Add-On Releases - XEON Series - vbFLV Streaming Video Player

XEON series ? The vbFLV Video Player


[ Click Here to see the DEMO ]

If you use this modification please click INSTALL - it shows your appreciation and I can notify you of updates, when they become available!

Release Date: 2006-11-13
Revision: 1.1 (see change log in this post). If UPGRADING from Revision 1.0 DO NOT overwrite any files, apart from the main player.swf
vBulletin versions compatible: Works on ANY - uses no MySQL

Features:

• XML Based FLV Player
• Single playlist population
• Fade in/out over thumbnails
• Auto-detect Normal or Widescreen video formats
• Auto-detect Scroll-bar on if more than 5 videos in XML file
• Optimized for vBulletin using a single ?conditional?
• Optimized picture clarity/quality
• Slide Scroll bar to view other movies
• Uses javascript object embed for all known browser compatibility issues

Watermarked version details: *See second post below*

As many members requested, here at vbulletin.org, I designed this video player. It is XML driven, and the full vBulletin integrated version will be a commercial product, with many added features.
To compliment the XEON vbMp3 Player I brought you, the XEON series vbFLV Video Player, is another feature packed add-on. This is currently designed as a popup.

The vbFLV Video Player allows you to add unlimited video footage from various sources. There are no limits on FLV streaming, but you may wish to think about bandwidth consumption, if you intend to have very long movie clips. Note: most FLV clips are between 1-2Mb?s each, due to compression used. I would suggest you read these instructions carefully for no problems to occur, installation is fairly straight forward but setup will take longer.

Broadcast streaming video directly from your vBulletin forum.
You can encode your own movie files into the FLV format.
Use websites like www.keepvid.com to download any video from Google, YouTube, iFilm, and numerous other video websites. Visit www.keepvid.com for a full list.

Bandwith Consumption:
Due to design of this player and you will rarely find flv files around websites, the player is restricted to local flv files only. This was done by request, since most people that requested this modification wanted to play videos on their own websites, not on a global basis. If you have a large forum and huge video files, and only a small bandwidth limit I would not recommend you install this version.

Why FLV?
FLV is a widely used format for video/audio - and uses can be even interactive. No other video format comes close to these specifications - and the compression ratio will surpass anything around. In this tutorial you will be able to find the best compression ratio to use (the demo uses a 512k stream, which these days is quite adaquate for most users). Most video formats can be converted to the FLV format, I have listed a few places below where you can get free converters from.

What is FLV?
FLV is video format used by Flash, it is possible to take a 50Mb mpeg file and convert it to a 512k FLV stream, reducing the file size to around 10Mb. Giving you a high compression ratio of 5:1 in most cases. Is it more common on Google, YouTube, myspace, and many other video hosting websites.


Editing the XML file:
You can change all titles, descriptions, thumbnails and flv titles in the XML file. To edit it just right-click and select open with either Notepad, Wordpad or TextEdit (if you?re using a Apple).

Adding more videos:
Each video in the XML file is setup like this:

<item>
<date>13 November 2006</date>
<descr><b>Example 3</b></descr>
<video>example3.flv</video>
<image>example3.jpg</image>
</item>

So, we have Date, Description, video_name.flv and video_name.jpg ? each videos detail is enclosed between < item > tags.

Thumbnails & Descriptions

Thumbnails:
These small images must be created in any graphics program (The player will work without these thumbnails). If you do wish to create these images then they should be of a maximum size (width=70 and height=50), making them all the same size does look better, if they don't show up make sure you have named them the same as the details in the XML file. Note they must be non-progressive jpg images.

Creating the Thumbnail Images:
You can easily create the images by playing the video you want the image for, pause it at the point where you would like the screenshot. Now Hold down the ALT key and Press PRT SCR ? this will take a screenshot of just the player, open any image program and select Paste. Crop the image and resize until it is no larger than 70x50 pixels, save as a jpg.

Description:
You can add short titles and dates to your videos (as shown in the screenshot and demo, this data is entered in the XML file.


Transcoding your movies to FLV format
[high]Free FLV Encoders:[/high]
http://rivavx.com/index.php?encoder&L=3 - Riva FLV Encoder
Transcodes AVI, MPEG, Quicktime, WMV and more codecs.

[high]Commercial FLV Encoders:[/high]
http://www.yaodownload.com/video-des...dersconverter/

[high]More FLV Encoders can be found here:[/high]
http://www.brothersoft.com/downloads/flv-encoder.html


Installation:
Upload the entire contents of the Upload folder into your forum ?root?. There are index.html files within the video and images folders, these are just directory protection files, so people cannot just browse your folders and download.

Note: If you have installed any previous releases by me, then you may receive an alert about overwriting the flashobject.js file ? this file hasn?t been changed at all, so you can skip or overwrite. DO NOT rename any files or folders; the player does have dedicated paths compiled which cannot be altered.

