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Vimeo redesigns its HTML5 player for speed and on-the-spot rentals (video)

While Vimeo was one of the first to adopt HTML5 for streaming web video, its player hasn't kept up with the times; it hasn't been very fast or powerful. That's changing with a redesigned player launching today. The new version starts playback much more quickly, resizes elegantly and will even sync preferences across multiple players in a single browser. And if you're enamored with Vimeo On Demand, you'll be glad to know that you can now buy or rent videos in-player, no matter where the clip is playing. The improvements are big enough that Vimeo is now making HTML5 the default across all platforms -- you'll only have to use Flash if you're using an outdated browser. You can try the player for yourself by watching the promo video below.