Knowledge Base / FAQ/Solutions
Video - FlowBox symFlowPlayer: file does not play
Kevin
posted this on April 27, 2010 16:24
Main problem: file downloads before playing back
Common scenario you have created the movie, encoded with VideoMokey to (h264) AppleTV or iPhone format but the whole video has trouble playing in the flash player or you have to wait to download before playing in the flash player.
This is due to a problem with the ‘moov’ atom at the end of the video file ,Renaun Erickson wrote this small AIR app that moves the atom to the start of the file so it can be played out as soon as the player has buffered enough data.http://renaun.com/air/QTIndexSwapper.air
We also recommend the excellent and free Miro Video Converter too - see our blog Post on this topic about Video Encoding
Comments
This occurs with any video created in quicktime with H.264 codec, Fast Start Enabled. I created several QT .Mov files like this and they play fine in Safari but when you try to use the FLowbox tool it always pre-loads the entire content.
Is the solution to convert it to a different QT H.264 format?
Using QTIndexSwapper will recitfy any problems you use with 3rd party Video conversion utilities
Link to download the AIR application QTIndexSwapper
Using the default QuickTime export in QuickTimePlayer does not have this problem.
I used Apples Quicktime Player Pro, with the following settings:
Comrression: h.264
Quality: High
Frame Rate: 15
Bitrate:550 kbits/sec
Frame Recording: yes
Encoding Mode: multi-passs
Dimensions: 902x564
Audio-----------------
Format - AAC
Sample Rate - 22.050Khz
Channels: Stereo L&R
Estimated Bit Rate - 96Kbps
-------
Fast Start Enabled
If you try and use the export for iPhone you have no size controls. If you choose Mpeg 4 you can choose different size controls, which export option formats do you recommend to use that resolve the QT Indexing issue? MPEG=MP4, M4V?
You have to remember that whenever a file is enoded with a codec like H.264 the file extension used is just a container for the encoded file
More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264
My own exports using the iPhone export work all the time .
Kevin,
When you say you use the iphone export setting, how do you control the output size? Its automatically set. Or do you just use that size for all your screen casts?
For anything quick I can live with the 640x360 or 480x270.
However, for example we generate a lot of Video using Screenflow and export these out at 1280x720 lossless (Apple Animation) and then crunch /size them with either Stomp, Handbrake, Elgato HD or the latest app we are using is Permute. We customise the settings to give us desired output rate.
One thing to note Permute at the moment does not web optimise ( equivalent of fast start) so we then use the AIR app QTIndexSwapper which re-arranges the file to be fast start
Handbrake if you export to say iPhone or ATV check the web optimise box
Thanks for tips on the apps. I just started using screen flow my for latest video screen cast. The app has a lot of shortcomings. I will give Permute a try, never heard of it.
Is there any tips and tricks forums for screen casting? I plan to use alot of that in RW sites.
Thanks again!
Screenflow is great . just export from screenflow as a 640x360 movie ... you can tweak the settings in the export too.
No major tips on screencasting but follow the TeleStream Blog good articles there as well as Scott over at SkillCasting
I get this error when trying to install the application -- "The application could not be installed. Try installing it again. If the problem persists, contact the application author." any ideas on what could cause this?
It is an AIR application so you need Adobe AIR installed