Very basic question: Flash Media Server vs. embedding flash video

I'm hoping this is a quick easy question to answer:
What is the difference between Flash Media Server and simply
using a freeware Flash media player (like Flowplayer
http://flowplayer.org/) that
uses XML playlists to embed your Flash videos on a website?
What are the advantages to Flash Media Server and how does
something like Flowplayer not address issues that FMS can?
Thanks in advance!
Erik

In a nutshell flowplayer delivers the video through your web
browser. It does this via http protocol (port 80) and progressive
download on any web server
Progressive download finds the video on the server and plays
it back through the player as it is being downloaded. 2 important
things to take from this are 1, the video is being downloaded to
the clients hard drive, at the end of the playback they will have a
copy of your video that they can do whatever they like to and
repost it somewhere else. 2, It plays back as it downloads, meaning
if I'm viewing a 10 minute video from your site and want to skip
ahead to the middle or end I have to wait for the whole video to
download before viewing those segments. Your web host by the way
will love you for progressive download because it will appear as
though your transfer rate has gone through the roof. Once the
request for the video is made there is no turning back, the client
gets the whole thing whether they watch it or not.
Flash media server uses the rtmp protocol. This protocol is
an open socket protocol through port 1935. This is a two way street
essentially. When the user views a video using FMS they basically
get only enough of the video to keep the connection open and
satisfy the required buffer to assure clean playback. The bytes of
info that carry the video only go to the users memory, not the hard
drive. This allows the user to jump back and forth around in the
movie without having to wait for the whole thing to download.
Hope that helps.

Similar Messages

How to get list of logged-in users from Flash Media Server in a Flash programm? (Or login/logout notifications)

Hi there,
I'm Very sorry for asking this. I guess it's a very basic problem, but I'm very new to Flash and Flash media Server and I need a very fast answer...
Currently I'm working on a Director project using a flash program which connects to Flash Media Server (I guess version 3, it's quite old). Unfortunately they forgot to make a flash method to send the actual userlist (or a notification when someone logged in or out) to Director. AND, unfortunately, they lost the source code of that flash programm, so I cannot look into it or alter it *sigh*.
Now I want to do a new flash programm which covers the old one, letting all known methods "pass trough" and building an additional method to gain the user list (or login/out notification).
How do I get the login information from Flash Media Server? (Would be good if you could provide an idea already for flash code... as I said I'm a tard at flash till now)
Thank you so much. And I hope you understand my situation asking here...
Jana

hparmar : yes, that's what I feared... I hoped it would be possible to tell the server from which application I do need the login information. What a mess.
Dimo Hristov: thanks for your offer! I already tried decompiling the flash program with the shareware version of Trillix Decompiler. It only decompiled the UI (in a terrible way) but no source code at all. It was the shareware version where I can decompile 2 or 3 programms to test the software. Are you sure the non-free version of Trilix Flash Decompiler will do..?

Very basic questions about JSP server and plug-in.

Hi all,
I am wondering what are other ways to make use of the JSP script on a server running normal Apache without changing it to Tomcat. Is there a plug-in version of JSP for Apache that will enable JSP? I am looking for something like PHP plug-in, which is quite generic. They even have a php.exe that OHTTP (a great shareware Win32 web server) can call to run PHP. Is there such thing along this line with JSP on Win32 or Linux? Thanks!

You need a jsp/servlet engine, and in effect, Tomcat is the "plug-in" you described. Tomcat has basic web server functionality built in, so it can run stand-alone, but it's most commonly used with a robust web server like Apache. You don't have to "change it" to Tomcat - you just configure Apache to forward specific urls (anything ending in *.jsp, for example) to Tomcat.

My Flash Media Server 2 won't lunch

Everytime when i click Flash Media Server 2 it flashes so
fast and disappers. Help....
I installed Extension Manager - No Go.

when your trying to launch it, don't click start flash media
server 2, click management console. Then, it'll launch.

Flash media Server 3

Hi ,I need information regarding the Flash Media Server 3 and
Flash Interactive Server 3 .Is there any url from where i can
dowload the trial version of both the servers.

