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bryht
03-09-2004, 03:15 PM
From : http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=339

Bryht Flash Player v2.0
March 4, 2004
Review by: Darren Garyson, Contributing Editor

INTRODUCTION
It wasn't long after I owned my Pocket PC that I wanted to show off its multimedia capabilities. An easy way to do this is to show your friends a few Macromedia Flash movies. One of the biggest downsides is that the Flash files must be run within Pocket Internet Explorer, preventing you from viewing the movie in full-screen view, as was intended. Another problem is that often many Flash movies are designed to be viewed in landscape mode, but Pocket IE offers no method to rotate the screen. These deficiencies presented an opportunity for several developers to step in and offer stand-alone Flash players for the Pocket PC. Bryht is one of those companies, but what exactly is it that sets their Flash player apart from the others? For one thing, you get three programs for the price of one!



WHAT'S HOT
Bryht Flash Player is actually three different, yet related, programs. It includes: Flash Player, which offers both full-screen (240x320) and landscape (320x240) playback of Flash movies; "PowerPoint To Flash," a desktop application that does just what it says; and "Flash Search," a desktop tool to search your browser's cache for Flash movies.

SETUP
Setup of Bryht Flash Player is quite simple, although you do need to have the "Macromedia Flash Player for Pocket PC" already installed. It is not included with the Bryth installer, but a link is provided on the Download page. The installer will place Bryht Flash Player on your Pocket PC and will also install both the "Flash Search" & "PowerPoint to Flash" programs on your local PC.

PRODUCT FEATURES


Let's take a look at each of the programs you receive when you install Bryht Flash Player:

Desktop Program: Flash Search

The first thing you will probably want to do is to obtain a few flash files. One way to do this is to search Google.com for the term "SWF" and download a few results. Another much easier way, is to use the included "Flash Search" tool. First, visit a few web sites that you know will have Flash files you want to view on your Pocket PC (Shockwave.com is a good place to begin). Then, upon opening "Flash Search," the program will scan your browser's cache and local folder for the presence of *.swf files (these are the Flash movies that play in your browser). You may also add any folder of your choice to the file viewer. Then, you will then be presented with a list of files that are now on your local PC.



Any of these files may be selected and previewed with the included Preview tool. Simply click the file and then click "Play."



Previewing a Flash movie in Bryht Flash Search

After you've found a file you want to play on the Pocket PC, select "Copy" then open your Pocket PC My Documents folder (or your location of preference) and paste it there. You are now ready to use the Bryht Flash Player for the Pocket PC.

Pocket PC Program: Bryht Flash Player

Once you have the player installed on your Pocket PC, operation is no more difficult than using Media Player. Bryht Flash Player's onscreen controls include: Play, Stop, Previous, Next, Rotate, volume and Open File. The Previous (|<) and Next (>|) buttons will cycle through all the available Flash movies on your device.



You begin by selecting the Open File Dialog from the File Menu, or using the open file icon.


The next screen will present you with a list of all available Flash movies on your device.



Once your movie is selected it appears on-screen and is ready for playing.


Due to the various ways Flash files are created, some may begin playing before you select the "Play" button.



Flash Movie Portrait View.



Flash Movie Landscape View.

At this point you can click the "Action" button on your Pocket PC to rotate the movie to full-screen Landscape view. To return to the Bryht Flash Player main screen, you need only click the "Action" button again. By clicking the "View" menu option, you can also choose to view your Flash movie in full-screen Portrait mode. When in full-screen view, I expected to be able to tap the screen to restore the player to the windowed view (as you can in Media Player) but that does not work. Due to the interactivity of many Flash movies, screen taps are needed for feedback. So the only way back is to use the "Action" button. It took a while to get used to this, but you eventually get used to it.



Key Mapping Dialog.

If the Flash file you are using requires more control, you can use the "Button Options" dialog to map your device's buttons. However, the program disables any Globally mapped buttons, which made taking screenshots rather difficult. I tried removing a mapping within Key Mapping screen, and while it did "un-map" the button, it did not restore the Global mapping I had set up outside of Bryht Flash Player. By the way, remapping of the "Action" button is not a choice, most likely to prevent the user from getting stuck in full-screen view with no way back.



Select Skin Dialog.

An option is included for selecting "Skins" and Bryht ships two with the installation. For those that are interested in creating their own "Skins," the Bryht website includes very detailed instructions on how to do so.



Another very nice feature is the ability to adjust the Flash movie within the player. Some movies may looks a little off-center when you are play them.



To make center, you can simply use your directional pad to shift the movie in the proper direction.


Again, due to the variances in the creation of Flash movies, it may be necessary to make adjustments during playback. Bryht Flash player gives you several viewing options. In the windowed view, you can select the "Zoom" option for a pop-up of choices. All of these options let you zoom in to the Flash movie, but none let you Zoom out past 100%. There were several movies that I would like to have been able to reduce to 75% or more, but that was not an option.



During full-screen playback you can bring up an additional dialog box of options. Here you can disable looping of the movie, navigate, set quality and Zoom. Unfortunately, the in full-screen mode the "Zoom" option does not give any choices on how much to zoom. You can either Zoom In or Zoom Out. However it should be noted that these options are limitations of Macromedia Flash, and not Bryht Flash Player. Still, it would be nice to have more Zoom control. While all of the files I tested played properly, there may be some Flash movies that are just too resource intensive to play properly on the Pocket PC.



