The chosen one: Flash OR Silverlight OR HTML5?

Question

I am going to develop a video sharing (for certain types of videos & open to public) site. I am planning to use Sorenson squeeze than FFMPEG for processing. Anyone has other options?

These are some basic requirements:

**My app is a .NET app. So you might think go with Silverlight. But I want to use the best one

Quality of video when played has to be best Smallest size for the deployment package/files Ease of player customizations + Rich API Videos should play smoothly on pc and mobile devices w/o much extra plugins Good streaming support Support in all OS (Linux? Yes) Support HD

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

None of the Above are going to be a sliver bullet for you. HTML5 is still in flux and not fully implemented, let alone has the browser share of HTML5 compliant versions of browsers hit the butter zone. Silverlight kicks to the curb some of your users, and Flash is hit or miss on linux.

If i was in your shoes, i'd go Flash or HTML5. Browsers will be updating soonish, but Flash, for all it's wonderful horrible faults, is still pretty "solid" from an end user presentation perspective.

Answer 2

It's way to early for HTML5. Screw Linux, at least if you don't provide beard related products. If you want to support Linux keep in mind Silverlight 1 + 2: ok with Moonlight (I'd rather have Moonshine), Silverlight 3+: Maybe in a few years. If your main goal is streaming HD videos, give the DIVX WebPlayer a chance. Quality is top.

DivX

Answer 3

I suggest, you pick a main market first, and then implement the app in the way, that is fastest and easiest and will work for your target audience. Once the app's online, and people are using it, then you can create additional clients to expand.
For example, you might say, you're fine with PC and Mac users, you don't care for linux or mobile devices and go with flash. If the user reception is good, then the users will tell you, where they want you to go next. Will they cry out for iPhone support? Will they say "app's great, but flash sucks"? Who knows.

Don't try do build a software that runs perfect on all platform. That never works. Build a server, build one client that works perfectly on a set of platforms you choose beforehand and then ask your self, which other platforms are worth the effort of a port.

Personally, I think flash is the best choice. As of now, it has the highest market penetration among your options. And it's easy to roll your own player, but even if you don't want to, there are tons of open source and commercial solutions.

greetz
back2dos