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Got the Nook HD+ rooted and installed the Play Store
After that I installed a file explorer and Netflix.
It was on playing Netflix that I noticed a big problem, the videos are distorted and pixelated massively. Having done some small web design projects I know that one issue with the retina displays on the newer Ipads etc is the DPI is increased and so normal pictures and videos tend to look washed out a bit. Is that an issue with the HD+?
If not that, could it also be that Netflix itself is thinking I am reaching them from a smaller screen device and streaming the smaller file/screen size which the Nook is expanding to fill the screen making it get pixelated (as happens when you zoom into a video)?
Regardless, I looked in other threads for this issue as I do not believe I am the only person to ever experience this - did not find anything. One last test, I logged into my own home file server and tried to play a movie in one of the folders. Sure enough, it looks fine on the TV and computer monitor but looks a little grainy by comparison - so I have to believe part of this is a DPI issue? Is there a suggestion to resolve this?
Would installing the "real" Netflix from the HD+ market solve this for at least Netflix? (I am going to assume that logging into the B&N site and installing an app that way does not endanger my root or access to GApps/Playstore?) Is there an easy way to get to the B&N app market from the modified dashboard (not CM10) or should I stay away from that if it makes the HD+ more apt to update/modify my current settings?
That is a lot of questions to solve a single problem so is there an existing solution I am overlooking? Or is this just the price of having the greater resolution screen?
That distortion and pixelating happens on all my devices with Netflix. It goes away after a minute or so. It is like the buffer has to fill up before it gets clear.
And I don't think it matters where you get the app, I think they are the same. And getting something from the B&N store has no effect on root or Play Store or vice versa. You are no more likely to get updated. You are already automatically logged in. That happened when you registered your device.
Sent from my Nook HD+ running rooted stock
I was fortunate to get my hands on a Chromecast at my local BestBuy the other day, and after a full day of use it is one of the best $25 (had a $10 reward cert) I have spent since my last trip to Outback Steakhouse .
Getting the dongle up and running in my entertainment center was a bit awkward with the mini USB required for powering the device, but all went smoothly. First time set up was simple, requiring installation of the Chromecast app on my HTC One which was able to pair with the dongle and hook it up to my home WiFi network. Once connected to WiFi, it's ready to use, displaying the "Ready to Cast" home screen.
Google Play Music was the first app I tried out, and I was immediately disappointed to get the error message "Unable to Cast sideloaded content". Hopefully an update for local content will be added to phones and tablets in the near future, since it is only possible within the Chrome browser on your Mac/PC. Music playback through their Unlimited music service worked as advertise though, however the Now Playing interface displayed on the TV could use a bit more polish. It doesn't look awful, but it doesn't look very good either. Every now and then I would get an error when selecting songs saying "Could not stream your selection at this time," where I would have to kill the app from the multitask screen and restart.
Where this device thrives is video playback. Netflix, Youtube, and Google Play Videos are the only content supported so far but they deliver. Watching AMC's The Killing and The Avengers in 1080p by simply "casting" to my TV with my new Nexus 7 is a real treat. And the best part is I can use my tablet while watching for anything I want. Be it games, web browsing, reading, or music; it doesn't effect playback at all since it is being streamed by the dongle, not your phone/tablet/computer. Even better, ChromeCast has minimal effect on battery life of your device. I started an episode of The Killing with 55% battery, after the episode was over about an hour later my battery held at 54%.
I have not been able to try out screen mirroring yet, but will update once I play around with it. Overall I am satisfied with my purchase. The lack of local media support on phones/tablets are preventing it from being a serious threat to AirPlay and the Apple TV, but at the same time being 65% cheaper make it a more than reasonable trade off. The way I see this device: it makes watching Netflix on my TV simpler. Before it was turning on my PS3, navigating to the Netflix app, waiting for it to load, choosing between regular content or kids, and then finally getting to pick what I would like to watch. Now I just switch to the input my Chromecast is hooked up to, fire up the Netflix app on my phone/tablet (whichever is closer), make my selection, and then "cast" to my TV.
If you are looking for a fast simple way to watch Netflix, YouTube, and movie rentals through Google Play this device is for you. If you are expecting an Airplay/Apple TV killer, well this device isn't for you...yet. With its open API for future dev support, it is just a matter of time for local files and more streaming sites such as HBO GO and Hulu to be supported.