Same issue...I need a developer copy of FMS3. When I click on
the link to get the development copy (i.e. "Download free developer
edition") on the FMS3 product page ("
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediastreaming/"),
I'm routed to a page where my only option is to download FMS2.
What gives?

Flash Media Server Books

Can anyone please suggest a few good books on using the Flash
Media Server?

Programming Flash Communication Server (O'Reilly)
It was written for FCS 1.5 (as the title suggests), but all
of the information in there is applicable to FMS. Obviously, the
new features that were added in FMS are not in the book, but
everything you need to gain a firm understanding of how the sever
works is in there.

Questions before I buy Flash Media Server 2

Hi! I'm considering buying Macromedia Flash Media Server 2.
This software would be a large investment for me, so I'd really
appreciate any answers or advice that anyone could provide. I just
have a couple questions:
1) Can FMS2 be installed on the same server that runs my Web
sites? I have a Linux server that runs a few sites, and it would be
ideal to run this software and the sites on the same server. I'm
also wondering what port it would run on? I've used RealNetworks'
Helix Server, which requires you to run it on a separate server
because of port issues. I want to use Flash instead.
2) Does this software also come with a Flash video player
that would work with my sites? I want to be able to stream .flv
videos from my Web sites and have a Flash player launch whenever a
user selects one of my videos (kind of like how RealPlayer launches
when you click a RM file). This way, the player wouldn't always be
embedded in the page. Is that possible? I'm worried about the
player failing to launch, or people needing to download a special
player to view my videos.
Thanks very much!

1) Yes you can run it on the same box as your web server. You
can specify any port you wish for FMS to listen on (default is
1935)
2) I'm not quite sure I understand. In order to view your
videos a client will have to have a flash browser plugin installed
- which should not be a problem as flash browser penetration is
somewhere in the high 90th percentile (if Adobe is to believed). In
addition, your flash application will need to make a connection to
FMS before it can stream videos, so its not quite as simple as
clicking on a .flv link. Your flash app will have to be embedded in
a page (think youtube - although youtube does not use FMS).
If you're not sure if FMS is right for you (and you sound
like you're not sure), why don't you download the Developer edition
and test it out? Its free and has all the features of the "full"
version, but only gives you a license for 10 users.

Flash Media Server Licensing Question

This may seem like a simple NO, but I'm interested in
building a pre-built image which will contain Linux installation
and Adobe Flash Media Server pre-configured. This setup would be in
a single image file used to run inside of VMware Server as a
Virtual Machine. By building the image, anyone who wants to test
FMS could download the image and load it into the Virtual Machine,
and not have to dedicated a full server to the installation.
If anyone can provide me a factual answer, either yes, no, or
someone to contact at Adobe I would be very appreciative.
Similar images of other programs can be found here:
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances
Other applications images include firewalls, web servers, and wiki
servers
Thanks,
Bradford Knowlton
[email protected]
http://x86Virtualization.com

No. FMS is not an "out of the box" solution. You'll need some
experience with Flash (client side flash), but how much you'll need
to know depends on the application you plan to build.
Adobe provides a set of communication components and sample
applications, and it's fairly easy to drag and drop your way to a
simple webcam application. It won't be very flexible, and it
certainly won't be secure, but it will get you started.
You'll also need to understand how to install and configure
server software, or hire someone to do that part for you. Just so
it's said, you can't install FMS on a shared hosting account, so
you'll need your own server.
As far as learning curve goes, I suppose it depends on your
background. If you already have an understanding of actionscript
and client/server communication, then the learning curve isn't
horribly steep. If you don't have a background in Flash (client
side flash), you might want to cover some of those basics before
diving into FMS. Unlike other streaming servers, there is no
default player that just pops open on the client side when a stream
is requested (like Windows Media or Real)... you need to build the
client application (.swf) yourself.

