Playing videos

[beacon]

I recently had to re-install Linux Mint 18.2 and more recently updated to 18.3. I have never before had problems of this nature, but playing videos is a hit-or-miss event. Sometimes when I tick on a video embedded in a newspaper there is no difficulty, and at other times I get a message, not always the same, but similar to the one in my attached screenshot. The same is true when I go to a particular site using videos, e.g., do-it-yourself help. I have followed so many bits of advice that I may have made things even worse, but nothing helps, and I have checked the items that people in forums have suggested. I'll be grateful for any advice and wonder why I have only recently had this problem.

By the way, I have used Firefox, Chrome and Midori, all with the same results.

[thx-1138]

...is mint-meta-codecs installed? You can check that either from Software Manager, or from Synaptic, or you can also run sudo apt-get install mint-meta-codecs to make sure it's installed.

I don't know about specifically for Midori and/or Chrome, but on Firefox, Tools - Add-ons Manager - Plugins, are they activated?

but playing videos is a hit-or-miss event

Nowadays most sites require html5 to play videos (most modern browsers support / do that by default, so no worries there).
However quite a few sites, still require Adobe Flash (older technology to speak off) -> at least for Chrome / Firefox, this gets to become enabled by installing mint-meta-codecs...

[karlchen]

Hi, beacon.

I tried to visit the independent.co.uk webpage, the complete URL of which is visible in your screenshot. - Would have been a very kind act to post the URL as a clickable link as well so we can test more easily.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/ka ... 79816.html

Anyway. Palemoon and the independent.co.uk webpage do not seem to like each other very much. As soon as I entered the "Voices" sub-page, my Palemoon got extremely laggy and unrepsonsive.
Gnome-System-Monitor revealed that 1 CPU cre had been eaten up completely.
This CPU core returned to normal load only after I had managed to close the "Voices" page again.

My personal suspicion is that the independent.co.uk webpages are compiled in a horrible way. The term "bloatware" comes to my mind.
So the intermittent problems might be caused more by the webpages themselves where you experience problems playing their videos than by your OS or your browser.

But before giving this as my final (personal) verdict, I will give Firefox 57.0.1 a chance. Let us see how it will behave.

Regards,
Karl
--
In the meantime, here are my system specs, just to give a hint that this is not a poorly equipped lowend netbook from the previous decade.

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~$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: computer Kernel: 4.4.0-103-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 4.8.4
           Desktop: Unity 7.2.6 (Gtk 3.10.8-0ubuntu1.6) Distro: Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS
Machine:   Device: laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E5470 serial: N/A
           Mobo: Dell model: 0P88J9 v: A00 serial: N/A UEFI [Legacy]: Dell v: 1.9.4 date: 08/26/2016
Battery    BAT0: charge: 34.4 Wh 57.1% condition: 60.2/62.0 Wh (97%)
           model: Samsung SDI DELL TXF9M6A status: Discharging
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-6200U (-HT-MCP-) arch: Skylake rev.3 cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9600
           clock speeds: max: 2800 MHz 1: 499 MHz 2: 499 MHz 3: 499 MHz 4: 499 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Sky Lake Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: intel (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2)
           version: 3.3 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Render: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Device 9d70 driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 Sound: ALSA v: k4.4.0-103-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel Ethernet Connection I219-LM driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k bus-ID: 00:1f.6
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel Wireless 8260 driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 01:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 128.0GB (44.3% used)
           ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: N/A size: 127.9GB
           ID-2: /dev/sda model: SanDisk_X400_M.2 size: 128.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 30G used: 9.6G (35%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/mmcblk0p2
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 5.37GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/mmcblk0p3
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 44.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 228 Uptime: 49 min Memory: 948.1/3624.1MB Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.3.45 

[karlchen]

Hi, beacon.

I do not know whether you have followed thx-1138's advice to make sure that mint-meta-codecs are present on your Linux Mint 18.3.
I do not know whether they will be needed or not to view the videos on independent.co.uk.

