JW Player 5.9: HTML5 Now Default on Android
by Pablo Schklowsky on February 02, 2012
As we continue to bring HTML5 support in the JW Player closer to parity with Flash mode, we've focused the 5.9 release on a variety of HTML5 stability and user experience updates:
HTML5 is now the default playback mode on Android Devices
In early November, Adobe announced it would stop developing its Flash Player for Android devices. As a result we've decided to focus our energies on optimizing HTML5 support on Android rather on a legacy platform.
Cleaner User Interface (Especially on iOS devices)
We've taken a number of steps to clean up the way the player looks and behaves, focusing on iOS. Although they're subtle, we think you'll appreciate them. Among the improvements are:
- The preview image now fades in when player loads
- Video is not displayed until it is sized correctly and ready to play
- The buffering icon appears on the iPad while video is loading
Saved Volume in HTML5
One feature from Flash mode that you told us you wanted to see in HTML5 was the player's ability to keep track of the last volume level selected by the user. Now, if a user reloads a page, or goes to a different page on your site, the player will be set up with the same volume (or mute state) as the last time they set it. (Note: this won't work on iOS, since websites are not allowed to set the volume of those devices)
Download the JW Player 5.9
You can download the JW Player 5.9 for Flash and HTML5 here. As always, we would love to hear your feedback on the release. Just post your comments directly to this blog.
Check out our release notes for this version. For a complete list of the tickets addressed in JW Player 5.9, please visit our developer site.
Introducing The State of HTML5 Video Report
by Jeroen Wijering on January 26, 2012
Today we announced the public launch of our latest resource, The State of HTML5 Video Report. For two years our JW Player team has researched and monitored the evolution of HTML5 video capabilities so that we could effectively support it. Beyond our own products, we believe that the community at large will benefit from this work. We are extremely pleased to share our detailed research with the community.
We grouped our test results into the few topics we've found to be the most critical. Each section is fleshed out, and to the best of our ability accurately represents the state of HTML5 online video today - complete with our published test pages & results. The topics covered in the report include:
- Market Share of Browsers and Devices
- Media Formats
- Tag Attributes
- Fullscreen Playback
- Adaptive Streaming
- Accessibility
Get full access to the online report here. Each time we update the report, we will post a notification on our Facebook page, as well as on our Twitter account. Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay informed.
Whether you are well-acquainted with HTML5, or just getting started, the content presented in our report is an indispensable resource for tracking the progress of HTML5 video. As HTML5 video progresses, we will update and amend this report to accurately reflect the state of the industry.
We have already received such a great response from our community, and as always appreciate the support. In addition to the applause, we have also received valuable feedback from other HTML5 experts, and intend to edit the report where necessary.
The JW Player team will be participating in discussions with the community around HTML5 video. Visit us on Facebook to join the conversation.
2011: Year in Review
by Dave Otten, CEO on January 09, 2012
With 2011 behind us and beginning of 2012 well on its way, I thought that it would be a good time to share some of our progress over the past twelve months.
In short, 2011 was an amazing year for LongTail Video. We experienced incredible customer growth across all of our products (more on that below) and successfully released a number of fantastic new products and features. Here are a few of the highlights:
- Over 1.5M sites now actively use our products
- Launched HTML5 support in the JW Player
- Released our new content syndication product called LongTail.tv
- Introduced Bits on the Run Free accounts for our users
- Achieved positive net income and cash flow for the entire year
Of course, all of this could not have been possible without the ongoing support of our customers and community, which provide us with an invaluable feedback on what the market needs. Our entire team cannot thank you enough for all of your input.
Looking forward, we have several exciting product releases on the horizon that we think will further cement our position as the leading provider of affordable video tools for publishers seeking to manage and monetize their online video. We look forward to working with you to ensure that we are meeting your expectations.
Thanks again for your incredible support. Here’s to another great year in 2012!
Best Wishes,
Dave
The Future of Mobile Video is Apple, For Now
by Jeroen Wijering on December 12, 2011
Consolidation has begun in the mobile video space. In early November, Adobe announced it would stop developing its Flash Player for mobile devices (read: Android). Going forward, HTML5 will be the only method to play back videos on mobile phones and tablets. This is a big win for Apple, the company that most strongly opposed Flash in the last few years
According to Adobe, Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will be the last mobile platform to get a Flash plugin. The OS is launching without one, though. Given the terrible track record of Flash for mobile, we shouldn't be surprised if it never arrives. Ergo, video publishers should ensure their video works in HTML5 on Android today.
Apple is winning under the hood as well. The H.264 codec is baked into the CPU of every single mobile phone today, while WebM is still confined to a software-only (and non-HTML5) implementation on some Android devices. Google is working on hardware, but the path from reference designs to integration in phones and, eventually, market share is a long one.
Until WebM hardware decoding is supported by a decent slice of mobile devices, video publishers will continue to focus on H.264. Seeing this, Google continues its support for H264 in Chrome, despite the announcement to drop it "soon" almost a year ago. For all intents and purposes, H.264 is the baseline codec for HTML5 video at present.
