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.
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.
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raghus – 4 months ago
+1
I've always wondered about this as well.
Michael Hart – 4 months 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 months 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 months ago
Also coming very soon, plus a widget API to show previews within your web page.
dhchoi – 4 weeks 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 – 4 weeks 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 – 4 weeks 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 – 4 weeks 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 – 4 weeks 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 – 4 weeks 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 – 4 weeks 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.