Buggy Internet Videos

[T.A.C.]

A lot of the time when I am trying to play videos on Firefox, I get a variety of problems. It has happened with YouTube, but mostly when I'm trying to watch TV shows on Hulu or Southparkstudios.com. It often comes in the form of the video stopping and the space where the video should be turning entirely white. This usually happens right when the video begins or when it goes to commercial. I then have to reload the page. This is terribly annoying, is there a fix?

[kansasnoob]

A lot of the time when I am trying to play videos on Firefox, I get a variety of problems. It has happened with YouTube, but mostly when I'm trying to watch TV shows on Hulu or Southparkstudios.com. It often comes in the form of the video stopping and the space where the video should be turning entirely white. This usually happens right when the video begins or when it goes to commercial. I then have to reload the page. This is terribly annoying, is there a fix?

I know this sounds too simple, but simply adding Flashblock 1.5.7.1 got Flash videos playing much better for me. There's an older version in synaptic but it didn't work for me anymore so if it's installed first remove it.

Then go to (in Firefox) Tools > Add-ons > Get Add-ons and search for and install the Mozilla version of Flashblock. You'll be prompted to restart Firefox, so do.

Give that a whirl!

[viking777]

I am sure that is safe to remove, I don't even have it installed and there is nothing wrong with my Mint.

Generally meta-packages are just a list of other packages so that you don't have to run around looking for dozens of packages in different locations to make something work. Once the other packages are safely installed the meta-package is usually redundant.

Edit. Can someone explain to me how adding flashblock, a plugin whose job is to block flash animations, actually manages to improve flash performance?? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

[T.A.C.]

Edit. Can someone explain to me how adding flashblock, a plugin whose job is to block flash animations, actually manages to improve flash performance?? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I'm pretty fuzzy on that too, but I swear it worked. Flashblock made the videos play more smoothly (somehow) and switching the packages (after figuring out confused synaptic was) made the glitches stop. Thanks!

[kansasnoob]

Edit. Can someone explain to me how adding flashblock, a plugin whose job is to block flash animations, actually manages to improve flash performance?? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I'm pretty fuzzy on that too, but I swear it worked. Flashblock made the videos play more smoothly (somehow) and switching the packages (after figuring out confused synaptic was) made the glitches stop. Thanks!

I don't know why either! It just works for me. The older repo version worked fine until the release of Firefox 3.05 and after quite a little fiddling around I found that removing the older repo version and installing Flashblock 1.5.7.1 worked fine.

I even found it to improve the performance of Flash 9 in older versions of Firefox. Definitely weird!

[kansasnoob]

Edit. Can someone explain to me how adding flashblock, a plugin whose job is to block flash animations, actually manages to improve flash performance?? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I'm pretty fuzzy on that too, but I swear it worked. Flashblock made the videos play more smoothly (somehow) and switching the packages (after figuring out confused synaptic was) made the glitches stop. Thanks!

I don't know why either! It just works for me. The older repo version worked fine until the release of Firefox 3.05 and after quite a little fiddling around I found that removing the older repo version and installing Flashblock 1.5.7.1 worked fine.

I even found it to improve the performance of Flash 9 in older versions of Firefox. Definitely weird!

[kansasnoob]

Sorry for the double post! I'm rummy on pain pills!

I forgot to add that I'd be very reluctant to remove Mint-Meta-Main!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Besides which if you read the description for the two different Flash packages they are both version 10.0.15-3.

[kansasnoob]

I forgot to add that I'd be very reluctant to remove Mint-Meta-Main!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Besides which if you read the description for the two different Flash packages they are both version 10.0.15-3.

So how can I swap the packages without removing the mint-meta-main? Or are you saying to just NOT switch the packages. Also, is this a Firefox-only problem?

Have you tried adding Flashblock in the manner I suggested? (not from the repos)

OTOH, if you want to try adding adobe-flashplugin just go to Tools > Add-ons > Plugins and look for Shockwave Flash and click on disable (I do this with all of my mplayer plugins because I prefer VLC), then go to Package Manager and install adobe-flashplugin, or knock yourself out and download the .deb (for Ubuntu 8.04+) here:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

They're all Flash 10 (at least on Mint 6).

As far as it being a Firefox only problem, I've never figured out how to get Flash working acceptably in Opera, but I really haven't tried.

[qbicdesign]

wow... i'm pretty amazed my FF tab switching is now twice as fast as before since intsalling Flashblock...
very cool

[kansasnoob]

OK, in Mint 6, on my testing Hard drive I did try removing Mint-Meta-Main. I've restarted normally twice and it seems to be safe so if you want to try that, absolutely - knock yourself out!

It seems that's safe to do as long as no actual Mint packages are removed!

[viking777]

I don't blame you all for not believing me, I sometimes don't know if it is safe to believe myself . However on the point about meta packages I am pretty well certain!

I must try flashblock on FF and see if I can notice a difference. Mostly I use Opera (which is good but not without its own problems).

[qbicdesign]

have since also removed "flashplugin-free" and install "adobe-flashplugin".
I actually had both these installed which i guess would cause a conflict, but FF is running sweeter now. Still slower than in XP on same machine tho...

[jacobcrogers]

This worked for me. Great.