Professional Adobe® Flex® 3

Chapter 28. Video and Sound

This chapter discusses the audio and video capabilities of the current Flash Player (10) and what power Flex has to offer for creating enhanced user experiences consuming rich media. The Flash Player is the most commonly installed application on any platform in the world. When it comes to delivering rich media experiences with audio and video via the Internet, there is no other solution with the same ubiquity or creative freedom as the Flash Player. Pair that with the advanced application development capabilities of the Flex framework and the myriad tools and libraries available for the platform, and there seems hardly a reason not to use the Flash Player for delivery of audio and video on the Web. That is why more than 70% of all video streamed over the Internet leverage the Flash Player for their delivery platform.

This chapter covers the types and formats of audio and video content supported by Flex and the Flash Player, as well as some specifics to new content types more recently supported by the Flash Player MovieStar update. In addition, this chapter spends time explaining the basics and practical how-to's when it comes to implementing these rich media elements into your applications. Focusing first on the sound capabilities and classes, this chapter takes a hands-on approach to the various methodologies for implementing and controlling audio in Flex. Then it's onto the details of video streaming and a deeper dive into the classes, components, and ...