Some flash contents not playing

[pharyanshu]

Hi!
I am new to linux switched from windows 8.1/10. I was trying to play hotstar in google chrome and as well as in firefox, But it is not playing. I tried so many methods provided online like
1. put "sudo" before hotstar,
2. sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras ubuntu-restricted-addons

But it didn't workout for hotstar contents to be played, so please tell me any another way to do that. My system has linux mint 18.2.

[karlchen]

Hello, pharyanshu.

Are you talking about this website? Hostar
This streaming service is available only in India and a few neighbouring countries. It is not available e.g. here in Germany.
Which is why I get shown the friendly hint, "Hotstar is currently not available in your region".
So I cannot really check whether Hotstar makes use of Flash player or not.

Nonetheless I wonder a bit how you managed to prefix "sudo " to a website name?
About the restricted Ubuntu extras and addons: I assume what you really should check is the presence of mint-meta-codecs, although I cannot promise you that having-mint-meta-codecs alone will solve your issue watching Hotstar.

Question is: which error message does the browser display if you try to watch Hotstar?

Best regards,
Karl

[pharyanshu]

Hello Karl,
Thanks for suggestions but it also didn't worked for me.
1. Yes, Hotstar is a website for streaming videos in india and neighboring countries.
2. It is not showing any error, its just showing blank screen with a video loading logo that's it.
2. For "sudo" command yeah i was also surprised that this will work in url but to resolve that issue i saw some youtube video it was one of the solution that was shown there.
3. i installed mint-meta-codecs in my laptop but that also didn't work.
Meanwhile i tried for some extensions for chrome like "m3u8 player", "url for vlc media player" etc. but that also didn't work for me.
If it is not working in germany then can you tell someone in Asia where its working who can solve my problem.
I want to completely transfer to linux now, "Wine" helped me a lot in this top be familiar like windows.
Please tell me how to get rid of that.

[phd21]

Hi "pharyanshu",

Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux Mint and its excellent forum!

It would help to know more about your system setup. If you run "inxi -Fxzd" from the console terminal prompt, highlight the results, copy and paste them back here, that should provide enough information.

Apparently this website has options for other people in other countries because when I go to it from the USA, it shows "Go to us.hotstar.com". Of course people can always use a VPN provider that has VPN servers in India to view content there regardless where you may actually be located.

1.) Obviously in order to view or play the proprietary Adobe "Flash" video content, you must have Adobe's Flash player installed. If I am not mistaken, the flash player is already installed in all Linux Mint editions and versions. You can go to the "Synaptic Package Manager (SPM)" and search for "flash play" and see various options of what is installed or what you can install.

New Pepper Flash Installer for Chromium, Firefox
http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/201 ... m-firefox/

To install this using the PPA method, open a console terminal, type in, or copy & paste, each line below one by one:
Click "Select All" above command, right click the highlighted command, select Copy (or Ctrl+Insert), click in the console terminal window, and right click paste (or Shift+Insert), repeat for each command.

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/pepperflashplugin-nonfree

Code: Select all

sudo apt update

Code: Select all

sudo apt install pepperflashplugin-nonfree

Code: Select all

sudo apt install browser-plugin-freshplayer-pepperflash

2.) Because of security issues with "flash" content, it has been disabled in most browsers by default. Some browsers have settings in their preferences and or settings options for "Flash" content, like Ask first, always Allow, or block, so check that.

Depending upon the website, you might also need to disable ad-blocking, or allow the website (whitelisting) with other browser add-ons and extensions, like "disconnect", etc...

3.) While trying to send holiday e-card greetings using my Google Chrome or Slimjet browsers from the "Care2" website which is still using Flash (when most websites have switched to the free, and open source, excellent HTML5 format), I could not even view the animated e-cards until this was resolved.

Solution: After some research, I found that anyone can click the "i" website information icon to the left of a website's Internet address (URL), click "Settings", this creates a new tab with settings for this website, look for "Flash" and change that to "Allow", then close that tab, go back to the website tab you are interested in, and there should be a message at the top stating you must reload that webpage, click the reload button. Now you should be able to view or play the Flash video content.

4). I highly recommend using a "sandboxing" application like the superb "Firejail" for all applications that access the Internet like browsers to protect your computers from malware or browser hackers, etc...


Hope this helps ...

Chrome_Unblocking_Flash1sm.jpg

Chrome_Unblocking_Flash2sm.jpg

Chrome_Unblocking_Flash3sm.jpg

[pharyanshu]

Thanks "phd21"
I applied all options that you provided "ppa" installation for flash player and also allowed flash player always for particular site using "i" sign.
But now also it is not streaming video. The problem is only with 'hotstar' although 'www.sonyliv.com' and other sites are streaming videos properly.
My system setup after running "inxi -Fxzd" is as follows:

Code: Select all

pharyanshu@pharyanshu-Aspire-E1-571G ~ $ inxi -Fxzd
System:    Host: pharyanshu-Aspire-E1-571G Kernel: 4.10.0-42-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.4.6 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) Distro: Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya
Machine:   System: Acer product: Aspire E1-571G v: V1.12
           Mobo: Acer model: VG50_HC_CR v: Type2 - Board Version
           Bios: Acer v: V1.12 date: 09/26/2012
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-3210M (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9977
           clock speeds: max: 2500 MHz 1: 1200 MHz 2: 1200 MHz 3: 1223 MHz 4: 1278 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GF117M [GeForce 610M/710M/810M/820M / GT 620M/625M/630M/720M]
           bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 driver: nvidia Resolution: 1366x768@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GT 620M/PCIe/SSE2
           GLX Version: 4.4.0 NVIDIA 340.102 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 7 Series/C210 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-42-generic
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom NetLink BCM57785 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
           driver: tg3 v: 3.137 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: enp2s0f0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter
           driver: ath9k bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (27.0% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: Hitachi_HTS54505 size: 500.1GB
           Optical: /dev/sr0 model: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GT51N
           rev: 1.01 dev-links: cdrom,cdrw,dvd,dvdrw
           Features: speed: 24x multisession: yes
           audio: yes dvd: yes rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r,dvd-ram state: running
Partition: ID-1: / size: 42G used: 19G (47%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda8
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.11GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda7
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 58.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:52C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 219 Uptime: 2:06 Memory: 1612.9/3789.9MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35

[phd21]

HI "pharyanshu",

Okay.

Have you tried Firefox 57 Quantum? Firefox worked for me with certain websites and their flash content like Care2.

Perhaps your local ISP is blocking or limiting your access to this website. Have you changed your local ISP's default DNS name servers to neutral, secure, and anonymous ones from a DNS provider, like "dns.watch", "openDNS", "opennic", etc...

Good Luck, and keep us posted...

Hope this helps ...

[pharyanshu]

Thanks "phd21"
I installed Firefox 57 quantum but it didn't work too.
What do you mean by "Perhaps your local ISP is blocking or limiting your access to this website. Have you changed your local ISP's default DNS name servers to neutral, secure, and anonymous ones from a DNS provider, like "dns.watch", "openDNS", "opennic", etc..."

How to change that I don't know how to change that DNS name.
Meanwhile i tried some add-ons like "hotsrar linux", and other also but can't stream videos on hotstar.

[phd21]

Hi "pharyanshu",

You are welcome...

Thanks "phd21"
What do you mean by "Perhaps your local ISP is blocking or limiting your access to this website. Have you changed your local ISP's default DNS name servers to neutral, secure, and anonymous ones from a DNS provider, like "dns.watch", "OpenDNS", "opennic", etc..." How to change that I don't know how to change that DNS name.

Here are excellent instructions for changing your Local ISP DNS servers through the Network Manager. You can use OpenDNS servers or some others. I have been using the "dns.watch" servers for a while now. There are other instructions in this forum as well.

Set up OpenDNS on Linux Mint
https://support.opendns.com/hc/en-us/ar ... t-Cinnamon

General instructions - Set up OpenDNS on your devices
https://www.opendns.com/setupguide/

"dns.watch" - DNS provider (Click "Why" at the top to read some good information)
https://dns.watch/

Maybe disabling IPv6 would help too.
Disable IPv6 if its not supported
See #2 & #3 to set priority to "IPv4" (I use #2 & #3)
http://www.blackmoreops.com/2015/08/04/ ... -in-linux/

Hope this helps ...

Local_ISP_ChangeDNS Servers1sm.jpg

[pharyanshu]

Hi "phd21"
Thanks.
I applied open dns settings to my wireless network. But still i couldn't see it working.
Have i missed some default installation or what? Why is it not working for me?
Flash is allowed for Hotstar in the browser.
media codecs are installed what else it requires, but in windows, there was not such a problem, can you please elaborate it why this is happening for me.

[caf4926]

You know some sites are just plain awkward and don't comply with open standards, perhaps they don't even need to.

Trouble is no one can really test this easily unless they live in the area required

Have you tried the drm workaround using FF in wine?
https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2028

[pharyanshu]

Thanks "caf4926"
I tried that method also using wine. But installed firefox is not even opening it says firefox encountered a serious problem and need to be closed.
and for flash plugin it's showing "File not found."
After some search, i found that some guys said it can be resolved by installing "libhal1-flash" but that is already installed in my system.
Still, i am unable to stream through hotstar.com.

[thx-1138]

That's interesting. No idea about 'HotStar', but libhal1-flash at least from what i'm aware, isn't working anymore since quite some time due to changes to Flash itself from Adobe...
https://github.com/cshorler/hal-flash/issues/26

[caf4926]

Thanks "caf4926"
I tried that method also using wine. But installed firefox is not even opening it says firefox encountered a serious problem and need to be closed.
and for flash plugin it's showing "File not found."
After some search, i found that some guys said it can be resolved by installing "libhal1-flash" but that is already installed in my system.
Still, i am unable to stream through hotstar.com.

You need the ESR version of FF

[shantanu10]

I am facing the same problem now. I too have applied all the steps mentioned in the conversation but no help. Have you got your issue solved. If yes then how?