Q: Is Thunderhawk really able to play YouTube / Google Video videos? A: Nope.

[Menneisyys]

As is reported (http://solsie.com/?p=715) in SolSie’s great blog (http://solsie.com/), some folks over at the PocketPCAddict forums had announced (http://www.pocketpcaddict.com/forums/hardware/16392-cingular-8125-script-alert-activex.html) they had found a way to play YouTube videos on the Pocket PC (see my previous article HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=969&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) on this question) utilizing the alternate Pocket PC Web browser Thunderhawk (http://www.bitstream.com) and version 7 of the Adobe Flash plug-in (http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer_pocketpc/).

I've jumped at the question at once to find out whether it's right. Unfortunately, that’s not the case – it does NOT work. I’ve thoroughly tested it (with this YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn1-M5Ze0p8) and this Google Video (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8718728501056290731) page). It does not work. (Thunderhawk screenshot here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/YouTbeThk.bmp.png) – after installing the plugin -; Internet Explorer Mobile (IEM; the new name for Pocket Explorer Mobile) + plug-in version 7 screenshot here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/YouTbeIEM7.bmp.png).) Note that I’ve also tested this with spoofed User-Agent Web browser headers (that is, pretending to be a desktop Internet Explorer client as is explained here (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=796&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)).

Actually, Thunderhawk isn’t even able to play ANY Flash animation as can be seen for example here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/THNoFlashAtAll.bmp.png) (showing one of my favourite online Flash games, Bomberman (http://www.cyberiapc.com/flashgames/bomberman.htm)), while IEM plays it without glitches.

That is, again and again: you will NOT be able to play YouTube / Google Video videos with Thunderhawk (or, for that matter, with any of the current Pocket PC Web browsers or programs). I'll tell you when I find a way to do it. In the meantime, it's not worth trying to make it work - other than following my mini-tutorials and remarks on explicit conversion (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=969&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1).

[GSmith]

I tried to use smartFlash along with FeederReader to view YouTube files. Technically it should be possible to download the videos from the RSS Feed using FeederReader then launching smartFlash from within FeederReader. YouTube provides the (small) swf files in the feed, but smartFlash fails to play them (it displays "Loading..." within the smartFlash window and it allows moving the volume slider, but after 15 minutes it still hasn't started playing the video).

One other issue is that I think the swf file contains a pointer to the actual video file. Which means you would have to be online while you watch a YouTube video.

It might be possible to use another Flash Player along with FeederReader to successfully play the files. Anyone care to try the other Flash players on the Pocket PC or Smartphone?

If this works, it might be more convenient to use FeederReader instead of a browser to manage what videos you want to watch.

For Google Video, their RSS Feeds contain proper links to mp4 videos, but when you try to download the video "enclosure", their server responds with "Forbidden". I don't know if Google's mp4 videos are Part 2- or Part 10-encoded video, so I'm not sure (yet) if any currently-available programs would be able to play them.

I'm willing to work with either company to help get their videos onto Pocket PCs and Smartphones through RSS Feeds, but so far their support is very lacking.

Greg Smith
Author, FeederReader - Windows Mobile news, blogs, audio, video, podcasts downloaded direct to your device
www.FeederReader.com - Download on the Road

[hamishmacdonald]

It takes several kludgey steps, but I use Applian's Replay AV to capture Flash-based video content if I want to take it along with me.

I know this isn't what people are looking for, but it's at least one way to make these videos mobile.

[Menneisyys]

UPDATE (10/24/2006): there is a brand new, free service here (http://www.mymobileclips.com) allowing for online FLI -> MP4 / 3GP conversions, which, then, can be played with both TCPMP and CorePlayer. Please also see the comments section in here (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=969&c=1&page=1&more=1&tb=1&pb=1) for more info.

I also recommend the following discussions of this article: AximSite (http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?p=1159947); PPCT (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=49885). I've also elaborated on whether alternate Pocket PC browsers are able to play YouTube videos here (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1202&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1). A worthy PPCT discussion of the latter article can be found here (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=51019).