« Player uninstaller | Main | On On2 »
August 21, 2007
Sorenson note
Sorenson note: Summary: FLV lives. I'm seeing a few comments like this one at Digg: "Bye bye sites that use the Sorenson codec. From the developers blog... "'Sorenson Video is not supported.'" Here's the fuller quote from Tinic: "Video needs to be in H.264 format only. MPEG-4 Part 2 (Xvid, DivX etc.) video is not supported, H.263 video is not supported, Sorenson Video is not supported. Keep in mind that a lot of pod casts are still using MPEG-4 Part 2. So do not be surprised if you do not see any video." He's referring to H264 video here, in its various implementations. The Sorenson Sparc codec works in the Player, same as before. I understand how this passage could read the other way though. But the Sorenson reference in this passage is to flavors of H264, and does not affect the world's existing FLVs.
Posted by JohnDowdell at August 21, 2007 04:09 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://weblogs.macromedia.com/mtadmin/mt-tb.cgi/9005
Comments
I could see Sorenson/FLV use dropping like a brick though, as long as H.264 doesn't use too much more bandwidth for the same dimensions/quality.
From a developer or content owner perspective, why wouldn't you use a more portable and flexible format?
Sorry V6, it was fun while it lasted though.
...wait...can H.264 do alpha transparency? Will that be supported in the new player?
Posted by: PaulC at August 22, 2007 07:15 AM
I don't think it will dropped that quickly, one of the comments from Tinic blog says:
"I am not in a position able to explain to you why we will not allow 3rd party streaming servers to stream H.264 video or AAC audio into the Flash Player. What I can tell you is that we do not allow this without proper licensing. Refer to Adobe's friendly Flash Media Server sales staff for more information."
Considering that FMS is a quite costly piece of software, I don't see an immediate switch.
Posted by: Emanuele Cipolloni at August 22, 2007 07:47 AM
Update: I got word from one of the Player engineers last night that the "Sorenson" reference in that quote refers to the "Sorenson Video" codec in QuickTime, rather than the Sorenson Sparc content in Adobe Flash Player 6+.
Paul: I'm not sure yet of the relative advantages of the codecs, nor how new projects in the world will be compressed. The Player will support existing content, though.
Emanuele: Did you post here awhile back under the name "Endry Deloir"? The timing, conversational discursions, and IP addresses are similar.
Posted by: John Dowdell at August 22, 2007 08:18 AM
Uhm, no. I don't need to switch personality, especially because I don't think I said anything inconvenient, but maybe I'm wrong. I read some comments by Mr. Deloir, I don't see any similarity with mine in the tone nor the content, if this is what you mean by "conversational discursions". Unfortunately (or luckily according to somebody) we both live in Monaco, IP space address is somewhat limited given the population, so addresses maybe similar or even equal at a time. Any particular reason why my posts triggered this comparison?
Posted by: Emanuele Cipolloni at August 22, 2007 08:42 AM
Yes, I read that comment to refer to the Sorenson and Sorenson Pro codec used in Quicktime. Flash will not play these.
Flash will however continue to play the Sorenson Spark codec and now will be able to play video encoded with Sorenson's H.264 codec, along with other vendor's H.264 codecs.
Posted by: Pat McKeague at August 22, 2007 01:05 PM