FlashComGuru.com - The Original Flash Video, Flash Media Server and Flash Platform Resource: CBS Launches New HD Video Player

Posted At : June 3, 2008 9:02 AM | Posted By : Stefan Richter | Related Categories: Press Releases , Videos & Players

CBS have launched their redesigned Flash based video player supporting H.264 HD videos. Viewers are able to watch full length episodes of their favorite shows such as CSI, Criminal Minds and How I met Your Mother, to name but a few.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to bring up any of the content which I presume is down to geographical restrictions. Hopefully viewers from the US could try the player and tell us about their experience by leaving a comment below.

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I wonder if all the full length videos are H.264 HD or just some? I don't know. I watched a few minutes of several of the videos. They look good but not great. Going full screen loses a little bit more of the quality but to be honest with you, as an end user, I can't tell the difference from an H.264 HD video and a VP6 HD video. After a video is encoded at a certain quality in Flash does it really matter which codec is used? It still doesn't match ABC.com HD video though.

# Posted By TMD | 6/3/08 1:38 PM

thanks for the comment. I'm not sure either if and how many of the clips use H.264 - maybe it's just being rolled out?

# Posted By Stefan Richter | 6/3/08 1:40 PM

Well... it's ok...
The only thing in Flash, as you saw, is the video player. Can't browse other videos without reloading the page and starting a new ad. Kind of painful.

Also, they took the easy road in fullscreen. No playback controls and it stays in 4x3 format with bars at the top and bottom. So on my wide monitor there is a ton of wasted space all the way around.

Finally, the quality was ok, but not even close to some of the demos (even non HD) that I've seen on FlashComGuru. Maybe the episodes of How I Met Your Mother I watched weren't HD...?

For me, it was similar to a scaled down YouTube experience.

Just my two cents!

# Posted By Joe Hakooz | 6/3/08 1:47 PM

I like it... because I can find all the streaming urls and play them on my tv.

# Posted By Chuck | 6/3/08 3:56 PM

I'm from Brazil and I was unable to watch them :(

anyway... i don't like CSI that much! ;D

# Posted By Hacebe | 6/4/08 4:43 AM

hey guys, for those of you that cant watch the CBS thing, here are some screenshots

http://x1fm.com/myspace/cbsplayerscreenshotA.jpg
http://x1fm.com/myspace/cbsplayerscreenshotB.jpg

the player is way ugly, they tried to pull the HULU thing, but i must say they were unsuccessful, not my favorite site, but in my list

# Posted By Ram | 6/4/08 8:50 PM

Check my Flash8 HD and you will see that my playback and quality is much better!!! At: www.interactivedna.com/HD_FullScreen.html

Best,

Ney

# Posted By Ney Vasconcelos | 6/17/08 4:08 AM

CBS... "another bad video quality on the web!"

Well, I did check the CBS video and they do not look so great... I think that the Youtube video quality is near to the end... And CBS made a bad move to choose such bad quality in today's broadband world.

Anyway, Here are the two versions of my new player and compression:

Film:
http://www.interactivedna.com/HD_FullScreen/
High Definition:
http://www.interactivedna.com/Neys-HD/

Let me know of any feedback!!! Thanks

Ney

# Posted By Ney Vasconcelos | 6/17/08 2:15 PM

i thought the quaility was ok. not earth shattering by any means.

# Posted By phil | 6/23/08 3:22 AM

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