In my case, it simply looks like PaleMoon 27.6.2 has lost this round and Firefox 57.0.1 has clearly won.
The pages are bloated.
Yet, This did not stop Firefox 57.0.1 from displaying any imbedded video properly, which I have selected pretty randomly.

Perhaps the best starting point for troubleshooting your system is an

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inxi -Fxz

report, created on your Linux Mint 18.3 system, which may or may not give a hint on potential problems with the video driver in use.

It is also imaginable that the "video playing" problem is related or caused by the other more severe problem which you had reported here: Wireless connection on Mint 18.3

Best regards,
Karl

[trytip]

my chrome and palemoon (both the very latest) play it but only after going through a lot of blocking of scripts. i have heavy privacy tweaks on both browsers and as you can see some fonts in palemoon is blocked but only because i do not allow pages to use their own fonts. using my ARCH right now but in comparison the pages may load if you delete browsing history and cookies (you must restart browser browser after deleting history). THIS site is under severe third party adtracking and load scripts.

ps: in chrome and chromium based browsers like slimjet there are cookies that DO NOT GET REMOVED if you sign in to many sites and need to be removed manually even if you delete everything go to chrome://settings/siteData and remove all/restart browser

[beacon]

Thanks for the replies. And to Karl I express my appreciation for help not only on this, but on several topics. The answer to various queries is that I have followed up on them. Mint-medic-codecs are installed and plug-ins are enabled. (I apologise for not sending the URL of the Independent, but I thought that was irrelevant. The issue affects every site I visit and not just that of the Independent, and it doesn't matter what browser I try.)

I'm not certain that I understand the reply by trytip, but I have the systems set to delete cookies and history every time I leave a browser.

I appreciate your help.

[karlchen]

[...] Perhaps the best starting point for troubleshooting your system is an

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inxi -Fxz

report, created on your Linux Mint 18.3 system, which may or may not give a hint on potential problems with the video driver in use. [...]

The inxi report can be found in the "Wireless problem" thread >> here <<. Copied over here for convience.

The information from inxi -Fxz:

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Kernel: 4.10.0-42-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.6 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   Mobo: Gigabyte model: GA-MA78LMT-US2H v: x.x
           Bios: Award v: F10 date: 03/10/2011
CPU:       Triple core AMD Athlon II X3 455 (-MCP-) cache: 1536 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm) bmips: 19888
           clock speeds: max: 3300 MHz 1: 2100 MHz 2: 2600 MHz 3: 800 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RS780L [Radeon 3000]
           bus-ID: 01:05.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD RS780 (DRM 2.49.0 / 4.10.0-42-generic, LLVM 4.0.0)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RS780 HDMI Audio [Radeon (HD) 3000 Series]
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:05.1
           Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-42-generic
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: de00 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 240.1GB (10.0% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: KINGSTON_SV300S3 size: 240.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 213G used: 16G (8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.05GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 29.1C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 188 Uptime: 1:16 Memory: 1091.4/7474.1MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

[beacon]

I hesitate to come back to this topic after reactions to a previous posting. However, it has been three months since the difficulty developed, and I am nowhere near resolving it. In a nutshell I am unable to play videos after having installed Linux Mint 18.3. (By the way, I have done two fresh installs in the interval, the most recent one in the last week.) To repeat, I am using Mint 18.3 Cinnamon, and have tried three browsers (Flashpeak-Slimjet, my favourite chrome system, the latest version of Firefox, and Midori). Although I was told that I should include URLs when I write, I can only say that it wouldn't help, since all sites seem to be equally unresponsive. I can read newspapers, but not see the embedded videos; usually a picture appears, and loading seems to be taking place, only for a black screen to come up with the message that I placed in my first post (the video is not available, or your browser does not support it). Strangely there is no difficulty with Minitube.

