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Youtube gives me an error that says I can't view html5. When I click on the faq, I get the Firefox home page.

haveforkwilltravel
haveforkwilltravel
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I am running an old computer using XP. All I want to do on this computer is view Virtual Railfan live streaming videos. When I try to view a video, it says that my browser doesn't recognize any of the video formats available. Then it points me to a html5 faq. When I click on that I go to Firefox home page and it wants me to download Firefox. I already have downloaded the latest Firefox. Is there a workaround for this?

I am running an old computer using XP. All I want to do on this computer is view Virtual Railfan live streaming videos. When I try to view a video, it says that my browser doesn't recognize any of the video formats available. Then it points me to a html5 faq. When I click on that I go to Firefox home page and it wants me to download Firefox. I already have downloaded the latest Firefox. Is there a workaround for this?

Chosen solution

OK Jefferson, thanks. I was afraid of that. I've already transferred all the data files from that PC to the one that is running win10. I'll wipe that drive and do a clean install of win10. The kids at Microsoft like to do these kinds of things. But it's easier to play along instead of writing a good OS, and as an octogenarian, easy is what I am looking for. I appreciate your help.

Cheers!

Paul

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jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
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As you probably know, Firefox does not included the patented software required to decode H.264/MP4 video. It uses components supplied by Microsoft (Media Foundation) which were never released for XP, only Vista and later. So unless YouTube has the video in another format such as WebM, you are out of luck. To confirm that your Firefox can indeed play WebM VP8 video, you can test using this page (I cribbed Google's old code):

https://www.jeffersonscher.com/sumo/html5-video.html

The problem with LIVE is that it may not yet be available in WebM video until a few hours later.

Maybe you can grab the stream using VLC? I'm not familiar with how people do it.

haveforkwilltravel
haveforkwilltravel Question owner
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Chosen Solution

OK Jefferson, thanks. I was afraid of that. I've already transferred all the data files from that PC to the one that is running win10. I'll wipe that drive and do a clean install of win10. The kids at Microsoft like to do these kinds of things. But it's easier to play along instead of writing a good OS, and as an octogenarian, easy is what I am looking for. I appreciate your help.

Cheers!

Paul