Kevin Towes on Online Video at Adobe

It’s great to see so much buzz about the Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) protocol and Flash Media Server, and today we’ve made the protocol specification available to everyone who wants to use it – for Free!   We’re really excited about the opportunities to add new data sources, communications, and media to new and existing applications in Flash.

You can now download the Adobe RTMP Spec it for free here .

RTMP was first introduced in Flash Player 6 enabled by Flash Communication Server 1.0 (now called the Flash Media Server). This was also the time when audio and video capture was introduced in the player opening a new role for Flash player as a communication client.

The RTMP specification describes a protocol designed for multiplexing and packetizing multimedia transport streams including audio, video and data over the TCP protocol. RTMP is used today with Flash Media Server for many real-time applications such as our own Adobe Acrobat Connect, and for media delivery from major online media publishers like Hulu, Amazon or the BBC. It’s also used inside Adobe LiveCycle Data Services ES for real time data push applications.

The RTMP specification is part of the Adobe Flash Platform and will join other open initiatives including SWF and FLV/F4V formats as part of the Open Screen Project with the goal of delivering a consistent experience for both developers and users across all devices.    The protocol specification will help companies integrate new sources of audio, video and data into their projects and reach over 98% of connected computers and more than 800 million devices worldwide.   The Adobe Flash Platform is used today to deliver approximately 80% of web video and can be updated faster than any technology today, reaching 74% market penetration 5 months after release.

The RTMP spec does not include any information about Adobe’s secure streaming measures, such as RTMPe or SWF Verification – which continue to protect some of the internet’s most valuable media content using Flash Media Server used by the top media publishers for the widest possible audience.

The specification documents how the RTMP protocol works, this will enable you to send and receive data from Flash Player or AIR. You can learn how to use the RTMP handshake, understand how the RTMP Chunk stream is formed, how RTMP command messages are created and the message formats. This information will let you leverage the client side ActionScript classes, NetConnection, NetStream, SharedObject and other s that today move data back and forth between Flash Player and Flash Media Server.

This specification does not include any binary or source code implementation of the RTMP protocol. We have a new product offering called the FMS Connector for C++ SDK, that is also available today for licensing. The connector can be used to publish live audio, video and metadata into Flash Media Server. To learn more about the RTMP connector you can contact FMSOEMinquiries@adobe.com.

So what happens for Flash Media Server? Adobe continues to innovate on top of RTMP with Flash Media Server software to help increase quality of service and real time interactivity with solutions like multi-bitrate (Dynamic Streaming), DVR technology, server side recording, network caching, data collaboration with a rich and easy to build platform that integrates and scales as big as you need it to. Flash Media Server will remain to be the right choice for customers who want to deploy scalable and secure streaming and collaboration services on the Adobe Flash Platform.   The tight integration between Flash Player and Flash Media Server continues to make it the number 1 choice for facilitating secure interactive communication and highly scalable media delivery on the web.

Posted by Kevin Towes at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we released two free tools; the new DVRCast application for Flash Media Interactive Server 3.5, and an update to FLVPlayback component. You can find them both on the Flash Media Server productivity tools page: http://www.adobe.com/go/fms_tools/. You can read more from a new article from David Hassoun posted here: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashmediaserver/articles/live_dvr_pt2.html

Some Background

Live streaming on the web has exploded with Flash over the past 12 months - thanks to the support of our CDN and encoding partners - the capacity and volume available today for live events is staggering. Recently we’ve seen nearly every major sporting league, concert, conference come to the web (usually in Flash).    Inside businesses, company meetings and training are exploding because of the direct impact to saving money by limiting the need for travel.

When we released Adobe Flash Media Server 3.5 last January, we extended live recording functionality in 2 ways. First we added support for H.264/AAC recording on the server and second we added support for playing a live stream from a file that is expanding.   We upgraded the recording engine really for selfish reasons - we were tired of being the growing volume of compelling live content on the web, as if it was 1960 with no control over how we consume it.

Flash Media Interactive Server 3.5 can enable many of the experiences we expect from watching television in our living room with a DVR set top box. The DVRCast application extends the base functionality of the server to allow publishers to manage their live DVR-enabled streams and enable features within Flash Media Live Encoder 3.0 and the FLVPlayback component update. We hope you find the functionality compelling enough to introduce into your future live events.

I’ll use this blog posting as an FAQ of sorts to help explain what is now possible with this new technology.

As we were putting the final touches on the server before we released, it came clear that enabling DVR on streams may not be obvious for everyone, so we set out to make it easier, and provide some free (yes, free) tools to get you started faster.  