I have spent these months searching the web, trying all ideas. I have made certain that codecs are installed, and I have installed the Ubuntu restricted extras. I have tried nearly everything that I can understand on various sites. I have used Linux-Mint for donkey's years and have never had the problem. I don't think it is down to browsers, since all act in the same way. I have also checked the forums of the browsers, with no joy. I have seen a few comments about the same problem, but there haven't been responses.

I'd have thought that either I am extremely unlucky, or that there are others with the issue and wonder how they have solved it.

[trytip]

download a different linux mint live. do you have the same issues when playing a video in live mode? seems a lot of people have issues with the cinnamon desktop. do you have all the drivers installed in driver manager

[ArtGirl]

Hi Beacon Sorry to hear there are still issues. You must be fed up, so it may be a good time to try this?, after doing any backups:

1. format/clean reinstall
2. do updates, including microcode/kernel(s) and the multimedia/mint-meta-codecs (Packages)
3. I purge Firefox and Thunderbird:

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sudo apt-get -y --purge autoremove firefox firefox-locale-en

sudo apt-get -y --purge autoremove thunderbird thunderbird-gnome-support

4. I'd been utterly fed up with video issues on Opera, and have had no issues at all since switching to Waterfox (independent.co.uk works fine), especially via the ppa [copy/paste/enter for each of the 4 sections, in terminal]:

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echo 'deb https://dl.bintray.com/hawkeye116477/waterfox-deb release main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/waterfox.list

curl https://bintray.com/user/downloadSubjectPublicKey?username=hawkeye116477 | sudo apt-key add -

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install waterfox

Using the ppa has given me zero problems ... Waterfox can be chosen as preferred application in Mint, and, online, it's easy to select Waterfox as default browser. All runs very fast, too. (I'm on 18.1, but recall it working fine on 18.3)

These are the add-ons I use on Waterfox: Adblock Plus/Ultimate, Enhancer for Youtube, Javascript Control, Quick Dial, Reddit Enhancement Suite (older version: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefo ... /versions/). I adjust java manually, and occasionally need to whitelist something in Waterfox's settings (Content/Pop-Ups/Exceptions) or Adblock.

As soon as I'd crossed over to Waterfox, I noticed videos weren't an issue anymore. A huge relief!
Hope this is helpful.

[Flemur]

I can play that video OK (FF 58).

Here's the result of rt-click "player information" (which doesn't tell me much):

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Player Information
General
Brightcove Player Version	5.27.0
Video.js Version	5.20.4
Account ID	624246174001
Player ID	ryaWt2q-W
Embed ID	default
Application ID	unknown
Plugins
Name 	Version 	Active
ima3	2.18.0	yes
social	unknown	no
Source
Current Playback Tech	Html5
Current Media Type	application/vnd.apple.mpegurl
Video Name	Katie Hopkins' most controversial moments
Video ID	5449373241001
Current Bandwidth	3305208
Media Bytes Transferred	13681980
Media Requests	10
Media Transfer Duration	45229
Rendition Width	960
Rendition Height	540

[beacon]

I appreciate the replies. Thanks, Trytip: I have, when doing clean installs, used three different disks. The last was from the latest issue of Linux Magazine. I am grateful to Artgirl for this help and support in the past. I am so frightened of doing something irreversible that I used the live disk to download waterfox and found that it didn't improve the situation. Would that be because I didn't properly install, or is due to some more fundamental problem that I haven't found. (I did manage to resolve the lack of wireless connection.)

There is one interesting further comment. My partner has the same OS version (18.3 Cinnamon) installed, and for some reason I had the idea which hadn't occurred to me before to try that computer. The videos worked perfectly on Chrome! What can be the difference I wonder.

Thanks again.

