Dear Aunt TUAW: Is Flash video working on iPad yet?
Dear Aunt TUAW,
I keep hearing about applications like Skyfire working on the iPad so we can watch Flash video. But when I hop over to Hulu, it says I have to join Hulu Plus to view videos.
Why does Hulu act like this? What am I doing wrong?
Love,
Your nephew Chris W.
Dear Chris,
Skyfire does indeed offer Flash video support. When it detects embedded video (typically when you browse across a page that has a Flash error message), the application connects to Skyfire's servers to transcode that FLV content so that it'll play on your iPad or other iOS device. Skyfire's Flash support is limited to video; it does not enable Flash games or apps.
Unfortunately, some monetized sites, like Hulu, disable iPad video access through any solution outside of the custom Hulu Plus player. The same content you can watch on your laptop cannot be viewed from your iPad, even with Skyfire's Flash support.
To see what's going on, you need to tap the button at the bottom-right of the Skyfire screen. The button name varies depending on the state of the web page you visit, starting with "analyzing" and ending up with "info" or "video," or similar. Although Skyfire's FAQ page suggests that you need to tap the button to begin analysis, I found that the button automatically started the process upon visiting any new page.
When viewing the Hulu site, tapping this button (labeled "info" on the iPhone, "video info" on the iPad) brought up this information pop-over, making it clear that "Hulu is not making videos available for mobile browsers."
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Source: http://hulu.com/
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Dear Aunt TUAW, I keep hearing about applications like Skyfire working on the iPad so we can watch Flash video. But when I hop over to...
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Flash arguments notwithstanding, as someone considering an iPad purchase, it gives me pause to find out I'll be locked out of watching Hulu on it. That's a BIG problem. It's unlikely I'll ever be willing to pay for Hulu+. What's on Hulu is fine for me, even with commercials. Actually, the only thing that REALLY annoys about the commercials is that often the SAME damn ad runs during every break. They need to get some variety.
April 06 2011 at 3:12 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyDoes TVDevo work on iPad? - I have been an Apple user for a long time and want to buy an iPad now. Does anyone know if you can still watch TV online through the TVDevo website service using the iPad? I know they offer a ton of live and on-demand TV for Windows andMac, but not sure if they support the iPad??
April 05 2011 at 5:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHere I sit, typing this message from my iPad.
So what do I think about not being able to run Flash apps from Safari on my iDevice of choice?
It sucks. I love my iPad but... I'm a Flash developer.
And no, I don't make those annoying banner ads.
Allow me to remind you - there's a WHOLE LOT MORE TO FLASH THAN JUST VIDEO!
Don't get me wrong, flash isn't the only or even optimal way to deliver video, imho. In regards to to video delivery, sure, use some other method. My problem is all the Flash based applications and games that can't and don't run.
Do you realize that I could run some flash on my old PSP? Very limited perhaps but it was possible. A PSP's dinky little browser runs flash, but not my iPad.
The apple product line has attracted artists, designers and developers of every kind for years. Adobe's Flash is a design and development system Which happens to be very popular with beginning game makers and digital artists of various kinds for it's power and flexibility. The two logically go together but someone up the ladder decided, for our own good, that we shouldn't have Flash because it was, in essence, potentially bad for us (or our iPads anyway.)
Granted, I could translate my Flash app into the iDevice friendly version and make it available through the store but that doesn't work for apps that are meant to be integral parts of a website.
I could replace parts of websites that are flash based with JavaScript alternatives BUT, that doesn't work so well with graphics intensive applications such as games or interactive video apps.
Apple - hear this: I do love the iPad but if I can't run flash from the browser, I'm going to have to get an Android or worse, a W*****s tablet instead.
I'm a Mac user. I'm an iPad user. I'm a web developer. I'm a flash developer.
Get the picture?
Well Mr Flash Developer, maybe you should take to Adobe about the fact that they can't seem to make a Mobile Flash that works better than decent on an OS. If they could pull that off, and they promised to make an actual native iOS version instead of slapping on port code like they did with the Windows and Mac OS desktop versions then you would have a reason to fuss at Steve about not allowing it.
