RTMP is the protocol used by Adobe’s Flash Media Server to stream content into flash. Most of the help documentation doesn’t touch much on this method of connection and is limited to sources not easily available to users.

This article should be used by those with an understanding of video playback using actionscript 3. If that isn’t you, please read this article before continuing.

1.) In order to use the RTMP protocol, you will need to install and run a version of Adobe Flash Media Server. Adobe has released a free developer version the limits you to 10 connections. That will be MORE than enough to do some basic development. Please make sure you are running or have access to a Flash Media Server before continuing to the next step.

1.) (B) If you are having trouble installing or setting up an app, please read this article.

2.) Now that you have access to a Flash Media Server, we will start with some basic code that should look familiar if you have worked with actionscript and video before. For this step, you will need to know the URI for the server. If you installed Flash Media server on the machine you are running on, you can use “localhost” for the URI. We will be using the “vod” app that comes pre-installed on the server for this example.

var nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
nc.connect("rtmp://YOUR_SERVER_URI/vod/");

If we were loading an flv file without streaming, you would have passed null to the connect() method instead.

3.) The only thing left is to load the stream, instead of loading an FLV video from a URL. This is actually much easier than you think. Instead of passing a URLRequest to the NetStream.play() method, you would instead pass the name of the stream you wish to play from within your app (this is the name of the FLV file on the server, but without the .FLV extension). To playback an HD streaming file, you will need to format your stream name slightly different: “mp4:NAME_OF_STREAM.mp4″

• Please note that you can not setup your NetStream until after the NetConnection has successfully connected. You will know this from the NetStatus event: NetConnection.Connect.Success that is dispatched.

var ns:NetStream = new NetStream(nc);
ns.play("NAME_OF_STREAM");
// ns.play("mp4:NAME_OF_STREAM.mp4");  // this will stream an HD movie instead.

4.) That’s it! I hope this article has helped. Please comment below with any questions and I would be glad to help answer them.

For a more informative tutorial, check out this one from Peachpit.

The FWA Theater recently opened it’s doors and is showcasing a new interface called FiV. This new interface/platform is developed by Fantasy Interactive. It has the typical Fi look and feel that has plagued made a name for Fi for years. The FiV system seems to be a great fit for those that have a lot of video content and need to have it organized and easy to navigate. With the rise in bandwidth speeds, more sites seem to be gearing towards video content. The only catch that I can think of is a site that can handle/afford the bandwidth of a system that has massive amounts of video content will probably have the budget and need to design their own system. Could you imagine Hulu using this system instead of their own?

This would be a great tool if it was cheap (think Slideshow Pro), and could handle smaller amounts of video content gracefully without looking empty. Future potential could then be an online video editing suite add-on (think Slideshow Pro Director) and Live Video stream support.

I don’t believe this system will take off to quickly, but has a great potential.

Adobe takes it a step further and launches the Open Screen Project

“The Open Screen Project is working to enable a consistent runtime environment – taking advantage of Adobe® Flash® Player and, in the future, Adobe AIR™ — that will remove barriers for developers and designers as they publish content and applications across desktops and consumer devices, including phones, mobile internet devices (MIDs), and set top boxes.”

• Removing restrictions on use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications
• Publishing the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player
• Publishing the Adobe Flash® Cast™ protocol and the AMF protocol for robust data services
• Removing licensing fees – making next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices free

[ via BigSpaceship ]

There is a possible upcoming project that may involve video with perspective. I have been using Papervision for a couple of other projects and figured I would put together a demo to see how well it handles. Enjoy