Links to and from a Flash video?

Question

(Sorry for the long post, trying to explain in detail what
I'm looking for ...)
Maybe you guys can tell me if this is possible using the
current version of Flash (I will not be doing this myself, but I
need to know if Flash is the way to go).
1) Embed several videos/audio files in an HTML page, with the
usual playback controls.
2) Place links or form elements (buttons) in the page *to*
those videos, allowing (via JavaScript/DOM) the user to
a) play, pause and jump to a specific (SMPTE) position in a
video.
b) loop a section of the video (by giving two positions and a
loop command)
c) change audio volume.
(I know this is normally done with controls in the video
player, but I need interaction with the page.)
3) Have links *from* the videos to the page/DOM - i.e., when
the video is running, JavaScript events should be sent to the page
to hide/load/update content - either automatically or user-driven
(by clicking on the embedded video at a certain time - if possible,
with hotspots so multiple options can be triggered; similar to a
DVD menu).
I'd like to do the same with audio. So I am basically looking
for a mechanism to link to and from real-time content.
Beyond the "Yup, possible!" I expect to hear ;) I have
another question regarding workflow.
The scenario for producing this stuff (e-learning)
will/should be something like this:
- Developer A builds a nice little audio/video player we can
embed in our pages. This will be used to show/play our content.
- Person B records video and audio, does a little post
production, delivers media/files (DV, MP3).
- Person C batch-converts the videos to FLV format, but
doesn't (have to) do any creative work.
- Person D with some HTML/JavaScript knowledge and a
stopwatch :) builds the page, embeds the player(s) and sets the
cues that will jump to certain positions. HTML pages, SWF, FLV and
MP3 files are uploaded to a plain-vanilla HTTP server.
Is this a realistic scenario? I.e., can we buy (or have
someone develop) a player so that no tinkering with Flash itself is
required anymore once we have established this workflow?
I would appreciate your comments. Also, if the above is
possible, I'd be grateful for links to showcase sites.
Thank you.

Answer 1

In theory - yup!
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_15683
Html pages can communicate to the flash file using
javascript. The fla page can communicate to the FLV file using
actionscript. So in theory you can send javascript commands to
flash from the html page, and then have that set off some
actionscript to control the movie.
Can I be Person C? Sounds like easy money!
Good luck. Check out the forums at www.gotoandlearn.com -
that site has a lot of creative people with a very high knowledge
of using Flash video.