Forum - View topicRequests Regarding ANN's Video Player
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Yeah, I was reading this article and I wanted to watch the videos embedded in it. But one thing that really annoyed me was the lack of a buffer progress bar. Basically, I like to buffer a video fully before playing it; it's just how I roll. But I could not tell how much each video had buffered without actually playing it and then it pausing and taking too long to get going again. It also means breaking up the video and therefore further negatively impacting on my watching experience.
So could a buffer progress bar please be inserted into the player? It would make it far easier for me to use and so I'd use it waaaay more often than I do now (hardly ever, unfortunately). Also, I noticed that the video player really doesn't like it when I try and jump around. I missed a part so tried to go back to it, and the player basically threw a little fit and - after an annoying pause - insisted on reloading everything past the point at which I wanted to go to, even though it was already loaded. Good players like the one YouTube has, or even the one at the DesuDes Brigade, don't punish the viewer for wanting to skip around, so I am more than a little confused as to why ANN would invest in something so clearly (and unnecessarily) inferior. So could ANN see about fixing the player so it will allow viewers to surf/jump/skip around the video? Thanks. |
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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Not to take away from the request, but why not download the video to watch it? If you're using Firefox, there are plenty of add-ons to easily download them and many times, the download is faster than the streaming. When you're done, delete them. I am curious to know what episode you've tried to watch which didn't give a notification. Most have a progress bar display and the "gray" shading before the play mark is the buffer queue. Unfortunately, for some odd reason, Flash players removed the ability to allow buffering on pause. Since most videos are offered as flv files, really not much that can be done with this other than the download. Just offering advice here. 
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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I'm pretty sure he was trying to watch the ANN TV videos embedded in the linked article. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Yes, I do have the latest version of downloadhelper (which I regularly use on those YouTube videos I intend to watch more than once). It didn't occur to me to use it in this instance, but that certainly doesn't mean it is a bad idea. The only problem is that I just tried downloadhelper right this moment, but it doesn't seem to be able to see the videos on the page I linked to. Of course there are other ways to download an embedded video, one of which (that i know of) doesn't even require an add-on. I'll see if that works. Of course, all of this would be unnecessary if I was happy with ANN's video player, but them's the breaks I guess.
And you'd be |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Just asking - Justin's the person who can answer your questions - but the longest video in that feature is something like a minute and a half. Most of them barely hit 30 seconds. I'm a little confused why you'd need to skip around that much in a 24 second video? |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Like I said, I missed a part (someone spoke to me, I answered them, missed maybe ten seconds of video), and then wanted to watch what I had missed.
While a lot of the videos were under a minute this year, many videos on ANNTV are several minutes. I notice that there was even a sixty-one-minute long video last year. Skipping around would be really useful for videos of that length. |
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Dan42
Chief Encyclopedist
 Posts: 3782 Location: Montreal |
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When you can buffer a video before playing it (like youtube), that's called progressive download and typically it's done over http. What we're doing is video streaming (over rtmp) so at most there is a 10sec buffer to alleviate network irregularities. And the reason to use streaming is because the licensors wouldn't let us show their properties if we didn't ensure a minimum level of protection (i.e. you can't use downloadhelper).
As for jumping around the video, I experience no problem at all. I can jump to any point in the video with almost no delay in playback. What kind of connection do you have? |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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So all those websites that offer "Anime streaming" are not actually streaming it somehow? Because I often have little trouble with whatever player they use. They let me buffer the episode fully, and I can skip around like Julie Andrews on a hilltop field in The Sound of Music. Anyway, you can see how one who doesn't know the finer technical details (like myself) would get mixed up.
ADSL, but only a download speed of 256 kilobits per second (so what, thirty-two kilobytes per second?). I've already arranged with my ISP for me to get "full" speed, which will happen in two days. If my speed doubles I'll be impressed (I doubt it though, New Zealand is a veritable backwater). |
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Dan42
Chief Encyclopedist
Posts: 3782 Location: Montreal |
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Ouch. Ok, yeah, at 256kbps it might be problematic. Let's see what Justin has to say about this when he gets back from TAF.
