A couple of particularly interesting aspects of the video can be seen from the screenshot included here:

• The ‘Powered by 5′  logo (bottom right) signals that this video is embedded  directly within HTML 5.
• The ‘Toggle captions’ button demonstrates how captions for video clips can easily be switched on and off in HTML5.

Viewing the source of the video, we see the following HTML5 code:

 <div id='video'>
      <video controls autoplay>
	<source src="http://media.w3.org/2011/11/w3c_video_small.mp4" type="video/mp4">
	<source src="http://media.w3.org/2011/11/w3c_video_small.webm" type="video/webm">
        <text lang='en' type="application/ttaf+xml" src="w3c_video_captions.ttml"></text>
	<div style='width: 640px; height: 360px;'>
	  <p>No Video Support.</p>
	</div>
      </video>
      <div id='captions'>
      </div>
    </div>
  <p><button onclick="toggle_captions()" type="button">Toggle captions</button></p>

Simple

The screen shot included here was captured using Firefox 8 running on a Windows 7 PC.  I have also viewed this video using Internet Explorer 9 and Chrome together with Firefox and Safari on an Apple Macintosh.  But what about mobile devices?

The image to the right shows the same video clip being viewed on an iPod Touch. A similar display was also available on a HTC Sensation phone running Android 2.3.

It does not seem possible to display captions on the mobile devices, so it seems we are still waiting for a completely compatible environment across desktop and mobile platforms.  However in light of yesterday’s TechCrunch article, which described “Steve’s Last Laugh: Adobe Killing Off Flash For Mobile Devices“, the Adobe / Macromedia vision of a proprietary Flash environment for delivering cross-platform multimedia content appears unlikely. Instead, we now have further evidence that HTML5 provides what some people have described as “the operating system for mobile devices”. But if you view the video you will see that the TV and entertainment industry also regards HTML5 as the platform that can help overcome the standards wars bedevilling that sector in the past.

Earlier this year, the W3C described their plans for Television, Mobile, and the Web of Devices. A Web and TV Interest Group was established in February 2011. The Third W3C Web and TV Workshop, which took place in Hollywood in September 2011, produced a range of plans from companies such as Microsoft (PDF format), Google (plain text format), Adobe (PDF format) and AT&T (PDF format). Here are some interesting comments from these papers:

Adobe: “W3C is faced with a significant technical and standardization problem – the possible creation of two competing specifications for video captioning, depending upon whether the video is TV or browser based. The issue is divisive and can potentially fragment the market. Adobe believes that the situation does admit of a technical solution – but one which will require people on both sides of the argument to willingly work together. Adobe believes that the W3C should act to correct this situation based upon our suggestion for a possible way forward.”

Google: “HTML5 is offering a generic means to associate time-aligned text or metadata with audio and video resources through the new <track> element.”

Microsoft: “At the second W3C Web and TV work shop Microsoft and other companies discussed the need to define cross-platform broadband video standards supporting adaptive HTTP streaming, common encryption and DRM interoperability.
Six months later we find that these standards are becoming a reality, enabling scenarios which HTML5 should support. At the third Web and TV work shop we would like to discuss the impact of these emerging international standards on content creators, distributors and consumers, and the importance of HTML5 supporting these scenarios. In our presentation we would provide an overview of these emerging standards, share thoughts on the scenarios enabled by these standards, and suggest ways that HTML5 might support those new scenarios.”

AT&T: “HTML5 with the enhancements being proposed by the Web and TV Interest Group has the potential to accelerate the already growing market for converged IP Video Services. AT&T is proposing a short use case that we hope can be used to help evaluate HTML5 specifications against some of the key requirements to enable this acceleration.”

Significant industry players seem to be aligning themselves with the W3C in providing support for and proposing further  developments of multimedia content delivery across a range of devices.  Whereas Flash had provided a dominant proprietary solution for several years, there now appears to be an agreed open alternative. In addition to gaining experience in use of HTML5,  some players may now face another challenge in migrating from existing proprietary solutions.