I haven't experienced the buffering issues you describe, but I've definitely seen the resizing issues from leaving fullscreen (screenshot here): http://cl.ly/2y3F0B3V0X09013U0710. I've noticed this doesn't happen after full-screen, however; there's resizing issues anytime you toggle between different video sizes.
I should point out that my connection is pretty fast, around 75 Mbps.
I also checked out the caching issue you pointed out: you're dead-on. There's no caching whatsoever with HTML5. In general, the buffering behavior is kind of odd. Doesn't behave at all like the Flash player.
Weird that you don't have that resizing/offset issue when exiting fullscreen, but rather when toggling between video sizes. Everybody seems to be having different experiences.
I haven't seen the bugs you mentioned, but will look out for them now.
My player is designed for language learning, so the users are constantly seeking: http://bit.ly/z9J8Cc
I've found that many people who believe things work fine joined the HTML5 opt-in trial, but don't realize that HTML5 only works on some videos and Flash is still being used for others. Most videos seem to be only available in Flash even with the trial enabled. Right clicking on the video reveals which it is if there is any doubt.
A YouTube engineer discussed some of the issues a couple years back: http://apiblog.youtube.com/2010/06/flash-and-html5-tag.html. At the time Hulu had similar comments about HTML5 video capabilities: http://blog.hulu.com/2010/05/13/pardon-our-dust/. A more recent post from a few months ago by YouTube staff on the subject is here: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2011/11/youtubes-html5-play...
Thanks for the links, very interesting reads. I agree that the HTML5 player has vastly improved, but if the issues I'm experiencing with the player now persist, I don't think that it's nearly ready to replace Flash - or, I don't think they should.
Interestingly, my caching issue seems to have disappeared since updating to Chrome 17. I need to do some more tests, though.
I think you're right, though, more likely to be browser issues more so than YouTube issues.
It could be that their servers just cant keep up with the 1080p feed. It would need a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of it.
However, there is one great feature with their new player.
I have 3 monitors and when I fullscreen a video on one monitor, I can continue watching it and click away and work on another monitor and it is still maximized.
That's really good, re: multiple monitors. That's one thing that really bugged me about Flash.
Videos open and pause at 0, and no matter what I do I can't get them to play unless I reload until I get the flash player. Seeking is pretty wonky. As well a couple of weeks ago it used a different sound output than flash (Flash would use what my music did, the headset, but the HTML5 player would try to use my speakers, which were off. Seems to have improved now).
Just hoping it improves significantly in the future.
I didn't have any issues with the sound, but my computers all have one sound output apart from one which is connected to a sound system. I plug my headset into the sound system, though, so I've never had an issue.
Seems people aren't getting a uniform experience at all =/.
Is there just too much CSS?
I haven't noticed my computer overheat nearly as much as it did with Flash, though, so that's great.
