买家指南:玩家技术

本文刊登在…的二/三月号 流媒体 杂志，年度 流媒体行业资料手册. 在这些买方指南文章中, 我们并不声称涵盖某一特定类别的所有产品或供应商, but rather provide our readers with the 信息 they need to make smart purchasing decisions, sometimes using specific vendors or products as exemplars of those features and services.

假设你刚刚发现自己有资格升级手机, 许多新的智能手机正在争夺你的注意力. 你已经花了两个小时在工作中仔细研究一些手机的细节, 阅读评论, 向你Facebook上的朋友寻求建议.

After talking to a representative at a local mobile phone store and handling the phones that made the final cut, 你选择最适合你需要的手机. 然后你要在店里多花一个小时, 将联系人和其他数据从旧手机转移到新手机, 闪亮的替换.

在回家的路上，你收到一封邮件，里面有一个同事发来的视频链接. 在一个长长的红灯处，你点击链接观看视频，你会看到 ... 没有什么.

这种情况在美国每天发生数万次.S. 而且，可能每天在全球范围内发生数百万次. The inability to play video content on mobile devices—and even on a growing number of over-the-top or set-top boxes—is so common that it has lowered expectations across the board for the general public.

即使对我们中的技术达人来说也是如此, this problem has spawned a truism: You can never have enough video players on your devices. 看看任何一个应用商店, 从安卓到苹果, and you’ll see that the video player category has a respectable number of options.

视频播放器清单 So what are the factors you should consider when you choose a player for your content (or a device to watch it on, 就此而言)? 以下是选择玩家技术时需要考虑的6个因素:

1. 目标设备上的本机播放器是否播放内容?

大多数设备制造商在他们的网站上都有规格说明, and many wireless providers also have the equivalent but more generic list of content types. 制造商会列出格式(MP4, MOV, AVI, Flash等).), 而无线运营商通常只列出网站(如YouTube), Vimeo, 自有品牌的网站, 等.).

Neither of these site or specifications lists, in their current form, are particularly useful. 原因如下:首先, 在服务提供商的情况下, 列出的网站有数百万个视频, 有很多不同的格式, 并不是所有这些网站上的内容都能在任何一部手机上播放. 除了, many of the sites—with the exception of the 自有品牌的网站 such as a V CAST or Sprint TV— will switch encoding or delivery methods to respond to the broader desktop market, 随着移动设备更新(或修复)被降级为慢速列车.

第二个, 关于制造商的规格表, 这些容器格式并不能传达全部内容, 我们将在下一点看到. 像这样, we recommend spending time in the store viewing videos from a variety of websites before purchasing the phone.

2. Does the player support both the format and codec combination of your content?

故事的另一半, 超出容器格式(MP4), MOV, AVI)是容器格式所使用的编解码器的数量. 编解码器，如H.264, VP6, or even VC-1 (formerly known as Windows Media Video 9) may be supported by one device but not another. 除了, the combination of any or all codecs and formats is often not supported.

我们将以最近推出的谷歌电视机顶盒Logitech Revue为例. 官方的Android 3.1 .谷歌电视.0) release allows for support of the Matroska (MKV) container format as well as the MPEG-2 codec. 而至少有一个竞争对手的产品支持完整的Android 3.1 .规格，罗技盒没有.

On store shelves, the outside of the Revue box says, “New and improved with Android 3.并且没有列出容器格式或编解码器组合. So purchasers only discover that Logitech doesn’t support the full Android specification on the “new and improved” version after spending frustrating hours trying to play videos that match the official specification.

3. Does an add-on player provide any other codecs or container formats above and beyond those supported by the core operating system, 无需越狱?

这对于移动设备来说尤其重要, 但它在机顶盒方面的重要性也在增加.

Just because the chipset of a particular device may support the codec and container format of your choice, it does not mean that the company will support the capabilities of the chip (Logitech does not officially support the MPEG-2 codec, 尽管Revue的芯片组能够做到这一点). So the only way to play some content on some devices is to jailbreak the device. 这样做会使保证无效，在某些地方可能是违法的, 尽管这些法律对个人设备所有者来说正在慢慢改变.

在一些玩家-设备组合中, 然而, the core operating system officially supports the ability to install an application that, 反过来, 添加其他编解码器. 经常, 播放器应用程序将是免费的, but the app creator will charge a nominal amount for the additional codec packs to offset the cost of codec licensing and royalty fees.

4. 播放器是否需要下载一个特殊的插件?

在大多数用户心中, there is a big difference between downloading an application and downloading a plug-in for the web browser.

Adobe recently announced that it was ending ongoing development of the Flash Mobile Player for Android devices. 该插件用于Android的原生Chrome移动web浏览器. 同时, 虽然, Adobe reiterated support for embedding the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) into stand-alone apps. 因为AIR包含Flash播放器功能, Adobe is eliminating the need for mobile users to download a plug-in update every time a new one is available, while also putting the burden of testing video playback within an app squarely on the shoulders of the app developer.

Apple capitalized on the app versus plug-in difference in iOS, which powers a number of devices. 苹果公司已故董事长, 史蒂夫•乔布斯, 众所周知，苹果拒绝在iOS移动浏览器上安装Flash Player插件, Safari, persuading content owners instead to deliver content in Apple’s preferred format.

5. 内容在所有设备上的播放方式是否相同?

直到最近, 除了iOS设备, we had the promise of having the Flash Player on everything from Mac and Windows laptops to set-top boxes and mobile handsets. HTML5的出现把水搅浑了一点, as has the need to deliver content to Apple devices in Apple’s preferred manner. But the looming issue is less about whether the content will play on a device and more about whether it plays consistently across multiple devices.

拥有iPad平板电脑和Android手机的用户, 例如, may see a difference in both content presentation and consistency of delivery, 取决于哪个播放器应用程序首先更新. 如果你渴望用户和观看体验的一致性, 我们建议您在所有设备上查看来自首选网站的内容, 使用每个设备上可用的播放器, 在适应一个特定的球员之前.

6. 玩家如何处理索引和组织内容?

我们有些人是洁癖, with an almost compulsive obsession to organize our media content as neatly we organize our sock drawers. For the rest of us, 虽然, a player that can double as an organizational tool is an added bonus. User interface and the organizational functions of a mobile video player will probably be the key differentiator within a few years time, as the industry coalesces around one or two basic video format-codec combinations.