The tools include

• DVRCast 1.1  – server side application that makes DVR easy.
• FLVPlayback 2.5.0.15 Component update – a prebuild video player for Flash Professional CS4 and Flex SDK.
• Flash Media Live Encoder 3.0 – a high quality live encoder
• F4V Post Processor – a tool to remove the fragments from H264 DVR caches so you can edit or play progressively in Flash Player.

The goal of using these tools in combination is to make DVR as code-less as possible, and provide developers insight into how to create scalable robust DVR-enabled live streams.

What is DVRCast?

DVRCast is a server side application that runs on top of Flash Media Interactive Server 3.5 to provide more control over DVR-enabled streams by introducing a series of API’s to control the start/stop and scheduling of future live streams.   The API’s are developed using ServerSide ActionScript and can only be used with Flash Media Interactive Server 3.5 (note: the Flash Media Streaming Server 3.5 is not supported)

Do you need DVRCast to use DVR with Flash Media Server?

No. DVRCast uses existing technology built into the server, DVRCast extends the server functionality with abilities to manage metadata, start and stop and scheduling of DVR-enabled streams. You can learn how to use DVR without DVRCast by reading the Adobe Developer Connection article by David Hassoun - there is also a terrific sample application in his article. http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashmediaserver/articles/live_dvr_pt1.html

What Codecs are supported?

All codecs supported by Flash Media Server 3.5 are fully supported, including H.264/AAC, ON2VP6/MP3, H263(Spark)/Nellymoser/Speex. Flash Media Server 3.5 added support to record H264/AAC on the server in the F4V Container (an MPEG-4 ISO standard).

Can you use DVR for audio-only streams?

Yes! You do not need a video stream, so if you want to create a DVR-enabled radio stream you can absolutely do that.   Flash Media Server will create the cache as an FLV (for MP3) and F4V (for AAC)

What can you do with DVR on Flash Media Server?

DVR changes the way we engage with live video online. You can leverage DVR-enabled streams in ANY version of Flash Player that supports video.   That’s right - rollback to Flash player 6, and create something new again (just be aware of the codecs supported)!

Here are some ideas we considered when we designed the feature - mostly from our team sitting at home watching how we interact with live television today (a fun homework assignment).

• Instant Replay - This is the killer experience that changed the game.   As you watch a live stream, allow the viewer to skip back to re-watch an amazing shot on goal from your favorite hockey team, or skip back to re-watch your CEO explain your new bonus structure.
• Start from Beginning - Put another way, this is time shifting. Imagine watching a live stream from the beginning while the live event is still happening. This is what we’ve come to expect in our living room, since the days of the VCR.   It’s incredible that for the past 10 years of live video on the web we’ve forced people to log in at a specific time and place to watch the live stream and if things get disrupted - too bad. DVR helps make live streams available to more viewers on their own time and resistant against failure.
  
• Resume after failure - The internet is a unreliable place, and when connection issues hit your PC while you’re watching a live video, guess what happens - you will lose the content from when the disruption happened to when you start again. This could happen due to network congestion or network failure.    DVR features can help prevent the loss of stream.   When network failures happen and you reconnect, you can resume the stream from where you left off (just like VOD). Without DVR, to watch the period you missed, you must wait for the video to be available in VOD - something I (personally) hope I never experience that again (hint hint).
• Real time clipping - This is a real exciting feature for publishers, and a way to take engagement to the next level.   Imagine watching a live concert, and in the background the publisher is creating clips of the songs and posting them in real time. Or imagine you’re watching a hockey game, and the publisher is cataloging the big hits and shots on goal, and posting them live.   What’s great about the DVR Cache is you can treat it just like VOD.   (BIG IDEA HERE) Imagine creating a tool that allows a publisher to create in and out points during the live stream, and publish the clips in real time. You can see a little of that technique today on MLB.com - where they clip the innings, and allow you to watch each inning separately in real time.
• Manage Limits- Flash Media Server has built-in mechanisms to make sure you don’t blow up your disks. We’ve run tests for DVR that included a 24x7 stream running for up to 3 weeks - creating a multi-GB DVR cache, but it’s realistic to think you could do this (think fish tank, or eggs hatching!)    The server has limits in the configuration that let you set “quota” rules that could be bound by either max duration or max size.   Located in either the XML configuration (application or server level) or even build something custom using the C++ plug-ins.
• Instant VOD- one of the coolest side features of the DVR cache is the ability to instantly publish the VOD version of the live stream. Think about blurring the line between live and VOD.    So publishers, get rid of the time to re-encode and upload the VOD version of your live event.    If you want to do some quick editing of the cache (i.e. you want to change the start / end time) - no problem - Flash Media Server does that - simply start playing from the point you want, and set the duration to end where you want. (You can even bring the cache into Adobe Premiere, but I’ll cover that later).

