Back in August of 2004, shortly after its release, we blogged about a problem we came across with SS4 not correctly writing much needed metadata to FLV files it generates. You can read the original post here. In the comments of that post, you will see that I received a response from their support department that the problem had been passed on to the techs and they were working on a solution, that would probably be available in a point release.
Well, I noticed today that 4.1 had been released (AFTER 8 MONTHS) and hurriedly downloaded it with much anticipation of being able to output valid, useful FLV files, without relying on other software. Their updates do not seem to come with a readme on what has been fixed, nor does the update site seem to supply such information. However, as this is a Flash centered program and that was one of the most obvious problems, I just assumed it was fixed. After some tests, my hopes were soon dashed against the rocks and I remembered that little saying about not ASSuming...
SSOOO, I sent another email off to support, asking what exactly was updated... Below is my original email and that returned from their support staff.
---------------My Original Mail to Support------------------------------
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 7:17 AM
To: Support@sorenson.com
Subject: Bug Report
First Name: Kris
Last Name: Honeycutt
Email: kris.honeycutt@solid-thinking.com
Operating System: Windows
Product: Sorenson Squeeze
Product Version: 4.0 (they haven’t updated their support form for 4.1 yet...)
Problem Description: I recently installed the 4.1 upgrade for Sorenson Squeeze for Flash MX (from version 4.0) and I am curious what was changed. I was hoping the issue with Squeeze 4.0 writing incorrect meta data to FLV files was resolved, however it still seems to be present. Please confirm.
---------------Support Response------------------------------
Kris,
That function was not added to Squeeze 4.1. I am told it may not be included until Squeeze 5 is released next year.
Andy Engberson
Technical Support
Sorenson Media
4393 South Riverboat Road Ste. 300
Salt Lake City, Utah 84123
---------------------------------------------------
To the support dept’s credit, Mr. Engerson's response time was excellent, however waiting 8 months for an update and STILL not having the problem fixed seems rather ridiculous to me, seeing as one of the products primary functions is to export FLV files....
If they wait long enough, I am not sure how many people will even care when the fix does finally come, considering Macromedia's licensing deal with On2 for using their video technology in future versions of Flash...
Perhaps this is commonly known and I missed the memo, but thought I would post to see if anyone had more information.
I was working with some PDF docs today from which I needed to extract vector logo data to use in a Flash project. When I attempted to open the file in Illustrator, I was confronted with the Password entry panel. Not having the pass, I thought I should try a few more apps and continued to fail in importing or opening in Acrobat, Freehand and Photoshop.
As a last ditch effort, I thought I would try to import directly into Flash. Much to my surprise, I was able to import each page of the document, fully layered and editable….
Perhaps the PDF docs were old and using 24-bit encryption (unlike the newer 128-bit) but regardless, I would think Adobe would not be pleased...
Can anyone out there enlighten me on this?