Record playback is very slow between Flash Media Server and Flash

hi all
I have done server side recording successfully with red5 flash media server and can see
that the flv record is being created properly.
Then if I try to playback the record like
NetStream.play("record.flv"), I see that stream playing is very very
slow, for both of audio and video.
And then if I try to playback the recorded file via using the
filesystem path of it, everthing seems fine.
Problem occurs when I try to sucscribe and play the stream of the record.
PS : There is no problem with playing the published stream
(NetStream.play("streamName"))
Does anyone have an idea about this issue?
If you need any additional information, please let me know.
Thanks in advance
Regards

In a nutshell flowplayer delivers the video through your web
browser. It does this via http protocol (port 80) and progressive
download on any web server
Progressive download finds the video on the server and plays
it back through the player as it is being downloaded. 2 important
things to take from this are 1, the video is being downloaded to
the clients hard drive, at the end of the playback they will have a
copy of your video that they can do whatever they like to and
repost it somewhere else. 2, It plays back as it downloads, meaning
if I'm viewing a 10 minute video from your site and want to skip
ahead to the middle or end I have to wait for the whole video to
download before viewing those segments. Your web host by the way
will love you for progressive download because it will appear as
though your transfer rate has gone through the roof. Once the
request for the video is made there is no turning back, the client
gets the whole thing whether they watch it or not.
Flash media server uses the rtmp protocol. This protocol is
an open socket protocol through port 1935. This is a two way street
essentially. When the user views a video using FMS they basically
get only enough of the video to keep the connection open and
satisfy the required buffer to assure clean playback. The bytes of
info that carry the video only go to the users memory, not the hard
drive. This allows the user to jump back and forth around in the
movie without having to wait for the whole thing to download.
Hope that helps.

Flash Media Server v3.5 - fmscheck question.

Hi,
I'm running some tests on an existing application that is configured with 12 "instances." When I run fmscheck with the "--allapps" flag set, only one of the 12 instances returns "NetConnection.Connect.Success." All other instances return "NetConnection.Connect.Rejected". Is this normal operation?
Below is a copy of the command, and the output.
Thanks,
Juan
-bash-4.1$ sudo tools/fmscheck --host video3.domain.com --allapps --auser USERNAME --apswd "PASSWORD" --logfile /dev/pts/0
#Version 1.0.0 r15
#2014-08-11 16:46:48
#Software: Adobe Flash Media Server Check 1.0.0 r15
#2014-08-11
#Fields: date    time        x-event   x-sname
2014-08-11     16:46:48     NetConnection.Connect.Success Connection succeeded.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_003
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_001
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Closed -
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_006
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Closed -
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_008
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Closed -
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_002
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Closed -
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_005
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Closed -
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_010
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Closed -
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_009
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Closed -
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_007
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Closed -
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_011
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Closed -
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_012
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Closed -
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Connect rtmp://video3.domain.com:1935/vChat/video3_004
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Closed -
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     NetConnection.Connect.Rejected Connection failed.
2014-08-11     16:46:49     Program complete successful -
-bash-4.1$

One of the workarounds that I have found is ... i.e try making all three FMS Windows Services (Flash Media Administration Server, Flash Media Server (FMS) and FMSHttpd) in the some domain controller account or atleast the same Administrator.
After doing so first manually stop the Flash Media Administration Server. After the Administration Server Stops Now run the Flash Media Server (FMS) which should also automatically launch the FMSHttpd Service (Apache). Once both are started then try starting the Flash media Administration Server.
To make sure that Flash Media Administration Service Always Starts LAST you can either use Manual Batch file in sequence of starting or can set up the option of 'Delayed Start' in Services Settings.

A User Count in a Flash Media Server Application

hello guys, first of all, sorry for my english...
i am making a flash media server application and i want users to see that how many users are currently connected to this application...
i have searched on google for 2 days and i couldnt find a good tutorial for AS3.
i have looked at fmsguru and some other tutorial websites but those wasn't enough for me to succes...
what i am trying to make is; a text area or dynamic text (i dont know which is most suitable for this purpose) which shows the numbers of connected user and i want it change immediately when a user connects or disconnects...
i know there is an array as "application.clients" and i know i should use "application.clients.length" in "main.asc" file to find the number of connected users BUT i can't get this number to the text area or dynamic text in my "swf file".
PLEASE help me by explaining a simple application which uses a "main.asc" file, an "action script" file and a "swf" file. and how to get the number of "application.clients.length", how to send (or call or get) it to the "action script" file, how to show this number in a text field or dynamic text...
i will be very appreciated if someone explain in AS3 and make me success...
thanks for reading...