How is DVR in Flash different than the DVR in my home?

There are a lot of differences - specifically related to where the cache is stored.    Your DVR at home has a hard drive, and the cache is stored locally.   This is handy if you want to skip commercials, or “own” the show.   It’s not very interesting for publishers of live content - because control is lost and most importantly the opportunity to draw revenue from the media is lost (because you will fast forward through the commercials, we all do it).    The core difference with our approach is that the cache is stored at the server.   This allows the publisher to provide the experiences that the viewer wants, while maintaining control over the media. For the viewer, the benefit is revealed when you forget to record your show. In Flash, the server will always give you the ability to play from the beginning.

Here is a high level overview of how DVR works in Flash Media Server 3.5

What does DVRCast do?

DVRCast provides you deep control for managing your single or multiple DVR-enabled streams by giving you controls for starting, stopping, scheduling and deep control over. We strongly recommend that you leverage this application and use the application’s API’s to develop a custom live stream management utility. We’ll keep updating DVRCast, fix bugs and make it better over time.

Here are some enhancements enabled by DVRCast

• Start the DVR cache - This may seem obvious - but let’s look at some situations that add complexity - Starting the DVR cache can be done after the live stream begins or at the time of publish. In most scenarios broadcasters will start a live stream long before the actual event.    You don’t want to be burning valuable disk with the cache, that no one will watch.   Starting the DVR cache after the stream is published is key. Another important scenario is multi cameras (think football) - where starting the DVR cache needs to happen across all streams at the same time. Ok, now add another layer - most live events use redundant ingest points - basically the live stream is published to at least 2 servers, incase 1 goes down. In this scenario, you now need to start the DVR cache not on 1 server with 1 stream, but multiple servers and multiple streams. DVRCast helps solve this problem (see the scheduling feature, below)
• Schedule future DVR Streams - Often times live events have a scheduled start and end time.   DVRCast lets you pre-program the server to wait for the live stream to be published, and at the scheduled time, the server will automatically start caching the live stream.   You can program any number of streams and duplicate the program over multiple servers.
• Add/Change Metadata - Metadata is used in streaming to add descriptive information about the live stream (i.e. name, author, copyright) but also information about the stream - most importantly the duration.    The duration data is important so you can build a user interface (i.e. Seek Bar).   If you watch your DVR at home, you will notice that the Seek bar has a set duration.    What happens if the event runs long or short?   The visual interface needs to be updated.    DVRCast makes it easy to add/change metadata such as duration.    The updated FLVPlayback component will respond to duration change, but modifying the seek bar scale.
• Extend or trim the end time of an existing stream - Have you ever known a live event that has ended on time? DVRCast will let you extend or reduce the stop time of a DVR Cache.    You can build a utility that lets you manage this easily.
• Append to an existing cache – An original feature of FMS is to support appending to existing media files.    DVRCast makes it easy to use that feature with Flash Media Server 3.5.
• Support for Dynamic Streaming (Mulitbitrate)– Multibitrate live streaming is a new feature with Flash Player 10 and Flash Media Server 3.5. The start DVR button in the Flash Media Live Encoder 3.0 will begin the DVR cache for all bitrates streaming from the encoder. You can also use the scheduling feature in the DVRCast application to start the cache at the same time for multiple streaming coming in from the server.

Can you customize DVRCast?

Absolutely yes.   DVRCast is available as “Sample Code” and it is within the EULA to modify, and use this application to suit your custom needs. Some ideas for extending DVRCast could be adding functionality to return all existing streams on the server, and selectively enable/disable DVR on the streams. You can also build protection mechanisms within DVRCast to limit usage of the API’s or signal content management systems when the DVR stream is complete to create a smooth transition between live and VOD.

Does the FLVPlayback component support DVR?

Yes, we have updated the component to support DVR functionality. We now support this component in both Flash Professional CS4 and the Flex SDK.   The current version is FLVPlayback 2.5.0.15, and is included in the DVRCast download.   You can also download it separately.

Can I edit the DVR cache?

Yes. Part of the design was to allow customers to edit the DVR cache in our CS4 Production tools such as Adobe Premiere CS4 or Adobe After Effects CS4.   There are a couple caveats. First you need to use H.264/AAC. Second you need to use the F4V Post Processing tool (from our tools page). This tool will remove the fragments from the F4V, and make it usable in the production tools. Note, this will not work with VP6 content.

