When I use the Streaming Video page in iOS v1.5, I get a plain black screen when I first tap on the menu choice. After a few seconds, the play controls show up and the video starts to stream. Everything works fine, but I was just wondering if there was any way to put a background image (saying loading) or something in place of that plain black screen. It gives me a 2-3 second sense of panic when I click on something and see absolutely nothing for 2-3 seconds. I wouldn't want my users to suffer that same panic :) The end result I'm looking for is a good streaming video experience without having the user leave the app to go to the native youtube app.

Tough call for sure. iOS takes over this process and you won't be able to change the default players behavior. However, you could... a) Make a video landing page with background graphic and button to 'play' b) Some text about the streaming delay. Generally the delay is caused by a super-duper-huge file that iOS has to 'process' before it begins to stream. or b) lame connection. It's usually best to stream clips and not films...not sure what you're using ;-)