The good news? HTML5 is supposed to have built in support for video and audio, ending the "grab the plugin" game we all know and love so much. The bad news? The browser vendors can't agree which codec(s) should be standard, so it looks like there will be no standard - Ars technica reports on where things have gotten to in standards-land:

"After an inordinate amount of discussions, both in public and privately, on the situation regarding codecs for <video> and <audio> in HTML5, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that there is no suitable codec that all vendors are willing to implement and ship," Hickson wrote. "I have therefore removed the two subsections in the HTML5 spec in which codecs would have been required, and have instead left the matter undefined."

Looks like plugin-hell isn't over yet :)

Technorati Tags: codecs, browsers, video