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html5 video not playing

  • 2 replies
  • 5 have this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by petef

petef
petef
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Since updating to v.42.0.2 from v.40 I found Fx Android will not play HTML5 video. After deleting v.42, and installing totally new v.43 with no addons, still HTML5 video will not play, just get sound with intermittent video and spinning wheel.

This has been more or less the case since v.36, but until now I have got around the problem by altering about:config - changing 'media.fragmented-mp4.enabled' to FALSE, then Fx worked for at least some video, but this workaround does not appear to work with v.42 & v.43 (and maybe v.41 as I skipped straight from v.40 to 42.0.2). Now when implementing the workaround, I get "no video with supported format and MIME type found", and "Your browser does not currently recognise any of the video formats available".

With the workaround in place, https://html5test.com/ reports that HTML5 Codecs supported are: Ogg Theora, WebM with VP8 & VP9. Not supported: MPEG-4 ASP & H264, so it seems the workaround disables H264 functionality, but at least other HTML5 video worked before v.42.

My other browser plays all video without any issues, but it is important that I use Fx (or Chrome) due to the vulnerabilities in pre-KitKat Webview (using Android 4.2.2 & no chance of an upgrade from OEM).

I guess the problem goes back to v.36, and was never resolved then, just fudged with a workaround that no longer works.

Any ideas anyone?

Since updating to v.42.0.2 from v.40 I found Fx Android will not play HTML5 video. After deleting v.42, and installing totally new v.43 with no addons, still HTML5 video will not play, just get sound with intermittent video and spinning wheel. This has been more or less the case since v.36, but until now I have got around the problem by altering about:config - changing 'media.fragmented-mp4.enabled' to FALSE, then Fx worked for at least some video, but this workaround does not appear to work with v.42 & v.43 (and maybe v.41 as I skipped straight from v.40 to 42.0.2). Now when implementing the workaround, I get "no video with supported format and MIME type found", and "Your browser does not currently recognise any of the video formats available". With the workaround in place, https://html5test.com/ reports that HTML5 Codecs supported are: Ogg Theora, WebM with VP8 & VP9. Not supported: MPEG-4 ASP & H264, so it seems the workaround disables H264 functionality, but at least other HTML5 video worked before v.42. My other browser plays all video without any issues, but it is important that I use Fx (or Chrome) due to the vulnerabilities in pre-KitKat Webview (using Android 4.2.2 & no chance of an upgrade from OEM). I guess the problem goes back to v.36, and was never resolved then, just fudged with a workaround that no longer works. Any ideas anyone?

All Replies (2)

SHOBLE THOMAS
SHOBLE THOMAS
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https://hacks.mozilla.org/2012/11/h264-video-in-firefox-for-android/

petef
petef Question owner
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Thanks for your reply, unfortunately this does appear to be the issue.

In v.40 and in v.43: With 'media.fragmented-mp4.enabled' set to TRUE in about:config (default), https://html5test.com/ reports that there is H264 support, but attempting to play a Youtube video, all I get is sound plus broken-up video with the spinning wheel.

In v.40 (and before), I can get Youtube video to play by setting 'media.fragmented-mp4.enabled' to FALSE This appears to disable H264 support, (as reported by https://html5test.com/), but must be allowing video to play in another format as Youtube video plays fine.

In v.43, trying to play the same Youtube video with 'media.fragmented-mp4.enabled' set to FALSE, all I get is the message "No video with supported format and MIME type found". So currently cannot play Youtube video in v.43.