[gentoo-user] Re: Half error message on attempting to access You Tube from Firefox

[»Q« <boxcars@gmx.net>]

On Sun, 26 Apr 2015 08:55:10 -0700
walt <w41ter@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 04/26/2015 07:49 AM, Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> > Hello, Gentoo.
> > 
> > When I read a blog in Firefox 31.6.0, there are often You Tube film
> > clips embedded in it.  When I attempt to view these, I am getting,
> > more and more frequently, the error message (from You Tube):
> > 
> >     "Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video
> > formats available.  Click <here> to visit our frequently asked
> > questions about HTML5 video."
> > 
> > Fair enough.  The connection between the first and second sentences
> > is a bit vague, but I surmise from them that the video is available
> > in HTML5 format (whatever that is) and the link will instruct me on
> > setting it up.
> > 
> > Not a bit of it!  That link, <https://www.youtube.com/html5>, says
> > this:
> > 
> >     "Many YouTube videos will play using HTML5 in supported
> > browsers. You can request that the HTML5 player be used if your
> > browser doesn't use it by default."
> > 
> >     "If you encounter any problems, right-click on the player and
> > choose "report playback issue", or let us know on the user support
> > forums. Your feedback will help us continue to improve the player."
> > 
> > , without telling me _how_ I can "request that the HTML5 player be
> > used". Exactly what "the player" is that I should "right-click on"
> > remains obscure.
> > 
> > I feel that I'm missing some crucial piece of information which is
> > obvious to everybody else.
> 
> This is pretty clever (and a bit scary).  On that page do you see a
> clickable button with the title "Request the HTML5 player"?  If you
> don't see it, maybe you have NoScript or some other script/ad blocker
> enabled in Firefox?
> 
> When I click on the "Request the HTML5 player" button, it changes
> color and the button is now labelled "Use the default player".
> 
> I think it works by changing a Firefox setting in your prefs.js file,
> but I'm not positive because my prefs.js file is so big I'm not
> willing to spend the time to look through the whole thing (and that's
> the scary part).  Anything could be going on in that prefs.js file
> and I wouldn't have a clue. <shudder>

It doesn't affect Fx settings -- it just sets a cookie.  And I think
it only affects what happens when viewing youtube.com pages, not
youtube videos embedded in third-party pages.

The choice really between HTML5 and a Flash plugin, so maybe the button
doesn't show up if Flash isn't installed.

If you're viewing an HTML5 video, right-clicking anywhere on the video
brings up the context menu with 'report playback issues', provided
Firefox's dom.event.contextmenu.enabled is set to 'true', which is the
default.

Alan, I think Firefox relies on gstreamer for at least some of its
HTML5 playback capability, so USE="-gstreamer" may be at the root of
the  issue.  On the YouTube HTML5 page, do you get a "What does this
browser support?" section?  If so, what does it say?