The Flash Guru Answers Your Questions Los Angeles CA

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Originally published at Internet.com

In this monthly series, celebrated Flash guru Stefan Richter answers a question chosen directly from the Web Video Universe forum. This month: How to find an FLV player to show your Flash Video.

Stefan Richter

Regular readers got to know Flash expert Stefan Richter last month in this article, when he guided those new to Flash through the steps of displaying Flash Video content on a Web site. Now, Richter has agreed to touch base every month, to answer a Flash question from the Web Video Universe forum.

You Asked:
The first question addresses a basic concern about getting FLV content to display, a question that a lot of people share:

User SH100, who is new to Web video, wants to put FLV content on his or her Web site, and wonders what FLV players are available.

Stefan Said:
Flash Video players are usually built from scratch using ActionScript, so that they can be tailored to the look of the site. Some helpful developers, however, make their players public for all to use.

The best one Richter has seen is JW FLV Media Player, which was built by Jeroen Wijering. Richter likes that it supports not only FLV content, but also MP3s, images, and playlists. It works with both downloaded or streamed video, and there's lots of documentation about it, in case you get stuck. Customizing it isn't difficult, and doesn't require any programming knowledge.

If you're using Adobe Dreamweaver, Richter adds, you can use the included video wizard to create a basic player when you add video to a page. Sorenson Squeeze also has an option for creating a video player, although Richter hasn't tried it.

Check back next month for more advice from the Flash guru.