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281

answers:

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I would like to know if it is possible to create something like "Picture in Picture" on an iPad - native application or web-based content, it doesn't matter. I started from mobile safari, trying to see if I can play two videos at the same time, but when I touch on one video, the other stops. I wonder if it could be possible to load a video on the background and maybe bring it on top of another video through a canvas for example.

Thanks for any suggestion!

A: 

Based on my experience and understanding of how the iPad currently works, this isn't possible.

Mobile Safari on the iPad cuts a hole for a Quicktime window , which plays back the video using the built in hardware acceleration to improve battery life. (The iPhone and iPod Touch just open it up in a separate window to achieve the same effect.)

This window doesn't play nicely with the other HTML on the page. In fact, I haven't found a way to get mobile Safari to display anything on top of a <video> tag. My guess is that this is because the hardware acceleration only allows for video scaling and positioning, and that it's only able to handle one video at a time.

zach at longtail
Thank you for the reply - I'd like to research that a bit more before marking your answer as correct.
Irene