started a list of Apple Podcasts shows with HLS video support, have you found any others?
https://gist.github.com/johnspurlock/0498c4323ee645dc4b70f1fc3a031499
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@js Question: can creators support this but only if their podcasts hosting solution does? (I’d assume so) and secondly does creator support help drive adoption beyond Apple now? (I’d also assume so)
@tchambers only if their podcast hosting company does, right now there are four
not sure I understand the second part of your question
@js My question is if they got bigger name creatators to vocally support this format and use it does that help drive the rest of the ecosystem....
@tchambers @js There are two things that play: HLS video format itself, and distribution of HLS content through RSS feeds. Apple is supporting the first but not the latter.
Only thing to do is to keep advocating for them to support the new alternate enclosure tag in the RSS feed so that their app will consume HLS from anywhere and not just from select partner companies through a proprietary backend upload mechanism.
So how does Apple podcats as a service support HLS video as of today exactly?
Press releases like this one sounded like they *were* delivering HLS video via the "podcast" but what I'm hearing is that may not be via RSS?
https://www.ithinkdiff.com/apple-podcasts-native-video-support-ios-26-4/
Actually I think i just found out the answer:
"Apple Podcasts is not doing video via RSS. You still need an RSS feed to publish a show but once you’ve published the audio, your podcast hosting provider needs to separately send an HLS playlist URL for that episode to Apple Podcasts, which it does using a special API that the podcast hosting provider has access to."
"https://www.ithinkdiff.com/apple-podcasts-native-video-support-ios-26-4/
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@tchambers @js the iHeart app recently announced support for HLS content delivered by the alternate enclosure RSS feed tag. So, there is a bifurcation happening.
I truly believe that Apple podcasts will support HLS through the alternate closure tag at some point in the future. I have zero proof for this. It’s one part wishful thinking, and one part belief in the people on that team, based on experience.
@dave @tchambers if there's any consolation, they've made it as trivial as possible to one day "flip the switch" and support HLS in the RSS as well - they've gone "with the grain" of the open solution if not supported if outright
also the fact that they don't host it themselves but simply take a HLS from elsewhere is huge - again "with the grain" of how audio podcasting works
@tchambers eh, the experience goes through their hosting company, which might look different from company to company.
I'd imagine the typical flow is: creator gives the hosting company one huge video, and the hosting company chops it up, creates the HLS, inserts any dynamic ad interstitials, and hosts the playlist and media segments.
Creators never see HLS.
@tchambers _some_ hosting companies might _also_ choose to include the HLS in the RSS feed as well, which is the only thing that really helps the open podcasting world.
But that's not required by any means.
@tchambers some hosting companies do the latter (hls in rss), but not the former (hls in apple podcasts) like the RSS.com announcement I mentioned earlier
which, if I'm understanding it properly is essentially "bring your own HLS url" - in this case it would be on the creator to chop/host the hls and media segments somewhere themselves
@tchambers only if their podcast hosting company does, right now there are four
not sure I understand the second part of your question