I really appreciate how easy Flash video has made doing in-browser video distribution. Look at the ways that sites like Google Video and CNET have integrated video without worrying about plugins and whatnot. However, creating the content is as painful as viewing it is easy. I’ve been using the On2 compression tools, which one would imagine would be quality (seeing as they created the codec) and I’m not sure I’ve ever dealt with a slower, more awkward application. Similarly, just trying to learn about the process for creating content is a maze of folks wanting to sell tutorials or player skins or assorted other things which don’t help me.

Also, I’m frankly unimpressed with the Flash8 codecs. There was such buzz about how the codecs were much improved and on par with the rest of the industry, but they’re just not. I did the same video with the same specs (resolution, bitrate, etc) with QT7’s H.264 and the difference is incredibly vivid.

I think this is motivating me to put together a little video codec shootout of my own. I appreciate what Doom9 has done in the past, but they’re primarily concerned with pirating DVDs, not delivering content on the web.

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