Vimeo videos playback failure

[webmoebius]

Is there anyone who is running SM 2.40 browser having problems playing back videos currently hosted on Vimeo? Up until recently, SM 2.40 had no problems and I've never had any problems with Vimeo since its existence, with various versions of Seamonkey I have used over the years. However, something has changed on the Vimeo site and none of its videos now play. At first I thought perhaps Vimeo discontinued Flash fall back as I am running on Win-XP Pro SP3, but I also tried the extremely old IE 8.X browser and although the page rendering was incorrect, Vimeo videos did play in a Flash window.

[therube]

I played one just today - both on XP (needed Flash) & on Win7 (HTML5), https://forums.informaction.com/viewtop ... 442#p83442.


(And traffic was so bad today, about the only thing that got me home with a little bit of sanity, http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... #p13848527. Traffic was not moving, but I was CRANKING.)

[webmoebius]

I played one just today - both on XP (needed Flash) & on Win7 (HTML5), https://forums.informaction.com/viewtop ... 442#p83442.

Yes, I tried that video in the thread you posted and oddly that one WORKS but it is an older upload. I have SM 2.40 browser's about:config WEBM.ENABLED parameter set to FALSE, so that it forces Flash fallback on You Tube and Vimeo. I works with all Vimeo videos I have tried up until recently. But newer uploads such as this Vimeo staff pick below, does NOT work:

https://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/171768408

regardless of whether my about:config WEBM.ENABLED parameter is true or false. It simply does not play. I'm currently also in touch with Vimeo support to get to the bottom of this and would be interested to know if you playback the above newer video URLsuccessfully under Win-XP using SM 2.40 browser.

[therube]

No issue here - on Win7.
Can't say about XP at the moment.

As a test, create a new, clean Profile, load the clip & see if it plays.

[amrad]

I can confirm that it works in Win XP Pro with SP3 and SeaMonkey 2.40.

Regards,

Dave.

[webmoebius]

I can confirm that it works in Win XP Pro with SP3 and SeaMonkey 2.40.

That's very strange. I checked with another SM 2.40 user and he has the same Vimeo playback problems with that video URL I posted. Can you tell me on your Win-XP system, what is the exact Flash player plug in version number including the minor revision number? Also, what are your ABOUT:CONFIG setting values for these parameters:

media.encoder.webm.enabled
media-format-reader.webm
media.mediasource.webm.enabled
media.webm.enabled
media.webm.intel_decoder.enabled

If anyone also has the exact information on what the difference between these parameters are, I'd like to hear about it. So far I found that by setting media.webm.enabled to FALSE would force Flash fallback on HTML-5 video sites and up until recently, setting this parameter this way would force allow Flash playback on Vimeo. But it doesn't work with newer videos regardless of this parameter's setting now.

[amrad]

As requested, here are the details you want:

Shockwave Flash: 22.0.0.192
Shockwave Flash: 22.0 r0
Last Updated: 27 June 2016
File: NPSWF32_22_0_0_192.dll
Mime Types: application/x-shockwave-flash (Adobe Flash movie: swf),
application/futuresplash (FutureSplash movie: spl)
Adobe Flash Protected Mode : Enabled
Always Activate

about:config:

media.encoder.webm.enabled: True
media-format-reader.webm: True
media.mediasource.webm.enabled: False
media.webm.enabled: True
media.webm.intel_decoder.enabled: False

I hope that helps.

I tried two videos, the one that therube mentioned and one other chosen at random.

Regards,

Dave.

[webmoebius]

No issue here - on Win7. Can't say about XP at the moment. As a test, create a new, clean Profile, load the clip & see if it plays.

