Flash animation and streaming live Flash video
Flash animation and streaming live Flash video
Article by Jeff Beck
Flash animation and Flash video are great ways to call out an item of importance on your website.Flash animations can add music and motion to a static web design, and make your site more interactive. Animated headers and menus can add a lot to a site.You must provide alternate content for users without Flash and for search engine friendliness. You may want to research the Swfobject 2.2. It will help to display swf files properly on all browsers. The SWFObject is a Javascript file used for adding Adobe Flash to websites. The script detects if Flash is installed. It works on all web browsers makes embedding Flash swf files very easy. It was created with search engine friendliness in mind. Search engine spiders such as Googlebot can not read Flash websites. Therefore extra measures must be taken to ensure your website content can be read by the search engines. It is this reason some people decide not to use Flash however, if you take the proper measures, your site should be even better than a non flash site. It forces you to think and plan for better search engine friendly pages.You should also try to keep Flash animation file sizes low, for users with slow internet connections.Flash Video
You can have mobile live video streaming to the web from anywhere. Although you must have deep pockets, it is possible.
For most of the US, in remote locations, 3G wireless service is still a fantasy. And for streaming live video, EDGE and GPRS are just not fast enough.
But take heart. Those who get technology last, usually get the best.
To make it clearer, if television began broadcasting in your area 1955, your signal would be black and white. If it took until 1963 to be able to receive television in your area, your signal would now be in color.
That said, when your area finally enjoys full 3G coverage, it will be at the fastest upload / download rates available. Far beyond the EDGE and GPRS networks of today, which do not have full coverage in the US either.
What are the options. The BGAN Satellite network. It is world wide. Your own portable satellite capable of speeds suitable for streaming live video over the internet, can be purchased or rented for a fraction of the cost of times past.
Specifically the Inmarsat Hughes HNS 9201 (.5k) and the Inmarsat BGAN Explorer 700 (k). these two satellite internet terminals function essentially the same as your cable or DSL modem. Both are capable of a constant streaming speed of at least 256kbps over a streaming IP address. And up to 492kbps on a standard IP.Rentals
The cost of owning one is a bit prohibitive however, rentals are quite affordable. Around 5 a week, or 0 per month.Service
Unfortunately, an internet connection with enough bandwidth for streaming live video comes at a considerable cost. A dedicated connection or, 1:1 CIR Unshared VSAT in either direction will cost around – per minute. Depending on your service provider. Satellite internet connections work the same as mobile phones with a SIM card. You can sign up for a plan, or buy prepaid minutes, or megabytes.
Now that we have our satellite internet connection, lets look at streaming. We have recently had very good experience with a company called Livestream. http://www.livestream.com. They offer free streaming of good quality video to over 100,000 unique viewers at a time. Branding of their Flash video player can be removed at a cost of 0 per month. You must download their application however, the set up is quick and easy. And once installed, all you need to start streaming is a user name and password. All other settings are taken care of by the program.Hardware
In our opinion, nothing beats Dells Alienware i7 chipset. Right now these are the worlds fastest gaming laptops. Powered by Intel’s Core 2 Extreme quad core processor. The new Alienware M17 and M15 laptops have 2 video inputs which are perfect for mixing live events in a remote location.
There you have it. You no longer need a satellite truck to broadcast.
Vermont Web Design
About the Author
Jeff Beck is the owner / operator of Vermont Web Design in Burlington Vermont.
