Ah yes, another fine question that I would like to answer almost right away from getting the email.
The question: Is it possible to create a podcast using FMS 2?
The answer:
Yes and no. You can't do it with anything Adobe has given out or is selling, it can't be done out of the box. Adobe did mention quite some time back they were going to release an application that allowed you to convert FLV to MP3 but unfortunately nothing has been released and no matter how many people ask about it, there is no response. We can probably just assume the idea got kicked to the curb..
So, what is the alternative? Well if you check out a post over on my good friend Stefan's site: http://www.flashcomguru.com/index.cfm/2006/5/26/flv2mp3, it looks like somebody has found a piece of software that will convert FLV files to MP3. It's windows only though.
I've yet to use it, so can't attest to how good/bad it may be, but supposedly it works :) Perhaps give that a shot if you need?
This one is a very good question and actually comes up quite often. I've seen it on forums and mailing lists. It gets answered but I guess people don't want to search. So it makes a good quick tutorial here on this site with all the rest of them :)
The question: Is it possible to insert or overwrite into the middle of an audio stream?
The answer:
Yes. You have to do this server side though.
The theory:
What you need to do is make a copy of the FLV up to the spot you want to insert your new piece in. Then you play the new piece and append it to the original. Then you take the remainder of the FLV and append it to the new FLV you are creating. This is really hokey and actually requires you take the complete time that both FLV files have. If you have a 5 minute FLV and you want to add in a short 20 second clip to the middle of it, this process will take 5 mins and 20 seconds.
So you take stream A, the original stream you want to add something into (all of this is server side)
oldStream = Stream.get("A");
Grab the piece you want to add in
smallClip = Stream.get("B");
Make a new stream to record into
newStream = Stream.get("newFile");
Make the new stream record the old file
newStream.play("oldFile");
newStream.record("record");
Then you need to monitor it with an interval of something short like every 100 milliseconds. When it reaches the time of whatever you want the new clip to go into then stop playing the old stream and put in the new one:
newStream.play(false);
newStream.play("smallClip");
** side note **
You can also at this point tell the server to stop recording too, and then use the append value in the record method to add onto the current FLV.
newStream.record(false)
newStream.play("smallClip");
newStream.record("append");
** end side note **
Watch the onStatus and see when it ends, you should get a "NetStream.Play.Stop" event, when you get that, then just play the other clip again, starting from the point where you finished off:
newStream.play("oldFile", 25); //25 is the seconds time you want the clip to start from.
When it finishes playing again then just stop recording and you should have a stream that has another stream in it. Delete the old one if you want I suppose.
So you can see it's a crappy tedious process, but yes, it can be done :)
Just went through a very bad experience with a certain developer in that I commissioned a certain piece out to him, he said he could do it and in the end didn't. It goes very basically:
"yes I can, give me a bit and I'll have something to you"
Me 2 weeks later: "How's things?"
Him: "Not so good, still working on it, give me just a bit more"
Me another week later: "Anything to see?"
Him: "Nope, it's not working out so well, but I will have something for you very soon"
Some more useless bantering and time wasting goes back and forth there. One week later I ask again and get a crap response of that it will take about 2 weeks... crap..
Unfortunately for me the project I need that piece for is coming to a close and that is missing. It's at this point where I really question the integrity of the person I "hired" for the piece I needed. What does it take to be a reliable person? How can you continue to tell a client that something isn't done and have no respect for their timeline?
It blows me away because I truly felt I could trust this person.. What do you base these things on? A hunch? feeling? instinct? pure and total facts? Outsourcing is a tough item, sometimes I wonder if it's better to keep somebody full time (we have that much work now) and be able to keep a sharper eye on them.. dunno though, would I want somebody that I had to keep an eye on all the time?
Ah.. crap. Well such is the way of business I suppose. Very good learning experience.
Even though the majority of the fixes are for the edge/origin configuration there are other fixes that are quite important. Most prominently in there is the fact that up until now server side connections to other apps were counting against the license.. Anyways, go get it there's lots of good fixes.
Link to the what's been updated page
In case you're wondering, this has been in response to some of the larger sites out there taking advantage of FMS. When the big boys find the bugs, Adobe listens :)
I had to laugh at this question when it came in.
The question: How do I stop that annoying sound that occurs when I make a connection to FMS?
The answer:
I'm assuming you mean the administration panel that came with FCS 1.0 and 1.5. Yes, I agree, that sound was very annoying. There isn't much you can do about that, I really recommend you upgrade to FMS2 and use the new administration panel. There are no sounds in that thing and it works so much better.
So, you have on choice really = Turn your speakers off. Which I fully realize is not realistic. Sorry, no solution at the moment. I think the source for that admin panel was somewhere, but I can't recall where at the moment. At least then you could open up the FLA and just delete the code where it tells the SWF to play a sound on connecting up to the server.
Just wanted to toss out a quick post to let all that are keeping track with our blog what is going on and why there are a lack of posts lately.
It's in one word.. BUSY!
Cripes, it's crazy how much FMS work is rolling in. It seems like everybody and their mom and their mom's dog is doing something with FMS. I know that a few other fellow FMS devs are really busy too and we always just sit back in amazement at the pure demand there is out there.
First up we finished up a really cool site for SignOnVRI. This site uses a very very custom Flash application for sign language translators to translate for the deaf that need translating for classes etc. We were very lucky to get this contract I think because it really showed how truly powerful FMS and Flash and a database is. No longer requiring remoting for server side stuff is really nice.. This site comes with a very advanced administration area that allows administrators to monitor who is translating for who and when and if there are open meetings, new clients etc etc. Being that it is all built on FMS, the updates to the admin area are live meaning there is no polling the database for new data! It just updates. Beautiful stuff, this has got to be one of only times I've really sat back and just felt amazed at what can be done.
I still feel like we are only scratching the surface though..
On a more fun note, we just finished up Cultus Lake Waterpark's site! If you don't know what park this is (if you live in the lower mainland or even on the west coast of North America, you probably do) I can explain :) It's B.C.'s #1 waterpark, and it now has B.C.'s #1 waterpark site! :D
Anyways, it was fun to make something like that. Nothing really exciting going on just yet, but we definitely see plans being put together for a phase 2 and in there will be some pretty cool video.
Not to even mention the other projects going on at the same time.. lots of fun going on here! Just need more time in one day..
To the Ask an FMS GURU people, thanks for the emails! I'll be replying as fast as I can after this post (I know of at least 2 that will go up today)