YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#201

Post by anigbrowl » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 1:25 AM UTC

schoen wrote: post #114

shutupalready wrote: post #65

What joy it is to finally uninstall Flash. The last time I was this happy to uninstall crappy software was when I realized that I no longer needed RealPlayer. For those that don't know it, RealPlayer was a very popular proprietary media player (with its own proprietary formats) circa 2000. The company's stock was worth $380 a share in 2000; it's now worth $6. The only explanation for RealPlayer's popularity was its D…

Unfortunately (though it's considerably more compartmentalized and constrained than prior iterations), Google is trying to replace Flash with a DRM mechanism that also requires proprietary software. So while you might think that the advent of HTML5 video means you no longer need proprietary software to interoperate with the services that use it, Google and its partners are working to ensure that that's not true.

I don't care about DRM as long as it's lightweight and seamless. Streaming is one use case where its use is entirely justifiable if it operates transparently.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#202

Post by anigbrowl » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 1:27 AM UTC

jsprogrammer wrote: post #169

mark-r wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there will come a day when something they want to watch desperately will require it.

That day will never come[1]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_hole

That's not practical for video in most cases - dedicated pirates will find a way around it, but casual consumers won't bother. Duplicating HD or better video by analog means without significant quality sacrifices is much easier said than done.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#203

Post by Max_Mustermann » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 1:28 AM UTC

mhb wrote: post #124

koyote wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh my god I completely forgot about RealPlayer. Luckily there was an alternative, Real Alternative, that enabled you to play the content without having to install that ghastly RealPlayer. It seems like the community always finds a way around crappy software.

What's the community using instead of iTunes?

I use winamp, ample customization and plenty of plug-ins with good performance on my largish (~8k items) library.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#204

Post by yuhong » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 1:30 AM UTC

toddsiegel wrote: post #17

I've kept Flash around for the oddball site here and there that still requires it, but this week I decided to uninstall rather than patch it[1]. [1] - https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsa1...

It is funny how this came the same day Adobe patched Flash!

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#205

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 1:32 AM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #186

jsprogrammer wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That day will never come[1]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_hole

Nope, it will come aliright. You're just taking a black/white dichotomy. But they don't have to make it impossible - just inconvenient.

[deleted]

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#206

Post by yuhong » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 1:32 AM UTC

keyle wrote: post #194

digikata wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm finding that Chrome hit sort of a decline from a personal peak in that current versions seem to be pigs on resource constrained systems, and has started to move backwards in terms of UI friendlyness (e.g. frequent requests for login to google accounts, rollout of more difficult user profile switching). IIRC the integrated flash plugin in Chrome is proprietary and at times it seems to be at the root of hanging pro…

I've recently switched to Opera. It's ludicrous in my mind because it's Opera and I'm an older guy... history... but now it's webkit and it's essentially a polished version of webkit without the guest crapware of chrome. It has ublock too.

What is funny is there are users that prefer the old Opera (not based on Chromium) too.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#207

Post by aswanson » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 1:33 AM UTC

mhb wrote: post #124

koyote wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh my god I completely forgot about RealPlayer. Luckily there was an alternative, Real Alternative, that enabled you to play the content without having to install that ghastly RealPlayer. It seems like the community always finds a way around crappy software.

What's the community using instead of iTunes?

VLC media player.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#208

Post by adwf » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 1:42 AM UTC

bla2 wrote: post #198

JetSpiegel wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything. It's only distributed as a binary.

What does this reply even mean? Of course it's distributed as a binary -- should regular users compile it themselves? Advanced users can compile chromium if they want; from what I understand it's virtually identical to the chrome binary.

If the source code is not available and it's distributed as a binary, by definition it can't be open source. (Plus some might argue about OSS licensing too)

Chromium may be OSS, but Chrome is not.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#209

Post by giovannibajo1 » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 1:47 AM UTC

simcop2387 wrote: post #85

omaranto wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying that the Flash plugin bundled with Chrome is better than the Flash plugin you can install for Firefox? If so, do you have any idea why?

On linux it's because the NPAPI flash plugin hasn't been updated in a few years. It went Chrome/PPAPI a while back and firefox doesn't support it yet. I think it's supposed to get security fixes but performance issues are never going to get fixed in it.

Also, being on PPAPI means that it's fully sandboxed; add to that that google auto-updates it without nah screens and installer downloads, and you get a far higher level of security

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#210

Post by gilgoomesh » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 1:47 AM UTC

zanny wrote: post #175

> we can support multiple content protection technologies on different platforms with a single set of assets, making YouTube play faster and smoother. Man this line is hilarious. Your DRM to block users from keeping the videos you are sending them is not making the experience faster or smoother. Don't try to pass off user-hostile proprietary blobs restricting the data on their computer as anything but a terrible blow…

He's not being misleading. It's clear from the context of what Richard Leider was saying that "faster" in this scenario means "faster than the old YouTube + Adobe Flash" approach. His point of comparison isn't a totally DRM free scenario.