MXDJ: Chris thanks so much for agreeing to talk exclusively to MX Developer's Journal about Flash video. First off, how would you situate Flash video in the overall spectrum of Macromedia's steadily widening roster of offerings for developers and consumers alike? Is this "The Big One" or is it just another rich-application goodie among your host of offerings?

Chris Hock: I'd say that for Macromedia, "The Big One" is our overall strategy of delivering products that enable our customers to deliver fantastic digital experiences across platforms and devices. Whether you're using Flex to power the presentation-tier for your Web app, Breeze to deliver enterprise training and communications, or the Flash video platform to deliver compelling, interactive video experiences, they all enable developers and content creators to create the best possible experiences that work cross platform.

This is of particular importance for video just because it has traditionally been handled very poorly on the Web. I think everyone is familiar with clicking on a video link only to be taken to a Web page asking you if you want "56" or "220" and asking if you want this format or that format. These are the types of poor user experiences we think can be improved with Flash video.

MXDJ: How about the different delivery options for Flash video - what are the options?

CH: There are really two delivery options that make sense when delivering video via the Flash Player: progressive download and streaming.

Both progressive download and streaming enable the Flash video file (FLV file) to be kept external to the SWF file. The FLV contains the video playback controls and UI thereby shortening publishing time, enables content to be changed without having to republish, and avoids any possible length of clip or audio-video synch issues.

Progressive download requires Flash Player 7 or higher and is served off any Web server. Streaming works with Flash Player 6 or higher and is served from the Flash Communication Server. The Video Developer Center on Macromedia.com has a great whitepaper (www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/articles/flv_download.html) on these delivery methods for people who want more info.

MXDJ: Which of those options are you expecting to have most traction?

CH: The traction varies depending on the use of video. Streaming is good option for Web sites interested in using video delivery features such as bandwidth detection, quality of service monitoring, reporting, advanced seek and navigation, live video, video chat and messaging, as well as Web sites that want back-end efficiencies.

These types of companies typically serve lots of video. Therefore, streaming probably has more traction in terms of total amount of video delivered.

Progressive download, on the other hand, is a relatively simple method of delivering video and therefore it probably has more traction in terms of number of sites deployed on.

MXDJ: Is that traction evident in certain verticals in particular, or right across the board?

CH: Because Flash video provides publishers with complete creative control over the look and feel of the playback experience, verticals in which branding is important are moving towards Flash video. We're seeing a lot of traction in media and entertainment, advertising and agency work, retail and consumer product marketing.

MXDJ: Is there any way, or will there be in the future, of sending a 'deep link' that can take a friend or colleague to the EXACT place on a Flash Video presentation that you want to share - or bring customers to, in a business context? Say, to the amazing "Director's Cut" at http://www.redbullcopilot.com/ but bypassing other parts of the overall presentation.

CH: Sure, this can be done today when you stream video with Flash Communication Server. Streaming doesn't require the video before the start point to be downloaded before it gets played. Couple this with the 'zero buffer, instant start' feature of the Communication Server and you can make applications such as video blogging, video searching, video messaging, video presentations which have multiple camera angles, and similar in which you can send a person directly to a specific spot of the video and play it instantly.

MXDJ: We've talked about streaming video, but for those who don't have Flash Communication Server, let's go back and consider again both progressive download and embedding video within SWF files. Just how pervasive right now is Flash Player 7? In other words, at what point does embedding using Flash Player 6 just not make sense - what's the tipping point do you think that developers should be keeping an eye out for?

CH: Embedding video in a SWF file is not the best way to deliver video via Flash Player for a number of reasons that I outlined above. Further, with the penetration of Flash Player 7 in the lower 80 percent range as of September 2004, our last date of measure, many customers are now satisfied delivering Flash Player 7 content. For those customers that need to reach the upper 90 percent range though - for example, companies delivering Flash video advertising - streaming is still a great option to enable you to reach those using Flash Player 6.

We publish the Flash Player version penetration statistics on our Web site (www.macromedia.com/software/player_census/flashplayer/version_penetration.html).

MXDJ: Who are the geniuses behind the FLV format?

CH: The FLV file format was developed in conjunction with the development of the Flash Communication Server. Jonathan Gay, the original creator of Macromedia Flash, spearheaded both projects along with a lot of talented people on the Communication Server, Flash authoring and Flash Player development teams.

MXDJ: How large is the overall team that's brought Flash video to be the reality it is today?

CH: It's pretty tough to answer that question since Flash video is becoming ingrained in many products at Macromedia. It certainly started with the Flash Communication Server, Flash authoring and Flash Player teams back in the MX timeframe, but you have to also include the Dreamweaver team who contributed the Macromedia Video Kit and the Breeze team who continue to enable Flash video capabilities in the Breeze products.

In addition, while not officially on the Macromedia Flash development team, there have been a number of partners who played very important roles in bringing Flash video to the point it's at today. VitalStream, our original Flash Video Streaming Service partner, really started the ball rolling by enabling large-scale Flash video deployments. Sorenson continues to help us on a number of encoding tool-related projects. The New Toronto Group were out there very early with custom development work and training on all things Flash Communication Server and Flash video related. Last but not least, the talented developers out there such as Creative Bubble, Fantasy Interactive, IQTV, Odopod, Productorials, Vimation, and others who are actually out there creating fantastic Flash video experiences deserve mention. These guys are the real team!

