Mobile Optimized Templates don't work as HTML5 Smart Players? [ Edited ]

[CantinaAdam]

http://support.brightcove.com/en/docs/player-templates#mobileVideoPlayer

http://support.brightcove.com/en/docs/player-templates#mobileHoriz

When looking at this documentation, it would seem that on the surface these templates would be "optimized" for mobile use, including HTML5-based devices (iOS).  However, in looking at the BEML for these, there are unsupported elements (VideoDisplay is one) which makes these not work at all as Smart Players.  The Smart Player doc is here:

http://support.brightcove.com/en/docs/delivering-video-html5-and-smart-players

Am I missing something?  This is very confusing.  Are these templates only "optimized" for mobile Flash-based consumption?

If anyone can clarify this I'd be very appreciative.

Thanks,

Adam

[BC-Bob]

Yes, our naming for these templates can certainly cause a certain amount of confusion. These two templates are not yet supported for HTML5 because we have not implemented HTML5 rendering for some of the BEML elements yet. So at the moment, these are players with optimized form factors for Flash-based mobile delivery (e.g. on Android phones or tablets). 

We've been chipping away at full BEML compatibility for HTML5 and had a big release a couple of weeks ago to support single playlist players. We've got some work to do to support multi-playlist players and some of these other BEML elements like VideoDisplay and MediaControls. 

Those are going to be top priorities in early 2011.

Stay tuned!

[c1video]

I am following the directions to use a smart player for delivering HTML5 video but none of the videos are showing up.  On my iPhone and iPad I get the shell of the player with no video.  I have enabled HTML5 delivery, made sure that there is a playerKey in the Javascript code AND disabled enhanced security.  I'm doing this with the "Widescreen with Horizontal List 3.0" player but it doesn't seem to work.  

Please let me know if there are any solutions to this. Thanks!

[BC-Bob]

Is it possible for you to share a URL to access this player to we can take a look directly?

[c1video]

This site is a work in progress but here is the page /video player in question: http://www.whybuyit.com/?p=19

[BC-Bob]

Unfortunately there appears to be an error with the site at the moment. When I access the page it reports:

Warning: include(/home/html/wp-content/themes/monokrome/404.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/html/wp-includes/template-loader.php on line 43

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/home/html/wp-content/themes/monokrome/404.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') in /home/html/wp-includes/template-loader.php on line 43

Warning: include(/home/html/wp-content/themes/monokrome/404.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/html/wp-includes/template-loader.php on line 43
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/home/html/wp-content/themes/monokrome/404.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') in /home/html/wp-includes/template-loader.php on line 43

However, I did find another video player page and I introspected the data being returned to the player and I believe your videos are encoded in On2 VP6 (aka FLV) format. HTML5 players require H.264-encoded videos files for playback, so please make sure that when you are uploading your video you have your Upload settings chosen to 'H.264' by taking the following steps:

a. In the Media Module, click 'Upload Videos'

b. Select your video file, but do not upload it yet

c. Click the 'Edit Settings' link to open the Upload Settings dialog box

d. Select both 'H.264' radio buttons

e. Click 'Done' and upload your video

To change this specific video to an MP4, please check out our documentation on our Re-encode feature:

http://support.brightcove.com/en/docs/re-encoding-existing-videos

If you are using your own encoder or these are legacy files that exist in FLV format only then you might need to do additional work to ensure the video files are compatible with mobile devices. 

I would definitely recommend talking to your Customer Support team to provide additional help. 

http://support.brightcove.com/en/contact

[BC-Robert]

Hi Adam,

You are correct, and this is one of the snafus in trying to hit the moving target of mobile delivery. The Mobile Optimized templates were created before the HTML5 wave hit, and you are correct: they currently don't work as Smart Players because of some unsupported BEML components -- eventually we will add HTML5 support for those components, and the templates will then work as Smart Players. I don't have an estimate on exactly when that will happen, but we're working on it.

Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for you patience,

Robert