Richapps

RichFLV – Apollo FLV Editing Tool

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RichFlv can:

  • Read flv Metadata
  • read/edit/modify/delete cuepoints
  • cut flvs
  • convert the sound of the flv to mp3
  • convert flv to swf

The API i developed for RichFLV implements most of the FLV file specificaton and some parts of the SWF file specification in Actionscript.
It`s all done with pure Actionscript (Byte Array Baby!) so no external tools are used. The cool thing is that the only thing that depends on the apollo framework is the part were RichFlv actually saves the files to your desktop (FileStream.writeBytes()). The same could be done as a none apollo app in the browser and than send to the server. Imagine this as an extension to popular video sites. It would enable real flv remixing in the clients browser!

RichFlv is currently an alpha release so expect some limitations and bugs. Current known issues are:

  • All flvs will be saved with a framerate of 25/s
  • Exported SWF will only contain the Video information (no audio)
  • Cuepoint Timeline does not scale properly if application is resized
  • overall handling and accuracy needs improvements
  • I would not use files bigger than 30 mb.
  • …

These problems will be corrected until RichFlv reaches 1.0 status.
Future versions will have the ability to mix several flv together to one file. I have this all ready but need more time on the UI.

Download RichFLV Alpha 1

Updated to Alpha 2.0: See post here.


!!! New Version Available See This Post !!!

Watch a quick introduction Video here.

(Again it`s an alpha release – use on your own risk)
Here are some Screenshots:

Cue Point Editor

CuePoint Timeline

Cutting Slider

I`m always interested in your comments, bugs and suggestions. Post them here or write directly to: info@richapps.de

Comments

147 responses to “RichFLV – Apollo FLV Editing Tool”

  1. aSH Avatar
    aSH

    sweet!

    Great work

  2. Erik Avatar
    Erik

    Nice work! If you’d release the FLV functionality as an open source library that’d be even cooler!

  3. Florian Avatar
    Florian

    Hi,
    great work, I’m looking forward to use this tool!

    There seems to be a problem on Mac OS X. Just after pressing “Open”, the Application quits.

    Greetings Florian

  4. aSH Avatar
    aSH

    Welcome to ActionScript Hero Adventures!
    http://www.actionscripthero.com/adventures/viewforum.php?f=84

    aSH
    Adobe Community Expert

  5. William from Lagos Avatar
    William from Lagos

    Very nice. Please, please I really want to dig into using Byte Array and Sockets. Could you send me concrete resources and tutorials I could use to learn.

  6. george stefanopolis Avatar
    george stefanopolis

    Wow great work. How did you get your hands on the codec information? Does it work with both on2 and sorenson?

  7. argv Avatar
    argv

    Hey,

    how did you get it to show n windowsFileDialog, when you click at the open button in the menu. is that filedialog pur actionScript from the apollo api. i know there are so classes and controls for fileopendialogs but nothing which looks like this filenOpenDialog…great work

    ArgV

  8. Administrator Avatar
    Administrator

    Thanx for all the kind comments!
    @Erik:
    I will consider releasing the whole thing as open source. But not now.
    @Florian:
    Thanks for the bug report. Does that happen when you selected a file or even before the dialog appears?
    @aSH
    Thanx! That`s a real honor for me.
    @William:
    I plan some tutorials in the future. It all depends if i find the time 😉
    @George:
    I do not touch the actual codec stuff. That`s one advantage i think because the app does not need to reencode the flv. The specification for the FLV file format can be downloaded at adobe. I just analyse the video frames in the flv. The raw video data will not be changed.
    argv:
    No it`s the standard file dialog.

  9. Oscar Trelles Avatar
    Oscar Trelles

    Looks promising! great work.

    One small thing I found: if you try to open a non-FLV file, the application stops working. The error is not being handled, so you have to close the app and start it again.

  10. argv Avatar
    argv

    where or how can i find this standard file dialog…or how did you implemented it?

    merci

  11. Florian Avatar
    Florian

    (Mac OS X Bug:) It happens even before the dialog appears. Right after clicking “open”.

  12. Alex MacCaw Avatar
    Alex MacCaw

    argv:
    There’s nothing special about that dialog, it doesn’t even need apollo, it pops up when you do FileReference.browse()
    Administrator:
    Great job, looks amazing. Is it possible we could talk regarding integrating RichFLV into a project I’m working on.