well here you don't even need the button just tell your textfield to update everytime the server calls after a connection or disconnection. Do you know how to write actionscript at all? Because you would be well advised not to attempt media server stuff unless you know how to do the basics. Maybe you could start out with some client only applications.
import mx.controls.TextArea;
import mx.controls.Button;
import mx.utils.Delegate;
class SimpleChat_call extends MovieClip {
private var myTextArea:TextArea;
private var myButton:Button;
private var _nc:NetConnection;
private var _chatSO:SharedObject;
private function onLoad() {
myButton.addEventListener("click", Delegate.create(this, onUserCount));
public function connect( rtmpString:String) {
_nc = new NetConnection();
_nc.owner = this;
_nc.onStatus = function ( info ) {
if(info.code == "NetConnection.Connect.Success") {
trace("connected successfully");
this.owner.connectSO( this );
_nc.receiveUsercount = function (count) {
var myTextArea = this.owner.myTextArea;
myTextArea.text = count;
_nc.connect(rtmpString);
private function connectSO( nc ) {
_chatSO.connect( nc );
you didn't even try what i suggested did you because it would have worked without changing the client

Is it possible to use smartseek functionalities without FMS(flash media server)??

Hi,
    Is it possible to use smart seek functionalities to play files local files without using flash media server(FMS).
    I am currently using videoDisplay components but can switch to netStream component if it is possible without FMS.
    As I have to seek frame by frame but the current seek() function doesnot provide that functionality.
    Any kind of suggestion is most welcome.
    Thanks in Advance.

I'd like to revive this topic as I just purchased an ATV. I do like it but I am becoming very familiar with the limitations of the ATV.
I used to have a Snyology NAS server but it did not serve/stream the iTunes well enough to my stereo. I have a lot of photos of my children as well as movies and wanted to see more of them so I purchased the ATV as I knew the Syno server/NAS would be bricking soon.
Once the ATV is loaded it is fine for that content. But if there is other content on other computers well, they have to stream and the content on the ATV is not accessible to anything other than the stereo or TV that the ATV is connected to. So, finally, here is my question:
Which NAS streams VERY WELL with the ATV? Correct me if I am wrong but the NAS has to have iTunes imbedded within the server; yes? Secondly, is the best solution for serving an ATV as well as having all media content accessible to all LAN computers a Mac Mini?
So which is it? Please recommend an NAS that can serve iTunes media (music, photos, video) to an Apple TV or is the best solution a Mac Mini which acts like a NAS and streams all media content to the Apple TV and ATV will stream it to HDTV through HDMI , etc.
The ATV is great with the High Def.., wide screen, Dolby 5.1, HDMI port , etc. Just need a way to have the media accessible to everyone on the LAN as well as serve/stream to an already purchased Apple TV.
Thanks for the help,
Cc

Flash Media Server tutorials

Hello everyone,
I'm new with Flash Media Server and I was wondering if someone of you guys know where I can fine a very good tutorial to study hard in order to learn how to play with FMS. I'm quite good in actionscript 3 but I miss the server side coding, and some basic theory.
Please, someone may suggest me some tutorials?
Thanks guys!
Alberto

Please have a look at this site : http://fmsguru.com/tutorials.cfm?tab=fms rather than at http://flashcomguru.com/tutorials/ - fmsguru is much updated site and you should get better tutoials here than other site which i mentioned. I somehow was mistaken with the names - sorry for inconvenience

Why Flash Media Server

Hi All,
As it stands currently, I'm developing online teaching applications that faculty can use in their classes, as well as encoding and uploading videos to our Windows Servers. For database management, I'm coding server side scripts in PHP, and dumping everything into MySQL. Then embedding all the content into Moodle (which is hosted by a 3rd party).
I'm looking at a Flash Server Solution for a couple of reasons:
1) Delivering Streaming video instead of Progressive Download
2) Allowing instructors to encode and upload their own videos (similar to YouTube) without having to go through my office
3) Providing extra copyright security - in order to use some copyright videos, we have to ensure that only the students who are enrolled in specific classes can access the data. As it stands now, a smart student with the right URL can download anything we have up on our Windows servers.
Some Questions and concerns:
1) I don't know Cold Fusion. Will I have to rewrite all my scripts for that? Can Flash Media Server run PHP?
2) This is probably a really stupid one, but... Is Flash Server it's own platform, or does it have to run on a Windows or Linux box?
3) Does it need its own dedicated machine? Can you run a virtual server with Flash Server?
4) Which of the different flavors of Flash Server are best?
5) What kind of hardware specs are we looking at? We have 20,000 students and maybe a few thousand at any one time would have to access
Sorry about all the dumb questions. I'm mostly an app developer, but am in the position of having to make this decision, and then defend the decision if I decide to puruse a Flash server solution.
Thanks for your help.

