Firefox 28 no longer seems to play well with Youtube. Is there a fix?
Hey all.
As some of you may know from some older questions, I have two machines. One a Windows XP desktop running Firefox 28, as it was the last version I knew that supported Windows XP, and the other a Windows 10 Laptop that is on the current version of Firefox.
Sadly, my post is about the XP version of Firefox tonight. Please don't judge. The computer still runs, so I haven't seen a reason to get rid of it, and I split my time between the two machines.
I'll get right to the point. Up till tonight, Version 28 on Windows XP had worked perfectly with Youtube— Or at least as near to it as the old machine could get— as it typically played every video more or less with no issues via the HTML5 video player that Youtube supposedly uses. However tonight, I have been getting very hit or miss responses on youtube, as the HTML5 player does not always come up, and when it does not, I get an image of static with text saying that my browser is not recognizing any of the available formats. When I check youtube.com/html5, it is showing that it recognizes some of the formats— apparently only two so far, and HTML5 itself isn't even listed among them, though there is a checked box saying that the HTML5 player is used when possible— so I'm just wondering, what the hell happened here? As I said, Up till basically last night, everything worked more or less fine on Youtube, with there being only a handful of times the issue of a video format not being recognized came up. In fact Firefox 28 is still somehow pulling up the classic version of youtube, rather than the new version, which I have no explanation for.
Did Youtube stop supporting HTML5 in favor of a new video format, or is something else going on here?
If there is a later version of Firefox that still worked for Windows XP ( I think I remember someone suggesting that 43 would work, but half of the extensions no longer seem to exist for it that I use, including classic theme restorer— though I think someone at waterfox said they may have archived that extension, however I have no idea how to access or use archived extensions— but any port in a storm at this stage) that supports whatever Youtube is using, that would be welcome information, despite my attachment to version 28. Hell, if I could make sense out of how to set up multiple profiles for Firefox, I'd run the classic 28 and whatever later version might run with whatever Youtube is doing so I wouldn't have to give up my preferred version on this old machine. Again though, sometimes the HTML5 player works, and sometimes it doesn't. So I dunno what the issue is here and if there's a fix I can find for Firefox 28, as it is the last version I knew worked for the older machine.
Thankfully, this issue doesn't come up on the Windows 10 laptop, so this is not repeating itself there, Thankfully. But is there a way to fix this, or am I just stuck with considering Youtube a partial, if not complete loss on the XP machine? It's one of only three sites I even still use the browser for. The other two being fanfiction.net and wikipedia.org
And if there IS a later version of Firefox that still actually works with XP, does anyone have a basic 'here's how even an idiot can fix it so you can run two versions on the same machine' explanation of how to set that up? I am NOT a technical person, and going into excessive detail does me no favors. I just need simple, point by point instructions that are, in effect such that a three year old could read and understand them if there is a way to have two versions of the program running.
Though this does also make me wonder if I can install the browser in my second internal hard drive rather than the primary C drive and still have it work properly.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling. If anyone could help me address these issues, that would be much appreciated. :)
All Replies (12)
Ok, as I said before, I made the change to media.mediasource.enabled that was suggested. It seems to be semi-working. I dunno if this is because I haven't had the chance yet to update to the 52ESR (I need to clear some space off my primary hard drive. If I could install it to my second internal drive, I would do it.) but I've noticed that on the XP machine, the progress bar is behaving oddly. Prior to this past sunday, this was not an issue any more than the issue of formats not being recognized. The first issue is that it's showing up instantly filled out. This is NOT how it behaved prior to sunday on XP, and does not behave that way on 10. Granted, this might be because I'm still on 28 right now. I will include screenshots of the progress bar as it's showing up on XP and how it's supposed to build up, which it's till doing on 10.
Now before I made that change to the media.mediasource.enabled section to set it to true, when Youtube would actually bring up a video, the progress bar was building up properly and not having any other issues with playing, when I could get the videos to work. So I'm not sure if I messed something else up elsewhere in the about:config thing when I made this change. Now, as I said, for the most part Youtube is playing or at least loading a video up if nothing else, but if the video begins to buffer, trying to rewind or fast forward a video to speed up the buffering by moving back or forward on the video to speed up t he buffering, it causes youtube to go completely silent. Almost freezing up the entire browser. Again, not sure if this is just because I haven't had the chance to jump up to the 52 ESR, or if it's because I'm trying to access the site on XP.
If anyone can tell me if I did something wrong when I set the media.mediasource.enabled thing to true, please let me know. There was only two things listed on the list when I typed in Medias into about:config. The other being something to do with Noscript.
Anyone know if I messed this up or what? I mean, should I set this back to false? When it works, the videos work properly on XP with it set to false, without any freezing issues. WHEN it works, mind. This past Monday and Tuesday it did not work maybe half the time, and my bookmarked videos didn't work at all, but they worked properly when they did, whereas now they seem even more screwed up even though everything is at least loading up, but not always playing properly.
