Force HTML5 Playback in Limelight: How to Disable Flash Player

Are you tired of Limelight defaulting to Flash when you want HTML5 video playback? This guide shows you how to take control and force Limelight to use HTML5, even when it resists. Perfect for developers, testers, and tech enthusiasts working on modern web solutions.

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Why Force HTML5 Over Flash?

Flash is outdated and unsupported on many platforms, especially mobile devices. Yet, Limelight’s default behavior is to prefer Flash whenever possible. This tutorial helps you override that behavior to ensure compatibility, faster load times, and better user experiences.

🛠 What You’ll Need

• A Limelight account with an uploaded video.
• A modern browser like Chrome that allows user agent overrides.
• Basic HTML editing skills.

Step-by-Step: Force Limelight HTML5 Player

1. Log into the Limelight Developer Portal
   Go to https://dev.twitter.com/. Sign in using the credentials tied to your Limelight account.
2. Locate Your Video’s Channel ID or Media ID
   Navigate to your video library, select the video, and copy its Channel ID or Media ID from the embed code provided by Limelight.
3. Download Limelight’s Sample Player
   Go to Limelight’s Demo Page. Save the page source to your local machine for editing.
4. Edit the Player Code
   Replace the placeholder Channel ID in the following line with your own:

   <param value="deepLink=true&playerForm=LVPPlayer&channelId=YOUR_CHANNEL_ID" name="flashVars">

5. Disable Flash in Chrome
   Type chrome://settings/content/flash in Chrome’s address bar and toggle Flash to Blocked.
6. Emulate an iPad User Agent
   Open Chrome DevTools (F12), go to Settings > Overrides, and set your User Agent to any iPad option. This tricks Limelight into thinking you’re on a device that doesn’t support Flash.
7. Load Your Edited HTML
   Open the modified HTML file in Chrome. Your video should now play using the HTML5 player.
8. Grab the Direct MP4 URL (Optional)
   Inspect the page source and find the <video> tag. Copy its src attribute to get a direct link to your MP4 file for further use.

🎉 Congratulations!

You’ve successfully bypassed Limelight’s Flash preference and forced your video to play using HTML5. You now have better control over your video library, improved compatibility with mobile devices, and a modern playback solution.

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💡 Pro Tips

• Keep an eye on browser updates—support for MP4 in Firefox has improved significantly since this was first written.
• Test your changes across multiple devices to ensure compatibility.