  13. pascal Avatar
    pascal

    wow,
    path-breaking stuff.

    congratulation

  14. inspirit Avatar
    inspirit

    hey!
    i found one more bug. if you try to open huge FLV file – 400-500 Mb. it hangs than get back but didnt open the file. also it is starting eating all the computer resources… actually no window shows that it is working on smth. just nothiong at all… 🙁

  15. Iver Davidson Avatar
    Iver Davidson

    A great tool. Thanks!

    A question: Would it be possible to add the capability of adding keyframes to existing FLVs? I ask because some FLVs generated by FCS (specifically for Adobe Connect) don’t contain ANY keyframes (they’re designed for streaming from FCS) so that they can’t be scrubbed offline.

  16. CP Avatar
    CP

    I keep getting the same error when trying to import a simple file (1MB).

    TypeError: Error #1010: A term is undefined and has no properties.

    Any idea on why this might be happening?

  17. Administrator Avatar
    Administrator

    CP can you send me this flv file?
    So i can try to find out what`s happening.

  18. James Avatar
    James

    At the risk of sounding incredibly stupid…how do I run it?

  19. James Avatar
    James

    Ignore the previous post, I got it to work. Problem is, none of my FLVs work. :/

    I get the following error message:
    Error: Error #2030: End of file was encountered.
    at flash.utils::ByteArray/readObject()
    at de.benz.dataFormat.flv.tags::MetadataTag/decode()
    at de.benz.dataFormat.flv::FLVReader/::analyseTag()
    at de.benz.dataFormat.flv::FLVReader$iinit()
    at RichFlv/::doVideoOpen()
    at Function/http://adobe.com/AS3/2006/builtin::apply()
    at ()
    at flash.utils::SetIntervalTimer/flash.utils:SetIntervalTimer::onTimer()[C:\Documents and Settings\acrorel\Local Settings\Temp\aslibc-26332\SetIntervalTimer.as:32]
    at flash.utils::Timer/flash.utils:Timer::_timerDispatch()
    at flash.utils::Timer/flash.utils:Timer::tick()[C:\Documents and Settings\acrorel\Local Settings\Temp\aslibc-26332\Timer.as:158]

  20. Administrator Avatar
    Administrator

    James could you send or upload one of your flvs that`s not working? I would like to find out what`s going on. Thanks. Benjamin

  21. James Avatar
    James

    Uh…not easily. I have dial up, and upload videos with dial up is a sorta no-go area.

    Basically I went on YouTube (or similar video websites) and downloaded some of the videos using the VideoDownloader extension for Firefox. I’ve tried the FLVs with other FLV players and they all work, just your has all the good features. 🙂

    Example:
    YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2kJZOfq7zk
    Download link that VideoDownloader gives me: http://youtube.com/get_video?video_id=D2kJZOfq7zk&t=OEgsToPDskJQnDpVlKWmTLLHYll1eimZ&sk=y6uaBQDsCwpxDB64juPIhQR
    You just have to rename is Urban Ninja.flv or whatever you want.

    Hope that helps. 😀

  22. Administrator Avatar
    Administrator

    Hi James,
    thanks for pointing me to that! I could reproduce the problem. I will try to look into it over the weekend and let you know.
    Benz

  23. James Avatar
    James

    Cheers Ben, glad to know there are devs that actually care about there customers (especially taking in mind that RichFLV is free :D).

  24. James Avatar
    James

    Well, just downloaded a vid from MetaCafe using VideoDownloader and that worked fine.
    Link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/409189/push_up_variation_workout/

    So basically, it’s not VideoDownloader downloading duff FLVs. 🙂

  25. jf Avatar
    jf

    This looks like a fantastic little program – I can’t find anything that does what you’re trying to do even if I pay for it!!!

    I’m making FLVs for educational screencasts and would like the ability to be able to cut up or splice together many FLVs to make them more appropriate for each class that I teach.

    This tool (once the sound and multiple flvs is finished) will be absolutely perfect.

    Thanks for the hard work.

  26. Administrator Avatar
    Administrator

    @James:
    fixed see here: http://www.richapps.de/?p=52

  27. James Avatar
    James

    Cheers 🙂

    I know this is slightly nooby, but what do keyframes and cuepoints do?

    Also, can you edit FLVs (like crop them)?

  28. Sunny Avatar
    Sunny

    This might be a very basic question.
    I downloaded the zip file on to my machine , I am not able to find any application to run , How do I get to the UI ?
    Thanks

  29. Administrator Avatar
    Administrator

    You need the apollo runtime. You can get it here: http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/apolloruntime.html
    BTW. It should be an air file not a zip. If you have the runtime installed just double click the air and it should run.

