Video to Flash Converter, need help...

Hi,
I have some videos that I like to upload them in my website but my vegas movie studio cannot render flv format. After some searching, I'm currently looking into the following softwares:
1) Any Video Converter Pro 2.5
2) Prism Video Format Converter
3) Aiseesoft Video to Flash Converter
4) AVS Video Converter
Any hands-on experience with these? Or if you would like to suggest something else, I'm wide open.
Thanks in advance.

1) No need to convert a video to flash, flash now supports mp4 video
2) DON'T convert a video to flash because flash now supports mp4 video

Simply export to h264 in an mpeg4 format (vegas does this), then find some (or make some) flash file that will play the video.

Thanks. I'll give that a shot.

Flash has always supported the .mov format for streaming. Although, flv is a lot smaller file and will stream easier.

As it turned out, my web sesigner had the videos in flv and I must output them as flv files, so that I can rename the files and push them up.
I'm trying to find out what player size to convert to and at what kbps for best stream speed and quality.
Thanks everyone.

vincent_su wrote in post #9184689
As it turned out, my web sesigner had the videos in flv and I must output them as flv files, so that I can rename the files and push them up.
I'm trying to find out what player size to convert to and at what kbps for best stream speed and quality.
Thanks everyone.

First suggestion is to get your designer to update the page to accept h264 or hire a new designer. Or just do it yourself. FLV is now pretty much legacy support anyway, even youtube did away with flv in favor of h.264 baseline profile.

As for kbps, if it's playing in the background or on load, generally you want to keep the entire stream under 512kbps. 768kbps is more or less youtube size and quality. For HD, ONLY use h.264, and stick to 1.5mbps for 720p or 3mbps for 1080p, if you want decent quality, 1mpbs/2mbps for ok quality. Any less than that and you might as well just have a 480p or even 272x480 resolution at higher bitrate and upscale.

Stream speed depends on the viewers connection. I've come to the conclusion you can never figure that out. I end up just assuming they have DSL or cable though. You can't please everybody but you can give them a choice. Upload several flv's for different speeds, then give them a button to load the one that suits them. One nice thing about flv and the flash player is, it will preload enough of the file to play without interruption, once it starts to play.

canonloader wrote in post #9184752
Upload several flv's for different speeds, then give them a button to load the one that suits them. One nice thing about flv and the flash player is, it will preload enough of the file to play without interruption, once it starts to play.

Most h264 flash players offer the same abilities.

Thanks so much. I have yet a lot more to learn. Here is what I've got so far, please provide your insight and I'll talk to my web designer. (Although the shooting and editing parts are done, I would like to know if there's a better setup for the next shooting.)
1) I use Canon HF-S100 and set it at 30PF and 24MP.
2) My editing software is Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.
3) I set the project property to 1080P AVI output and render to the highest quality AVI file.
4) I then import the AVI file into a encode program called SUPER for converting to flv file.
5) The setting for the flv conversion is-- FLV, h.264 encodec, 576 kbps.
I'm still trying to find out my web designer's player setup size and will try to hit 480:272 or 640:368. Once the size is determined, I'll then discuss what KBPS to use for web steaming speed.
Do they sound right to you?

BTW, the audio output is mp3.

I think it is nonsense to convert flash videos. If you want to play them on your computer just use VLC.

If you actually use a flash player, and a video player component, you can use action script to do more with the video than when played in some non flash environment.

The FLV thing is because my web designer has the setup for my website to use flv file and I need to push some new video to my website.
I don't like the way it's setup but I don't want to spend too much more to redesign my website.

There are any number of ways to load any number of flv's into a single video player component in a flash movie, if that's what he has set up. The easiest way is a txt file that the owner can edit and upload with a list of new flv file names on it. Also, if it's one movie in one simple player component, once it's set up, and you want to change the movie without going to the designer, simply upload another flv file with the exact same name and dimensions to it.

Not to hijack the thread, but can someone please help me with converter software... what software is well known and reliable?

Since Flash is an Adobe Product...Why not try Adobe?

Any of the CS4 Suites came bundled with Adobe Media Encoder...CS3 suites may have also.

I don't know if it's available as a standalone or not.

It takes FOREVER to convert to .f4v but imho there is not better quality in a small package and it loads and plays super fast.

My only complaint is how slow the conversion is...But the finished product is tough to beat.