The Open Standard Media (OSM) Player is an open source  media player that  you can use on your websites free of charge. It allows you to dynamically deliver any type of web media, including HTML5, YouTube, Vimeo, and Flash.  Built by Alethia,  Inc. and offered by Media Front, it is a nice alternative to flash-only players like JW player and FlowPlayer.  Additionally, if you use the Drupal CMS, they offer a full media management plugin that integrates the OSM  Player without writing any code.

Features

• Dynamic HTML5 content delivery
• Audio and Video support with the most popular media formats
• Automatic Flash fallback for non-standard media
• Easily themable using the incredible ThemeRoller system
• Seamless Vimeo and YouTube integration
• Playlist support
• Player to Player communication.

Demo and download the player at the Media Front website

Have you used the OSM Player for any of your web projects?  If so, please post about your experience  in the commentns

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• HTML 5 Video: Are We There Yet? Let me start by saying that the HTML 5 video...

Let me start by saying that the HTML 5 video tag is one of the most over-hyped and  misunderstood buzzwords to hit the intertubes in a long time.

Is it a potentially game-changing technology? For sure.

Does it signal the end of flash? I don’t think so.

Do you need to quickly redesign your video-heavy website?  Hold on!

But the real question for HTML 5 Video in 2010 is “Are we there yet?”  and the answer is “Not quite.”

The idea of being able to embed video on websites without plugins has set the web a buzz with outrageous claims of Flash’s demise, true streaming without special server software, and other misconceptions. The truth is  that a lack of widespread  browser support for video codecs and the fact that Internet Explorer doesn’t even support the video tag at all means the technology has a long way to go before it is mainstream.  Don’t get me wrong, seeing that awesome Jilion Sublime Video player demo (http://jilion.com/sublime/video) gets me excited about it too.  Even big sites like Hulu, YouTube and Vimeo have introduced new HTML5-based video players.  Part of the excitement is that Flash has dominated the online video player market for a long time without much competition.  The latest generation of mobile video devices  like the iPad and iPhone, that do not support Flash, has left content providers scrambling to find compatible methods for delivery.

The facts about the HTML5 video tag

For anyone who is not familiar with the HTML5 video tag, it is a new HTML tag being introduced to the HTML5 specification as a way to embed videos in web pages without the end user needing any additional plugins.   Web developers can use JavaScript to control the player and add interactive features like playlists.

Both progressive download (known as HTTP streaming) and real-time streaming protocols are supported by HTML5 video.  One really cool feature is that it will allow the user to seek to parts of a HTTP streaming video that have not yet downloaded.  Currently, with Flash-based players, you can only seek when the video is being served from a real-time streaming server.  While this new feature will enhance existing HTTP streaming implementations, it will not be a replacement for real-time streaming servers which allow the content provider to protect videos from  being downloaded and other advanced features.

One area where HTML5 video shines is as a website fall back player for Apple and other devices and the multiple frame sizes and data rates they support.  For website visitors on desktop browsers,  you can offer them a high quality FLV or H.264/.mp4 video in a Flash based player.  If Flash or JavaScript is not supported you can provide a HTML 5 video tag as a fall back player. The tag allows you to specify multiple source files that the browser will step through until it finds one it can play.  This means you can setup a 1280×720 high quality H.264/.mp4 video for iPad as the first one, a 640×360 for iPhones as the second and a default 320×240 for older devices  as the final.  Depending on which devices you want to support, you can add additional options as necessary.

Current limitations

At this time, the HTML5 spec is still being developed and browser manufacturers can’t seem  to agree on a single video codec for native video support.  This means if you want to use the HTML5 video tag, you will need to (re)encode your video to multiple formats to support the different browsers.  Safari, Apple  devices and Android support certain variations of H.264/.mp4 video.  Firefox, Opera, and Chrome support a open source codec called Ogg Theora Video.  One downside to the Ogg Theora video codec is since it is relatively new and still under development,  the quality does not compare to H.264 and there is  no hardware decoding support.   Hopefully, with it’s recent purchase of On2 (creators of the high quality VP6 FLV codec), Google will step in and provide a high quality codec that all browser manufacturers will support.

To make matters worse, Internet Explorer does not yet support the HTML5 video tag.  This will be a deal-breaker for many developers or at least require workarounds if they want to start implementing HTML5 based video players today.

Will  it replace Flash?

I don’t think HTML5 will replace Flash any more than DHTML and AJAX replaced Flash.  Flash is a mature technology with wide adoption and a huge feature set.  It is an established platform for creating rich user experiences and used for much more than just a video player.  If anything, once the HTML5 video tag is widely supported, it will offer video content providers an additional way to enable video on their sites.

Final Thoughts

Until more headway is made with regards to codec and feature support, use of the HTML5 video tag should not be  used as the sole means of providing video playback on production websites. Also, I would be hesitant to reencode a large  number video assets since the codec may change in the near future.   Content providers with video heavy web sites should keep a close eye on the progress and may want start using  the HTML5 video tag to enable device users to view their content.

