AdvancED Flex 4

CHAPTER 14

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Figure 14-8. Flash Professional CS4 stage, including video componenent with bundled source

Please note that the option to Import as mobile device video bundled in SWF can be used with Flash

Lite 2.0 or higher. What it does is create an embedded copy of the video file within our SWF, and we don’t

need to point to any external link to have the video playback.

Select On your computer ➤ Browse. Import as mobile device video bundled in SWF. Select Continue

and click Finish.

In older versions of Flash Professional you had to drag and drop the video component to the stage, set the

name to video in the properties, and add a script to play the video, video.play();

In Flash Professional CS5, these steps have been done for you automatically so you can just compile the

project and the SWF is ready.

Adobe Open Screen Media Framework

The video player ecosystem is complex. We’ve already pointed out the complexity of creating a video

player; however, it does not end there. There are other elements, such as advertisement elements, social

network elements, reporting, content management, DRM etc, which make a video player a complex

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composition. Adobe recently released a new framework called Adobe Open Screen Media Framework

(OSMF, formerly known as Strobe) that is aimed at solving these issues.

OSMF is an open source AS3 media framework that supports the workflow around video playback and

monetization. Video players have different features set. The skins are different, as are the integration and

architecture workflows. They essentially do the same thing and can be created using the OSMF

framework. The framework is focuses on the quality of the video player and addresses the common

challenges.

The foundation of the framework is Qos (quality of service), which is based on the Open Video Player

(OVP) initiative and provides a quick start for playing videos (smallest buffer size needed to start the

video), efficient connection logic, and switching bitrates dynamically (recall the metric monitor service in

OVP).

With the framework you can:

• Create a component user interface for integration of audio, videos, and images.

• Use the plug-in architecture to integrate CDN, ad partners, publishers, analytics, social

networks, and developers.

The framework by itself is not powerful. Its power comes from having partners embrace the framework—

CDNs, publishers, ad analytics, social networks, and developers. The pluggable components can allow

publishers to easily switch and test performance and service across different services. The framework

offers many advantages:

• Reduces the barrier of entry for new publishers: With a framework to integrate the different

pieces of the video player, new publishers can get started quickly and with fewer resources,

and can scale up as requirements increase.

• Provides a flexible framework: OSMF provides an easy way to extend each component and

allows these components to act as building blocks that can be extensible and compositable

(meaning you can apply a multimedia mode, such as image or video operations, to the data

your object represents).

• Leverages existing code: The OSMF framework uses the Flash Player from Open Video

Player (OVP). No need to have duplication of efforts to solve basic problems.

• Drives standards and allows custom workflows: Many of the elements that connect to a

video player are not standard yet, and Adobe OSMF will help standardize these components

as well as allow them to be configured.

• No runtimes or framework dependency: The framework is based on Flash 10 AS3 and is

not dependent on any framework such as the Flex SDK, Cairngorm, or others. With that said,

some integrated elements may be created using a framework, but these are loosely coupled

and can be replaced if needed.

• Partners can focus: There are two partners: publishers and CDNs. CDNs can focus on

services and integration, and publishers can focus on user experience.

• Integrates with existing Adobe tools: Adobe OSMF will be integrated with other Adobe Suite

tools and services such as Catalyst, Illustrator, FMS 3.5, and FMRMS.