MXDJ: The Red Bull Copilot example we talked about before even contains client logic, so that users can decide for themselves what camera view they'd prefer in order to experience the demo flight. Is that, would you say, the "killer app" here, the ability not just to have video on Web sites, but to have interactive experiences from the get-go?

CH: I think interactive video experiences are very important when it comes to video on the Web and devices. Unlike TV, video on the Web is often much more of a lean-forward experience. Users want to be able to interact with the content to get the information they're looking for quickly and efficiently.

This doesn't necessarily mean that all video has to have the complexity of multiple camera angles such as the Red Bull example. Interactivity could be as simple and straight forward as navigational elements that enable a viewer to jump to a particular point of a long video. It could be clickable items in the video that display related or associated information. Amazon.com used this method very effectively recently while highlighting five short films on their Web site. If viewers liked the blouse that Minnie Driver wore in the film short, they could click on a credit and be taken to the page on Amazon.com where that blouse was available for sale.

It should also be noted that interactivity alone is not enough for great video experiences. Enabling publishers to have full creative control over their video experience so it's seamlessly integrated into the look and feel of their site is a very important element. Last, playback via a ubiquitous client is extremely important as well. After all, what good is it if people can't see your great creative, interactive video?

MXDJ: If so, then what are the considerations from a developer's point of view? How difficult is it to do that kind of client logic?

CH: Developers who are familiar with ActionScript and with programming Flash should have a relatively straightforward time programming interactive video applications. Rather than controlling a piece of text data however you're controlling an audio or video stream.

MXDJ: Can video playlists be controlled externally - I mean, can Web site owners update their video content dynamically?

CH: Absolutely. XML is a great way to do this. We've recently published a tutorial on the Macromedia Developer Center (www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/articles/video_player.html/) that walks people through how to create a Flash video player that reads an XML file containing a list of available "clips" and a playlist for each "clip." This relatively simple setup gives you an amazing amount of flexibility to deliver video content without ever needing to go back into Flash authoring and republishing your SWF file.

Just by changing the XML file, you can alter which clips are available to the user when they connect. You can have the clip items point to various sections (e.g., chapters) of one long video, or point to an individual video clip, or point to a playlist of multiple clips. All of this just by changing the contents of the XML file.

If you use a digital media management system such as WorldNow or the Platform, the creation of this XML file can be generated automatically creating a completely automated Flash video delivery system.

MXDJ: How about reuse and reskinning?

CH: The ability to skin, and reskin, your video player is an area where Flash video has a very strong advantage over other formats. It's the only format where the look and feel of the media player can be changed as easily as the content. Consider how useful this can be: large recording companies can develop a Flash app for streaming MP3 files and then quickly reskin this as needed for all of their associated recording labels, artists, and partners. A Flash developer can create a basic video player out of Flash and then quickly skin that player for various clients and projects as the need arises.

MXDJ: Is it possible to create an on-demand playlist, so that, say, an ad could be inserted before each clip plays?

CH: Yes. This could be accomplished via an XML playlist file such as I described above. One of the items in your playlist could be an ad. You can place that ad in front or, behind, or even right smack dab in the middle of your content just by tweaking a couple of lines of your XML file.

This question was specifically about on-demand playlists, but it's also worth mentioning that everything that we're talking about here can also be done with server-side streams as well. In other words, you can deliver live video streams or simulated live video streams (e.g., like TV - streamed live to everyone at the same time, but using recorded video) as well. You can have your own Web TV channel, complete with a mixture of live and recorded programs and inserted with ads, station IDs, and public service announcements at set intervals, all streamed from Flash Communication Server or the Flash Video Streaming Service.

MXDJ: What of the future? What does Macromedia see as being 'The Final Destination' for Flash Video? Are you seeing anything that's blowing you away simply because no one on the team ever thought of it being used like that?

CH: A rather simplistic, but significantly better vision of the future is when we've reached a point where you click "play" on a Web video and the thing just plays. No bandwidth questions, no buffering, no installing stuff. Just play the video.

To answer the ingenuity part of your question, I have seen some pretty cool things done with Flash video. The set of interactive applications that Kevin Towes and the New Toronto Group created for "ZeD UnCut" - a live, interactive national TV broadcast and Web simulcast that was aired across throughout Canada on the CBC network - completely blew me away. They were nominated for a 2004 Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences so I guess I wasn't the only one who was impressed.

I thought the Subservient Chicken site was pretty clever as was Ohayo Players, a game developed by Japanese Web development company Bascule that used motion detection in Web cams to move players.

In regards to the future of the Flash platform, we're hard at work on enhancing the expressiveness of the experience, making better performance and expanding its already powerful capabilities as a development platform. All three of these areas will directly involve Flash video.

MXDJ: Last, do you think that Flash video articles, such as MXDJ is aiming to publish in the near future, is going to be a growth area too?

CH: Take a look at all the topics that we've covered in this discussion here and I think it's pretty clear that we've just started to scratch the surface of what you can do with Flash video. I anticipate seeing many more articles on Flash video in MXDJ the future.

MXDJ: Sounds good to us! Thanks Chris and best of luck for an amazing 2005.

CH: Thanks, my pleasure speaking with you.

About Chris Hock
Chris Hock is director of product marketing at Macromedia. In this role, he's in charge of Flash video business and led the creation and launch of various video related products at Macromedia including the Flash Communication Server and the Flash Video Streaming Service. chock@macromedia.com