Would it be possible in a later version of the API to include a URL to the title preview clip (where available)? I'm not sure if the previews are in a special format, if if they are in one of the standard formats, it would be nice to be able to get to them via the API.
Sorry, guys. We can only supply previews to Netflix-branded applications at this time. We are working on a widget-based preview player though. Stay tuned.
I was wondering if you could just put an indicator in the title record that said a preview was available? That way I could open up a browser window on the Netflix page to play the preview. This way, Netflix still gets the access, and the user knows there's a preview available.
OK, sure. A question about this. In iPhone apps, a video is playable in the app only if the video can be presented as a flash movie embedded in a web page. Will this be possible with the new preview API?
Really? Here are the supported iPhone video formats I pulled from Apple's site:
Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
The issue I'm concerned about here is more specific. The iPhone can play a lot of video codecs, but from what I've read, the only way to launch a video from within a (non-video) iPhone app without quitting the app (so that when the video is finished, you are returned to where you were in the app) is to use the flash movie embedding technique.
http://apiblog.youtube.com/2009/02/youtube-apis-iphone-cool-mobile-apps.html (see number 2)
This doesn't look possible for us. Looks like an elegant hack for YouTube videos only. My guess is that they switch to an h.264 stream:
No, the iPhone still doesn't do Flash, but if you haven't already noticed, the Safari browser on the iPhone is clever enough to turn any YouTube embed into a clickable thumbnail that launches the native YouTube player app on the phone. You can take advantage of this feature in your app by using a UIWebView.
This is delayed indefinitely at this point. The public API work is now largely drafting off of the work we do to support Netflix applications on devices, and this isn't a high priority scenario currently.
We did support previews briefly in the widgets, but that functionality has regressed. We may fix that soon.
My app simply opens the native youtube app (Palm WebOS in my case) with the title and "trailer" for the search and that seems to work pretty decent as a placeholder.
What I was hoping was just an indication in the title record that one was available so I could direct the user to the website to view it. I guess I could just send them to the webpage for the movie and hope for the best, but it would sure be nice to let them know if one even existed.
Would it be possible in a later version of the API to include a URL to the title preview clip (where available)? I'm not sure if the previews are in a special format, if if they are in one of the standard formats, it would be nice to be able to get to them via the API.
Message edited by dhchoi 2 years ago
Tags
raghus – 3 years ago
+1
I've always wondered about this as well.
Michael Hart – 3 years ago
Sorry, guys. We can only supply previews to Netflix-branded applications at this time. We are working on a widget-based preview player though. Stay tuned.
Dan Hinsley – 2 years ago
I was wondering if you could just put an indicator in the title record that said a preview was available? That way I could open up a browser window on the Netflix page to play the preview. This way, Netflix still gets the access, and the user knows there's a preview available.
Dan
Michael Hart – 2 years ago
Also coming very soon, plus a widget API to show previews within your web page.
dhchoi – 2 years ago
This will be a great addition to the API. Could you please let us know here in this discussion thread when the preview widget is released. Thanks.
Michael Hart – 2 years ago
Will do, but the announcement will go to our blog feed and twitter feed by default. You won't have to wait much longer.
dhchoi – 2 years ago
OK, sure. A question about this. In iPhone apps, a video is playable in the app only if the video can be presented as a flash movie embedded in a web page. Will this be possible with the new preview API?
Michael Hart – 2 years ago
Really? Here are the supported iPhone video formats I pulled from Apple's site:
Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
dhchoi – 2 years ago
The issue I'm concerned about here is more specific. The iPhone can play a lot of video codecs, but from what I've read, the only way to launch a video from within a (non-video) iPhone app without quitting the app (so that when the video is finished, you are returned to where you were in the app) is to use the flash movie embedding technique.
http://apiblog.youtube.com/2009/02/youtube-apis-iphone-cool-mobile-apps.html (see number 2)
dhchoi – 2 years ago
By the way, this is not a pressing issue. If providing a Flash version isn't possible right now, that's fine with me.
Michael Hart – 2 years ago
This doesn't look possible for us. Looks like an elegant hack for YouTube videos only. My guess is that they switch to an h.264 stream:
No, the iPhone still doesn't do Flash, but if you haven't already noticed, the Safari browser on the iPhone is clever enough to turn any YouTube embed into a clickable thumbnail that launches the native YouTube player app on the phone. You can take advantage of this feature in your app by using a UIWebView.
Dan Hinsley – 2 years ago
Thought I'd check in and see if there's any news about this. 7 months ago it was RSN.
Michael Hart – 2 years ago
This is delayed indefinitely at this point. The public API work is now largely drafting off of the work we do to support Netflix applications on devices, and this isn't a high priority scenario currently.
We did support previews briefly in the widgets, but that functionality has regressed. We may fix that soon.
Doron – 2 years ago
My app simply opens the native youtube app (Palm WebOS in my case) with the title and "trailer" for the search and that seems to work pretty decent as a placeholder.
Dan Hinsley – 2 years ago
What I was hoping was just an indication in the title record that one was available so I could direct the user to the website to view it. I guess I could just send them to the webpage for the movie and hope for the best, but it would sure be nice to let them know if one even existed.