Integrating Flash Media Server and Adobe Connect

A couple of weeks ago, I posted an article on sharing YouTube content within an Adobe Connect meeting through a custom pod. Since then, I've received a number of e-mails/questions about sharing an external Flash Media Server (FMS) stream within a Connect meeting, so I thought I would address it here.

If you're looking to display an FMS stream (live or on-demand) in an Adobe Connect meetin groom, the good news is that there are already a number of custom pods that can help you with this requirement. I'll highlight the two that I'm most familiar with:

• Talking Stick from Refined Data: This is the most robust video-centric custom application available for Adobe Connect. In addition to subscribing to an FMS stream and displaying it in a meeting room, Talking Stick has an almost-ridiculous number of features (multi bit-rate streaming, HTTP/RTMP streams, watermarking, remote pan/zoom support for some cameras, etc. etc.). The downside for most people is that this is a commercial offering. Refined Data is pretty upfront about their pricing though, so if you decide to go this route, you'll know what you're getting into. 
   
  
• Flash Media Server to Adobe Connect custom pod from my colleague Nick Hippe. On his blog, Nick has posted a detailed article on how to use the pod, as well as setting up Flash Media Live Encoder to broadcast a live FMS stream. This custom pod will work for live and on-demand video streams, and is offered for free.

Note that in both instances, there may be issues with playback of custom pod content in recordings, meaning that instead of seeing your shiny, beautiful video, you may only see a blank pod. So, if you are planning to utilize either solution for higher quality video in Adobe Connect, and you need to record the meeting, I would suggest using a screen capture software like iShowU (Mac) or Camstudio (PC) to capture the playback of the live session. You can take the resulting MP4/AVI file, encode it into FLV and post it to your Adobe Connect content library for streaming playback. 

Have another solution to offer? If so, drop me a line!