The oneinfour score: 7.5/10 - lack of local content playback and wacky music playback issues hold back an otherwise solid streamer.
interesting read.
I think we may be waiting a bit for Hulu to get on board. They're a bit quirky regarding the various contract and licensing agreements. To me, they should just view this as HDMI out on the Hulu app, but who knows. Sometimes they're just obtuse because one can just hook up a PC to the TV and have all content available.
It's early, so to some degree, we're going to see a lot of growing pains as the product matures. I look forward to trying it out myself when I eventually get one.
Chromecasting a chrome tab on your desktop allows HBO go (and others I presume) to work with your chromecast. I was even able to drag and drop a local mkv file into the active chrome tab and it played on my TV just fine. Some pixelation and artifacting, but mostly negligible. Audio synced up fine too. Here's a video of it in action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT2XUI-yZxE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Chromecast messes with AdBlocker
You can't expect it to be compatible with every third party app. Adblocker needs to fix on their end.
As far as Chromecast.. I went to buy one and it is sold out every where.
What would be amazing would be a device that would allow us to send screen to TV for gaming, etc.. With the higher res this would be awesome on my 1080 Bravia!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
oneinfour said:
The way I see this device: it makes watching Netflix on my TV simpler. Before it was turning on my PS3, navigating to the Netflix app, waiting for it to load, choosing between regular content or kids, and then finally getting to pick what I would like to watch. Now I just switch to the input my Chromecast is hooked up to, fire up the Netflix app on my phone/tablet (whichever is closer), make my selection, and then "cast" to my TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what makes it a potentially killer app. I own a roku, a wdtv, an htpc (out of commission because of fan noise), and I have had multiple cable boxes. In terms of interfaces, nothing has gotten it right. Interfaces are either time consuming to get working, slow, unpolished, or difficult to navigate. Worse, sometimes they rely on unstable hacks that are destroyed by API changes. The difference with chromecast is that most of the apps on your tablet and phone are fairly polished, speedy, and easy to navigate. Most importantly, the video is separated from the UI, meaning you don't stop what you're doing to look at something else. There are a lot of great ways that this can be used: Playing a movie automatically brings up more information about that movie on the tablet; it could tell you the names of the actors on the screen (I think amazon has something like this). Song lyrics could be displayed on the tablet. Sky is the limit in that respect.
Yes, screen mirroring would be nice, but I doubt it will ever work as well as we want it to on this device. Google has not released an API for windows or mac os so speed may never be something we see on the desktop. We will see though.
It would depend on the screen it was being mirrored too and would not be perfect but it would be awesome.
Ideally instead of having to stay media info chrome I would just like to my screen on the TV. That would be a huge selling point for Google.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Why do you think direct local streaming was not included? Just seems like no brainer to me... Anyway I think ill probably go pick one up once Skype gets on board with suppprt.
Great review, I agree with everything you wrote. I am loving mine so far too. If Amazon wakes up and adds support, this will be a killer little dongle. Though, if they don't, then I will just starting buying my TV shows and Movies from Google's store instead =)
I too would like to see the ability to stream local content soon, and also from the cloud services like Dropbox/Box/Drive/etc. The developers have already proven it to be possible, with great results ... it is really up to Google now to allow it to happen. The fact that they released the Chromecast without local file support has me a little worried. But I am hoping this was more a scheduling decision to get it out the door to beat the competition to the punch and get people talking.
This cheap little gadget has the potential to shake up the media industry in a big way.
Hey guys!
I've been playing around with my Chromecast after I got it today, and everything seems to be working great. Except when I cast tabs (or the whole desktop) to the Chromecast, somehow the display gets cut off by like a couple of inches on each edge. I tried with a Macbook Pro, and a Win 7 desktop (varied the resolution on the computers as well). I have a Haier L32D1120, wanted to know if anyone else is having similar issues. I tried the different options under the Chrome extension, none of them fixed it. I use a PS3/Roku/Apple TV on my TV using HDMI, and none of them have any issues like this.
Any clues?
crimsonred36 said:
Hey guys!
I've been playing around with my Chromecast after I got it today, and everything seems to be working great. Except when I cast tabs (or the whole desktop) to the Chromecast, somehow the display gets cut off by like a couple of inches on each edge. I tried with a Macbook Pro, and a Win 7 desktop (varied the resolution on the computers as well). I have a Haier L32D1120, wanted to know if anyone else is having similar issues. I tried the different options under the Chrome extension, none of them fixed it. I use a PS3/Roku/Apple TV on my TV using HDMI, and none of them have any issues like this.