Posted by Kevin Towes at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We just release Flash Media Server 3.5.2 on Adobe.com (see link below)

This service pack release is a bug fix release focusing of improving transitions for Dynamic Streaming content, more support for multibitrate live encoders plus increasing memory management under heavy load. We've also added a few more event messages to help developers respond when exceptions happen. This release also addresses a security issue around remote procedure calls (we also back ported that fix in version 3.0.4).

DOWNLOAD FMS 3.5.2 today: http://www.adobe.com/support/flashmediaserver/downloads_updaters.html

Kevin Towes

Posted by Kevin Towes at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A key question that I get asked by customers is how do I encode this video to make it look good in Flash? In response, we now have 3 articles up on the Adobe Developer Connection to help you get started.

The first is a high level overview of the various tools in the market for Live and Video on Demand Encoding – both those available from Adobe as well as from our partner ecosystem.
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/video/articles/video_encoding_ecosystem.html

The second is an introductory encoding article – H.264 for the rest of us - written by Kush Amerasinghe of Ask the Adobe Ones fame. It takes you through all of the basics of encoding and some of the specific nuances of H.264.
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashmediaserver/articles/h264_primer.html

The third article is an advanced H.264 piece written by industry expert Jan Ozer, focused on some of the nitty gritty settings to get the best out of an H.264 encode.
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashmediaserver/articles/h264_encoding.html

Video compression and encoding can be pretty daunting if you’re just starting out, but these resources should start to demystify the process and help you deliver the best video experience through Adobe Flash Player.

-Laurel Reitman
Sr Product Manager
Flash Media Solutions

Posted by Laurel Reitman at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we published the first of a 2-part series showing how to use DVR functionality with Flash Media Server 3.5 and User Generated Content. David Hassoun from Real Eyes Media is the author of this in-depth 6-page article that shows how developers can create a DVR-enabled stream using Flash Player and DVR a playback solution from scratch. Here's an excerpt:

"With the evolution of broadcast television and the ability to watch time-shifted content with pause and seek functionality, why wouldn't that same standard apply to the web?With the evolution of broadcast television and the ability to watch time-shifted content with pause and seek functionality, why wouldn't that same standard apply to the web?"

As we all look for ways to monetize content, one thing is clear - the longer you can engage a viewer, the more opportunities you have to draw revenue. DVR functionality will change the way we consume live video on the web by allowing the developer to create new ways to interact with live events including Instant Replay, live Clipping, instant VOD, Restart and jump-to-live.

This article will cover how to create Instant Replay applications and how to publish and play DVR-enabled streams. It will also discuss DVR publishing workflows.

Coming Soon! The next article of the series, you will learn how you can enable DVR Functionality without writing 1 line of code!

Posted by Kevin Towes at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This weekend Lance Armstrong kicked off the broadcast live from the Amgen Tour of California using the Adobe Flash Platform. The 9-day Amgen Tour of California is much like the Tour de France except over the rolling hills of California, starting in Sacremento and ending 750 miles away in Escondido.

You can follow the race starting on Feb 14th through the 22nd using the Live Tour Tracker. This unique Flash application uses live video and live GPS data feeds to give you a complete perspective of the race. Using Flash Media Server through Akamai to stream live video from the Flash Media Live Encoder this application pushes the envelope of real time data syncronized with live video. The data feed is injected into the application using Adobe Live Cycle Data Services ES.

Watch an overview by our Director of product management and avid cyclist, Jen Taylor here

Check out the Tour Tracker here

Check out the Press Release here

Posted by Kevin Towes at 9:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today as the 44th president of the United States was inagurated, Akamai broke new ground in live Flash capacity. Akamai today demonstrated and supported over 100 media outlets collectively streaming over 800Gbps of live media from Flash Media Server.  Sites deciding to choose Flash included NYTimes, uStream, Viacom, Wall Street Journal, CNN and many others around the globe.  If there was ever any question of the reach and importance of a ubiquitous platform or any question of the capacity and scalability for live Flash streaming – today confirmed it all.

Here are very some impressive numbers supplied by press release from Akamai.

• Single Day peak on the Akamai EdgePlatform for concurrent live Flash streams
• 2 terabits per second
• 12 million requests per second
• 100 news portal sites
• 5.4 million visitors per minute
  

REF: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/090120/20090120006023.html?.v=1

Congratulations to everyone who was involved in supporting this momentous occasion, and thank you for creating such rich and engaging media experiences using the Adobe Flash Platform.

