[SOLVED] Can't watch videos on site Real.Video

[Fernando Negro]

I'm using Firefox 52.9 on Debian 9.5 (both properly updated) and I've just installed the latest version of Flash.

Either I activate Flash or not, I cannot see the videos on this website (and can only hear the sound of them)

Does anyone have any idea why this is happening?

[Segfault]

Flash has nothing to do with it, they are using HTML5, the video is encoded with AVC.

[debiman]

i don't see anything particularly weird; h264 has been a standard codec for many years now. but apparently your browser cannot play it.
do you have this problem with all real.video videos?

try with mpv/youtube-dl?

[Fernando Negro]

Thank you for your help, Segfault and debiman.

In fact, it would be strange if this was a problem with Flash - since, the use of this software to play videos has already started to be abandoned. But, because Firefox has the "OpenH264 Video Codec" installed by default (with which I can watch videos on YouTube) I thought that this "real.video" site was probably using some non-free codec or software.

Yes, I have this problem with all "real.video" videos. And, I really cannot understand why can't I watch videos on this website. Since, I can watch any video I want on YouTube - and, I've just checked and some of those YouTube videos appear to be using the same specific "AVC" codec.



And, thank you debiman for your tip concerning "mpv". But, even if I can watch videos through that method, I would really (really) like to be able to watch them on Firefox instead, for practical reasons.

I'm using Fluxbox on top of a minimal Debian installation, and I've installed only the bare minimal software that I needed to use. Maybe, because I'm not using a regular Debian installation, I have not installed some necessary component?

(I really doubt it. Since, Firefox installs the "OpenH264 Video Codec" by default, and I can watch videos on any other video sharing website...)

By the way, the only thing I can see on my Firefox is what's shown in the following screenshot.



(Not even a blank rectangle appears... The browser seems to simply ignore the video component.)

[Segfault]

Shooting in dark now. It may be the H.264 (AVC) video is using some features your video decoder cannot cope with. You may want to make sure it is the latest and greatest. My Firefox is version 61, yours is way older. So I guess the codec is also old.

[stevepusser]

Plays OK here using the 61.0.1 binary from Mozilla. I believe it's using libavcodec now directly to play HTML5 videos. The openH264 codec mentioned above is only used for encoding video for the video chat 'Hello", not playback. I'm also pretty sure the 52 series is still using the gstreamer framework for video playback, so let us know if installing the gstreamer1.0-libav and then the various gstreamer1.0-plugins-{good, bad, ugly} packages enable playback.

(Despite Mike Adams being a purveyor of woo for his own enrichment, and a supporter of the vile and despicable InfoWars. Jeesh, guys.)

[Fernando Negro]

[(Edited on 10/08/2018) Important note: I'm leaving the below-written text as it is, for any possible interest anyone might have about the consequences of such procedure that I described. But, the "solution" I've written below, ends up not being a good one, because it affects (ruins) the font rendering done by the whole system, for some fonts. The (most) correct solution, is the one that user Dai_trying suggested, of just downloading the new version of Firefox from its own website: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=138252#p678559 + viewtopic.php?f=10&t=138252&start=15#p678679]


Solved.

You were partially right, Segfault.

I've installed Firefox Quantum (61.0) following the instructions here - https://unix.stackexchange.com/question ... -9-stretch - (which I was eager to have installed on my computer anyway, because of how much faster it runs JavaScript) and, with this new Firefox version, I can already watch the videos on "real.video" also (as well as browse the YouTube site much faster).

I've checked the "Add-ons" that are run by Firefox Quantum (and compared them with the ones that are run by Firefox ESR - which I can still also run, by executing "firefox-esr" instead) and two things happened...

1) First, the "Add-ons" were still the same.

That is, on both of these Firefox versions, I was running the same "OpenH264 Video Codec" version 1.6, and, although Firefox Quantum was still using this same codec version that had already been installed for Firefox ESR, something about the new Firefox version (61.0) made the latter now able to show the videos on "real.video".

