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Tired of Flash? HTML5 Viewer For YouTube

Posted by timothy on from the that-taste-great-together dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Instead of spending the next 10 years trying to find a Flash implementation for Linux or OS X that doesn't drain CPU cycles like there's no tomorrow, NeoSmart Technologies has made an HTML5 viewer for YouTube videos. It loads YouTube videos in an HTML5 video container and streams (with skip/skim/pause/resume) against an MP4 resource, and an (optional) userscript file can update YouTube pages with the HTML5 viewer. The latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, and Safari are supported. Personally, I can't wait until the major video sites default to HTML5 and we can finally say goodbye to Flash."

14 of 372 comments (clear)

  1. Only video sites? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, when video sites change, we can say goodbye to flash, because nobody uses Flash for navigation, casual online games, interactive information displays, or google maps street view...we have a long ways until we can say goodbye to Flash

    1. Re:Only video sites? by causality · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, when video sites change, we can say goodbye to flash, because nobody uses Flash for navigation, casual online games, interactive information displays, or google maps street view...we have a long ways until we can say goodbye to Flash

      If Flash goes back to being a niche application for only certain specific types of content that actually require its programming language, such as online games, that would be a tremendous improvement. The issue being addressed here is that Flash is a full-featured system that's being used just to play videos, when there are other non-proprietary ways to deal with content that only needs to play a video. Using an open standard when one is available and could do the job is definitely a step in the right direction even if we know it's not a panacea that can totally replace Flash in every possible scenario. It could even lead to other open systems being designed and implemented that can replace Flash in areas where its featureset is actually needed.

      --
      It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
    2. Re:Only video sites? by mweather · · Score: 4, Insightful

      because nobody uses Flash for navigation

      Well, nobody with any sense, anyway.

    3. Re:Only video sites? by 1s44c · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, when video sites change, we can say goodbye to flash, because nobody uses Flash for navigation, casual online games, interactive information displays, or google maps street view...we have a long ways until we can say goodbye to Flash

      Flash is a security nightmare and anything that reduces the amount of flash in the world can only be a good thing. Flash badly needs to be replaced with a good open standard and wiped out. But if that's not going to happen the next best thing is to reduce the amount of flash in the world.

      Less of a bad thing is still an improvement.

    4. Re:Only video sites? by hedwards · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Precisely, but more than that, most of the time flash is being used where there's a better standard in place and in places where it shouldn't have been used originally. Flash sites aren't ADA compliant without an unreasonable amount of extra work. Mainly unreasonable because if it had been properly done in some other format it wouldn't take much effort at all.

      Open is great, but really a secure, stable technology that's accessible to everybody is enough. Realistically that's probably open source.

    5. Re:Only video sites? by buchner.johannes · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You mention that Flash should be replaced by open video standards for video applications. However, I frequently find video and even more so video live streams to be very fragile when the browser uses the systems video player. I then often just download the video and play it externally, because the internal video player doesn't respond and I don't know why.

      Flash was introduced here because it just works.
      Come up with something that works for everyone. If you make it better than Flash (how?) websites will switch. And Flashs security issues and crashes in Linux will not bother them.

      --
      NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
    6. Re:Only video sites? by Scott+Wood · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Will it be able to, for instance, stream recommended alternative videos or advertisements while the video is paused, for instance? It's not that I want that, but a lot of site owners do.

      Sorry, but those site owners can fuck off. If I tell the browser (or component therein) that I want things to stop moving, stop making noise, and stop chewing up CPU cycles and running up my power bill, then I want them to STOP!

      Flash is particularly bad in this regard, and this (along with its limited platform availability and general flakiness) is why I'm not a fan of it. When I can get a working, robust flash player that pays attention to *me* more than to the bits coming over the internet, let me know.

  2. HTML5 video by KangKong · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The biggest problem isn't support for , but common support for major video formats. Seems there's no codec supported by all browsers anytime soon.

    1. Re:HTML5 video by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      tbf do you want an inferior standard
      or do you want an open standard that you need to pay royalties to implement?

      It's not a simple problem (well IMO it is), but there is clearly a need for politics here, if you want to hate anything hate software patents.

      --
      IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
  3. Here's a hint by Improv · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Anytime you submit a story and one of your sentences starts with "Personally,", leave it out. We don't care.

    --
    For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
    1. Re:Here's a hint by Virak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We don't care.

      I think you mean to say "Personally, I don't care."

      And personally, I think you should definitely follow your own advice with that.

  4. Re:I'm waiting for "HTML5VideoBlock" by chonglibloodsport · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just use a style sheet. In HTML5 the video tag is no different from any other tag.

  5. Re:Say goodbye to Flash? by moosesocks · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not so much the incompatibilities (although support for non x86-32 platforms has always been very poor on Linux), but the inefficiencies. There's *no* reason for a 320x240 web video to bring a modern system to its knees (GPU acceleration or not).

    Even VLC's somewhat buggy FLV implementation plays flash videos with 1/10 the CPU cycles that the flash player does.

    Flash's performance is borderline acceptable on Windows, although the mac version (PPC especially!) is appallingly bad.

    --
    -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
  6. Re:Say goodbye to Flash? by black3d · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I have encountered many, many people who think that anything running at HD resolutions is HD. Even in the geek community. And it seems very difficult to convince them otherwise. Many seem convinced that any video that is playing back at 1080 lines is utilising "full HD resolution", even if the source is a 360x240 video that's been maximised. Even Youtube's "720p" video is so compressed the artifacts are plainly visible, yet because it's 720 lines and is activated by clicking an "HD" button, pundits seem to think that it's high definition video.

    As for whether he is blind or mistaken, realise - most people with HD res screens still have never seen HD video up close and personal, thus it's easy to understand why a scaled, interlaced, lossy video might look "pixel perfect" to them compared to other traditional sources like XVID dvd rips or even DVDs. For instance, most people with an HD screen don't actually have a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drive. And even of those with a Blu-ray drive (its coming standard more frequently thesedays) many have never actually gone out and bought a Bluray title and chucked it in.

    If any of you readers fall into this category (not actually having seen real HD video playback up close), don't worry - you're not at all alone. There's an easy solution:
    1. Head over to trailers.apple.com and download a decent 1080p HD trailer. Here's a nice one: http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/2012/hd/
    2. Start saving for the Bluray drive you now simply MUST have.

    --
    "The true measure of a person is how they act when they know they won't get caught." - DSRilk