[whatwg] Author control over media preloading/buffering

[timeless]

2009/2/11 Robert O'Callahan <robert at ocallahan.org>:
> So, how about adding an "autobuffer" attribute, which instructs the browser that the user
> will probably play the video and as much data as possible should be pre-downloaded?

> By default (when the attribute is not present) the browser would be expected to pause
> the download after reaching HAVE_CURRENT_DATA if the media element is paused and not 'autoplay'.

if i'm a mobile browser vendor (and I am), and if I expect to use
Bluetooth to talk to a cell phone which has high bandwidth costs (and
if you're using an n800/n810 tethered to a phone in Canada, this is
true), then, i'm not sure I really want web pages to specify things
quite like this.

If we're going to suggest something like this, i'd prefer it to be
something like flex=

bufferpriority="1", bufferpriority="2", which establish a sort and
inform the browser which videos are most important, and the browser
can then choose to collect as many of them as it feels comfortable
collecting, possibly to the point that having played the highest
priority, it proceeds to buffer the next highest priority video. If
there are two things w/ bufferpriority="2", then the browser is free
to treat them equally, but having already played one, it would then
favor the other.

There should be a note indicating that browsers are likely to discount
priority if there are too many things at a given level to buffer
(equivalent to having a box set where 5 children have flex=200).