No audio from specific videos in Firefox, same videos play in Chrome
This is not a new problem. It does not affect all videos, just some and on varying website locations -- from private ones to YouTube to Vimeo -- and possibly others. These are the ones that stick in my mind.
I have looked into this thread and the referenced links:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/969936
This was a Windows 8 machine and is now a Windows 8.1 machine. Opening Firefox in Safe Mode so add-ons and custom settings were negated. The issue still happens. My Flash and QuickTime are up-to-date. I do not see anything in this piece to help me make certain my BitDefender Firewall is creating an issue:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/configure-firewalls-so-firefox-can-access-internet
I have tried what I see listed here:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-common-audio-and-video-issues
Malwarebytes Pro does not find any issues with the computer. BitDefender does not find any issues with the computer.
I prefer not to use Chrome, however, it is becoming apparent if I want to access videos, I'm going to have to -- as I cannot count on Firefox to play them.
Do you have any suggestions specific to this issue?
Thank you.
All Replies (6)
Are those videos played by the Flash player or by the built-in HTML media player?
You can check that by right-clicking the media player.
It is possible that you do not have the proper codec installed to play the sound.
Do you see any errors listed in the Web Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer;Ctrl+Shift+K) or the Browser Console about these videos?
I am unable to intelligently answer your question regarding Flash player or built-in HTML media player.
When I right click on the only thing that I see that may be the media player I see this (see "right_click_media_player.png")
I'm the first to admit that I have no clue what you mean by right click on the media player -- I'm taking that to mean right click on the area when I see the movie playing.
This particular video is not important to me, but it's illustrative of the issue.
It's located at http://vimeo.com/ondemand/speciesism (It's the trailer, not the paid item).
The WebConsole information I see is visible on the .png I mentioned earlier. All I see when I click on the play button is GET line and the POST line. I clicked a couple of times and simply got further POST lines.
In case it helps your assessment, I'm including images of what I saw in one of the POST ....../log/partial lines. (see INR_1.png and INR_2.png)
If this is not the information you are looking for, please feel free to give step by step instructions (or a link to such) as I'm not particularly savvy with the terms that are being used.
And, of course, thank you for your time and patience.
Gewysig op deur rplasschaert
That is an MP4 movie that is played via the built-in HTML5 media player.
You may not have installed the proper codecs if the sound is missing.
You can try to disable this player by setting the media.windows-media-foundation.enabled pref to false on the about:config page.
You can open the about:config page via the location bar
cor-el, this has worked on this video. Thank you everso!
Your response was concise, cogent, and after I got over my beginner's fear upon seeing the warning screen when I typed in about:config in the address bar, I was able to find what you told me to look for.
You have given me hope that this may also be the issue with the videos that don't play sound in a training course I have (not all, but some of them exhibit the same "play but no sound."
Since there are a great number of them in the course, and I didn't have the foresight to note down which ones where not playing sound I need to begin slogging through them again.
Shall I check the box that says "Did this reply solve your problem? Solved the problem" next to your above response, or are you comfortable with me leaving this ticket open and taking a day (maybe three, due to my schedule) to try and locate one or two of the files to see if this resolved the problem with them?
Thank you again.
Gewysig op deur rplasschaert
Well ... it's a mixed reaction.
The particular videos I original asked about (playing without audio) seem to be functioning with the about:config "false" fix.
However, that fix has generated an issue with another set of videos that I cannot give the link to as they are also "subscribed" , i.e., they are part of an elearning course. So, giving the link will not get you to them.
With the fix applied, media.windows-media-foundation.enabled pref to false on the about:config page -- some videos I was able to play previous to the fix, now don't play.
The videos *now* affected sit with a black screen and a continually swirling white circle of lines.
Nothing appears in the Dev Tool Web Console.
See attached .png's: one is with a right click attempt on the video player as you previously suggested; one is of the "hanging" taking place.
If I toggle the about:config "fix" back to true, the referenced video plays with no problem; and of course, the videos I originally asked about once again play with no sound.
Is this missing codecs issue you mentioned with my original problem something you can point me a link to? Or do I need to be a tech-geek to be able to pull that off?
It's going to be extremely inconvenient to have to switch that about:config each time I find a video that doesn't play nicely in the sandbox. Which means I'd wind up changing browsers -- and that's not my goal.
Disabling windows-media-foundation only helps if that makes the website offer you to play the file via a dedicated Flash player or you have a plugin that supports this MIME type. If the website doesn't check for support, but merely sends the file then Firefox won't be able to play this file via the built-in HTML5 media player.