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

[Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>]

On Sun, Apr 26, 2015 at 11:23:53AM -0500, »Q« wrote:
> 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".

Yes, I get this too, but there's no noticeable difference between when
the button says "... default ..." and when it says "... HTML5 ...".

> > 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.

It does.

> 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?

Of the six boxes there, I have ticks (?check marks?) on
  o - HTMLVideoElement
  o - WebM VP8
I have exclamation marks on all the others, namely
  o - H.264
  o - Media Source Extensions
  o - MSE & H.264
  o - MSE & WebM VP9
.  It's frustrating that "HTML5" isn't mentioned in that list of six.

I'll take your tip and try rebuilding with gstreamer enabled.  Thanks!

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).