[ArtGirl]

I appreciate the replies. Thanks, Trytip: I have, when doing clean installs, used three different disks. The last was from the latest issue of Linux Magazine. I am grateful to Artgirl for this help and support in the past. I am so frightened of doing something irreversible that I used the live disk to download waterfox and found that it didn't improve the situation. Would that be because I didn't properly install, or is due to some more fundamental problem that I haven't found. (I did manage to resolve the lack of wireless connection.)

There is one interesting further comment. My partner has the same OS version (18.3 Cinnamon) installed, and for some reason I had the idea which hadn't occurred to me before to try that computer. The videos worked perfectly on Chrome! What can be the difference I wonder.

Thanks again.

Hi Beacon, and thank you. I can reassure you that you needn't worry. I'd been very nervous myself, and have made clear notes, in one document, since coming over to Linux in May, gathering together everything I've read, which is very helpful reference for a clean install and adding the ppa's/appimages/software needed, plus some tweaks. I only include what definitely works without issue every time, and update it as needed, eg vpn setup added recently.

My feeling is that your setup may have some issues?, after having tried many different ways to fix things ... I've been there myself, as everyone new to Linux has. I've found that the simpler and cleaner things are, the better. I'd put the Linux Magazine, and any other extras, away for now, and focus on one clean install of the LM distro.

I've never tried the Waterfox ppa via live usb, but directly only, and haven't tried Chrome either, but, if Chrome solves the problem, that's wonderful.

[beacon]

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. I'm still at a loss. I very much appreciate the help given by Artgirl, and I apologise for not following up at once. After three clean installs, followed by re-installs of all the software items, such as mail, accounting, back-up, and such like, I simply haven't the energy to go through it again at the moment. However, I shall keep it in mind and try once I have recharged my batteries.

[ArtGirl]

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. I'm still at a loss. I very much appreciate the help given by Artgirl, and I apologise for not following up at once. After three clean installs, followed by re-installs of all the software items, such as mail, accounting, back-up, and such like, I simply haven't the energy to go through it again at the moment. However, I shall keep it in mind and try once I have recharged my batteries.

Sounds like a good plan. Have a good rest.

[Hoser Rob]

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. I'm still at a loss. I very much appreciate the help given by Artgirl, and I apologise for not following up at once. After three clean installs, followed by re-installs of all the software items, such as mail, accounting, back-up, and such like, I simply haven't the energy to go through it again at the moment. However, I shall keep it in mind and try once I have recharged my batteries.

I did some searching re you video card and can't find anything useful. I can say that it's an AMD legacy card and their legacy support isn't the best.

I'd also suggest that you shouldn't be running Cinnamon on that machine. The hint in your inxi report (BTW, someone else shouldn't have had to post it from another thread) says it all. In this line ...

GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD RS780

... 'Gallium' indicates you don't really have proper 3D hardware acceleration.

Cinnamon is meant for modern hardware with good support, whcih yours doesn't have. There aren't any closed drivers for those cards in Any Linux distro and haven't been for a few years now.

What I'd suggest, since apparently 18.2 works on that machine, is doing a clean reinstall of 18.2, but the Xfce or Mate version. ANd turn off all desktop effects/eye candy first thing. And, importantly, disable auto checking of high level updates.

It's true that Linux is great for old hardware without much power. But that does NOT apply to some desktop environments such as Cinnamon or Unity, or even some app software. Eg. I'm not sure why I get Gimp when I install Mint Xfce. Most machines that are going to end up with Xfce aren't going to much good running Gimp.

[beacon]

Thanks a lot Hoser Rob. I am considering your advice and will let you know how I get on.
Regards

[ArtGirl]

I'd agree with Hoser Rob. I have no technical knowledge of which hardware runs what, being new to Linux myself. I can roughly say a decent i5/i7, with good ram and graphics card, shouldn't cause many problems with media/art/games, but then there are lots of different types of hardware per the various systems also. What I detailed absolutely works on my/similar specs, but, if your hardware has limits, best to do as advised to suit hardware, then you'll have your videos back without problems.