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DRM, streaming, and standards: a look at online video in an HTML5 world

DRM, streaming, and standards: a look at online video in an HTML5 world

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Ars Technica has a fascinating look at the challenges facing HTML5 video, from the tussle over various video codecs, to the lack of adaptive streaming support, and the all-important issue of DRM.

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Adobe's killed off Flash Player for mobile, and the voices for and against the technology continue to make their cases, but the truth is we live in a world that's not quite able to go HTML5-only just yet. Ars Technica has a fascinating look at the challenges facing the new standard when it comes to online video, from the tussle over various video codecs, to the lack of adaptive streaming support, and the all-important issue of DRM. It's a situation where the proponents of open standards — who need HTML5 video to be adopted as widely as possible for it to achieve ubiquity — often find themselves in almost direct opposition to the needs of the content creators and distributors they are hoping will adopt it. Of course, several of these concerns can be rendered moot using app-centric content delivery, and with Netflix and Hulu leading the way there's the distinct possibility this may already be yesterday's argument. Still, with plug-ins set to disappear from the desktop next, it's an issue we hope is resolved sooner rather than later.