http://www.on2.com/company/news-room/press-releases/?id=421
Boils down to this:
There’s a new profile for the On2 VP6 codec, called VP6-S, that will be available in the Flash Player 9 update 3 (”MovieStar”) release, currently in beta.
VP6-S is a new profile designed to utilize LESS processor cycles for bitrates above 500Kbps (read between the lines: high-res SD, or near HD resolutions or higher).
So, moving forward, we’ll have four options for standard Flash Video delivery:
- Sorenson Spark for Flash Player 6/7 or higher compatibility (and/or slow device processor speeds)
- On2 VP6-E for Flash Player 8 or higher compatibility
- On2 VP6-S for Flash Player 9 update 3 or higher compatibility (and > 500Kbps bitrates)
- AVC/H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10) and AAC audio for Flash Player 9 update 3 or higher compatibility
If you’re making the decision in the next few months to push the envelope with Flash Video and Flash Player 9 update 3 technology, how do you know whether to use On2 VP6-S (or -E) or AVC/H.264?
- If the client needs to repurpose video assets in other non-Flash platform environments, H.264 is probably the best bet. Be sure to communicate commercial licensing concerns for H.264 delivery to the client.
- If you want to avoid licensing concerns and have high-resolution (high SD or near-HD resolutions), use On2 VP6-S.
- If you need to perform custom effects with Flash Video (embedded cue points, alpha channel transparency), use On2 VP6-E/S.
Those are my thoughts for now. I’m sure I’ll have more to report after next week’s Adobe MAX conference.
September 28th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Thanks for sharing dude! This is great news.
September 29th, 2007 at 4:38 am
So not one but two new video options in the latest version of Flash - that is very good news indeed! Cheers for the scoop Rob.
September 29th, 2007 at 5:06 am
PS - According to the On2 link you posted, encoders for the new VP format will be available in just a couple weeks - in “mid-October, concurrently with the Adobe Flash Player 9 update.”
So I guess we now also know when “Moviestar” will be exiting beta and entering broad official release - another scoop!
September 29th, 2007 at 8:09 am
On2 was the first to bring full screen HD to flash video - they keep raising the bar for the highest quality, affordable video codecs. Expect big news out of ADOBE and On2 around this new format at MAX. Looks like On2’s star is rising - I can’t wait to see what they have in the can on VP8!!!
October 18th, 2007 at 2:53 am
> “On2 was the first to bring full screen HD to flash video”
I thought that On2 VP6-S could only deliver “near” HD quality? Does anyone know for sure?
I believe that H264 can offer 480p, 720p and 1080p but not 1080i.
I tested On2 VP6 with resolutions matching 720p and was really impressed with the quality, my machine stuggled with H264 a bit at the same res. Both tests were also in FULL_SCREEN using the FLVPlayback component in Flex 2 with patch.
Would be interested in anyone elses opinions on this.
October 18th, 2007 at 7:43 am
Neil, I prefer to use the term “near HD” quality myself, but the beta releases of Flash Player 9 update 3 seem to be handling full HD reasonbably well _if_ you use the hardware acceleration modes described here:
http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flash_Player:9:Update:Full-Screen_Mode_HW
Were you using that specific mode in your tests?
October 19th, 2007 at 1:36 am
Hi Robert,
In the post you supplied they are not using the FLVPlayback component, so I’m unable to follow their example, using deblocking and smoothing properties. I am using;
stage.fullScreenSourceRect = new Rectangle(0, 0, 1280, 544);
stage.displayState = StageDisplayState.FULL_SCREEN;
What I don’t understand is that the dimensions of the rectangle have little effect on the fullscreen version. I have a few buttons that sit above the video and these are not visible in full screen, how does the rectangle know to just use the area of the video.
I do have the hardware acceleration tick box checked in the settings dialog, I did screenshots with and without and it does improve the smoothing really well.
One of Adobe’s demos uses the file backcountry_bombshells_4min_HD_1500_96.flv, the resolution of this file is 854×480 which is EDTV, not sure why they say it is HD, or again are they referring to ‘HD quality’
Thanks
July 19th, 2009 at 8:25 am
[…] Spark and on higher bitrates and has high requirements to the system playing the stream. There is a update to the VP6 codec comming with FlashPlayer 9 that improves performance on higher bitrate […]
July 19th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Near HD means some of the lower HD resolutions like 405p, 480p or 540p and a bitrate of no more than 1.5-2mbps. Some even claim 700kbit streams to be “HD”.