(Maybe the way it now runs JavaScript?...)

2) Second, these changes in Firefox then caused the "OpenH264 Video Codec" to be updated for both Firefox Quantum and Firefox ESR.

And, I'm now running the new version 1.7.1 of this codec on both - and, while Firefox Quantum still runs the videos on "real.video" fine, Firefox ESR still cannot show them.

So, again, the difference is caused not by any new version of the "OpenH264 Video Codec", but by the new version of Firefox.

Anyway... Whatever is happening here, I've been able to solve my problem.

I'm then marking this thread as "solved".

Thank you very much for your help, Segfault.

[stevepusser]

It's using libavcodec now--no mystery at all. Take a look at the Recommended packages for 61.0.1 in Sid if you think I'm pulling that out of nowhere...it's no conspiracy theory.

[None1975]

Solved. I've installed Firefox Quantum (61.0) following the instructions here - https://unix.stackexchange.com/question ... -9-stretch - [i] Thank you very much for your help, Segfault.

How stupid... Now you have frankendebian. Debian Stable should not be combined with other releases. If you're trying to install software that isn't available in the current Debian Stable release, it's not a good idea to add repositories for other Debian releases. The problems might not happen right away, but the next time you install updates.

[Dai_trying]

The easiest way to install Firefox Quantum is to download the zipfile from Mozilla (currently firefox-61.0.1.tar.bz2) and extract it to your HDD and then simply run the firefox executable file, I have done this for testing a few times and never had an issue, and certainly safer than using "outside" repositories.

[Fernando Negro]

Well... I do have a problem now, with fonts (one of the fonts does not render properly) and this is a big problem for me, because I use such font to write on my blog.

The reason why I went for "FrankenDebian" was because I thought that Firefox Quantum would work better, or properly, with updated libraries too (the method I used only updated a few more packages). But, if this method I used seriously affects the whole system (even "SLiM" renders its font differently now) than it's better to use another method that keeps all the possible problems restricted to Firefox.

I will then try that other method you describe, Dai_trying - and, I'll report something back once I finish reinstalling Debian (which I wanted to do anyway, for another reason).

My apologies, None1975 and everyone, for the (possible) bad advice/solution that I have left here... :\

(If all goes well, I'll then edit my previous post, for it to point to the best solution.)

[None1975]

Sorry, Fernando Negro. Everything is fine. We are all wrong at times. Probably I was pathetic. I will try to explain more. I think you're a victim of Shiny New Stuff Syndrome. The reason that Debian Stable is so reliable is because software is extensively tested and bug-fixed before being included. This means that the most recent version of software is often not available in the Stable repositories. But it doesn't mean that the software is too old to be useful! The latest version of the software you're trying to use might also have new bugs. Therefore, it is important to decide in this case. Watch videos on Real. Video or have decent fonts. What's more important to you, for your work?

[Segfault]

I wouldn't use Stable for a desktop.

[None1975]

I wouldn't use Stable for a desktop.

Can be. It's your computer and you can do it with everything you like. But there is one bet. Testing and unstable are intended for testers. Do many users of this forum know how to report software errors correctly? How to use Debian bug tracking system? Can you afford for yourself temporary breakages? Do many people know that some programs need to be installed? For example apt-listbugs and apt-listchanges. Do many users subscribe to debian-devel-announce@lists.debian.org? I think no. The most important thing is to keep in mind that you are participating in the development of Debian when you are tracking testing or unstable. This means that you should know your way around Linux, Debian and the Debian packaging system and that you should have an interest in tracking down and fixing bugs. In the ensuing result, stupid questions arise, new topics are being created, summoned that somehow it does not work as it should.

[Segfault]

Debian is so conservative the Testing actually is Stable compared to other distributions. Stable is great for headless servers. For desktop use it is plain too outdated.
Our friend Fernando here is living proof of that.