Are there any license requirements for flash?

[Selur]

Does anyone know if there are any fees to be payed it one integrates flash video (vp6 encoded) into a personal or commercial homepage?

Is flash free of any royality fees?

Cu Selur

[sillKotscha]

you can create flash (-video) for free (royalty free) and you can play it for free (enormous free players around - one of them I have mentioned in the german doom9 news section and this one is licensed under a CC license)...

flash is just a standard for presenting / more or less just a nutshell... you should care about the codecs you've used and to stay on the safe side use ffmpeg and lame...

[Selur]

My question is aimed at vp6 encoded material.
I know that flash presentation doesn't cause any problem.

[sillKotscha]

Is flash free of any royality fees?

oh, then your question is somewhat misleading...

concerning vp6 - I'd say you have to pay codec licenses... but why you would like to use vp6 when ffmpeg is free?? nice quality at low bitrates, 2pass encoding - all the same for 0$ :)


EDIT:

just a thought without knowledge...

when you buy Macromedia Flash 8 Video Encoder it includes two codecs for video production... Sorenson Spark and on2's vp6...

as vp6 isn't mpeg4 (Duck TrueMotion?) and Spark is a h.263 derivation at least concerning mpeg fees you shouldn't pay any...

btw... isn't here a free (questionable, I know) vp6 codec floating around?...

[Selur]

VP6 comes from On2 and yes it's not MPEG based, but that doesn't mean there isn't someone you would have to pay. ;)

And yes, afaik ffmpeg uses the sorensons H.263 and I would prefer vp6, because afaik it gives a better quality/bitrate ratio. :)

I don't have a problem to buy a vp6/whatever encoder, so I don't have to stick with h.263. My problem is I don't know if there are any fees I have to pay for number of downloads/clips/... . :)

---

Some time back I collected some information about AVC, WMV and On2 old java applet (<- isn't available anymore :(), see: http://www.flaskmpeg.info/board/thread.php?threadid=5217 (page is in german but the infos regarding the license fees are english)

btw. same question goes for real media content:

Is it enough to buy a encoder for real/vp6 content if you use it in a commercial context or do you have to pay some fees like for the stuff regulated by mpegla ?

Cu Selur

Ps.: Sorry, if my question was misleading. I was kind of surprised that I didn't find a page via google that compares the main video for web solutions and it's cost. So I thought Doom9s Forum might be a good place to ask. ;)

Pss.: btw... isn't here a free (questionable, I know) vp6 codec floating around?..I think you are refering to this: http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=816575&postcount=134. (which is about an open source decoder ;))

[sillKotscha]

VP6 comes from On2 and yes it's not MPEG based, but that doesn't mean there isn't someone you would have to pay. ;)

And yes, afaik ffmpeg uses the sorensons H.263 and I would prefer vp6, because afaik it gives a better quality/bitrate ratio. :)

I don't have a problem to buy a vp6/whatever encoder, so I don't have to stick with h.263. My problem is I don't know if there are any fees I have to pay for number of downloads/clips/... . :)

AFAIk you only have to pay for the vp6 encoder (this should include licenses for whatever you're willing to do with it afterwards) thus you won't have to buy a separate license for distribution, etc...

I was trying to say that in my previous post ;)


btw, if you're willing to wait a bit longer...

http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2006-October/047055.html

[Selur]

Problem is, if I would use a free solution to create vp6 flash content the "(this should include licenses for whatever you're willing to do with it afterwards)" isn't covered at all. ;)

[sillKotscha]

these are two separate things...

you're willing to buy the vp6 encoder for better flash (-video) content... fine, and that's why I said go buy the encoder/ pay for it and all license issue are solved, even for downloading your content etc. -

on the other hand I've said... or you can wait and see IF it is possible to include the vp6 encoder into ffmpeg - they are still somewhat working on it - ... if that is the case then you can of course create vp6 for free but probably won't be allowed (?) to distribute your content without a proper license...

you see...

[Selur]

I understood you the first time, I just wanted to point out the part. :)

btw. posted a little question in the Flix-Forum, http://flixforums.com/showthread.php?p=818#post818 since it seems like one can't contact On2 Support unless you are a registered user,.. (strange behavior for a company from my point of view)

Cu Selur

[sillKotscha]

btw. posted a little question in the Flix-Forum, http://flixforums.com/showthread.php?p=818#post818

I don't understand your concern...

you've asked the same question already answered...

You only pay for encoding - the rest is free.

t_h_a_t m_e_a_n_s if you buy Flix Pro including vp6 you have everything you need to distribute your content without further licence fees... :)

[Selur]

You see the difference between you vagely telling me that and an info from the official support board?

Any way thanks for the interest in the matter.

Cu Selur

[sillKotscha]

You see the difference between you vagely telling me that and an info from the official support board?

I know but I wouldn't have told you if I wouldn't know that for sure... at least here on that board ;)

on top... you now have an official (exact the same) answer :)