[Q] Playing multiple FLV files...

[CyanBlue]

Hi... :)

I have a FLV player that reads list of FLV files and display them in order...
The FLV files are quite huge, and sometimes it lags in-between...

Well... Here is my question to you... :)

Let's say that I have five FLV files that are all 10MB in size and each runs for 1 minute, which totals 5 minutes for the whole play...

What do you think is an ideal way of playing them for the best user experience???

Here are some I can think of and it is in an order that I think is most user friendly...

#1. Use Flash Media Server to stream out the FLV files... It might reduce the in-between lag time than the progressive download...
#2. Load the FLV #1 and start preload FLV #2 ~ #5 while #1 is playing... Which could 'potentially' make the Flash load #2 twice if it is not fully loaded by the time #1 is finished...
#3. Just load one at a time and live with the consequence...

Please tell me what you think or add your comment/method... ;)

[Flash Gordon]

Hey ya :)

I have no experience with FMS, but if it outputs the data faster and you go the resources, go with that.

If I were doing it, I'd just stream 1 at a time. I have found that I can usually get a good combination of data rate (for audio and video) vs quality and have the FLV stream flawlessly on DSL. I figure if the user isn't on at least DSL, then he/she has no business even trying to watch such videos.

2 cents ;)

[CyanBlue]

Yeah... My 2 cents goes pretty much the same as you... If you want to see the web video, you need to have a faster connection... But my boss does not agree with me... I understand why they say that though... You just can't expect your fastest connection be stable every seconds... Sometimes there might be some network hiccup and your fastest connection could be going the same speed as the dialup... But I cannot really think of all the possible worst nightmare... Oh, well...

Anybody have any other idea??? ;)