flash Video (FLV)" in the "Format" Tab > Use "Options" to customize your setting

I think, it has nothing to do with Perian. Perian is a quicktime codec that helps you to use flv files with quicktime.