Idaho Airships, Inc.

Adobe selected the On2 VP6 codec for inclusion in Flash CS3. Considering the quality of the Sorenson product that was displaced (its still included, but VP6 is default), expectations were very high-particularly with the advantages of AVM2 and the upcoming release of Flash Lite 3 promising so very much. Sorenson’s response ought to be just as invigorating-though they’ve picked up the On2 VP6 codec as well, in their Squeeze Compression Suite PowerPack.

I’m in the office today preparing 4 hours of forensic video and the end product is going to be in the VP6 format. It’s strictly a demonstrative exercise, and I’m not concerned at all about submitting the 700Kbps (720×480, 48Kbps mono audio) in the least. Think about that for just a moment…truly defensible, truly portable Demonstrative Evidence at size. We have two two-hour videos of vehicles maneuvering, but there are only 30 minutes of germane material total. Rather than encode each of the 2 hour clips in its entirety, I’m cutting 12 or so clips from each 2 hour scene and using Flash Buttons for the viewers to select specific clips to view. This strategy prevents encoding the entire 4 hours and using Cue Points to access the desired segments, which although moot in the streaming and progressive environments, makes for a large repository (much of which is impertinent). It also allows me to cut a Projector of the result to a single CD-a very tidy little closed universe indeed.

I don’t claim to fully understand the algorithms, quantizations, etc., but I’m capable of dynamic A/B’s and frame scrutiny within the context of various file sizes. Here’s an excellent comparison resource (we have no evident basis for any suspicion of prejudicial preparation) between On2 Flix, Squeeze 4.3, et. al. It’s visual only, but allows the selection of various codecs, frame sizes and framerates, detent of various encoding features and so on. On2 doesn’t necessarily win all the cookies-check closely for saturative issues in static, dominantly blue areas and contrast in dark greens…at least, in this comparison. Both codecs are stunning, but it is obvious that Adobe’s choice was prudent, particularly as they move toward more limited bandwidth applications (mobile devices).

Here is On2′s White Paper on VP6 for Flash 8. It’s a bit pedestrian-being oriented more toward promoting the product than in-depth explanations, but it is very useful for familiarization. The piece focuses particularly on deblocking advantages over MX (the…ummmm…previous Flash codec). Note that my observations about saturation are borne out in the .pdf/sRGB images within the document…not the ideal situation for comparing the frames, but certainly usable.

On2 refers to their codec’s intent as more preservative-that being the reason for apparent saturative differences. I’m not qualified to dissent, but it is also true that in the non-color managed world of Flash more saturation may be an advantage. On the other hand, there may be encoding and bandwidth advantages to the more modest saturation, and that too is a potent argument in our world of limited-bandwidth tradeoffs.

On2 has postured a very comprehensive answer for Flash’s future: Linux capabilities, Multi-Pass default, Alpha Channel capability, HD (1920×1080) capability, and all sorts of goodies hidden from the Flash IDE…the least of which is not that the codec is purely software, keeping improvements and upgrades simple.

Evidently V7 was just a bit too late to make it into CS3, but the SDK and free “Personal Edition” are available.

On2 Technical Library.

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