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by simonh 3058 days ago
That's pure misdirection. If Apple didn't support HTTP iPhones would not be able to use the web at all. If Apple doesn't support VP8 nobody notices a thing.

Of course faster load times are nice, they will come, but whether it's through VP8, HEVC, VP1, or something else will take time to shake out. Meanwhile somebody on HN will moan about Apple's monopolistic user hostile refusal to support every single blasted codec released ever.

Good grief, there are even people who still think Apple should have supported Flash, and therefore presumably still support it because the world today would be so much better if Flash was still widely used, or something.
1 comments
clouddrover 3058 days ago
> If Apple doesn't support VP8 nobody notices a thing.

I notice. When I build an application which use video streams and I want to be able to use video without having to worry about the licensing implications. I want video to be royalty-free for all use cases just like all other internet formats and protocols are royalty-free. There is no reason for it not to be.

VP9 gives me that today and it's a shame Apple doesn't have VP9 support. Hopefully they'll announce their timetable for AV1 support soon (and maybe VP9 as a bonus).

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simonh 3058 days ago
Then include a renderer for VP9 in your App, as CnX Player does.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cnx-player-ultra-hd-enabled/...

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clouddrover 3058 days ago
I want it out of the box in Safari, like all other browsers offer. Apple will get there eventually with AV1 and hopefully they'll add VP9 support as well. VP9 and AV1 have some features in common which makes implementing support for both easier.
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pwinnski 3058 days ago
That seems incredibly unlikely. The calculus doesn't get better for VP9 as they introduce support for qualitatively better AV1.
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clouddrover 3058 days ago
The installed base is already there for VP9 which is an advantage it currently has over HEVC and AV1:

https://ngcodec.com/news/2017/10/21/why-we-are-supporting-vp...

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acdha 3057 days ago
What’s the quality of that support like? Chrome and Firefox technically support webm but since it’s software the actual user experience is noticeably worse: CPU fans on, struggling to maintain 30 FPS – exactly why Flash fell out of favor so quickly when an optimized alternative showed up.
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phs318u 3057 days ago
We've heard that argument before.

"The installed base is already there for Flash which is an advantage it currently has over HTML5 video"

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