Posted by Kevin Towes at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we released Flash Media Interactive Server 3.5 and Flash Media Streaming Server 3.5. You can now download the FREE Development server right now and try it out for yourself from http://www.adobe.com/go/fms/! We have also released Flash Media Live Encoder 3.0 with support for multi-bitrate encoding plus DVR functionality. You can download FMLE3 for FREE from http://www.adobe.com/go/fme/.

Over the past 12 months we’ve been working very hard to build on the success of version 3.0 which introduced standardized H.264/AAC codec support and new content protection mechanisms. Adobe Flash has become the defacto standard way to deliver media around the world. With companies including BBC, NFL, CCTV, NBC, Hulu, Amazon, Disney and MLB making the choice to leverage the ubiquity of the Adobe Flash Platform as the principle way to deliver rich and interactive media experiences.

This latest release includes significant improvements found in Flash player 10/ AIR 1.5 around the quality of delivery through Dynamic Streaming. New technology for live media using network-based DVR and also server-side archiving of H.264 content all help deliver interactive high-quality content. Thank you to the hundreds of you who participated in our pre-release program and to those of you who tested, and shared insight into the product and dedication towards its future.

This release will help improve the user experience for both Live and VOD content, and help you introduce new experiences for video over the web. The built-in web sever will also make it easier to deliver the complete experience from a single server, and help you experience the efficiencies streaming can provide. We have a brand new case study video available; check out how UStream.tv uses Flash Media Server to deliver interactive live experiences today.

The new Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder 3 (note the new name) now supports live multiple bitrate encoding. This means you can capture a single live source and encode up to 3 different bitrates from a single instance. The live encoder also has a new “Start DVR” button, but you’ll have to wait a couple more weeks for some new server side code to enable it. The button requires a new FMIS application called DVRCast. This application will be available for free in early February from our new Productivity Tools for Flash Media Server page on Adobe.com. We’ve also added several other enhancements to improve the encoding experience. You can download the FREE Flash Media Live Encoder today from here http://www.adobe.com/go/fme/.

We also released today, a new Productivity Tools section for Flash Media Server (http://www.adobe.com/go/fms_tools). The free set of tools and sample code will help you become more productive with Flash Media Server and reduce your development time. Starting today you can download a new FLVPlayback 2.5 component that can be used in Flash Professional CS4, we’ve even made this available for the Flex SDK! Also the new component has full support for Dynamic Streaming and DVR – we’ve also fixed numerous bugs to make the component more stable with streaming.

A new Dynamic Streaming ActionScript 3 class is also now available within the Productivity tools that will make it easier and fast to develop applications with improved delivery quality. We’ve also made available the FLVCheck tool and the FMSCheck tools.

Over the coming months, we plan to add more tools and sample code to this page including a new DVR server side application that will help you deliver scalable network DVR solutions for your live events using Flash Media Interactive Server 3.5.

Today, on our Flash Media Server Developer Center we’ve published new articles by David Hassoun, Tom Green and Abhinav Kapoor. These authors have produced brand new articles that will help you understand how to use some of the new features – whether you are a beginner or a seasoned professional. These articles will cover details about FLVPlayback 2.5, Dynamic Stream ActionScript classes and also new video encoding guidelines that will produce a seamless transition for multi-bitrate delivery for both live and video on demand. The updated Flash Media Server 3.5 docs page also has new information for server deployment and development.

We’re excited to see what the world will look like with higher quality video and the new opportunity for interactive live experiences with DVR technology. We’re always looking for ways to improve the platform, and drive new experiences in media over the Adobe Flash Platform – send us your ideas today!

Posted by Kevin Towes at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Join industry guru’s Graeme Bull from FMSGuru.com and David Hassoun from Real Eyes Media this new Flash Media Server user group kick off on DECEMBER 10th, 2008 at 9am (PST). This premiere meeting will focus on an introduction of Flash Media Server 3.5 technology presented by Kevin Towes (me!).  I'm excited about this new group which will provide a forum of support and education in online video streaming, creation of interactive video experiences, application development and idea exchanges and much more.  Access the group now from this website: www.adobe.com/go/fms_usergroup

This group will start as an online user group, and as membership grows, will split into geographical groups that can meet in person on a regular basis.   It’s all about idea sharing – how to stream video better, how to build more stable media solutions, how to innovate user generated content and social experiences.

