Flash Video on a Blog

[dzinerbear]

I haven't done anything with putting Flash videos on my blog before, so I have a couple of questions.

I have a program Flash Video MX that converts movies to Flash for me.

There is a setting "Generate SWF File" and within it, I have two options:

embed video to SWF file
play the outside FLV file

I have no idea what either means or which one I should be using. The second one is the default.

And I'm assuming there is no way to prevent people from hotlinking Flash movies?

Michael

[100boys]

And I'm assuming there is no way to prevent people from hotlinking Flash movies?


There's a pretty simple one, just tell your host to activate hotlink protection and nothing can be hotlinked from your sites.

[Tube4Gay]

I don't use the program, so I am only guessing what those options mean

1) SWF file. This is a standalone file that you can generate and upload, and at its simplest embed in your page with -
<object width="550" height="400">
<param name="movie" value="ttp://yourserver/somefilename.swf">
<embed src="http://yourserver/somefilename.swf" width="550" height="400">
</embed>
</object>
2) FLV file. This requires a Flash player such as Flowplayer or JW Player installed. The player which is a SWF file, takes the URL to the FLV as one of the parameters.

I don't know the pros and cons of using either method, but the second one, even though it requires installing the flash player, is more common.

[HunkMoneyLuke]

The most flexible route is to play outside FLV, but it depends on what you are doing.

With flash, there are 2 ways of creating videos, one is to embed the video in the SWF file and the other is to create two files (swf and flv) where the instructions are in the swf and the video is in the flv. Embedding videos in the SWF is a bit easier and faster for short clips, but not nearly as flexible.

If your blog is WP and you are using a plugin to play an FLV video, then you need to generate it so the video is in the FLV and not in the SWF. You can also convert to FLV with a whole slew of other programs too, including ones that do batch conversions. I currently use this for batch conversions: http://www.winavi.com/en/flv-converter/flv-converter.htm

Of course, if you are not using WP with an FLV plugin, you simply need to take the html code that Flash Video MX generates and paste it into your blog (as html).

Hope that helps!

cheers,
Luke

[Seth]

...if you are not using WP with an FLV plugin, you simply need to take the html code that Flash Video MX generates and paste it into your blog (as html).

That's exactly what I do here (http://www.guysonvideo.com/blog/2009/05/18/amateur-guysonvideocom-justin-w/).

Also, Flash Video MX does have a batch feature. I've used it a few times. It's a little tricky to set up but once you figure it out, it works OK.

[gaydemon]

Unfortunatley that does not work on FLV files. What you're talking about requires HTTP_REFERER, Flash players don't use that.

From what I understand there is no way to protect yourself due to how flash players and the file is requested. Unless you hide the true location of your FLV file (or use streaming server apps), anyone can hotlink and use your movies and there is nothing you can do about it.




There's a pretty simple one, just tell your host to activate hotlink protection and nothing can be hotlinked from your sites.

[Tube4Gay]

From what I understand there is no way to protect yourself due to how flash players and the file is requested. Unless you hide the true location of your FLV file (or use streaming server apps), anyone can hotlink and use your movies and there is nothing you can do about it.

Not sure if this will work, but you could possibly restrict access to the folders containing the FLV files, and only allow the ip that has your flash player thru.

[rawTOP]

Two things...

First, I highly recommend FlowPlayer (http://flowplayer.org/) which is based on SWFObject to embed and play Flash FLVs. (I believe Bjorn likes it as well.) The only word of warning is that you need each video to be in a div with a unique ID - otherwise it won't work if several movies are on the same page.

Second, here's what I do for hotlink protection...

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.rawtop\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.wilywilly\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.twistedpig\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.amateurgayteenvideo\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.studio3x\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://feeds\.feedburner\.com/rawtop [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.blogger\.com/post- [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://pipes\.yahoo\.com/pipes/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.google\.com/reader/view/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !mail\.yahoo\.com/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !bloglines\.com/ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif|jpe?g|png|swf|flv|m4v|wmv|mpe?g)$ /resources/logo.gif [L,NC]
Notice in the first line I allow blank referrers. This touches on why others say that hotlink protection on video files is impossible. I wouldn't say impossible, but it is impossible to completely clamp it down - you need to allow blank referrers which means some hotlinking will be possible, but anyone who does it will have unpredictable results because there will be players that send a referrer and won't be able to retrieve the video.