Lately I have seen lots of tutorials instructing web developers on how to provide a HTML5 video tag based player that defaults to a Flash player  if not supported.  I think  this is a bad idea and should probably be used the other way around.  I would rather my Firefox users be presented with a high profile H.264 video as opposed to a mediocre Ogg Theora video.

Due to the complexity of getting started with HTML5 video players including setting up advanced features, encoding multiple videos for different browsers and providing fall back solutions for unsupported browsers,  many users who simply want to add video to their sites may be better off using a single H.264/.mp4 video played in a Flash-based player like the JW Player or Flowplayer which will work in virtually any desktop browser.

Having native browser support for video and a decent alternative to using Flash-based video players  is long overdue.  I can’t wait until the kinks are worked out and HTML5 video can fulfill its destiny.

In a follow up post I plan to show you how you can use the HTML5 video tag on your websites to enable video for Apple’s iPad, iPhone and other devices.  Until then, make sure you check out the resources below to learn more.

Additional Resources

HTML5 video tag basics

<video id=”videoid” poster=”posterframe.jpg” controls=”controls” >

<source src=”video.mp4″ type=”video/mp4″ width=”480″ height=”270″ />  <!–H.264 for Safari, Chrome, Apple Devices–>

<source src=”video.ogg” type=”video/ogg”  width=”480″ height=”270″/>  <!– Ogg Theora for Firefox 3 and Opera –>

<p>This video  not supported in your browser.</p>

</video>

Player creation tutorials, tips & tricks

http://www.html5video.org/kaltura-html5/

http://hacks.mozilla.org/2009/06/html5-video-fallbacks-markup/

http://henriksjokvist.net/archive/2009/2/using-the-html5-video-tag-with-a-flash-fallback

Encoding guides for currently supported formats

http://diveintohtml5.org/video.html

Further reading

http://www.html5video.org/

http://newteevee.com/2010/04/12/google-to-open-source-vp8-for-html5-video/

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/07/decoding-the-html-5-video-codec-debate.ars

http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3828901

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• Open Source HTML5 Media Player with Playlists The Open Standard Media (OSM) Player is an open source  media...

Squeeze 5 Pro is the latest release of Sorenson Media’s professional media encoding software. The new release is a major upgrade in features and usability compared to earlier versions. Improved audio and video quality, faster multithreaded encoding, and smoother workflow are just a few reasons Squeeze 5 should be in your arsenal of multimedia tools.

New Features

• Variety of audience & device preset bundles
• 3 new H.264 MPEG4 codecs including support for Flash H.264 video
• Enhanced filters for deinterlacing and other video & audio preprocessing
• Surround Sound 5.1 and 7.1 encoding
• Vast input codec support
• Watermarking for all output formats

Squeeze 5 Pro encodes to many popular formats including MPEG 1/2, MP3, MPEG 4 and H.264, Real, QuickTime, Windows Media, Flash FLV (Spark Pro and On2 VP6) and supports the advanced encoding settings which are not available in other encoding software. This is one of the main reasons that makes Squeeze a natural choice for video professionals looking to deliver the highest quality at the lowest filesize.

Unfortunately, all of that power does not come cheap. The pro version of Squeeze 5 is $599 for Windows and $779 for Mac. Both versions include the On2 VP6 codec for high quality FLV encoding. If you don’t need all the features of the regular pro version (eg – Windows Media, QuickTime, MPEG 1/2, Real encoding) the Squeeze 5 for Flash Pro might be a better option for only $299. A product comparison is available on the Squeeze 5 product page to help you find out which version is best for your needs.

Squeeze has come a long way over the years and Squeeze 5 raises the bar considerably. I think it is probably the all around best video encoding software available today.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Learn more and download a free trial at Sorenson Media

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• Flowplayer: Open Source Flash Video Player For Your Website Adding Flash Video to a website without using a service...
• Encoding Best Practices for H.264 Video by Fabio Sonnati Watch this Adobe Max 2009 presentation by video encoding expert...

Vimeo is not the newest kid on the block offering free video sharing, but that doesn’t stop them from having some of the coolest features in the neighborhood. I can sum it all up in two letters “HD”, and I mean for real — 1280x720p high-quality Flash Video. Not too many other sites can top that. Even YouTube’s new high(er)-quality videos don’t even come close to what Vimeo is offering. Plus, add a clean website, cool embeddable player, great community and developer API and you have a recipe for web video nirvana. Currently, Vimeo is offering users up to 500mb upload per week with the only requirements that you upload original works that are not a commercial, infomercial, or other ad and are not adult oriented. They accept HD or SD aspect ratios in the following formats: asf, asx, avi, divx, dv, dvx, m4v, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpg, qt, wmv, 3g2, 3gp, 3ivx and 3vx. They are able acheive such great results by using the On2 VP6 codec which is the current leader in FLV encoding due to the quality vs filesize and widespread Flash player support. Newer versions of Flash also support H.264 MP4 encoding which is even better than the On2 VP6 codec, but at this time it is not widely supported and is license restricted for commercial use.

New to video encoding? They also have comprehensive tutorials on how to acheive great results.

Sign up for a free account today and be sure to post your experience and video links in the comments.

http://www.vimeo.com

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• Flowplayer: Open Source Flash Video Player For Your Website Adding Flash Video to a website without using a service...