Member skills can range from the absolute beginner to the absolute guru. Together, the community will drive new resources and education at all levels and on all subjects related to online video and communication.

The online group will be compose of:

• Monthly, online meetings with industry experts and adobe personnel
• Discussion Area - ask questions, discuss topics, solve problems
• Event Calendar – posting of user group meetings and other pertinent industry events
• Reference Library - files, bookmarks, contacts, notes, pictures, and more...
• Blog – an RSS feed to pertinent, industry blogs
• Jobs Board - advertise job openings
• Media Gallery – share unique video apps

Posted by Kevin Towes at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today is a very exciting day for Video on the Web.  We have just announced the next update to Adobe Flash Media Server.  The new Flash Media Server 3.5 provides new innovation for delivery quality, ease of use and opportunities for Live media experiences that the world has never seen on the web.  I’ll cover the high level position and some example scenarios in this post, then direct you for detailed information at the bottom.  Over the coming weeks, watch this blog as we draw closer to release where I will dive deep into the server’s new features and provide some examples. 

We will also be doing FULL overview of the server at Adobe MAX in San Francisco this week.  At 8:30pm (after the reception) you can join the product team in the Bird of a Feather session titled, “FUTURE OF VIDEO ON THE WEB”  See my blog posting earlier this month for a full streaming schedule which ALL sessions will be focused showing off this new version.

Delivery Quality with Dynamic Streaming

Flash Media Server 3.5 combined with Flash Player 10 or AIR 1.5 (also announced today) will help improve video experiences in Flash.  As we watch video on the web over constant-changing network conditions this feature will allow video quality to improve or degrade with no interruption in video or audio flow.    

Here are some feature benefits and use cases:

If you are at home watching your favorite show in HD. Part way through your show, others within your house (or community) start consuming more bandwidth, and reduce your available bandwidth.  In this scenario with Dynamic Streaming your video quality may degrade but will not stall if versions of the video are available at your new bandwidth.

Consider a live video experience; you are watching your favorite sports team about to score the most important goal of the season.   3 seconds before that happens, your stream stalls and buffers.  This has happened to everyone.  Dynamic Streaming will help to reduce this negative experience by shifting to a lower or higher quality stream without disrupting the video or audio flow – so you will not miss those important events again.
You can see Dynamic Streaming in action right now, from Akamai’s technology preview site: http://www.streamFlashHD.com/

For the video consumer – the experience will provide a constant viewing experience that starts faster and has fewer “buffer” disruptions. 

For the video developer – A new set of ActionScript API’s will let you manage more complex playlists reacting to new stream information available in Flash player or AIR.  (Check out the new flash.net package in the ActionScript language reference)

For the video publisher – The use of standard MP4/F4V or FLV formats in multiple files are fully supported requiring no change in your publishing system.  No need to re-encode existing media to provide limited-interruption experience and simple guidelines to provide a seamless play.  You can also add or remove different levels of quality at anytime, as you learn how your audience is watching.

For the content owner – Deliver HD quality over varying network conditions with the ability to manage your delivery costs with complete control over encoding and stream shifting.

For the live broadcaster – Using the new Flash Media Live Encoder 3 or other live encoders supporting Flash, you can deliver a seamless no-buffer experience for Live broadcasts, just like VOD.

For the CDN / IT Manager – New plug-in API’s increase your ability to monitor and manage the quality of delivery and new logging fields help you track multiple file playback with no impact on your total server capacity.

Ease of Use with HTTP on board

As more and more consumers are watching video in Flash, we set out to design a feature to make it easier to deliver the complete video experience from a single server.   Customers of both versions of Flash Media Server 3.5 (Interactive and Streaming) can now leverage a built-in web server.  Here are some feature highlights and options available

• Deliver SWF, JPEG, CSS, JS and other assets including video
• Shared media assets to reach where RTMP can not
• Support for RTMPT and HTTP on the same external port (80)
• Single point server start/stop
• Video player built-in to get started quickly
• New Start Screen making it easy to discover and learn the possibilities
• Shared SWF Verification assets making it easier to protect your assets and manage versions
• Support for existing Apache installations

Live Innovation with DVR functionality

This is the feature I am most excited about because it will change the way we experience live media on the web. 

Consider the new world:
Imagine you are watching your child’s college soccer game online.  He takes the field for the first time ever, and your network suddenly fails, and the stream stops.  5 minutes later your network is back, and you’ve missed that important moment until the video becomes available 2 days later as a VOD stream.  There is nothing we can do about the quality of your network, but if this stream was DVR-enabled, when your network came back, you could continue watching the event and not miss that important moment.  In fact you could replay it over and over while the game continues. 

