Customer Reviews

Flash Video for Professionals: Expert Techniques for Integrating Video on the Web

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As video prolieferates on the Web, developers who want to add Flash video to their resume are going to need this book. It is definitely for intermediate to advanced users, but that's exactly what's needed for all of the nuances that go into Flash video. So if you're a newbie in either Flash or video, you might want to pump some intellectual iron before jumping in at this level.

The materials covered range from project planning to using bitmaps to create special effects and everything in between. One of my favorite gems in this book (in addition to all of the great graphics) is Jim Kremens contribution of a hand-built player using a Model View Controller design. It is a delight to behold and kicks up everyone's skills a notch or two. Also, it gives the reader and excellent player for customized player design. The examples are written in both ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0 so that in this period of transition between the two versions, you not only pick up techniques for writing Flash Media Server code but some ActionScript 3.0 to boot.

So if you're looking to start doing Flash video professionally, this is going to be an important step to take. Besides, it's clear and well-written; so that always helps. If you like this stuff like I do, you'll have a lot of fun as well.

I recenttly purchased this book. The methods of implementation for the codes and classes are very helpful. The structures and tips are clear and introduce high-level design concepts. The one thing that I feel should be noted is that this first edition has errors in the codes listed as examples in the book. I had to download their sample files from Sybex to get the functional code, which works fine. The code from the book produced compile time errors. Amongst the most notable ones: Codes do not show which Classes need to be imported in AS3, and typos that can be hard to catch for students unfamiliar with AS2 and AS3. It's a good start and I think the second edition should catch these errors.

Very good. Covers entire process from encoding to deployment. Covers development process and best practices. Offers clear explanations that are niether opaque to a novice nor overly-simple to experienced developers. Also covers oop, as well as samples in both AS2.0 and AS3.0. There has been a need for a book like this for about two years.

I have two complaints about this book. First, the example code is riddled with errors. Sometimes, there are contradictions from page to page. I checked the errata for the book and there were few corrections. If you're not an experienced action script programmer, good luck.

One thing that might help is if the author explained the concepts behind what the code is doing. These general concepts, however, are glossed over in lieu of practical examples. If you want to learn how to get different results from what the author does, you are left to infer how the code works from the examples and must consult other sources. And since the code is flawed to begin with, this is difficult.

On the other hand, this is the only book I know of that covers these topics. Maybe it will be improved with another edition.

This book is a much-needed resource and road map to creating all kinds of Flash video for the web. Authors Larson and Constantini begin with a chapter on project archaeology and conclude with a chapter on live video. In between, they cover all the nooks and crannies from encoding, the big picture of Object Oriented Programming, dynamic playlists.....in others words: Flash Video from soup to nuts. Coming from a traditional non-web video background in editing and graphics, this book is quite simply the book I'd been hoping would appear once I began to dabble in Flash development. Up to this point, most Flash books usually have a standard chapter or two about video. This book is the whole enchilada and delivers a fantastic "forest for the trees" perspective on planning, creating and deploying Flash video websites. The text is very well-articulated on subject matter that is quite complex. Whether you're an advanced specialist ready to dip right into the Action Script and get your own Flash video ball rolling or you need a quick primer in order to talk the talk with a Flash colleague, this book is your pixel-perfect friend. From a technical standpoint, there is a lot here, but one can browse very easily for quick solutions. From a creative standpoint, there are many inspiring examples and recipes to apply everything from a simple YouTube interface to a more ambitious video wall a la Nam Jun Paik to a website. Ultimately, I enjoyed the book mostly in how it challenged me to approach Flash video as its own art and craft, however new. From cue points to video skins to custom players; the sky's the limit. Let this book be your breath of fresh FLV air.

Book starts out well but then jumps into MVC which is wonderful if you are aware of design patterns, and if you are not then you can find yourself distancing away from the book. One can probably pick thing or two from this book, but I think one really needs to know the design pattern(s) to appreciate this read.

A lot of books focus on telling you what to do. This is great as it enables you to get the job done.

Far too often people who write technical manuals think that is all the learner requires in order to retain knowledge.

Thank goodness this book doesn't stop there. It tells you WHY things should be done this way in addition to the HOW. I've found this process much more reliable as a means to transmit information in a sticky format.

I've been working with Flash video for years and have found through trial and error how to get videos to work properly.

This book finally explains in plain english things like keyframes, interlacing for web, exactly how the new CODEC works.

Ultimately, every new thing this book taught me was set in cement by the logical explanation of the why.

Very good book that covers all from the beginig to the deploying to better deploy your video content. I am pleased to have gotten this book

As promised, this book offers a lot of food of thought, and provides an excellent framework for creating a professional-quality online video player.

The authors offer a strong argument against using the stock FLVPlayback components of CS3, and if you adopt their methodology (even if you skip Chapter 5 at first), you'll get plenty out of this book. You're sure to find some useful information, even if you don't drink all the design-pattern Kool-Aid.

This book walks you through all phases of deploying Flash Video - from project planning and post-production to integration with your website.

There's a good mix of theory and practice in Flash Video for Professionals. The theory side includes things like targeting your audience by determining which video features your clients might want, which version of the Flash Player you want to support, best practices when encoding your video (like choosing a bitrate), and the relative pros and cons of streaming vs. progressive download delivery.

Practice would include detailed step-by-step instructions on how to set up your player, the specific code you need to insert into Flash 8 to achieve that setup, and step-by-step instructions on how to use FMS2 (e.g. uploading a file, inserting an RTMP connection path).

Overall this book is a comprehensive look at Flash Video in both the planning/decision making realm, and the hands-on "roll up your sleeves" process of following through and doing it. It's also up to date and will give you a some working knowledge of what's going on in the Flash Video world right now.