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daxomni
 Posts: 2650 Location: Somewhere else. |
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Is there any interest in using HTML5?
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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If 256Kb/s is a capped rate then they could just open it up or regrade you, but if by "full speed" they're talking about moving from fixed rate to RADSL then in some cases it can get worse. I used to have a friend out in Invercargill who had problems just staying online - on dialup. If you are on some sort of rate adaptive service then there are often things you can do your end to improve things, although I don't know anything about the specifics of the NZ telephone system.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Yikes. 256 kbps barely qualifies as "broadband." I know you're in NZ and the broadband infrastructure over there is pretty sad. Sorry, but not much I can do about that.
The anime streaming sites you refer to must be pirate sites, because none of the legal sites use the cached HTML method that YouTube uses. It's too easy to copy the downloaded file out of your local cache and keep it permanently. (Heck, I can do that with nothing but an unmodified copy of Safari.) It's not an option for us either, I'm afraid. Similarly, video over HTML5 is not an option for any professional/licensed content provider. There's no rip protection at all, and even the browsers themselves don't support the same codecs. (Firefox doesn't support h.264 at all due to licensing incompatibilities.) The spec shows promise, but it's not a workable solution yet. Flash isn't perfect, but player v10.1 beta adds GPU decoding, so even most netbooks can now play HQ video. I understand some people don't like it, but from the point of view of a content provider, nothing else comes close. |
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daxomni
Posts: 2650 Location: Somewhere else. |
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I could swear that I just watched a fully legal video from Funimation on YouTube. 
Most netbooks can suddenly play HQ video in Flash? That sounds like a bit of an overstatement to me. Or does HQ refer to anything over 360p? Many netbooks and notebooks don't have fully supported chips that would allow GPU offloading last time I checked and my MBP doesn't benefit at all as of yet. It chokes like crazy on Flash even though it's no slouch with virtually any other program I use. Not to mention that the battery drains about 5x as fast when running Flash, even when nothing else is running. I tend to think of Steve Jobs as a bit of an arrogant hypocrite, but in this one area we certainly agree. Adobe has owned the streaming market for long enough and it's just about time that Flash has got to go.
Not even Silverlight? Netflix seems to be happy with it and there's far fewer hiccups and the battery drain is much improved. |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Yeah, it's insane that YouTube gets away with it but nobody else can. Corporate groupthink makes it somehow allowable. 
As a fellow Mac user, I agree the Mac version of Flash is not great. Do try the 10.1b3 upgrade though -- while not as fast as the Windows version, I got quite a nice performance boost out of it. My ancient Macbook now can play 720p videos without hiccups. Engadget reported being able to do 1080p in Windows on some netbooks. It's really quite a big upgrade for video. I will always consider alternatives as they become available. So far, none yet have the combination of features and cross-platform compatibility it would take.
It's pretty close, but not there yet. The improved battery life might be because Netflix is using Microsoft's VC1 codec, which is far less CPU intensive to decode (but far less efficient -- SD Netflix streams cap out at 2 MBPS!). The Mac version isn't particularly stable (I've had Netflix kill Safari more than a few times on me), and there's no Linux version at all, which is pretty essential on a site that caters to nerds. Its limited install base is also a pretty major impediment, believe it or not. Many people can't/don't want to install a new plugin. Netflix uses it because Windows Media DRM encryption is the only licensable content protection platform endorsed by the MPAA, and therefore the only streaming technology allowable by major hollywood studios. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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I'm not sure how much of a boost netbooks with intel's GMA950 integrated graphics will see, but it will certainly help any based on nvidia's ION.
Beta 3 has at least made 720p videos on Crunchyroll watchable on my Asus Timeline (which is not a netbook but only has a single core SU3500). Previous betas didn't work so well for me since not only did they fullscreen on the wrong window in any browser using the plugin (e.g. Chrome and Firefox) but also made video extremely blocky using both the plugin and activex in IE. There are still bugs with beta 3 - in particular controls are really sluggish, especially after switching to fullscreen on Crunchy and Youtube, but I do appreciate getting to watch Durarara! in the best quality legally available. |
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