XML Setup:
Make sure you enter no paths, just the file names. The player has defaults set for images and video directories.

Template edit:
AdminCP -> Styles & Templates -> Navigation / Breadcrumb Templates -> navbar

Find:

<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="calendar.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[calendar]</a></td>

Add after:

<!-- vbFLV Player Start -->
<if condition="$show['member']">
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--

function Openvbflv(){
vbflv = window.open('vbflv.html','vbflv','directories=no,height=400,width=580,location=no,menubar=no,resizable=no,status=no,toolbar=no')

return false;
}

-->
</script>
<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="#" onclick="return Openvbflv()">FLV Player</a></td>
</if>
<!-- vbFLV Player End -->

KNOWN ISSUES: none

Change Log:
15/11/2006 - Player screen resize fixed
13/11/2006 - Initial Release

Future Improvements:
Limited, due to being a XML version. All major features will be incorporated in the commercial fully integrated vBulletin version, available soon, with plugins.


This modification is fully supported, and keep your eyes open for other flash-based modifications I release. More ?XEON series? based projects are planned, but probably will not be released until early next year!

Screenshots below show current version.

[syrus.xl]

vbFLV Video Player with WaterMarking

Design by Syrus XL Media
2003-2006
www.digitalport.co.uk

Installation:
=============
Firstly, you will need the main package of this modification installed.

The files within this package simply upload to your forums ROOT overwriting the existing vbflvPlayer.swf.

The watermark feature uses the Arial Bold font, which is embedded into the compilied flash file with a 41% alpha.

To change the default 'Syrus XL Media' watermark - simply edit the watermark.txt file with Notepad.
Default line is:

content=Syrus XL Media

Change this line after the '=' symbol to anything you want to display on the video window.

This text will display across the top of the video window.


=============================================

File Size: 66k (increased due Font embedding)

Font Embedded: Arial Bold 16 - Uppercase, Lowercase, Numerals and Puntuation.
Language: English
Total number of glyphs: 114

[abramelin]

A demo can be very good, thanks. Also can we use this for only show youtube videos from youtube (without using our server resources)
Like with a bb code that show the youtube videos on this player without youtube commercials.

[syrus.xl]

Originally Posted by abramelin

A demo can be very good, thanks. Also can we use this for only show youtube videos from youtube (without using our server resources)
Like with a bb code that show the youtube videos on this player without youtube commercials.

In it's current state this wouldn't be possible. BB Code mods and Flash techniques don't mix well, and are prone to opening security holes to any forum.

But, on saying that there are ways around this issue, but not with this modification I'm afraid.

[Lionel]

I am currently using macromedia to create a swf (39k) that I upload as attachment and which stream the flv. With that technique, I am able to stream on demand from database.

Would love to see yours streaming from database instead of an xml.

[syrus.xl]

Originally Posted by Lionel

I am currently using macromedia to create a swf (39k) that I upload as attachment and which stream the flv. With that technique, I am able to stream on demand from database.

Would love to see yours streaming from database instead of an xml.

That will be released in the commercial version of this modification, this was mainly released as a teaser to the full integration version. I've already used the technique you're referring to with the XEON vbMp3 Player released last month, with multiple-playlists loading from the database via PHP. It's fully uses moderation, usergroup permissions and much more - still in beta stage while I fix a few 'bugs' and add multiple adding of track data.

My main aim is to create the system where mp3's, movies, 'live' Tv & Radio and possibly google, youtube working in a main console, but can be expanded to inline playing using plugins.

Getting there, gradually!

[lovelypk]

Great Addon.

[nexus851]

can u make it where wheres we can watch users uploaded media imstead of a preset that we make ourselves?

J

[Lionel]

Originally Posted by syrus.xl

I've already used the technique you're referring to with the XEON vbMp3 Player released last month, with multiple-playlists loading from the database via PHP. It's fully uses moderation, usergroup permissions and much more - still in beta stage while I fix a few 'bugs' and add multiple adding of track data.

I am using your mp3 player. I currently have thousands of mp3 on the site and this is taking a toll on server. I like your player as an alternative to stream external URL, without having to host them. Unfortunately, each 'channel' was limited to x amount of mp3.

Are you telling me that you have an unlimited database version?

[syrus.xl]

Originally Posted by nexus851

can u make it where wheres we can watch users uploaded media imstead of a preset that we make ourselves?


J

This feature is part of the commerical version - however, it does cause problems. Unless you have dedicated hosting, you will need to add a php.ini file to override normal PHP restrictions on uploading (normally set at 2Mb). Some hosts allow clients to override this restriction, while others don't.

We've added it to the commercial version, along with many other features. I will add the list of differences between this version and the commercial version, too many to list in a single post that will probably get lost...lol