Any clues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd expect them to handle some overscan, but without some sort of setup util to determine (via user input) the optimal amount, you're likely to still have some. Does it provide a setup in the beginning asking you to move edges of a box or arrows until they are at the edge of the screen (overscan calibration)?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan
rainabba said:
I'd expect them to handle some overscan, but without some sort of setup util to determine (via user input) the optimal amount, you're likely to still have some. Does it provide a setup in the beginning asking you to move edges of a box or arrows until they are at the edge of the screen (overscan calibration)?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked at the advanced video settings on my TV, and somehow the Overscan setting is set to On, but it never lets me do anything in that option or change it. Weird. Might have to look at the manual.
Thanks though.
I think it's the TV that is doing the overscan, since it's an HDMI signal, not a Monitor input like VGA or DVI. So it's interpreting that the signal has been adjusted to be overscanned. Idunno.
Anyway, My TV (Samsung) has an option to adjust the fit of the picture
Menu > Picture > Screen Adjustment > Picture Size > Screen Fit
Now I can see the entire video and no overscanning.
gr8bear said:
I think it's the TV that is doing the overscan, since it's an HDMI signal, not a Monitor input like VGA or DVI. So it's interpreting that the signal has been adjusted to be overscanned. Idunno.
Anyway, My TV (Samsung) has an option to adjust the fit of the picture
Menu > Picture > Screen Adjustment > Picture Size > Screen Fit
Now I can see the entire video and no overscanning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. Overscan isn't accidental. The reasons may be ancient and a result of inexact control and display, but all modern "TV" displays will scale/crop some of the signal (overscanning) to deal with the format of the signals that had to be padded for displays that had no choice (CRT).
That's pretty much THE defining characteristic of a TV vs a "Display". These days, any decent digital TV can display 1:1 pixel ratio (like yours).
When I first got my Chromecast, I was able to play a video (on hulu for example) in fullscreen mode, then alt tab back to Chrome so I could still use my laptop while casting to the TV in full screen.
In the past week, it no longer works. When I alt tab, it automatically goes out of full screen mode. So now I have to have my laptop playing the video in fullscreen if I want to cast it in fullscreen to the TV.
I can't find anything in my searches about this happening to anyone else when I google the problem. Has anyone else run across this issue?
Thanks
swillard said:
When I first got my Chromecast, I was able to play a video (on hulu for example) in fullscreen mode, then alt tab back to Chrome so I could still use my laptop while casting to the TV in full screen.
In the past week, it no longer works. When I alt tab, it automatically goes out of full screen mode. So now I have to have my laptop playing the video in fullscreen if I want to cast it in fullscreen to the TV.
I can't find anything in my searches about this happening to anyone else when I google the problem. Has anyone else run across this issue?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, it works fine for me, and I have the latest update. Maybe reinstall?
aiiee said:
Sorry, it works fine for me, and I have the latest update. Maybe reinstall?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do I reinstall? I've reinstalled the cast extension and that didn't fix it. I have the most current version of Chrome. I can only thing to uninstall and reinstall Chrome to see if that fixes the problem.
swillard said:
What do I reinstall? I've reinstalled the cast extension and that didn't fix it. I have the most current version of Chrome. I can only thing to uninstall and reinstall Chrome to see if that fixes the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, I don't have the problem.
What about Flash?
swillard said:
When I first got my Chromecast, I was able to play a video (on hulu for example) in fullscreen mode, then alt tab back to Chrome so I could still use my laptop while casting to the TV in full screen.
In the past week, it no longer works. When I alt tab, it automatically goes out of full screen mode. So now I have to have my laptop playing the video in fullscreen if I want to cast it in fullscreen to the TV.
I can't find anything in my searches about this happening to anyone else when I google the problem. Has anyone else run across this issue?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My guess is this is related to the Flash Player or the player on the site that you are using. I have seen this happen on my two monitor setup where when I go to the second screen it breaks out of full screen mode on the first monitor. I'm pretty sure all i had to do was restart my machine. But I would try reinstalling Flash, clearing cache, cookies, etc.
Do you see the same behavior when you are not using Chromecast?
