> > Yes, the browser disconnects, and scripts have no influence over it. With > preload="metadata" implemented, it should disconnect as soon as possible > after getting enough data for the first frame. For preload="auto", it will > disconnect after buffering X seconds of data. If you need more granularity > than that, I suggest server-side control informed by information collected > by JavaScript. If browsers handled a short reply to a range request, it > should work just fine, no? > > Yes. I started my quest as a Firefox bug report https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=570755 .. The developers weren't sure that the HTTP spec actually permits a browser to handle a short response in this way. When I went fishing around through the spec I found some things that seemed to permit this and other things that contradicted them (noted in the bug report). I started mailing the HTTP-bis group but they were not convinced either http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/ietf-http-wg/2010AprJun/0339.html.
Chrome handles short 206s the same way Opera's ogg handler does but nothing else does.