Great idea about the new SM user profile to test it. I found that under that environment the new Vimeo video at this URL shown earlier, did play:
https://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/170697537

However, I have now determined the exact problem. I knew that it had something to do with video parameters in ABOUT:CONFIG that I had adjusted relatively recently due to issues I was tackling as discussed in this earlier thread:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &t=2962577

It occurred to me that the other possible parameter, would have been FULL-SCREEN.API.ENABLED, which I had set to TRUE in order to view many HTML-5 videos online that would NOT go full screen even though I had clicked the video player's full screen button. It is necessary to set this parameter to the non-default value of TRUE in order to view videos in FULL SCREEN mode (with a chrome bar on top of the screen albeit) on sites such as VICE, for example:

https://video.vice.com/en_ca/video/orga ... 5109b2cc04

However, when this parameter is set to TRUE, it results in the FAILURE of new Vimeo videos that use their newly revised player in playing the video completely. Specifically, under Windows XP, the Vimeo site is smart enough to use Flash fallback regardless of whether the ABOUT:CONFIG parameter of MEDIA.WEBM.ENABLED is set to true or false. This parameter does not impact the serving of Flash video on Vimeo under Win-XP. However, if FULL-SCREEN.API.ENABLED has previously been set to TRUE for viewing most other videos in full screen mode, then it is necessary to set it back to FALSE to play newer Vimeo videos. It's not necessary to restart the browser. Simply have the ABOUT:CONFIG in a new browser tab, make the parameter adjustment, then go back to the browser tab with the video in question and simply reload the page and the video will play in accordance with the new parameter settings.

I have just retested the same FULL-SCREEN.API.ENABLED parameter in an older version of TOR-Firefox browser and it appears it affects Vimeo video playback the same way as in SM 2.40. If someone has the latest regular (non-TOR) version of FIREFOX of the same equivalent Gecko browser engine AND is also running under Windows-XP, can you check ABOUT:CONFIG to see if there's also a FULL-SCREEN.API.ENABLED parameter, and what the effects of toggling it between TRUE and FALSE is on both the VICE and VIMEO videos? Does it parallel the same action as in SM 2.40? I would also be interested to know if there is any difference when this parameter is toggled on a system with Win-7 or later operating system.Thanks.

[webmoebius]

I tried two videos, the one that therube mentioned and one other chosen at random. Regards, Dave.

Thanks for supplying your version numbers and parameters. I've now determined the exact cause of the problem. Try the videos and settings I've mentioned in the follow up and see if your experience is the same. At least I now know what the workaround is, even though it's a bit of a pain to have to adjust ABOUT:CONFIG each time depending on the video viewed. The oddball out is Vimeo however.

[amrad]

There is the preference 'full-screen-api.enabled' in my about:config, which was set to false.

I tried the Vice video you suggested and with it set to false or true I got this:

ERR_VIDE0_REGION
THIS VIDEO IS NOT AVAILABLE IN YOUR REGION

Trying a different video, Vice Essentials The Mission To Resurrect The Woolly Mammoth, with it set to false the video played, with it set to true I got:

FLASH PLUGIN FAILED TO LOAD
PLEASE CHECK IF YOU HAVE FLASH INSTALLED

After a few seconds, however, the video started to play, this was also the case with it set to true!

Trying the Vimeo video you suggested, with it set to false, the video played, with it set to true, it failed to play.

I hope that was what you wanted me to do.

Regards,

Dave.

[webmoebius]

Trying the Vimeo video you suggested, with it set to false, the video played, with it set to true, it failed to play. I hope that was what you wanted me to do.

Thanks for confirming this on SM 2.40. This was also tested on Win-XP, yes? I think in this case the operating system is irrelevant. The result should be the same both on Win-XP and Win-7 or later. It is the parameter FULL-SCREEN.API.ENABLED that Vimeo chokes on.

[amrad]

Thanks for confirming this on SM 2.40. This was also tested on Win-XP, yes? I think in this case the operating system is irrelevant. The result should be the same both on Win-XP and Win-7 or later. It is the parameter FULL-SCREEN.API.ENABLED that Vimeo chokes on.

You're welcome. Yes, tested on Win XP.

Regards,

Dave.

[webmoebius]

Vimeo advises that they have fully resolved this issue today, and my own further testing with previously non-playing Vimeo videos has been successful under SM 2.40 browser, when the FULL-SCREEN.API.ENABLED parameter is set to TRUE, while playing back under Windows-XP, though this issue is actually with Vimeo's problem with that parameter and not as much the operating system per se.