[theora] <video src="*.ogg">

[Gregory Maxwell]

On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 1:06 PM, Michael A. Peters <mpeters at mac.com> wrote:
> The mime issue seems to be covered by others here.
> I would recommend, if you can, also making an h.264 encoded version of
> the file for two reasons:

Speaking personally, I don't think this is an appropriate list to
advocate patent encumbered formats.

If someone is feels obligated, for reach reasons, to distribute in an
encumbered format then offering a free format does little good, since
you're still saddled with whatever future distribution costs exist.

Thus we stay trapped in a cycle where content distributors do not
adopt free formats because they can't reduce cost without losing
reach, thus client developers and users do not adopt because they
can't reduce cost without losing compatibility, this distributors…

The only way to break this cycle is to encourage clients run
appropriate software.

Fortunately flash itself proves that massive adoption through manual
client installs is possible.

> Yes, you can use cortado as a fallback to play .ogv content, but many
> users do not have Java installed and to be honest,

FWIW, practically every Safari user has Java installed. (Like Flash,
the JVM is now out of the box on macs).

The exact Java concentration depends on your audience.

> Java really is not
> the best tool for the job. Hopefully basic ogg vorbis/theora comes to
> flash soon.

I don't think anyone is anticipating formal support from Adobe in the
flash binary distribution. So, about the best we could expect is a
flash-vm implementation.

A flash-vm implementation would suffer from many of the same
limitations as the Java version (including prolonged load times), and
would additionally require a very current flash instillation.

I very much hope to see vorbis/theora implemented for flash vm, but no
one is currently working on it.  Once it exists I am doubtful that it
will work as well as cortado does for many years, if ever.

[snip]
> No JavaScript is required (like some solutions) to get standards
> compliant video embedding that "just works" using my technique.

I'm failing to see the advantage of avoiding Javascript while using
Flash. Javascript is significantly more widely deployed than any of
the other technologies discussed here, and the client
security/XSS/privacy/annoyance concerns which might justify disabling
javascript are all *far* worse for Flash.

It is fairly simple to construct playback that works in Ogg/Theora
HTML5 browsers and only needs Javascript for clients without native
support:  Just create a regular video tag and use JS to replace the
tag if it fails.