Completing its hat trick, Apple is well on its way to providing the de facto streaming protocol for mobile video: HLS. Built on top of HTML5, this protocol allows publishers to deliver their videos securely with high quality. I should note that this is relevant only to roughly 10 percent of all publishers, but these publishers account for 90 percent of all mobile views.
What Is HLS?
The acronym HLS stands for HTTP Live Streaming. It is a protocol that allows publishers to stream video using plain HTTP web servers, as opposed to often expensive and hard to scale dedicated streaming servers. This streaming is achieved by chopping up the video hosted on the server into small (usually 10 seconds) fragments, stitching them together again in the browser. The browser only requests the next fragment in line, instead of loading the entire video and wasting bandwidth, as happens in vanilla HTML5. See diagram below for a single fragmented stream:
A video streamed through HLS is usually encoded into multiple qualities, ranging from a mere 180px to full-blown 720px and beyond. Every time the browser returns to the server to load the next fragment, it decides which quality level to load. The browser thus continuously adjusts the quality of the stream to best match the available bandwidth. This is hugely important in mobile, with devices perpetually swapping between 2G, 3G, 4G and WiFi connections. See diagram below for an adaptive fragmented stream:
In addition to this, the fragments of HLS streams can be encrypted for secure delivery. Users who intercept these fragments will not be able to play them at all. This is a big security advantage over plain HTML5 video, where every savvy user can find the URL of a video and download it for his own use.
Why Use HLS?
Today's wide usage of the HLS protocol is a result of the success of iOS. Apple designated the protocol as the one and only way to stream video to the iPhone and iPad. No Flash, no Silverlight, no RTP or RTSP. On top of that, HLS is required for in-app video. Even simple MP4 downloads, which do work for in-browser playback, are not allowed in iOS apps.
Every major publisher therefore needs to use the HLS protocol, and every major encoding tool (e.g. Sorenson Squeeze) and streaming server (e.g. Flash Media Server or Wowza Media Server) supports it nowadays. This broad ecosystem, in turn, now has many devices that support the protocol as well. Nearly every popular set-top box can play HLS (Xbox, PS3, Roku, Apple TV, Boxee), as will Android phones running the new Ice Cream Sandwich release.
Wondering if there are any competing protocols? Absolutely. Smooth Streaming from Microsoft is one, but it requires the non-mobile Silverlight plugin. There is also Dynamic Streaming from Adobe, which requires the soon to be retire? Flash plugin. HLS is built on top of HTML5, which makes it easy to implement by both browsers and devices.
A standardization effort is on its way as well, in the form of MPEG DASH (HLS, as well as RTMP and RTSP. However, as things go with standards, progress is slow and broad support is years away.
The Apple Standard
So, for the foreseeable future, we'll watch our mobile video the Apple way: embedded using HTML5, encoded using H.264 and streamed using HLS. Any platform that wants broad support for quality video (Windows Phone?) must implement HLS and any publisher that wants many mobile viewers must leverage HLS.
Now, is this a bad thing? Quite the contrary. The alternative to a central protocol is fragmentation: multiple plugins, multiple codecs and multiple protocols. Which is bad for large media corporations, as it reduces their bottom line. Even worse for smaller video publishers though, since they lack the resources to even make their video available at all. And that, in turn, is a detriment to mobile video at large. The key to mass adoption is broad-reaching availability across a wide variety of content.
This blogpost is a modified version of our article first published on Mashable. Read Full Article Here.
JW Player 5.8 Released with Support for HTML5 Video Ads
by Pablo Schklowsky on October 18, 2011
This release of the JW Player 5.8 focuses heavily on stability HTML5 playback and secure plugin loading. The major addition is support for HTML5 video advertising for Google DFP and YuMe users. Read more to find out what's new.
Ads in HTML5 Mode
JW Player 5.8 introduces support for HTML5 video advertising. Users of the JW Player have become accustomed to providing a consistent user experience independent of the browser or device of their viewers, but until now the player didn't offer HTML5 video advertising support. With JW Player 5.8, we now enable HTML5 video ad support for both Google DFP and YuMe publishers - allowing users to run video and companion ads on iOS devices (iPhone/iPad). Check them out: Google Interactive Media Ads (IMA) & YuMe.
Increased Stability in HTML5 Mode
With the release of JW5.8, we took the opportunity to focus on video playback in HTML5 mode. Thanks to all the feedback you have given us, we've been able isolate the outstanding issues, and greatly improve the stability in HTML5 mode. We are always working to seamlessly integrate Flash and HTML5 modes, so please keep the feedback coming. For a detailed list of specific HTML5 improvements, see our developer site.
Secure Plugin Loading
If you manage a secure website, then you are probably familiar with the mixed content security warnings generated by browsers, particularly IE, when embedding the JW Player on a secure page. This was due to the fact that the JW Player always loaded its plugins over HTTP. JW Player 5.8 now detects if it is running on a secure page and loads its plugins over HTTP or HTTPS accordingly. Publishers embedding on Facebook should find this particularly helpful!
Download the JW Player 5.8
You can download the JW Player 5.8 for Flash and HTML5 here. As always, we would love to hear your feedback on the release. Just post your comments directly to this blog.
For a complete list of the tickets addressed in JW Player 5.8, please visit our developer site.
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