[LINK] Re: executable content vs plain data

[Craig Sanders]

On Sun, Jan 20, 2008 at 04:26:39PM +1100, Robin Stephens wrote:
> >From Wikipedia:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Video
> 
> Flash Video files can be delivered in several different ways:
> 
>     * As a standalone .FLV file. Although Flash Video files are
> normally delivered using a Flash player for control, the .FLV file
> itself is fully-functional on its own and can be played or converted
> to other formats from local storage such as a hard disk or a CD.

and the most relevant delivery option for this discussion mentioned on
that wikipedia page is:

    * Progressive download via HTTP (supported in Flash Player 7 and
      later).  This method uses ActionScript to include an externally
      hosted Flash Video file client-side for playback. Progressive
      download has several advantages, including buffering, use of
      generic HTTP servers, and the ability to reuse a single SWF
      player for multiple Flash Video sources.  Flash Player 8 includes
      support for random access within video files using the partial
      download functionality of HTTP, sometimes this is referred to as
      streaming. However, unlike streaming using RTMP, HTTP "streaming"
      does not support real-time broadcasting. Streaming via HTTP
      requires a custom player and the injection of specific Flash
      Video metadata containing the exact starting position in bytes
      and timecode of each keyframe. Using this specific information, a
      custom Flash Video player can request any part of the Flash Video
      file starting at a specified keyframe. For example, Google Video
      and Youtube support progressive downloading and can seek to any
      part of the video before buffering is complete. The server-side
      part of this "HTTP pseudo-streaming" method is fairly simple to
      implement, for example in PHP, as an Apache HTTPD module, or a
      lighttpd module.


ActionScript is a programming language. Google, Youtube, and others have
their own custom FLV player written in ActionScript, and executed by the
Flash plugin's virtual machine.


craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>

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Interference from lunar radiation