What are the best professional tools from Source to FLV ?

[mrslurpee]

I need to stream the highest quality FLV possible - 1-5Mbps bandwidth

Some of my sources are DVD or BluRay - We license the content and then stream it on our site.

I am using AVS and Xilisoft to RIP the content to H.264 or DivX - then using FFMPEG, FLVTOOL to convert to FLV

I don't mind paying for the best software to do this - I am currently looking at Sorenson Media but before I spend $800, I want to make sure the community agrees.

I want to stream 720p quality - my users generally have high speed/fibre connections

So - What is the best tool(s) to rip that into a great FLV ? When I look at some HD video content on Vimeo or QT content on Apple Trailers site, their quality is outstanding - I want that.

Thank you

[lordsmurf]

Coming from DVD/BD source, you need to properly pre-filter and convert properly to progressive video. "Properly" is the key here, it's not a checkbox in software. This is the stage that makes or breaks your streaming video quality. Video right off the DVD/BD is generally far too noisy for a good streaming compression.

Xilisoft is a piece of crap. AVS, too.
FFMPEG, FLVTool .... no.

For FLV, Adobe Flash Encoder.
For H.264, MainConcept Reference with the AVCHD Pro codec.

A big part of my daily professional workflow is streaming work. Depending on how many titles you have, it may be in your best interests to outsource such a project, especially if clients will be paying to view the content.

Encode time takes many hours, from disc to stream upload, even on quads or duals. Licensing several copies of the software won't come cheap, either.

Sorenson Squeeze is inferior to MainConcept Reference.