Video: Challenges of Migrating from Flash to HTML5

With the this-time-not-exaggerated death of Flash as 2016 draws to a close, a mass migration to HTML5 is underway. What do content owners need to know before they take the leap? What solutions are available to streamline the process? Disney's Mark Acana, speaking for a massive library of premium entertainment content, explains the challenges Disney is facing as they migrate their content, and the considerations other content owners should take into account as they plot a similar course.

Learn more about codec migration at Streaming Media East.

Read the transcript of this video:

Mark Arana: We have an application called Disney Movies Anywhere, and we've been in the process of migrating it over to HTML5. Some areas are complete. I can tell you that there are no easy turnkey solutions for that. There are certainly players out there that can handle one library that you can deploy on multiple browsers, but it's not easy. Your team has to know this stuff inside and out. Unfortunately, there isn't a single content protection system that easily goes across all the major platforms that goes across all of the major platforms including iOS and Android, at least if you want to get to that HD 720p, 1080p, protected video. Your team has to be very well versed in all the major DRMs, and find out exactly where they're properly deployed to grab that HD content. Again, I'm speaking more from a protected perspective, on web browsers, what versions, and then how to gracefully fail back to something if the consumer doesn't have that proper combination. It is, unfortunately, a little bit difficult. It's doable, but it's just a little bit challenging today.

Chris Knowlton: Would you recommend that companies adopt HTML5 as the best way to reach the largest number of desktop and mobile devices with both protected and unprotected content, or would you recommend something else?

Mark Arana: I'd recommend take a look at the platforms you want to hit. Not every platform is HTML5-compliant. Your best experience on iOS devices is not going to be to deploy a Safari application. It is going to be to use the iOS application environment and FairPlay streaming in that case. And then the compatibility across set-top boxes or connected Blu-ray players, connected TV\s--it all varies even more. I'd say focus on which devices you actually want to be on, and then take a look and see from there.