Imagine you are late to a company-wide announcement being broadcast by your CEO.  The CEO makes a big announcement at the beginning of the session and you just missed it.  If this stream was DVR-enabled then you could start the stream from the beginning, and only be behind a few minutes.  You could always fast forward to live, but you will have received the message.

As you can see, the benefits are enormous.   You may ask how this is different than the set-top box you have in your living room.  The fundamental difference is where the DVR video cache is.  Flash Media Interactive Server 3.5 is responsible for the DVR cache at the discretion of the content broadcaster (owner).  The solution does not require the client to store anything.   This is what will allow you to start a live stream from the beginning even if you missed it.  It will allow developers to create solutions such as “instant replay” or “catch up services” for live.

Live DVR functionality in Flash Media Interactive Server 3.5 was designed from the ground up to operate at scale.  What this means is Content Delivery Networks or large scale enterprises can deploy this feature with very little impact infrastructure.   This is because Flash Media Server 3.5 essentially changes the live stream into a VOD stream.  This allows the server to leverage the scaling and caching technology already available.   The feature also supports just-in-time scaling if your live event was more popular then you had projected – put another way, you can add servers at anytime, including part way through the live, DVR-enabled stream.  

We’ve outfitted the Flash Media Live Encoder 3.0 with functionality to enable the DVR cache.  You can choose to have DVR start as soon as you start encoding, or wait until you are ready.  Flash Media Interactive Server 3.5 will also have a new API letting you manage your DVR event if you have multiple streams (Dynamic Streaming) or multiple camera angles.
This feature will change the way we experience live streaming on the web.  I’m excited to see what developers and event broadcasters will come up with in 2009.

Learn more

We’ve posted a lot of information about this new release.  Below are ways to learn more and experience it firsthand.

• Press Release (November 17, 2008)
• Adobe Flash Media Server 3.5 product pages
• MAX Sessions & at 8:30pm on Monday  titled: Future of Video on the Web
• Logged-in Article from the Product Manager
• Adobe Flash Media Server 3.5 Feature Guide and Datasheet
• Adobe Flash Media Server 3.5 FAQ (coming soon)
• Experience it right now: http://www.streamFlashHD.com/

Posted by Kevin Towes at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today we added a very special session at Adobe MAX. David Balcom will be showing the world how IBM helped Masters.com deliver some really great live video on the web this year. David will be giving a full demonstration of a Flash video application that used high-quality live video and real-time data in an immersive, full-screen experience during the 2008 Masters golf tournament on the tournament website. David will also show how IBM integrated four simultaneous live streams with real-time scoring data and custom player alerts overlaid directly on the video streams. He'll discuss how it was built, and demonstrate how it enhanced IBM's delivery of a live sports event on the web.

When: Wednesday, November 19, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Moscone West 2016
Title: Masters.com: How IBM Integrated Live Video and Data Using an Adobe Flash Application
David's 1-liner: David Balcom is the Leader of IBM's Real-Time Events practice within IBM Interactive, including the US Open (tennis and golf), the Masters and Wimbledon, among other properties.

Posted by Kevin Towes at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is a very exciting time for media streaming in Flash. Today the overwhelming majority of the world watches video in Flash every day. In less than a couple weeks, the world will come to San Francisco for Adobe MAX (http://max.adobe.com)– which will be largest Adobe developer conference yet. There is lots happing around video at this conference, and this a chance for you to learn what the Flash Media team is working on. There are literally hundreds of sessions at this conference – but you should focus on 6 important sessions highlighting Streaming and Interactive with Flash Media Server and Flash player 10. You will also see Flash Media Server presented in the Keynote and in the Sneak Peaks – so don’t miss those sessions.

I’m excited that we have some real thought and development leaders presenting FMS, Streaming and Interactive solutions. We have sessions that dive deep into delivery quality, video player development, encoding, interactivity and the new features in Flash player 10 including Full Screen with Keyboard control and even RTMFP!

DO NOT MISS THE FUTURE OF VIDEO Session at 8:30 PM on Monday night after the reception as part of the BIRD OF A FEATHER sessions. Get in early, or you won’t find a seat. This session will be run by Flash Media Server product team (Laurel Reitman and Kevin Towes will be the key speakers). During this session, you will not only meet the FMS team, but also learn what we’ve got up our sleeves that will make video experiences in VOD and LIVE much better in 2009. You will also learn how they whole family of Adobe Flash Media products fit. I’ll say it again – DO NOT MISS THIS SESSION!