  30. Igor Botani Gonçalves Avatar
    Igor Botani Gonçalves

    Hi!This program is great!
    But, I try to open a FLV file I have here, and got this error:

    An ActionScript error has occurred:
    TypeError: Error #1010: A term is undefined and has no properties.
    at RichFlv/::doVideoOpen()
    at Function/http://adobe.com/AS3/2006/builtin::apply()
    at ()
    at flash.utils::SetIntervalTimer/flash.utils:SetIntervalTimer::onTimer()[C:\Documents and Settings\acrorel\Local Settings\Temp\aslibc-26332\SetIntervalTimer.as:32]
    at flash.utils::Timer/flash.utils:Timer::_timerDispatch()
    at flash.utils::Timer/flash.utils:Timer::tick()[C:\Documents and Settings\acrorel\Local Settings\Temp\aslibc-26332\Timer.as:158]

  31. Administrator Avatar
    Administrator

    Hi Igor,
    have you tried the updated air file:
    http://www.richapps.de/?p=52

  32. Joseph FitzGerald Avatar
    Joseph FitzGerald

    I have a customer that needs the type of functionality that this tool provides…rather than rebuild it, I would like to discuss potentially licensing it and/or working with you on a consulting basis to incorporate this into the system they need.

    Please contact me if you would like to discuss the opportunity further. Thanks for your time.

  33. MacUser Avatar
    MacUser

    Can I use this application to create an thumbnail image or does anyone know of one I can use or the best way to create a thumbmail from an flv file. Mac user

  34. Lou Avatar
    Lou

    Very, very nice. I’d pay serious $$ for this app if it could edit the metadata, as well! (I guess you could consider that a feature request for a future release.)

  35. Administrator Avatar
    Administrator

    @Lou will be in a next release. It`s already implemented but not in the interface.

  36. Administrator Avatar
    Administrator

    @Lou: How would you want to edit the Metadata?
    What kind of Metadata would you add?

  37. Brandon Avatar
    Brandon

    I am having a hard time getting this to work. I downloaded the “Apollo Runtime” but do not see a AIR file within your RichFLV_alpha2.zip file. After unzipping this I get 3 imgages for the logo, mimietype, RichFlv.swf and META-INF Folder. Within the META-INF folder there is an AIR folder with application.xml and hash file. Am I missing something?

    Thanks!

  38. Daryl Avatar
    Daryl

    Hi All,
    I had the same isues as Brandon. I just renamed the ZIP file from:
    RichFLV_alpha2.zip to RichFLV_alpha2.air
    Then it installs as an application (after downloading the Apollo software from Adobe)

  39. uk Avatar
    uk

    Thank you for make this kind of soft!

  40. Flashman Avatar
    Flashman

    how did you get it to show n windowsFileDialog, when you click at the open button in the menu. is that filedialog pur actionScript from the apollo api. i know there are so classes and controls for fileopendialogs but nothing which looks like this filenOpenDialog…great work

  41. william kasel Avatar
    william kasel

    No offense, My first Language is German, so I like to think I am pretty open to cross-language difficulties… but, in the video he names the cut version …_cutted just wondering if this is a language barrier thing?

  42. Benjamin (Admin) Avatar
    Benjamin (Admin)

    Yup a language problem but should not cut down the functionality of the app 😉

  43. rowery Avatar
    rowery

    Basically I went on YouTube (or similar video websites) and downloaded some of the videos using the VideoDownloader extension for Firefox. I’ve tried the FLVs with other FLV players and they all work, just your has all the good features.

  44. Benjamin (Admin) Avatar
    Benjamin (Admin)

    @rowery: So do you have any problem playing those files in RichFLV. Let me know i`m sure i can fix that.
    Benz

  45. Sd card Avatar
    Sd card

    It’s very good article. Great site with very good look and perfect information.

  46. Odtwarzacze mp4 Avatar
    Odtwarzacze mp4

    It’s very good article.

  47. domeny Avatar
    domeny

    how did you get it to show n windowsFileDialog, when you click at the open button in the menu.

  48. Neo Avatar
    Neo

    It’s so cool!!

  49. Viktor Avatar
    Viktor

    Thank you for this Article but had also Problems to open FLV. Keep up the good Work.

  50. Pioneer Avatar
    Pioneer

    You need the apollo runtime. You can get it here: http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/apolloruntime.html
    BTW. It should be an air file not a zip. If you have the runtime installed just double click the air and it should run.

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