[whatwg] Scripted querying of <video> capabilities

[Kristof Zelechovski]

Falling back to another method of displaying media is possible without a
dedicated media API.  In this particular case, you can have a video element
with an ogg source and an object running Cortado to display it.  What other
purpose would such an API serve?
Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: whatwg-bounces at lists.whatwg.org
[mailto:whatwg-bounces at lists.whatwg.org] On Behalf Of Tim Starling
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 4:39 PM
To: 'WHATWG List'
Subject: Re: [whatwg] Scripted querying of <video> capabilities

Kristof Zelechovski wrote:
> Why do we need an API to test UA media capabilities?  What purpose would
> such an API serve except for displaying the media to the user - a task
which
> can already be achieved without a dedicated API?
>   

It is useful for websites that wish to use a new or unpopular format
(such as Ogg Theora). If the client does not support the format in
question using <video>, it can fall back to another method.

I am employed to work on just such a website (Wikipedia). I maintain a
Java applet called Cortado that can be used to play Theora/Vorbis
videos, and I wrote an extension for MediaWiki called OggHandler which
uses JavaScript and an extensive series of client-side fallbacks
(including Cortado and <video>) to display Theora/Vorbis files to the user.