Incidentally, CAN Firefox be installed into a secondary drive, or does it need to be installed onto the main drive? I am down to my last 24 gigs on the original drive, and the less memory there is on the tower's primary drive, the slower it acts.
Modified by Marc7
Hi Marc7, I don't really know what the MediaSource Extensions do differently. Also, whatever glitches Firefox 28 had are water under the bridge at this point; they are what they are.
Since this thread is on to a second page, could you start a new question for how best to store your Firefox profile folder on a different drive? Otherwise, it will always be under
C:\Documents and Settings\
jscher2000 said
Hi Marc7, I don't really know what the MediaSource Extensions do differently. Also, whatever glitches Firefox 28 had are water under the bridge at this point; they are what they are. Since this thread is on to a second page, could you start a new question for how best to store your Firefox profile folder on a different drive? Otherwise, it will always be under C:\Documents and Settings\
No prob. I'll start a new question there for that. If anyone has any info about 28, they can post it here, I would presume?
Question. What is media.webvtt.enabled, and should it be set to true or false? I haven't messed with it. But I did notice that if you type in media instead of medias into about:config, this is one of the various listings under media that comes up. It's listed as boolean type and is set to false. In fact I've seen a few boolean types set to false when I just type in media instead of medias in about:config. Again, I am no tech guy, but I am curious is these are supposed to be set to false, and if they might be part of the issue, not just the media.mediasource.enabled listing. I can get a few screenshots, if they would help?
install media feature pack
FFus3r said
install media feature pack
Unfortunately, Microsoft did not release this for XP.
Marc7 said
Question. What is media.webvtt.enabled, and should it be set to true or false? I haven't messed with it. But I did notice that if you type in media instead of medias into about:config, this is one of the various listings under media that comes up. It's listed as boolean type and is set to false. In fact I've seen a few boolean types set to false when I just type in media instead of medias in about:config. Again, I am no tech guy, but I am curious is these are supposed to be set to false, and if they might be part of the issue, not just the media.mediasource.enabled listing.
The ones that are not bolded have their default values, i.e., "factory default settings." If you want to reset customized preferences, you can right-click>Reset (for boolean values, you can double-click).
here:
- https://download. cnet. com/ Windows-Media-Bonus-Pack-for-Windows-XP/3000-2141_4-10070998.html
cnet aka download .com is not a safe place to download stuff without extra junk.
Modified by James
jscher2000 said
FFus3r saidinstall media feature packUnfortunately, Microsoft did not release this for XP.
Marc7 said
Question. What is media.webvtt.enabled, and should it be set to true or false? I haven't messed with it. But I did notice that if you type in media instead of medias into about:config, this is one of the various listings under media that comes up. It's listed as boolean type and is set to false. In fact I've seen a few boolean types set to false when I just type in media instead of medias in about:config. Again, I am no tech guy, but I am curious is these are supposed to be set to false, and if they might be part of the issue, not just the media.mediasource.enabled listing.The ones that are not bolded have their default values, i.e., "factory default settings." If you want to reset customized preferences, you can right-click>Reset (for boolean values, you can double-click).
Ok, this caught my eye. When I went to do the whole media.mediasource.enabled thing, it was not bolded when it was set to false, but became bolded when I double-clicked it to set it to true. So if I'm understanding this properly, then this should always have been set to true as the bolded version is standard for Firefox right out of the 'box' so to speak? Huh. Then that means my version of Firefox 28 has been running with it on false for over four years and yet never had any issue with Youtube at all. That's...really damn weird, all things considered. I wonder what even caused that in the first place, and why Youtube seems to have more issues with it set to true than false. When it's set to false, the videos— when I can get youtube to play them at that setting— work fine. When it's set to true, I get those occasional progress bar, buffering, and site freezing issues.
Modified by Marc7
FFus3r said
install media feature pack
What does this do? I can honestly say I've never heard of it before.
Marc7 said
When I went to do the whole media.mediasource.enabled thing, it was not bolded when it was set to false, but became bolded when I double-clicked it to set it to true. So if I'm understanding this properly, then this should always have been set to true as the bolded version is standard for Firefox right out of the 'box' so to speak?
I do not have time to research default settings of Firefox 28. You are the one in the best position to know. Some settings were available for testing or were incomplete before becoming the defaults. Again, ANCIENT history.
FFus3r said
here:
- https://download. cnet. com/ Windows-Media-Bonus-Pack-for-Windows-XP/3000-2141_4-10070998.html
Nope as that is something else. Besides this is from 2001.
Microsoft only supports Windows Vista SP2 and later with updates that has the Media Foundation stuff for the codecs needed for HTML5 players. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-video-audio-problems-firefox-windows
Windows 7, 8 (8.1), 10 in places like Canada and US comes with this however if one has a N or KN edition of said Windows then you need to install this update.
Marc7 said
FFus3r saidinstall media feature packWhat does this do? I can honestly say I've never heard of it before.
That is something Microsoft does not support the old Windows XP with as they do with Vista SP2, 7, 8 (8.1), 10. The media foundation stuff adds the codecs you need to fully use the HTML5 players.
Modified by James