Good luck.
srgibbs99 said:
My guess is this is related to the Flash Player or the player on the site that you are using. I have seen this happen on my two monitor setup where when I go to the second screen it breaks out of full screen mode on the first monitor. I'm pretty sure all i had to do was restart my machine. But I would try reinstalling Flash, clearing cache, cookies, etc.
Do you see the same behavior when you are not using Chromecast?
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It happens with any video, whether casting or not. I used to be able to watch Hulu.com in fullscreen and cast it to the tv, then I could alt tab to another tab to check FB or something. Now it doesn't work. I've tried hulu, youtube, and some other video sites and they all the the same thing. When you hit Alt they immediately go back to the small screen page. I've rebooted my computer and reinstalled the Cast extension. Wondering if I need to reinstall Chrome. It did crash one me a few times this weekend, though not in the past couple of days.
swillard said:
It happens with any video, whether casting or not. I used to be able to watch Hulu.com in fullscreen and cast it to the tv, then I could alt tab to another tab to check FB or something. Now it doesn't work. I've tried hulu, youtube, and some other video sites and they all the the same thing. When you hit Alt they immediately go back to the small screen page. I've rebooted my computer and reinstalled the Cast extension. Wondering if I need to reinstall Chrome. It did crash one me a few times this weekend, though not in the past couple of days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had a similar issue. I received mine on Tuesday and the first day full screen worked for espn and I was able to Alt+Tab to continue browsing. Last night, I tried to do the same thing but It would only display a picture of the tab with the embedded video (when I would go to full screen, the embedded video was black with the tab content around it. when I would exit full screen the embedded video began playing again.) Essentially, I can no longer go into full screen mode for any flash based video (tried with NFL network too). Mine did an update first thing when I turned it on yesterday. I didn't write down the original version I had nor what it updated to. My flash player also updated recently but I think that was before I tried it for the first time. I did not try to reboot my machine or reinstall flash / chrome but I did attempt to do it from 2 different computers on my network and both suffered from the same issue.
m2cool2go said:
I have had a similar issue. I received mine on Tuesday and the first day full screen worked for espn and I was able to Alt+Tab to continue browsing. Last night, I tried to do the same thing but It would only display a picture of the tab with the embedded video (when I would go to full screen, the embedded video was black with the tab content around it. when I would exit full screen the embedded video began playing again.) Essentially, I can no longer go into full screen mode for any flash based video (tried with NFL network too). Mine did an update first thing when I turned it on yesterday. I didn't write down the original version I had nor what it updated to. My flash player also updated recently but I think that was before I tried it for the first time. I did not try to reboot my machine or reinstall flash / chrome but I did attempt to do it from 2 different computers on my network and both suffered from the same issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found a post on another forum that helped me resolve the issue. In your google chrome browser (assuming that's what you are using), type in about://plugins. Click on the Details icon (+) on the far right of the Plugins title bar. Look for Adobe flash and you probably have 2 plugins listed. Look for pepflashplayer.dll . It should be listed in the location section. Click on disable. You may need to restart the browser. Try your fullscreen again.
That fixed it for me, so I hope it fixes it for you.
I just found a pretty neat trick to do fullscreen.
Install the "Chrome Toolbox" which allows you to open flash videos by themselves, separate from anything else on that webpage.
Go to the page with the flash video you are playing. Cast that tab. Hover over the video and an icon will appear to allow you to put it on its own window. Chromecast will now only show the video, same as if you went fullscreen. Video quality seems better when the window is not minimized.
hpcolombia said:
I just found a pretty neat trick to do fullscreen.
Install the "Chrome Toolbox" which allows you to open flash videos by themselves, separate from anything else on that webpage.
Go to the page with the flash video you are playing. Cast that tab. Hover over the video and an icon will appear to allow you to put it on its own window. Chromecast will now only show the video, same as if you went fullscreen. Video quality seems better when the window is not minimized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip but I can't get it to work. I have Chrome Toolbox installed, went to Hulu and cast that tab and not getting anything when I hover over the view to pop it out as a separate window.
swillard said:
Thanks for the tip but I can't get it to work. I have Chrome Toolbox installed, went to Hulu and cast that tab and not getting anything when I hover over the view to pop it out as a separate window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have the same problem. Cant switch tab by using alt+tab
Does anyone has another solution?
ps: i am using mac
swillard said:
Thanks for the tip but I can't get it to work. I have Chrome Toolbox installed, went to Hulu and cast that tab and not getting anything when I hover over the view to pop it out as a separate window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's working now. Thanks for the tip. I can use this trick to cast to the TV and still use my laptop for other stuff.
