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Apple Special Event October 2013 Live Stream

apple.com

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Re: Apple Special Event October 2013 Live Stream

#11
post #2

Sorry if this is always brought up (i haven't seen an Apple stream since the iPhone 4 event), but we /still/ need Quicktime to stream this? What the hell?

Google wants their own protocol to succeed, Mozilla wants a different video codec to succeed[1], Microsoft probably wants to own both. It's very easy to cache HLS, which makes distributing high definition to a large number of people much cheaper. Is Apple supposed to spend more money on lower quality steaming just because their competitors don't want to play nicely?

VLC is capable of playing HLS if you can get it the correct URL. Some other browsers can play it, but the web has an unfortunately long history of browser detection.

[1 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=577084]

Re: Apple Special Event October 2013 Live Stream

#12
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've just spent this morning setting up an Apple HTTP Live Stream to other platforms with a flash player. It's not too difficult to do, so I assume the reason for not doing it is Apple's unwillingness to use 3rd party technology. In their defence, the technology is open, and the only reason Mozilla/Google etc aren't implementing support for HLS is that they are betting on their own technology instead of using HLS, wh…

> In their defence, the technology is open, and the only reason Mozilla/Google etc aren't implementing support for HLS... Android, for one example, does support http live streaming (since Honeycomb). Try it: Apple's own demonstration sample HLS stream[1] plays fine on Android. (I think VLC does too now, etc.) Of course, Android users are still blocked from this event, the page won't show you the stream unless it dete…

Does it work if you spoof your user agent? Just curious.

Re: Apple Special Event October 2013 Live Stream

#14
post #2

Sorry if this is always brought up (i haven't seen an Apple stream since the iPhone 4 event), but we /still/ need Quicktime to stream this? What the hell?

I presume they're using their HTTP Live Streaming (hack with chunked video for variable framerate). It's supported by VLC and a few other players, but not natively in browsers yet.

Re: Apple Special Event October 2013 Live Stream

#17
Ok so it's that time of the year again. I am on windows and have chrome, firefox, ie 11, VLC, flash. Is there any way for me to watch this stream? Heck will this work even if I get quicktime?

Edit:

* So they updated the page to say it will work for quicktime if you are on windows.

* But I am on win 8 and they use js to hide that part. So for now I am assuming it's because quicktime on it's download page only says it is supported upto win 7. So they must be hiding it for people with windows 8.

* I am downloading quicktime anyways and if regular install doesn't work then compatibility mode will almost certainly work for people with windows 8.

* Apart from that you might also need to spoof your UA to safari's. They only allow safari to load the stream. And safari is officially discontinued for windows. WTF apple.

And even then it's not guaranteed to work.

Edit 2: They seem to be showing a html5 video element for a spoofed chrome on windows with quicktime disabled. So maybe they decided to give up after all.

Re: Apple Special Event October 2013 Live Stream

#20
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In their defence, the technology is open, and the only reason Mozilla/Google etc aren't implementing support for HLS... Android, for one example, does support http live streaming (since Honeycomb). Try it: Apple's own demonstration sample HLS stream[1] plays fine on Android. (I think VLC does too now, etc.) Of course, Android users are still blocked from this event, the page won't show you the stream unless it dete…

Does it work if you spoof your user agent? Just curious.

Nope! http://i.imgur.com/kwxQTDc.png
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