An embedded video on the Mr Methane website.
(tap/click to view picture full size)

I have this evening implemented a Flash based video player solution to the Mr Methane website.

Last week a re-skin was applied to the website, breathing new life into the highly popular entertainer's site.

Previously on the website, a series of video clips were available to download in Windows Media (WMV) format, and prior to that in Real Video format.

As part of an ongoing catalogue of improvements, I decided that an on-page video player, similar in style to the Youtube player we know and love, was the way forward.

I chose a Adobe Flash based solution, which plays files in the FLV (Flash Video) format.

Playing FLV files makes sure the player is both cross-platform and cross-browser compatible, provided Adobe Flash player is installed of course.

The player has many nice and advanced features, including Javascript interactivity and XML Playlists.

It was easy to integrate with the back-end site, which runs server-side in ASP.

To prevent any site slowdown issues due to video bandwidth, I chose to host the movie clip files on a sub-domain of the main site, which runs from a separate web server.

This is a widely accepted method of spreading load and bandwidth. You may have seen such measures in place on sites such as MySpace and eBay, which host the various aspects of their sites from different sub-domains, i.e. pics.myspace.com and search.ebay.co.uk

This can easily be done, although you may have to pay extra to host a sub-domain on your website, depending on your Web Hosting provision.

Please contact me for more information on on-page video playing, website hosting, or sub-domains.