Please note that this is not production ready code. It’s still a proof of concept at this point basically where I am just writing ugly code in an effort to get the functionality there so I can test it. Large portions of it aren’t even coded yet (FLV support for example).
I’m only sharing it for anyone who builds on top of my plugin or whatnot with their own code. Everyone else shouldn’t bother looking at it.
Do you use Flowplayer on your website and have any additional configuration parameters? If so, can you please leave a comment on this post saying in what way you have customized the player (autoplay, etc. etc.).
I’m currently recoding my Video Quicktags plugin to use Flowplayer and I need to know what configuration options I need to allow the user to specify. I’m new to the player, so I don’t want to leave anything out that a lot of users will want to use. (I already have support for the commercial version on my todo list.)
I am in the early stages on recoding my Viper’s Video Quicktags plugin from scratch and in the process I will be replacing JW Player with a free and open-source alternative. JW Player is really great, but sadly it’s released under a non-commercial license which just won’t do.
So please, if you know of any good Flash players that will do FLV, MP4, etc. please leave a comment with a link!
Here’s my list so far of players to compare and pick between: (I’ll update this list with suggestions)
Flowplayer (currently leaning towards this one, it seems really badass)
UPDATE: This post no longer applies (or works) as YouTube now has built-in HD support for embeds.
Wired is reporting that YouTube now has a 720p-ish (reports vary on what resolution it truely is, but it’s sure good) video playback support. Even more important, the audio is stereo instead of mono (you can really hear the improved quality).
YouTube’s default video resolution is utter crap (not sure what the resolution is) and the existing higher quality video was 480×360. This new video resolution is 2-3 times as good as the previous “high quality” resolution.
To prove it, here’s some sample videos. The difference is more apparent if you click the fullscreen button, especially if you have a large monitor. Make sure to also have your speakers or headphones on to notice the improved audio quality.
YouTube Default (Low Quality)
YouTube’s Previous High Quality
YouTube’s New HD Quality
I have added support to my Video Quicktags plugin but note that if a video does not have the HD quality version available (99% or more don’t), it will drop back to the lowest quality format. As a result, I don’t recommend making the HD format your default on your blog. Instead, set the quality to 22 like this:
Yes, that’s right — 1-2 months, 3200+ lines of code, and countless cans of Dr. Pepper later, the new version of Viper’s Video Quicktags has been released!
It’s a complete recode literally from scratch (essentially no old code was used) and is incredibly more powerful and feature filled than before.
The only way to really see all the new features is to try it yourself, but here’s a taste of it:
TinyMCE, the plugin’s buttons, and the plugin’s dialog window
YouTube configuration page
DailyMotion configuration page with Farbtastic color picker showing
If there’s a feature or a video site that you would like to see supported in the next version, the comments section of this post is the place to post it. Please note that in order for a video website to be supported, the URL in your address bar must have something in common with the embed code. What I mean is the URL can’t be this:
Notice that there is no way for my plugin to figure out the embed ID from the video’s URL.
Perhaps in a future version I’ll add the ability for you to paste in the HTML embed code and the Javascript powered button will figure out the video ID before inserting it into the post (just inserting the HTML itself into the post would defeat the purpose of this plugin), but not for now.
Oh, and here’s a sneak preview of my work in progress configuration screen:
