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YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

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Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#331

Post by walterbell »

bzbarsky wrote: post #252
pippy wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're referring to Encrypted Media Extensions it's not a DRM mechanism that requires proprietary software. It's a specification for a communication channel between a browser and Digital Rights Management agent software on the local machine. While it's not ideal, it's just some javascript functions that interact with the DRM on the computer. The DRM software itself is completely optional. It's much better than hav…

Sorry, but there's an important distinction between what you said and what EME is. EME is a spec for a communication channel between script in a web page and a browser, with the idea that the browser then talks to a DRM module. It's not a spec for a communication channel between the browser and a DRM module. This is important, because it means that you end up with DRM modules that are tied to a particular browser. Th…

Is there any current or proposed implementation that can support W3C SMIL in the browser? A decade ago, RealPlayer was able to seamlessly edit video excerpts (defined by start::stop intervals) into a single video stream. The excerpts could have originated from different servers.

Will the new DRM formats support this use case? E.g. if I'm a paying Netflix subscriber, could I view a dynamically defined (XML or JSON) mashup of Buffy and Twilight, using only a list of start/stop edit points? The HTML5 viewer would need to pre-buffer each video clip, to make the viewed stream seamless.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#332

Post by ccozan »

72deluxe wrote: post #318
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 was the RealPlayer they introduced for Linux called again? Gold something or other? I have a vague memory about that, as I installed it (RedHat 7.0??) and then realised I didn't actually need it as I didn't watch any RM content.

I think it was Helix Player? My memory is also not clear.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#333

Post by p0nce »

Numerous observers have shown that H.265 is better than VP9 on the quality/efficiency curve. But Google does not like to pay for real research and prefer to found alternative "free" copy-pasta codecs it controls.

http://iphome.hhi.de/marpe/download/Performance_HEVC_VP9_X26...

http://fr.slideshare.net/touradj_ebrahimi/spie2014-hev-cvsvp...

edit: facts will get you downvoted on HN. Nice.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#334

Post by thenomad »

marvin wrote: post #314
shenoyroopesh wrote: post #294

Wait - so youtube is behind the porn industry by only 4.5 years? http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/flash_takes_a_blow_as...

This actually makes sense; the porn industry has much higher earnings per user and hence a much greater loss due to lower conversion for those who don't have Flash installed. So for them, it's a "my hair is on fire" kind of thing. Whereas for Youtube et al., it's a nice-to-have.

Plus, much smaller, more nimble companies, and a very very competitive market space.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#335

Post by 72deluxe »

ccozan wrote: post #332
72deluxe wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was the RealPlayer they introduced for Linux called again? Gold something or other? I have a vague memory about that, as I installed it (RedHat 7.0??) and then realised I didn't actually need it as I didn't watch any RM content.

I think it was Helix Player? My memory is also not clear.

Ahh that's the one! Thanks! I really don't miss that, although it did feature curved edges to the window. Shaped windows were all the rage at one point but thankfully we've all gone back to Rectangle Land.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#338

Post by realusername »

mark-r wrote: post #165
jsprogrammer wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would users switch to this as yet non-existent proprietary DRM mechanism when free and open source solutions already exist and are widely used?

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

It will be the same problem as with current DRM techniques. It works now because it's still not fragmented yet. You will have your content available with your computer with particular updates and browser versions and for some reasons, it will never work with some combination of hardware + OS + driver + browser + country (especially with phones) and the result is people are going to pirate it anyway because it just works all the time, as always.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#339

Post by maxerickson »

Houshalter wrote: post #323

I have flash set to "click to play" so flash videos only load when I click on them. I dislike the HTML5 because it means videos always autoplay. I hate autoplaying video.

It might be a step backwards at the moment, but it's pretty much a sure thing that browsers (or at least extensions) will have support for HTML5 click to play.

A whitelist + click for sound would be pretty much exactly what I want.

Re: YouTube now defaults to HTML5 video

#340

Post by jambox888 »

zaroth wrote: post #256
derekp7 wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last I checked, the most effective way to pirate content is via a protocol such as Bit Torrent which requires you to also distribute pirated content. And that has legal ramifications, which then requires non-trivial methods to obscure your activities (paid proxy servers, etc). Most of us use Netflix not for ideological reasons, but for the pure convenience of it. Compared to Bit-Torrent,with Netflix you can easily br…

If you are not adverse to piracy, or you believe you have a valid fair use right to access the content, but you don't want to be guilty of distribution (a much higher penalty) then Usenet is probably the best bet.

> valid fair use right

They seem to be making it tricky to rip DVDs/Blu Rays these days (dirty tricks to screw with Handbrake/VLC) so the only way to get a movie onto my media server is to dl from somewhere after I bought the disc. Ironic, no?

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