14 DAY TRIAL // This seems to be HTML5 week, when it comes to video at least, and barely a day after YouTube announced that it was starting to support the emerging standard in a number of videos, Vimeo has done the same thing. In fact, it raised the bar as the new HTML5 player is available for all videos on the site as an option and it's actually better than the Flash-based one.
"We are committed to providing our users with high quality viewing options," Andrew Pile, Vimeo VP of Product and Development said. "Many of our members asked for HTML5 support and we listened. We look forward to seeing the results of this beta test."
"The additional player is compatible with the latest versions of Chrome and Safari web browsers and will work with 90% of videos uploaded to Vimeo in the past year. Users can enable the HTML5 player via link below Vimeo's standard Flash Player. Benefits of the HTML5 player include faster loading times and smoother video playback in supported browsers," Vimeo added in a statement.
If you're using one of the browsers mentioned by Vimeo, Chrome or Safari, you should be seeing a "switch to HTML5" link on the right-hand side below every video. Clicking on the link, though, doesn't have any noticeable effect at first glance, besides the page reloading obviously. The player looks identical to the Flash-based one, which is more than what can be said for YouTube. Of course, the minimalistic look of player makes this easier, but it's still a great achievement for the Vimeo team.
And it gets better, using the HTML5 player on Vimeo is more than just an ideological option, it has clear benefits over the Flash one, more than just the, sometimes exaggerated, instability of the Flash Player especially on Mac or Linux. The player loads almost instantly, it's just HTML code - a lot lighter than loading all the Flash content - and there is no more buffering. The video plays straight away, if your internet connection can handle it, and you can jump instantly to any position and continue playback smoothly.
From the looks of it, Vimeo's implementation really proves what can be done with HTML5 and shows that the proposed standard is ready to be a real alternative to proprietary plug-ins when it comes to media content. That said, this is just a beta and there are several limitations, mostly inherent to the early support for the feature in browsers.
Vimeo says about 90 percent of the videos uploaded in the last year should work with the HTML5 player and, in all, 35 percent of videos still require the Flash one. Also, the feature is only available to about 25 percent of Vimeo users, those running Chrome or Safari, a surprisingly high number. Technically, the number should also count those using Chrome Frame for Internet Explorer, but there probably aren't that many. Finally, the videos can't be played in full screen, a limitation in the browser implementations.
Some may be wondering why Firefox, which has great support for many HTML5 features in both 3.5 and the just-released 3.6, is being left out, just like it is on YouTube. The reason is simple, Firefox doesn't support the h.264 video codec which both Vimeo and YouTube use. It was a conscious choice on part of Mozilla which decided to implement support only for open codecs, specifically Theora. This topic is actually the subject of a heated debate in the web development community and, so far, it has reached a stale mate.
"Almost every thread on the internet about HTML5 devolves into some kind of flamewar. Please don't comment here extolling the virtues of open source or unencumbered codecs. We know, it's our job to know, and that conversation has been had a million times," Vimeo's Brad Dougherty explains. "The simple fact is right now h264 allows us the most flexibility to display on many devices and many players with the same file. When that changes, so will we. That's all there is to it, thanks for your understanding!"
Embedded videos still rely on the Flash player. If you go to Vimeo, though, you can check out the video using the HTML5 player and you can compare it to the very same video on YouTube also available with an HTML5 player.