Here is a schedule of events you should put in your calendar.

Monday (November 17th):
9:30am Keynote session (come see FMS in action)
11:30am Multibitrate Video for HD Experiences – Will Law (Akamai)
3:30pm Anatomy of a Video player – David Hassoun (Real Eyes)
5:00pm Future of Communication with RTMFP- Matthew Kaufman (Adobe)
6:30pm Welcome Reception (Meet our team and our partners)
8:30pm Future of Video on the Web (Bird of a Feather) DO NOT MISS THIS SESSION

Tuesday (Novemeber 18th):
10:30am General Session (come see FMS in action)
4:30pm Encoding best practices – Rob Reinhardt (TheMakers)
5:30pm Sneak Peaks (Look at what FMS will be!)
7:30pm Special Event

Wednesday (November 19th):
11:00am Masters.com: How IBM Integrated Live Video and Data Using an Adobe Flash Application - David Balcom (IBM)
3:30pm UGC and Social Media APIs - Jake Hilton (Gears and Cogs)
5:00pm Adobe's Video Roadmap - Pritham Shetty and Paul Betlam (Adobe)

Our Rock Star line up of speakers have been involved with Flash Media Server since we first released in 2001.

Will Law (Akamai) has been building Flash-based video players since 2002. Will as worked on many media and entertainment solutions for many high-profile customers and now works for Akamai as a distinguished engineer. Will presents on Multibitrate experiences in Flash at 11:30am on Monday.

Rob Reinhardt (The Makers) is an author of many books including the Flash Bible series selling over 200,000 copies world wire. Rob is an expert on the Adobe Flash platform and actually taught me about streaming to Flash back in 2001! Rob will present on Encoding for Flash at 4:30pm on Tuesday.

Jake Hilton (Gears & Cogs) has developed for Flash for over 7 years, and recently developed a scalable interactive FMS system for Woome, a large social introductions platform. Jake will present on Interactive experiences with FMS at 3:30pm on Wednesday.

Matthew Kauffman (Adobe) helped develop RTMFP, new P2P technology found in Flash player 10. Joining Adobe in 2006 after acquisition of Amicima, Mathew’s session will be supported from a long history of network and p2p experience. Matthew will present on RTMFP and future technology from Adobe at 5:00pm on Tuesday.

David Hassoun (Real Eyes) is a Certified Adobe Master Instructor and adjunct professor at the University of Denver with over ten years of experience building Flash Media solutions and is considered an industry leader and expert. David will present on Video player development at 3:30pm on Monday.

Laurel Reitman + Kevin Towes are product managers at Adobe responsible for the Flash Media Server family of product including Flash Media Server, Flash Media Live Encoder and the Flash Media Encoding Server. Laurel and I will be delivering the Future of Video on the Web on Monday night at 8:30pm.

Posted by Kevin Towes at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oprah.com is at it again pushing the Internet to reach a massive audience – this time by streaming the largest one-day conference for women in the nation.

Hosted by First Lady of California, Maria Shriver, the event is designed as a forum for sharing perspectives and inspiring one another. Over 14,000 women are expected to participate in one physical arena plus an unprecedented reach over the internet.

Today (October 22nd, 2008) from 11am – 5:30pm (EST) you can watch this incredible event live. With appearances from Jennifer Lopez, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bono, Madeleine Albright and other political and entertainment giants.

You can watch the LIVE WEBCAST: http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081009_tows_conference

To get the reach this initiative needed to deliver a live video experience, organizers are using live Adobe Flash streaming technology. New statistical data now ranks Adobe Flash technology as the #1 format for video on the web, with 99% of viewers in the U.S. (97% worldwide) using Adobe Flash technology to watch videos online (Source: August 2008 data from independent research firm ComScore)

Good luck with the conference everyone!

Posted by Kevin Towes at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Adobe would like your help to test the next version of our Flash Media Server software, the best way to deliver media to the Adobe Flash platform and to create rich interactive solutions.

Learn about some of the exciting new features we’re adding that will significantly improve the quality of media delivery to Adobe Flash player 10 and make it much easier to deploy your own Flash Media Server. Discover how new delivery technology can help improve the video performance and delivery the best experience to your audience. You will also get a sneak peak in some exciting new live streaming technology.

By participating you will have access to discuss Flash Media Server and streaming with the experts at Adobe and within the community to build relationships and get a jump on creating new media experiences for Flash player.
If you’re interested in testing this next generation Adobe software, please take a moment and fill out our survey.

You could be testing as soon as 24 hours from now!