Toolbox Pop-out link??
Hi guys!
Any chance of a link to the Chrome Toolbox in the app store? The one I'm looking at is probably not the one I'm looking for.
BTW, Alt-Tab is working for me, but the full-screen video is playing in the background so I can see it in place of the Windows taskbar. I can move about the desktop though
hpcolombia said:
I just found a pretty neat trick to do fullscreen.
Install the "Chrome Toolbox" which allows you to open flash videos by themselves, separate from anything else on that webpage.
Go to the page with the flash video you are playing. Cast that tab. Hover over the video and an icon will appear to allow you to put it on its own window. Chromecast will now only show the video, same as if you went fullscreen. Video quality seems better when the window is not minimized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately Chrome Toolbox doesn't work on Windows 8? And isn't available anymore anyway?
This is really annoying. Just got Chromecast.
But when casting a tab of full screen video on certain websites and I move from the tab it reverts to its original frame.
Basically I just want to be able to play full screen content from sites like BBC's iPlayer while doing other things on the computer.
Fiddling with flash plugins doesn't seem to change it. I looked for other possibly relevant extensions in the web store but none really worked.
This seems to me a fundamental but should be pretty simple problem for Google to fix.
Any other ideas now?
Thanks, Tom
tomwood said:
Unfortunately Chrome Toolbox doesn't work on Windows 8? And isn't available anymore anyway?
This is really annoying. Just got Chromecast.
But when casting a tab of full screen video on certain websites and I move from the tab it reverts to its original frame.
Basically I just want to be able to play full screen content from sites like BBC's iPlayer while doing other things on the computer.
Fiddling with flash plugins doesn't seem to change it. I looked for other possibly relevant extensions in the web store but none really worked.
This seems to me a fundamental but should be pretty simple problem for Google to fix.
Any other ideas now?
Thanks, Tom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure about Windows 8, but in 7 I am pretty sure I can hit the Windows key + D which will minimize the browser and allow me to continue what I am doing.
Obskure said:
BTW, Alt-Tab is working for me, but the full-screen video is playing in the background so I can see it in place of the Windows taskbar. I can move about the desktop though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like that "feature" - my old ATI TV tuner card used to have that.
tomwood said:
But when casting a tab of full screen video on certain websites and I move from the tab it reverts to its original frame.
Basically I just want to be able to play full screen content from sites like BBC's iPlayer while doing other things on the computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems to depend on how the player achieves full-screen. Some sites have a full-screen option from the browser level, and that seems to behave differently (also sometimes different resolution) than using the full-screen/zoom option in the player.
Good example is www.BabyFirstTV.com
The blue-background full-screen button just full-screens the video in the tab and shows the Exit Fullscreen button when casted.
The full-screen button in the player window (bottom right corner) make the video full-desktop size (and replaces my desktop background), and doesn't show the (annoying) Exit Fullscreen button. The bottom does get cut off, likely because my desktop is 1920x1200 so I'm losing the bottom 180 pixels.
For me at least, either method allows me to Alt-Tab to another application without messing up the Chromecast playback though.
bhiga said:
It seems to depend on how the player achieves full-screen. Some sites have a full-screen option from the browser level, and that seems to behave differently (also sometimes different resolution) than using the full-screen/zoom option in the player.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, unfortunately though for me when using that browser-level full screen video, and I move from the tab, it reverts to its original frame.
I'm using Windows 8 x64 with Chrome Beta 32.
Obskure said:
Hi guys!
Any chance of a link to the Chrome Toolbox in the app store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-cast/boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd
Also found another interesting Chrome App....
Turns your Browser into a Chromecast Target that you can stream to!
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cr-cast/acmfmindblghbicdipoakcolegkcddbk
tomwood said:
Thanks, unfortunately though for me when using that browser-level full screen video, and I move from the tab, it reverts to its original frame.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you try it on www.babyfirsttv.com ? I'm guessing any browser/tab-level zoom will depend on how the site is coded.
bhiga said:
Can you try it on babyfirsttv? I'm guessing any browser/tab-level zoom will depend on how the site is coded.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, if it takes up just the tab it's ok, but when going completely full screen it doesn't stay like that if I move... And unfortunately many sites with video, like the ones I want to use, only have that option.