Hi riquigley,
Following are quick answers on a few of your questions. Hopefully other folks will add their thoughts and also answer the questions I have skipped over.
4) Which of the different flavors of Flash Server are best?
-- FOR STRAIGHT VIDEO STREAMING USE Flash Media Streaming Server. THE PRICE POINT IS LOWER THAN Flash Media Interactive Server (aka FMIS. FMIS IS ONLY NEEDED FOR INTERACTIVE APPLICATIONS, E.G. MULTIUSER, CHAT, ETC.)
-- COMPARE EDITIONS PAGE HERE:
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/compare/
2) ... does it have to run on a Windows or Linux box?
-- YES. FMS IS A SERVICE THAT RUNS ON AN OS. WINDOWS AND RED HAT LINUX ARE SUPPORT. FULL REQUIREMENTS HERE:
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediastreaming/systemreqs/
3) Does it need its own dedicated machine? Can you run a virtual server with Flash Server?
-- DEDICATED MACHINE *NOT* REQUIRED.
-- HOSTED SOLUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE TOO. HOSTED SOLUTIONS MAY OFFER: A) BETTER QUALITY; B) LOWER TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP; C) QUICKER START TO LAUNCH.
-- SEE LIST OF HOSTING PARTNERS, AKA CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) HERE:
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/fvss/
1) I don't know Cold Fusion. Will I have to rewrite all my scripts for that? Can Flash Media Server run PHP?
-- COLDFUSION NOT REQUIRED. EITHER PHP OR COLDFUSION CAN BE USED TO MANAGE METADATA (INCLUDING SQL DATABASE INTERACTION).
-- PHP AND COLDFUSION HANDLE ALL HTTP REQUESTS AND RETURN DYNAMICALLY GENERATED PAGES TO THE USERS' BROWSERS.
-- FLASH MEDIA SERVER HANDLES ALL RTMP REQUESTS. DYNAMICALLY GENERATED PAGES FROM PHP WILL INCLUDE THE RTMP URLs THAT THE FLASH/FLEX SWFs USE IN THE BROWSER TO REQUEST THE RTMP STREAMS FROM THE FLASH MEDIA SERVERS.
hth,
g

Audio not streaming correctly from Flash Media Server

Our company has a Flex application (3.0.2) that is having a problem with audio dropping out in Windows 7. The problem appears worse with a wireless connection, but it can’t be consistently reproduced there, either. The only thing known for sure is that the problem has not been seen on any other version of Windows.
The application thinks the audio is playing, because it is calling the appropriate event listeners triggered when the audio completes and when any audio cue points are hit. The majority of our audio is streaming via Flash Media Server (3,0,2,201), but the problem was also seen using embedded sound effects. In one instance, several clicks of a button triggered an error saying the sound effect could not be loaded, and then about a minute later, all the sound effects played at once and the user could then continue with the application.
The problem has been repeated in IE 8, Firefox 3 and Chrome.

Thanks for your details. But i need more info.
Server:
FMS      3.0.2 ?
FMS installed in which platform Linux/windows? more details about it.
Client:
IE          7
Flash Player version     ?
WIndows 7
Wireless connection - Was the client placed in poor bandwidth.
Can you get the NetStream status info when u play the audio file.? We can check for the rebuffering happening at the client side.
Can you run your audio file through flvCheck Tool to check if the media file is in good form. It is available at "\$Root|Flash Media Server\tools\flvcheck.exe"
Now our intention should be to check the same media file with simpler application (since your production app is complicated) to ensure that the media streaming over 'client to server' is working fine.
Regards,
Janaki L

Very basic question: Flash Media Server vs. embedding flash video

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