How 'bout Flash 7 on your PSP?!

Posted Apr 26th 2006 7:11PM by David Robinson
Filed under: Innovation, Releases, Web Standards, Flash Platform

So, yesterday's news was about the PSP firmware update that included Flash Player 6. But that is only Flash 6. If you want to play Flash 7 content on your PSP, you're going to have to resort to alternate methods. Oregan Networks announced on 12 April the "imminent availability of its latest technology building block enabling rendering of Macromedia® Flash® 7.0 content on non-PC entertainment devices." Later, in the press release, they specifically mention optimization for the PSP. So what does this get you? Try:

• Flash 7.0 content rendering
• ActionScript 2.0 support
• JavaScript to ActionScript control API
• Highly optimised integer-based code for maximum performance on embedded platforms

All at a footprint of 500kb! Well, sounds promising, but I wonder what exactly the schedule is for "imminent availability," and I wonder how this all sits with Sony who has kept the PSP OS close to their chest. How important to you is Player 7 on your PSP?

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. Is it a Flash Lite implimentation?

Posted at 8:19PM on Apr 26th 2006 by Chris Charlton

2. Hi -

Actually, ActionScript 2.0 is really ActionScript 1.0 under the hood so it is inherently backward compatible to Flash Player 6. So, you should be able to use AS2 in your Flash Player 6 applications.

Thanks,
MD

Posted at 9:09PM on Apr 26th 2006 by Mike Downey

3. I had difficulty posting here earlier today, maybe this will take... I have not been able to determine which SWF features the Oregan media engine supports, or how it handles the range of content in the world today. All I've found are press releases. Have you had better luck?

(And for what it's worth, the actual Adobe Flash Player which Sony has distributed to all their PSP customers is definitely working in a constrained memory environment, and will likely not be able to render the range of WWW content available today... I'm actively seeking ways to limit damage on this... do you have ideas? Tx.)

jd/adobe

Posted at 1:01PM on Apr 27th 2006 by John Dowdell

4. JD exponds on this more at his site:
http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd/archives/2006/04/psp_speculation.cfm

Posted at 5:02PM on Apr 27th 2006 by Mike Schleifstein

5. Some of this goes to the confusion surrounding the various flavors of the Flash player out there. It was one of the things I was trying to bring out in this post yesterday, but more from a developer's standpoint:

http://www.flashinsider.com/2006/04/26/certify-what-or-the-many-faces-of-flash/

Getting developers to understand what the right tool is for the job at hand is important. Managing consumer expectation is obviously the next step in the process.

Posted at 6:37PM on Apr 27th 2006 by David Robinson

6. Also, John, you're right the Oregan press release is pretty slim on details. My gut reaction though is that any wrapper around the Flash player could only add overhead.

Posted at 6:39PM on Apr 27th 2006 by David Robinson

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