Putting FLV video on website - How to add a static image before it plays

Question

Hi,

I am trying to put an FLV video on a website.

I tried using Dreamweaver CS3 (Insert - Media - Flash Video), it works great except for 2 problems:

1. The video starts black (How do you show an image prior to playing the video?)

2. The browser starts downloading the whole movie even before the play button is clicked (I want the video to be downloaded only after the user clicks on Play)

Anyone has a solution for this? Thank you.

Answer 1

I don't know if Dreamweaver's FLV player supports this. However, you can use a different player such as JW FLV Media Player, which supports the features you ask for.

Answer 2

What the browser may or may not do with regards to precaching is not defined and thus cannot really be controlled. If you really think you know better than the browser, insert the tag using JavaScript after the video is supposed to start to load.

Given the behaviour you want, that's likely best. Put an <img/> tag in the page with an ID, then when you want to play the video, have javascript replace the <img/> with the <object></object>

Answer 3

maybe a simple javascript function would work best here, something like:

<div id="videodiv" style="width:300px; height:300px;"
      onclick="this.innerHTML='whatever HTML dreamweaver gives you'">
  <img src="yourimage">
</div>

Answer 4

In the properties area, simply click 'autoplay' and turn it off.

Answer 5

Video to Flash converter mac has the ability to add image/text and insert hyperlink to the beginning and end of the flash video.