948058 - Include mp4 in addition to webm video format for recorded videos

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Webtools Graveyard :: Air Mozilla, defect, P2)

Description

[Mark Finkle (:mfinkle) (use needinfo?)]

Is it possible to include an mp4 formatted video source link as a child of the <video> tag used for recorded events? Right now I see the video source is a webm format.

We have a few Firefox projects that add support for "flinging" or "casting" a video in Firefox to a TV (bug 921924). Many TVs or set-top boxes only support mp4. Adding an mp4 link would make the Air Mozilla recorded videos "just work" with the new feature.

Comment 1

[Richard A Milewski[:richard]]

We're using an iFrame from Vid.ly for the archived video player right now.  ...but we're looking at moving to video.js which is more open and will, I hope, give us more control.

It sounds like your group has some expertise with Roku and other set-top boxes.   We would like to add direct feeds for those from AirMo as well.   Can you point us at your Roku, Apple-TV and other set-top box experts?

Comment 2

[Mark Finkle (:mfinkle) (use needinfo?)]

I keep speak for Apple TV, but the Roku system allows developers to create applications, called Channels, that run on the Roku itself. Roku does not support any web engine. The applications are written in BrightScript, which is based on BASIC. The language has visual and non-visual components, which can be used to create applications in a building-block way.

We have an application that runs on a Roku, and acts as an endpoint for casting a video from Firefox to the Roku (which displays it on the TV). The Roku video component takes URLs to mp4 videos. It can download the video file or play a stream. Here is the info:
http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/Encoding+Guide

Comment 3

[Richard A Milewski[:richard]]

Thanks Mark.   I cobbled together a proof-of-concept to show AirMo archived videos on Roku about 2 years ago.   Now that we've moved the AirMo website from Wordpress to Django I think we have enough control over the RSS feeds to do an actual implementation.  Once we move to HLS we'll be able to stream live events to Roku as well.

Hoping to resurrect that project soon.

Comment 4

[Richard A Milewski[:richard]]

Mark,

The vid.ly player selects the video format based on a bunch of browser sniffing and bandwidth detection that isn't well documentd.  But you can request a specific format if you rewrite the url.

eg - http://cf.cdn.vid.ly/9y0q8o/webm.webm
     http://cf.cdn.vid.ly/970q8o/mp4.mp4
     http://cf.cdn.vid.ly/970q8o/ogv.ogv

I'm not sure how to specify the different bitrates.    I'm pretty sure I don't know enough to switch from the Vid.ly player to a simple HTML5 video tag without risking breaking the ability to watch archived AirMo events on some devices.  If that expertise exists in your team we should talk.

Comment 5

[Peter Bengtsson [:peterbe]]

In Q12015 we're going to change to JW Player for archived videos. Then we'll list all the formats we have and the sort order of that list will be mpeg4 first, webm second, other formats etc.

Comment 6

[Richard A Milewski[:richard]]

Peter,

We've switched to JW Player, but the version hosted by them.   Where do we stand on this issue?

Comment 7

[Peter Bengtsson [:peterbe]]

(In reply to Richard A Milewski[:richard] from comment #6)
> Peter,
> 
> We've switched to JW Player, but the version hosted by them.   Where do we
> stand on this issue?

If you use an Android device, what format you get (webm or mp4) is out of our hands. If you get mp4 I guess we can close this bug. Not sure how to test.

Comment 8

[Richard A Milewski[:richard]]

Mark,

We're moving to a pure javascript player shortly.  Once that happens we should re-test.

Comment 9

[Richard A Milewski[:richard]]

Ok... brainfade.  That player will only be used for live events.  

I think we're stuck with a wontfix.  If anyone has an idea about how to solve this please reopen this bug.