Flash Video Test (#2) : Multiple Streams : StarWars BattleFront

I have been player around with Flash video for the past couple of days, and have been running a couple of tests. The first test was to test a hardware setup to get live video from a video source (in this case an Xbox) to Flash. This test is testing the ability to play back different video streams in Flash based on the user’s bandwidth.

So, here is a simple video clip of my playing a level of StarWars BattleFront on the Xbox:

<!–function appendParameter(p_args, p_name, p_value) {if (p_args == "")return p_name+"="+escape(p_value);elsereturn p_args+"&"+p_name+"="+escape(p_value);}var args = "";args = appendParameter(args, "skinName", "haloSkin_3");args = appendParameter(args, "serverName", "216.133.230.143");args = appendParameter(args, "appName","dcflash_vitalstream_com/_definst_");args = appendParameter(args, "streamName", "mikechambers/xbox_swbf/xbox_swbf_256, 56, mikechambers/xbox_swbf/xbox_swbf_2143, 160, mikechambers/xbox_swbf/xbox_swbf_2384, 420, mikechambers/xbox_swbf/xbox_swbf_2499, 550, mikechambers/xbox_swbf/xbox_swbf_2768");args = appendParameter(args, "isLive","false");args = appendParameter(args, "bufferTime","4");args = appendParameter(args, "autoPlay","false");args = appendParameter(args, "autoRewind","true");args = appendParameter(args, "isFullScreen","false");//args = appendParameter(args, "queuePointsFile","./qpoints.xml");args = appendParameter(args, "bgColor","0xFFFFFF");document.write(' ‘);document.write(‘‘);document.write(‘‘);document.write(‘‘);document.write(‘‘);document.write(‘‘);document.write(‘‘);document.write(‘ ‘);document.write(‘‘);–>

The quality of the video and sound will depend on your bandwidth. The slower your connection, the lower the quality of the video and sound. This allows me to offer multiple versions to ensure the best possible experience for all users.

Btw, I am using Peldi’s FLVPlayer (which rocks). Thanks to Peldi for putting it together, and helping me work out some kinks in my code.

One tip with using the FLVPlayer. If you want to install the player in one place on your web server and then load it from multiple pages / directories, make sure to set the BASE attribute (within the player’s object and embed HTML tags) to “.”. This will tell Flash to load its resources (such as the player skins) relative to the FLVPlayer.swf file, and not relative to the HTML page / directory that the file is loaded into. You can read more on this in this technote.

If you seem to be getting poor quality for your connection, try to reload the page. You connection may have been busy / full when the player detected your bandwidth.

If you have any problems viewing the video, post your info in the comments (include browser, OS, Flash player version and connection speed).

12 Responses to Flash Video Test (#2) : Multiple Streams : StarWars BattleFront

  1. ericd says:
    October 4, 2004 at 10:18 pm

    wow thats cool. works great osx safari cable.

  2. Graeme says:
    October 5, 2004 at 2:39 am

    Stopped a lot for buffering (using xp with DSL) maybe because I’m so far away..But that was really cool :D

  3. Dominick Accattato says:
    October 5, 2004 at 9:20 am

    thats really cool mike.

  4. Robert M. Hall says:
    October 5, 2004 at 10:09 am

    Nice – alright, Im definitely getting this game now – picked up the trilogy box set the other night – but still havent had a chance to play the demo on the bonus disc yet – this is the best ad for the game I have seen…..Tony Haw Underground 2 comes out tomorrow as well – hmmm…..which one…..

  5. Todd Dominey says:
    October 6, 2004 at 10:36 am

    Is the video gone? I’m not getting anything.

  6. Evan Daly says:
    October 17, 2004 at 10:09 pm

    Video looks great! What did you use to capture the video from your XBox?

  7. mark says:
    October 20, 2004 at 1:48 pm

    Im getting this game on rent i saw the pics and info on invader mag suggest that all the epic battles(yes there are an episode 3 place)chosse men you want based on the films battles!lot of men with ya! even command your troops!

  8. Rob says:
    November 1, 2004 at 7:53 am

    Great, love the Xbox capturing. I’ve built my own player using NetStream() but cant work out how to enumerate the users bandwidth. If you could hook me up wuth a dcent tutorial on the subject I’d really appreciate it. Cheers!

  9. Sky says:
    November 3, 2004 at 8:59 am

    Great video but I am getting it for PC if I do good this week

  10. Sky says:
    November 3, 2004 at 9:01 am

    Fire up!!!

  11. Sky says:
    November 9, 2004 at 11:37 am

    I have the game now and I think you play better than me I can’t even get on a starfighter.

  12. Andrew says:
    April 1, 2005 at 12:04 pm

    I second the request for a brief tutorial on determining the user’s bandwidth! thanks!