HDTV quality Web video for the masses came a step closer today as Adobe announced the latest update for Adobe Flash Player 9 software, code-named Moviestar, which includes H.264 standard video support.

That's the same standard deployed in Blu-Ray®and HD-DVD high definition video players.

Other enhancements include High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) audio support, as well as hardware accelerated, multi-core enhanced full screen video playback.  

"Already a broadly adopted industry standard, the inclusion of the H.264 codec in Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR, the Creative Suite product line, and the upcoming Adobe Media Player will accelerate customer workflows, enabling the creation and repurpose of high-quality Web video content without extra development costs," said John Loiacono (pictured), senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe.

"Adobe is committed to providing a seamless creation-to-playback solution that allows creatives and developers to produce video and rich-media once, and then deploy that content across the widest array of distribution and playback environments," he added.

Adobe AIR is a cross-operating system application runtime that enables developers to use their existing skills to build and deploy rich Internet applications to the desktop., Loiacono added.

These advancements will extend Adobe's leadership position in Web video, he claimed, by enabling the delivery of HD television quality and premium audio content through the ubiquitous Adobe Flash Player and pave the way to expand rich media Flash experiences on the desktop and H.264 ready consumer devices.

The public beta version of the update to Adobe Flash Player 9 software, code-named Moviestar, which includes H.264 and HE-AAC functionality, will be available later today as a free download from Adobe Labs at http://labs.adobe.com. The final release is expected to be available via update in the Fall.

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