One useful function is the Play List. This option is present on the main "File" menu, and when selected brings you to a blank page.



From here, things get a little confusing. Simply put, I didn't know what to do here. The icons are not intuitive, and the documentation provides no information on using the Play List function. After poking around though, I figured it out. The dark folder icon with the star (left-hand screenshot above) creates a new Play List.



The next window shows you all the Flash movies on your device and gives you the option to name your Play List. From here, you can begin using the arrow keys to move the files up or down, the "X" to remove them from the list (but not your device), or add files via the icon of the folder with the arrow.



Once you have it the way you like, press the "Play" arrow to begin the show. Every flash file will play through. One drawback is if you have flash movies that are interactive (such as needing a screen click to operate), they will play for about a second and move to the next in the list.

Desktop Program: PowerPoint To Flash

Another tool that Bryht provides is a "PowerPoint to Flash" converter. Like the "Flash Search" tool, this is a desktop application that ships with the installer.



After opening the program, all you need to do is navigate to your PowerPoint file (*.ppt) and select it.



In the next window (above, right) you set your destination directory, height and width and quality and click "Start" to begin the conversion. The process is very speedy, but could vary depending on the size of your presentation.



Once the file has been converted, you can preview it in a pop-up window with the built-in player, or copy it to your device. While this is a neat tool, it has a few problems. For one thing, there are no stops in your Flash version of the PowerPoint presentation. That means, when you play it, all the slides play one after another, with no pause in-between. I can't see much benefit for a PowerPoint presentation that won't pause between slides. Of course, you can use the Play/Pause button between slides, but you'd have to be mighty fast. The other problem is that any animation on the slides is not preserved. In other words, each slide is a still image with no motion. Any media files you had imbedded in your PowerPoint will not be present in the resulting Flash movie - they will only be represented by their icon, but won't actually play.

If you were using PowerPoint to create image slideshows, and wanted that in Flash, then it might be just what you need. But as it is, I can't see much benefit from this tool.

HELP SUPPORT
I was very glad to see that Bryht included Help files with this program. The Help files come in the form of HTML and are not very detailed, but thankfully the Flash Player is very easy to use. With all my reviews, I try to ask tech support at least one question to see how long it takes to get a response. My question was answered quickly and politely and was very helpful in providing a solution.

Technical Support is free for all users, and is available via email. There is not an online support forum and no web form to submit issues.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Available for Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003. No storage space requirements were stated, but on my device it appears to only take up about 630 KB of space. Requires that Macromedia Flash Player be installed on your device.

BUGS AND WISHES
The Play list function is not included in the documentation. More information should be provided on this feature, as it was not very intuitive. I'd like to see more options for the PowerPoint To Flash tool, such as a pause between slides. At one point while trying to view the HTML Help file, Pocket IE was launched and locked up my device. I was forced to perform a soft reset and wound up using another browser to view the file. I'd also like to see a user Forum set up on their site to facilitate sharing of custom "Skins" and pointing out interesting Flash movies.

PURCHASING
Bryht Flash Player is $14.95 and is available from several online vendors including Handango and PocketGear. A full list of vendors can be viewed here. For more information on Bryht Flash Player, please visit the Bryht website.

PROS

Full-screen landscape view
Full-screen portrait view
Flash Search tool to find and save Flash movies
Gives the user greater control of Flash movies than Pocket IE
Fast, friendly support
CONS

No ability to zoom out
Play List function not intuitive
PowerPoint to Flash does not place stops between slides
OVERALL IMPRESSION
Simply put, Bryht Flash Player is the best way to view Flash movies on the Pocket PC. The ability to view Flash movies outside of Pocket Internet Explorer gives Flash files new life on the Pocket PC. Not only can you view the Flash movies in full-screen, but you can also rotate them and see them in Landscape view. This gives you a larger viewing area, and greatly enhances the "Wow" factor when showing off the abilities of your Pocket PC. While there are other Flash players on the market, I've not seen any that give you the options and control that Bryht offers (and did I mention Landscape view?). Plus, the fact that Bryht provided two desktop programs makes for a nice added value. If you've ever wanted to take Flash movies on the go, then don't leave home without Bryht Flash Player.

x999x
03-09-2004, 07:56 PM
I use this program for showing my clients work samples from my portfolio site which was created in flash. This makes for easy conversation at the bargaining table as I pass my device around and the movers and shakers tap through my samples.

I quite like that delivery method "on the spot", and it's the reason I opted to give this program a try.

Now I've only got an iPAQ 1945, and it's not the fastest PPC on the block, so I do encounter about a one second delay on all my clicks while viewing fullscreen flash movies, and depending on how complex your flash movie is, the playback will continue to slowdown even more once user input comes into play like in games.

I would only recommend this program to those who can build their own flash movies to match the power of a PPC and build to suit. This is where Brhyt Flash Player truly shines, the fullscreen capability gives the illusion of running a full fledged Application, and given Flash's scripting capability, that's exactly what you can do. For Flash users, consider Bryht's player as a "projector" that should give you a better idea of what it does.

If all you're looking to do is view large flash movies which wouldn't otherwise fit on your screen, there's always Nydiot's Virtual Display.