But the hardware in an iPad is not tough enough to handle something that is going to suck up RAM, battery etc and right now that is the state of Mobile Flash
:) Maybe you're right. I was a little worked up when I typed that out. That post was bit out of character for me.
Today I had three people ask me how I liked my iPad and in each case I had to tell them the truth, which is that for all I like about the iPad, the inability to run flash from the browser continues to be frustrating.
I dunno. It just sits wrong that the PSP could run flash a but sleek Apple product can't.
I guess nothing's perfect bit why oh why did THIS have to be one of the iPad's shortcomings?
Totally rubs me the wrong way.
When I first purchased the iPad I had this idea stuck in my head of relaunching an MMO flash project I once ran. I thought it would be so awesome to be able to access my system from anywhere via my iPad. Sure I'd have to redesign some things. I would probably have to make some specialized versions of some of the components just for tablets, but it would be so worth it to be able to log in from anywhere I could get online with my 'pad. Even better, the touch interface would make my little world that much more 'real'...and cool. Sadly, it doesn't look like that's going to happen real soon.
It's not all Apple's fault. I know that. Adobe has to get on the stick too to make this happen. I just couldn't believe Apple actually banned Flash from the iDevices. Even though it was for a good reason it still seemed unthinkable. Now I think heard somewhere that Apple has changed their stance on the matter and that puts the ball in Adobe's court. I hope that I heard right.
Or just wait for a sale and get a yearly subscription for a fraction of the price.
With some fancy deal, I ended up getting a year for $5.
Or if it goes on sale, buy a permanent license. I have seen it go for around 30 bucks or so.
But it does work okay. It's not perfect, but it works.
The quality through playon is SD. if you're expecting to see anything in high definition, it isn't going to happen.
Dear TUAW,
Is Flash off the Internet yet?
Does anyone else have streaming issues with Hulu? I might be swayed to subscribe to Hulu+ if it were not for their lame delivery. I have Netflix which has never had a single problem streaming to me over my 1.5mbps AT&T connection. Not a single re-buffer. Hulu on the other hand constantly re-buffers, and the advertisements are useless since they pause so many times.
April 05 2011 at 12:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI mostly use Skyfire for ESPN3.com. The quality is mediocre and there is the annoying delay in loading the page. Outside of that, I usually don't care that iOS has no Flash support, I'd rather just have the sites support other formats.
April 05 2011 at 11:36 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyAtomic Web, an alternate browser for the iPad/iPhone will allow you to set the browser identification from Mobile Safari to, for example, Firefox 3 which Hulu then won't complain about and allow you to browse videos. It still will open Hulu+ to watch the videos however.
Altering your browser ID is an effective way to get around some site restrictions though.
Be careful of Hulu+. only about half of the shows available on their site are available on Hulu+. I cancelled my subscription because favorites like Fringe and House were not available in the app but where on the website for free.
April 05 2011 at 9:02 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyJust Say NO to Flash...
April 05 2011 at 8:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyJust say "no" to propaganda. Steve's position on Flash is more interesting than I think most people realize. He gives some good reasons why he doesn't think people should use it on iOS, most of which are good reasons for at least making it an optional install by default.
But, the real reason he doesn't want it is because just before the iMac, when Apple was not doing well, Steve wanted Macromedia to make Flash exclusively for mac. They laughed at him and refused to be exclusive. Now, Steve gets to punish them.
While HTML 5 is great, Flash does a lot more than it. If our browsers only live on standards, there is nothing to push the limits. The features that are included in standards need to be innovated by something, someone, somewhere. Once they become popular then they are adopted by standards. Saying no to Flash is saying no to innovation.
How is it that you know that Jobs is so petty? It's pretty well documented that he's a results-oriented person, has a great deal of peace of mind, doesn't suffer from emotional problems, and has no need to prove anything to anybody. I mean...how's Adobe doing these days, to say nothing of Macromedia?
Sure Flash does more than HTML5 now, but it's a risk/reward situation, as well as a future-proofing one.There are legions of users who can attest that Flash slows their systems to a crawl all too often. If I was in Jobs' shoes I wouldn't want that on my users' systems either, lest the less knowledgeable among them (i.e., most of them) make bad guesses, inevitably not in Apple's favor, as to the cause.
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TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple.
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