He asked what I meant and I explained. Only about half of all browsers are HTML5-compatible at this point, and the largest share—Firefox and soon Chrome—don’t or won’t play H.264 video. In fact, only about 10% of all browsers (Internet Explorer 9 and Safari) will play H.264 in the short term to midterm. So your primary player will address about 10% of the users, while your fall-back player will address the other 90%.
当然, 我继续, you could double the encoding work, double your storage requirements, and double my fee by producing in WebM as well, but that wouldn’t increase your reach or coverage over Flash, and you couldn’t protect your videos via digital rights management (DRM) because there isn’t any for HTML5 video.
“为什么先做HTML5?他问.
“That’s what I want to know,” 我回答道.
Taking a step back, there are four rough categories of websites using video. The largest group of sites is the simple video in a window, where the video is probably not mission-critical but is there because the marketing staff said they needed video on their websites. 在这个应用程序中, using the HTML5 video tag might make sense if it didn’t double your encoding/storage/consulting chores to support both WebM and H.264. And make no mistake, since the video has to play on iOS devices, you must support H.264.
The next level includes those who want adaptive streaming both to the desktop and to mobile devices. 在这里, HTML5 doesn’t work because there is no adaptive streaming supported in a single codec over all HTML5 browsers and because HTML5 is still at only 50% penetration.
The next level represents my new client, who wants adaptive streaming plus DRM to both the 桌面和移动设备. 再次,HTML5 doesn’t offer adaptive streaming or DRM, so it’s not a viable solution.
最后一关, representing the fewest users but the vast majority of non-UGC streams, includes your premium content owners and distributors. They not only want adaptive and DRM, they want support for TV Everywhere, which isn’t even close to viable via HTML5. Also in this category are large corporate streamers who need adaptive and DRM, plus efficient distribution within the enterprise via multicast and peer-to-peer. 再说一次，HTML5还差得远.
关于视频标签, never has an industry worked so hard to promote a technology that clearly only appeals to either tree-hugging, sandal-wearing standards lovers or the absolute lowest tier of potential users. And all for only twice the cost of competitive technologies. Supporting HTML5 first isn’t a proud badge to wear, like thinking green; it’s an admission that your video isn’t mission-critical and that your needs are primitive from a features perspective. 没有什么 wrong with that—we can’t all be ESPN— but cripes, why do we promote HTML5 video like it was apple pie and renewable energy all rolled up into one?
在我看来, the HTML5 committee should stop promoting the fiction that the video tag will someday actually be useful to a relevant group of target users. It should start focusing on standards that it can and should control, where proprietary technologies aren’t obviously more effective. 很明显, the web needs the good work these committees do, 但同样清楚的是, 不是在视频传送领域.
This article first ran in the October/November 2011 issue of 流媒体.
一个StreamingMedia.com-hosted webinar offers background on HTML5 video and a plan for the future.
12月12日
To examine the spread of HTML5, we look at several sites by major brands. 当然，Flash还没有消亡.
11月17日