I've installed and uninstalled Dolphin many times. It has some appealing strengths but also some annoying weaknesses on the NST. Here are the three big weaknesses as I see them (you can stop reading after that if they are "deal breakers" for you):
1. Like many browsers other than Opera Mobile, Dolphin has trouble updating an existing window with new content. For reliable browsing you need to open in new tabs which, sadly, are always behind the current tab.
2. Swipe scrolling in Opera Mobile is positively spritely compared to Dolphin and most other browsers. For Dolphin you have the option of using volume controls to scroll. I have set the lower hardware buttons to the volume controls using NTTM. I don't ever use them to change pages, preferring a gentle touch on the screen edge.
3. Dolphin is a pain-in-the-*** to zoom. Double tap has no effect. Turning on pinch-zoom button in Settings is ignored. Pinch zooming does not work (even with multi-touch enabled). The only way to zoom in or out is with a gesture. Took me awhile to even understand how that was supposed to happen. I finally made a "Z" for "zoom in" and a backward "Z" for "zoom out". The stock gestures for these functions are visually meaningless (to me).
OK,so why bother with Dolphin at all? First, let me add that the new version 11 does not work well with the NST. You need something in the 10.x series (some old versions here).
Dolphin is an HTML5 browser with some limited (on the NST) Shockwave and Flash capability. With the possible Flash installation for the NST (see here, post #4), you get the ability to access some .swf files (embedded Flash players are a kind of .swf file--more on that below) and Flash 9.1x (despite the claim that you are getting 10.1. Adobe identifies it as 9.1x and various sites that reject anything below 10 also identify it as such).
I used to think no embedded Flash videos would play in Dolphin.Then I discovered that in Desktop mode it would "work" with most embedded players and you could start the videos.But you could not play them through. Although the buffer continued to fill, the video itself stopped after 10-20 seconds and the little running circle appeared in the middle of the image. You can restart in different spots, but you still only get about 10-20 seconds at a pop (examples here).
I have some short little Flash videos in a very simple swf player which I use on an educational site. I thought these did not work at all but with some fooling around in FastMode I was amazed to see that the player actually can be coaxed into working and the entire video plays (example here). Of course, everything works a little bit better in FastMode (except for display quality) but you can, if you work at it a little, coax the player into working in regular mode.
So, Dolphin can play "some" embedded Flash video. But not much.
The Desktop mode of Dolphin makes YouTube nuts. It tries switching back and forth between the mobile and desktop site and never gets anywhere. Anyway, that is not the way to go because HTML5 is a better choice--if you have a cooperative external player.
I've tried a few players. RockPlayer Lite is popular for the NST but is difficult to exit (always full screen) and seems stymied by HTML5. It does play a lot of other stuff, including some streams. I finally settled on MX Player (save yourself some time and download the the ARMv7 NEON codec at the same time because it will just send you back to the Market when you try to run it the first time). It can pinch-zoom (RockPlayer cannot) and handles HTML5 well (yes, YouTube!). I have my two lower hardware buttons assigned for long press as "back" and "menu". This provides two ways to get out of MX Player if you don't want to watch the whole video. At the normal conclusion, the player closes and you return to Dolphin. Nice.
Such a set-up works for YouTube (the mobile version),or at least for as many videos as are now HTML5-ready. Of course, you can also access any Flash videos that allow for a breakout from the embedded player. MX Player handles .flv files fine without any Adobe plugin. And it plays just about any other direct-link video you can find. Videos in the BBC News app work fine.
Daily Motion, Vimeo, My Vidster, Hulu---the list goes on---are no-go with this set-up.
But really, with no audio......If just a little audio were accessible to us mere mortals, it would be nice, but that mod is beyond my geek level
One bad thing: for some reason, the NST refuses to make MX Player (or any other player I tried) the "default". So every time you want a video you have to select MX Player from a list of hopefuls (QuickPic? Really?????). I've inspected the file where this info is stored (/data/system/packages.xml) and even cleaned it up, but to no avail.
One last warning: don't try this with Opera Mobile. As far as I can tell, one of the three Flash installations, maybe FlashLite, has a player which is invoked by some embedded videos in Opera Mobile.You touch the play triangle in the video and are rewarded with a much larger triangle. Don't touch that one! It takes you to a Flash player of some sort (you can see some control buttons if you touch the screen) with a black screen and there is no way out except for a forced shutdown.