Audio Video streaming problem

[jeeweb]

I am currently working on a modeling web site and I want to offer a

online portfolio where models can post their photos, audio and video

files, thus making it a multimedia based portfolio.

Here is the list of the files I plan to allow the models to upload in

their portfolio
Photos - .gif, .jpg, .bmp
Audio - .mpeg, wma, mp3, ram and wav
Video - .avi, .mpeg, .mpg, .ram, and .mov

I am trying to find a way for users of this site to view the audio/video

files without having any file format specific plug-in or player installed

on their desktops. So far I have concluded that it would be best if

somehow I can manage to stream down the audio and video files on the

client’s desktop in Flash format since this would require the clients to

have only a Flash player which is a very common plug-in now a days.

I am seeking a way to convert the various files that models upload i.e

mpeg, wma, mp3, ram, wav, avi, .mpeg, .mpg, .rm, and .mov to a common swf

Flash format.

Is anyone aware of such a tool or piece of application that would

automatically convert all uploaded files to Flash format. Also if there

is a Flash component that would allow real-time streaming of the flash

files in the client’s browser without saving the swf files in the

Internet Cache or Temporary Internet Files folder.

Any help, advice or pointers on this matter would be highly appreciated.

If anyone has developed such a feature in the past then I am also open to

buying that from him (of course I can’t pay a lot of money).

Let me know.

Thanks
V

[Robster]

I would think it would be difficult to create something that converts from all those different formats "on the fly".

If having things in a widely supported format is important to you then probably your best bet is to just pick the format which is supported by all the most common players and request that people upload in that format eg mp3 for audio, mpeg for video and jpeg for images (bmp creates large files and isn't supported by most browsers without a plugin)

As far as i can remember, converting vidoes into flash gives quite large file sizes as its intended as an animation format. Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

Hope that helps

[KlaasKoopman]

hey jeeweb if you found it let me know, and also show me your site then, would be interested in seeing this!

[Duke]

I don't think there's such a program that would automatically convert your files to flash without you having to perform some sort of action. It sounds like your asking for a script or some sort of plugin that I'm not even sure exists.

The other thing is, why flash? Real Player, Windows Media and Quicktime are extremely popular players and most everyone connected to the net has at least one of them. Also, flash isn't the most user friendly viewing format for those who connect to your site via dial up.

Lastly, I think you have to make sure that your webhost even supports video files in the first place. I know with some webhosts, it's extremely difficult to get even flash to work properly, cough, Canaca, cough, cough.

[Duke]

Another question I have is why do you allow so many different formats? All you need is to cover the basics such as wav, wma, avi, mp3, adding too many formats just makes things difficult IMHO.