Adobe announced in a press release today an update to its Flash Player multimedia player, now in beta testing, that will support higher quality audio and video than previous versions via standard H.264 video - used in cable boxes and high definition DVDs - and High Efficiency (HE-AAC) AAC audio.
The update, code-named Moviestar, is a likely welcomed step toward better performance by Flash Player, especially in the wake of Microsoft’s announcement earlier this year that its Silverlight technology would support high definition by using the VC-1 codec used by Windows Media.
Also supporting H.264 and High Efficiency AAC going forward are Adobe’s AIR rich Internet application runtime and Adobe Media Player, the company’s new desktop multimedia player.
The H.264 standard also is used by Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs, a number of set-top cable boxes and by Apple QuickTime. The use of H.264 enables hardware acceleration in most video cards.
Though Adobe’s support of higher definition video comes after Microsoft’s announcements, Adobe has been working on H.264 support before the company was even aware of Silverlight, doing research into codec support more than a year ago.
High Efficiency AAC, a standard audio technology developed by the creators of MP3, also will add to the increased quality of Flash Player media capabilities.
The reason for this is because even at a lower bit rate, it will bring better audio quality than the technology Flash Player currently uses. That frees up space for higher bit rate video and thus better quality there as well as in audio.
August 20th, 2008
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