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Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

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Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#71

Post by Daiz »

codereflection wrote: post #26

This is interesting. Google still hasn't completely converted over to HTML5 video for YouTube. You've been able to opt in to the trial for years now ( http://www.youtube.com/html5 ). But it seems that more than half the videos I watch are still using the crappy old Flash player. Content wise, YouTube has way more content to convert to be able to take advantage of HTML5. I wonder if Netflix is having to convert video…

>I wonder if Netflix is having to convert video on the backend for this as well.

They won't. They're using H.264 video, which all major browsers can play in HTML5 tags now. Not so sure how they'd handle stuff like multiple audio tracks though - as far as I know they're bit of an issue now even if muxed with the video, and if you don't want to load extra audio tracks then you're pretty much out of luck since there's no decent way to play video and audio separately in sync with HTML5 at the moment (a combination of and isn't exactly that reliable for this).

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#72

Post by Daiz »

lloeki wrote: post #31
codereflection wrote: post #26

This is interesting. Google still hasn't completely converted over to HTML5 video for YouTube. You've been able to opt in to the trial for years now ( http://www.youtube.com/html5 ). But it seems that more than half the videos I watch are still using the crappy old Flash player. Content wise, YouTube has way more content to convert to be able to take advantage of HTML5. I wonder if Netflix is having to convert video…

> But it seems that more than half the videos I watch are still using the crappy old Flash player. That's because of the ads. With things like ClickToFlash or youtube-dl, you notice that most videos are actually available as MPEG4 and/or WebM.

The Flash player is playing the exact same H.264 video that you could get with the HTML5 player.

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#73

Post by Daiz »

ck2 wrote: post #62

This means netflix might finally come to the raspberry pi! Far more exciting than IE11

No, it won't. As far as compatibility goes, EME is even worse than something like Silverlight. This should be evident just from the fact that in order to use HTML5 Netflix, you either need a) IE11 on Windows 8.1 or b) an official Google Chromebook with Google-provided image and which hasn't been rooted. In comparison, even Silverlight has a pretty amazing track record as far as compatibility goes.

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#74

Post by Daiz »

tomphoolery wrote: post #25

Nice!! I've been holding out on downloading a new version of Silverlight because I heard this was just around the corner. Now I get to uninstall the last MS product on my machine!

>Now I get to uninstall the last MS product on my machine!

...Except you'd have to install Windows 8.1 and use IE11 in order to use the "wonderful" HTML5 Netflix with their proprietary DRM blob that has even less compatibility than Flash and Silverlight.

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#75

Post by Daiz »

isomorphic wrote: post #43
thezilch wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Continue to shift away" doesn't mean proprietary steps can't or shouldn't be taken nor does it mean there will never be proprietary parts behind the scenes. The API to these Extensions are trying to become stable and not proprietary [0]; do you have suggestions or time to contribute? If Netflix is made to simply talk to a ratified API, it is a big step forward from a non-standard API exposed by the likes of Silverli…

You are correct in asserting that the EME should become standardized, and that Netflix is participating in that process. I should not throw stones unless I'm willing to help. I admit to being conflicted about the philosophical need for such extensions--although I have no pragmatic objections. Netflix makes their coin by selling limited access to an artificially-restricted resource; the resource would probably not exi…

EME should most certainly NOT become standardized, as the future it will bring is even bleaker than the one we have with Flash and Silverlight as far DRM and compatibility goes. Instead of a few NPAPI-compatible solutions, we'll likely have dozens of proprietary DRM binary blobs that will have even less compatibility on average than Silverlight does at the moment.

This is not the kind of thing that we should be encouraging.

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#76

Post by codereflection »

Daiz wrote: post #72
lloeki wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But it seems that more than half the videos I watch are still using the crappy old Flash player. That's because of the ads. With things like ClickToFlash or youtube-dl, you notice that most videos are actually available as MPEG4 and/or WebM.

The Flash player is playing the exact same H.264 video that you could get with the HTML5 player.

Then why do they bring up the Flash player when I've opted in to the HTML5 preview?

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#77

Post by Daiz »

codereflection wrote: post #76
Daiz wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Flash player is playing the exact same H.264 video that you could get with the HTML5 player.

Then why do they bring up the Flash player when I've opted in to the HTML5 preview?

For ads (and DRM).

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#79

Post by jlgreco »

gizmo686 wrote: post #68
jlgreco wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is also no reason to think that these binary blobs will be built for platforms that the video providers have not given two shits about in the past. Anyone who is supporting this stuff because they think it will get them Netflix on a GNU/Linux desktop (not ChromeOS or Android) is crazy. That's not what this does, and they don't care about supporting us.

Isn't ChromeOS running on GNU/Linux?

ChromeOS runs on a Linux kernel, but the entire experience is very different from what you would normally expect from a Linux distro. I call the more recognizable distros "GNU/Linux" to differentiate.

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#80

Post by weavejester »

thezilch wrote: post #66
isomorphic wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are correct in asserting that the EME should become standardized, and that Netflix is participating in that process. I should not throw stones unless I'm willing to help. I admit to being conflicted about the philosophical need for such extensions--although I have no pragmatic objections. Netflix makes their coin by selling limited access to an artificially-restricted resource; the resource would probably not exi…

I think your feelings and assertions are valid, but I can't really blame Netflix here, which was my reaction, and I don't really think you meant to paint them in that light. I feel they are hamstrung between staying profitable and trying to court the dinosaurs that are content providers. It always strikes me as odd that it would appear the "internet crowd" would both like to abolish advertising (re: commercials) _and…

Why do you equate DRM with subscriptions? It's perfectly possible to have subscriptions to content without DRM.
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