H264 encoding settings - problems with FLV/F4V conversions and playback... HELP!!!

Question

I do a lot of LIVE ENCODING and have been struggling with FMLE. I own the Adobe Creative Suite of applications and am pretty familiar with working with compatible/required formats, etc.
We have been primarily using VP6/mp3 for encoding. Most of our work is SD. We also always seem to have trouble when trying to encode the FLV file to another format, audio always seem to be out of sync, but sometimes it works...
Do you know why that would be regarding the FLV audio falling off sync when encoding to another format, such as MOV? Also, when we try to play back the FLV, the audio sounds garbled up and only plays well in Adobe Media Player.
I keep hearing H264 encoding will provide better video, but I just can't get that to work. Also, why is it that my entire CS4 suite of applications can't read or playback the F4V file- that's unacceptable from Adobe, just a big huge pain the butt... I've had to buy several cheapie applications to try and read F4V files and try to convert it, except that converting F4Vs seems to be a hit-or-miss.
What should I be using to playback and convert F4Vs? I also heard changing the extension to MP4 works, but I haven't seen that work, not even once. The cheap video conversion apps I have that read F4Vs are: FFMPEGX and Wondershare (Youtube). Sometimes they open F4V, but not most of the time... 
I am using a super fast new Macbook Pro i7, 8GB ram (not the thunderbolt/usb3), CPU always runs smoothly and effectively.
Also, I always use the Canopus ADVC-110 as my transcoder. I do both video via Firewire IN or Composite IN, then Firewire OUT into the Mac encoder. FMLE sees it ok, but I wonder if this device might be my problem.
VP6 settings are as follows:
VP6 video / MP3 audio
300 to 500k video
30 fps
640x480 in/out
44100hz audio
56k audio
We want to start using H264 encoding settings, but in my experience trying it out, the output file is ALWAYS PROBLEMATIC. Also, when testing a live stream, the audio seems to fall off sync with the video.
I am looking for your recommendations on the H264 settings I should try. Most of my events are simple meetings with 1 to 5 speakers, mostly talking heads. We rarely encode high motion video, but I would also like to be able to adjust H264 settings for both talking heads and medium to high motion without (any) frame drops.
I have tried streaming to multiple/different Flash Media Servers, archived only to file, and H264 results seem always bad.
Any recommendations from professionals in the live streaming arena are much appreciated. I thank you for your time in advance.
Thank you!
Hugo

Answer 1

Hello Hugo
Sorry to know that you are facing these kind of issues, let me try to reply and understand issues one by one.
>>We have been primarily using VP6/mp3 for encoding. Most of our work is  SD. We also always seem to have trouble when trying to encode the FLV  file to another format, audio always seem to be out of sync, but  sometimes it works...
-- Which application you are using to convert FLV to other format?
-- Is these any Audio - Video sync issue when you play FLV file in Adobe Media Player? if NO, it means FLV file created properly.
>> Do you know why that would be regarding the FLV audio falling off sync  when encoding to another format, such as MOV? Also, when we try to play  back the FLV, the audio sounds garbled up and only plays well in Adobe  Media Player.
-- Which application you are using to convert FLV to MOV? if FLV playabck fine and without a/v sync issue, it should convert MOV with a/v sync.
-- It depend on audio codec selection by Media player or correct audio codec not installed for media player. Install appropriate audio codec to play in other media player if you dont want to play in Adobe Media Player.
>> I keep hearing H264 encoding will provide better video, but I just can't  get that to work. Also, why is it that my entire CS4 suite of  applications can't read or playback the F4V file- that's unacceptable  from Adobe, just a big huge pain the butt... I've had to buy several  cheapie applications to try and read F4V files and try to convert it,  except that converting F4Vs seems to be a hit-or-miss.
>> What should I be using to playback and convert F4Vs? I also heard  changing the extension to MP4 works, but I haven't seen that work, not  even once. The cheap video conversion apps I have that read F4Vs are:  FFMPEGX and Wondershare (Youtube). Sometimes they open F4V, but not most  of the time...
-- Adobe Flash Media Server version 3.5 and later and Adobe Flash Media  Live Encoder 3 can record content in MPEG-4 (F4V) format using an  industry-standard recording technology known as "fragments" or "moof  atoms." Some MPEG-4 compatible tools and players do not support moof  atoms.
The F4V Post Processor tool aggregates the information from all  the moof atoms into a single moov atom and outputs a new file." You can download the tool from above location: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/tool_downloads/
Thanks