[gaydemon]

But then you wouldnt be able to share out your videos, like Tube sites do.. Right?

I just hidden the real URL in my player instead (hardcoded), quite simple solution.

And yes absolutly, I would highly recommend SWFObject! If your going to start using Flv movies its worth using it.




Two things...

First, I highly recommend FlowPlayer (http://flowplayer.org/) which is based on SWFObject to embed and play Flash FLVs. (I believe Bjorn likes it as well.) The only word of warning is that you need each video to be in a div with a unique ID - otherwise it won't work if several movies are on the same page.

Second, here's what I do for hotlink protection...

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.rawtop\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.wilywilly\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.twistedpig\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.amateurgayteenvideo\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.studio3x\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://feeds\.feedburner\.com/rawtop [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.blogger\.com/post- [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://pipes\.yahoo\.com/pipes/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www\.google\.com/reader/view/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !mail\.yahoo\.com/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !bloglines\.com/ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif|jpe?g|png|swf|flv|m4v|wmv|mpe?g)$ /resources/logo.gif [L,NC]
Notice in the first line I allow blank referrers. This touches on why others say that hotlink protection on video files is impossible. I wouldn't say impossible, but it is impossible to completely clamp it down - you need to allow blank referrers which means some hotlinking will be possible, but anyone who does it will have unpredictable results because there will be players that send a referrer and won't be able to retrieve the video.


Not sure if this will work, but you could possibly restrict access to the folders containing the FLV files, and only allow the ip that has your flash player thru.

[rawTOP]

But then you wouldnt be able to share out your videos, like Tube sites do.. Right?

Correct. The thread is about Flash on blogs, not Flash on tube sites. The fact that tube sites have shareable embed codes means they have to allow hotlinking, which is why tube sites need to watermark their videos.

Bjorn - you need to put watermark your videos on QueerPixels. Someone will figure out how to locate and use your flvs to power their tube site, and you'll get no credit - you'll just pay their bandwidth bill. All it takes is someone with a locally run proxy software examining the URLs that are loaded as they view your page, then they compare that to what's in the HTML and figure out your system. I realize you're probably trying to not piss off your sponsors, but sponsors just have to realize that tube sites HAVE to watermark their videos for this exact reason. I'd put your watermark in one of the upper corners since sponsors almost always put theirs in one of the lower corners.

It might be possible to have the player set a cookie and then have Apache look for the cookie, but I'm not sure if that would work with Flash's security model or not.

[gaydemon]

Sorry yes, I didnt think of it not being used for sharing.

About the watermarks on mine, I don't think its fair to watermark someone elses videos with my logo. Just doesnt seem right.



Correct. The thread is about Flash on blogs, not Flash on tube sites. The fact that tube sites have shareable embed codes means they have to allow hotlinking, which is why tube sites need to watermark their videos.

Bjorn - you need to put watermark your videos on QueerPixels. Someone will figure out how to locate and use your flvs to power their tube site, and you'll get no credit - you'll just pay their bandwidth bill. All it takes is someone with a locally run proxy software examining the URLs that are loaded as they view your page, then they compare that to what's in the HTML and figure out your system. I realize you're probably trying to not piss off your sponsors, but sponsors just have to realize that tube sites HAVE to watermark their videos for this exact reason. I'd put your watermark in one of the upper corners since sponsors almost always put theirs in one of the lower corners.

It might be possible to have the player set a cookie and then have Apache look for the cookie, but I'm not sure if that would work with Flash's security model or not.

[rawTOP]

About the watermarks on mine, I don't think its fair to watermark someone elses videos with my logo. Just doesnt seem right.

You're paying the bill for the bandwidth. If they were sponsor hosted FLVs I'd agree with you.

Just don't put your logo over theirs - that's pushing too far, which is why I say put it in one of the upper corners...

[dzinerbear]

I think re-watermarking sponsor videos is already pushing too far.

Michael