how to encode H264 FLV video?

Wowza Streaming Engine
1

Hello,

we produced some semi-transparent videos using Adobe After Effects. Now I want to put them on our web site and stream from Wowza. In After Effects I can produce flv videos, but the only available codecs are Sorenson Spark (which does not support alpha-channel) and On2 VP6.

In order to encode with H.264 codec, should I install some extra software (on Mac or Windows)?

Can someone advice me to use another software for H.264 encoding? How do you encode H264 videos (on Mac, Windows or Linux)?

best wishes,

Mustafa

2

Other can chime in but I have used Sorenson Squeeze 4 and FFMPEG (but this take a lot of work to get setup properly for H.264). Also, take a look at Rhozet and On2 Flix Pro.

Charlie

3

The following works for me to play back MP4 content:

<script type="text/javascript">
	var s1 = new SWFObject("player.swf","ply","328","200","9","#FFFFFF");
	s1.addParam("allowfullscreen","true");
	s1.addParam("allowscriptaccess","always");
	s1.addParam("flashvars","streamer=rtmp://localhost/fastplay&file=mp4:Extremists.m4v&image=preview.jpg");
	s1.write("container");
</script>

Charlie

4

It is more of a player issue. I would contact Adobe or post on one of their forums or email threads. The Adobe Flash player folks would know the answer to this question.

Charlie

5

Hi folks,

how do you encode H264 video in order to stream with Wowza Media Server?

6

If I understand you correctly you have already created an .AVI file that has an alpha channel. I do that often as well. I then use Adobe Flash CS3 and Apple QuickTime Pro to then create .FLV’s and .MOV’s Both of those products have an OPTIONAL SETTING to Include the alpha channel. But I should also say I don’t believe you can currently encode an .FLV to H264 For that I use Quicktime Pro.

One other thing to consider is the player you use to display the content. Not all players have a transparency mode. In fact most do not. Again as I understand it using a flash player in the transparent mode disables the full screen option of the flash plugin. That may have changed in the newer versions of the Flash Plugin but I haven’t seen any mention of it yet.

In my case I have modified the JW Player to permit transparency. Here’s a quick example. Demo In the example the transparent file is an .FLV with alpha channel.

Hope this offers you some help. - Jimb

7

Yes, Wowza Pro supports .mov file that contain H.264/AAC content.

Charlie

8

If I understand you correctly you have already created an .AVI file that has an alpha channel. I do that often as well. I then use Adobe Flash CS3 and Apple QuickTime Pro to then create .FLV’s and .MOV’s Both of those products have an OPTIONAL SETTING to Include the alpha channel. But I should also say I don’t believe you can currently encode an .FLV to H264 For that I use Quicktime Pro.

@Jim,

Yes you understood me correctly. I have Adobe After Effects CS3, Adobe Flash CS3 and Quicktime Pro installed. I have an AVI file but Flash CS3 can’t open it. When I open it with Quicktime and export as FLV (with the help of Flash CS3), H264 is not available. Only Sorenson Spark and On2VP6 are listed.

In my case I have modified the JW Player to permit transparency. Here’s a quick example. Demo In the example the transparent file is an .FLV with alpha channel.

Your player looks cool. Which modifications did you make on JW Player?

9

If you were asking how to make the JW Player have a transparent mode, here is a link to step by step modifications to accomplish that.

JW Player - Transparency modification

Look at the 5th post in that thread. I think you’ll find it’s pretty much cut and paste and the whole process won’t take you 5 minutes. If I remember correctly these instructions were for version 3.16 as that was current when I made the post.

thanks, I will follow your instructions

Here you have me a bit confused. Flash CS3 does not have an H264 option. If you want to create H264 content using the Quicktime Pro you do not export an .FLV I select .MOV as the output type and then in the SETTINGS Dialog box you can chose H264 and you want to make sure you set the OPTIMIZED FOR option to STREAMING.

H264 Settings

Regards - Jimb

Does Wowza support .MOV files???

10

That’s great for me. I had read the manual but missed it.

Now I try to playback an H.264 MOV file with JW Player. The only thing I changed in the player settings is the name of the file.

I encoded the video using Quicktime Pro. In the logs, there is nothing strange but the video isn’t playing on the page. Here is the log:

[HTML]INFO application app-start definst simplevideostreaming/definst

INFO session connect-pending 212.175.105.55 -

INFO session connect 212.175.105.55 -

INFO stream create - -

INFO stream play 1qt400.mov -

INFO stream stop 1qt400.mov -

INFO stream destroy 1qt400.mov -[/HTML]

Is JW Player capable of playing H264 encoded MOV files?

11

thanks charlie,

So, then the new question is: “What is the best way of encoding H.264 encoded MP4 video?”

And, is it possible to playback transparent H264 videos on Flash Player? On http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flash_Player:9:Update:H.264

, I read

Q: Does the H.264 implementation in Flash Player support alpha channel?

A: No. Our first implementation does not support alpha channels using H.264, but we plan to implement this feature in the next major release.

I hope that it’s outdated.

bye,

mustafa

12

If you were asking how to make the JW Player have a transparent mode, here is a link to step by step modifications to accomplish that.

JW Player - Transparency modification

Look at the 5th post in that thread. I think you’ll find it’s pretty much cut and paste and the whole process won’t take you 5 minutes. If I remember correctly these instructions were for version 3.16 as that was current when I made the post.

When I open it with Quicktime and export as FLV

Here you have me a bit confused. Flash CS3 does not have an H264 option. If you want to create H264 content using the Quicktime Pro you do not export an .FLV I select .MOV as the output type and then in the SETTINGS Dialog box you can chose H264 and you want to make sure you set the OPTIMIZED FOR option to STREAMING.

H264 Settings

Regards - Jimb

13

Yes it is BUT you should be aware that in order to play it weel your user should have version 9.0.115 of the Adobe Flash Plugin installed. Several earlier version 9.?.? versions were quite buggy. I use swfobject to test for that condition and if they don’t have 9.0.115 or newer I give them 2 options.

If the have sufficient privilages on their computer they can chose to update to the current version of the plugin OR if they don’t I provide a link to an alternate .FLV file and they can simply click on that link and watch the lower quality file.

It’s not uncommon for corporate user to have VERY LIMITED privilages and many can not upgrade their player. The corporate IT department has to do it for them.

Right click on the JW PLayer and let me know what version you are using. The rest of the answer as to why you are having trouble will vary depending on your version. I am using 4.1.62 without problems. Also a link to your page would let folks here look at your code in an effort to help you better.

Regards - Jim