#“Want to see how the new Google VP8 video looks?”
- Grab a nightly build of the Chromium Browser
- Install it
- Sign-up for HTML5 testing on YouTube (thanks GammaGoblin!)
- Go watch the Prince of Persia Trailer here in that browser
- If you see HTML5 and WebM in the footer of the video (as above), then you are watching a video in your browser without Flash and without the patent-riddled H.264
- Click on 720p to get the best quality.
- I can't see how to go full screen on it tho. Presumably that is coming soon.
- It's all done using HTML5 and the VP8 codec that Google fully open-sourced last week
- Mightn't mean much to you as a punter but as you can see, the quality is bloody good
- The lack of patents or single-vendor lock-in is why HTML, http and other web standards were able to thrive and enable new businesses
- The lack of a decent alternative to Flash as a delivery mechanism for video is why it thrived in the same period
- Let's hope we see VP8 and the WebM project enabling a whole new generation of video products and businesses.