FlashVideoReplacer development suspended

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Cyberhawk

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Just tried installing FVR on Mint, but there is no FVR anymore. Development has been suspended. Apparently Google doesn't want to tolerate third party apps on their youtube platform.

ivaylo
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В 11:19 +0200 на 12.08.2012 (нд), Igor.Zobin[nospam] написа:
> Just tried installing FVR on Mint, but there is no FVR anymore. Development
> has been suspended.

> Apparently Google doesn't want to tolerate third party
> apps on their youtube platform.

Any information about the changes, discussions on the issue or the exact
changes mentioned at the FVR website? I'm curious how this affects
Linterna Mágica, if at all. I do not use any of YouTube's APIs AFAIK.
At least not directly and consciously.

P.S. A copy is sent to linterna-magica-users at nongnu dot org. If you
reply via e-mail, please keep the CC header. Thanks.

Cyberhawk

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No idea, he does mention that you can contact him through the github project page.

aloniv

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It seems that the need for flash replacements is disappearing as sites embrace HTML5 video. Dailymotion and Vimeo now completely support it (albeit using a patent-encumbered format - H.264 - so it won't work in Mozilla based browsers but it will work just fine in Webkit based browsers such as Midori and Arora). Most YouTube videos are not available via HTML5, but are available in an unencumbered format (VP8) to stream via SMPlayer.

Darksoul71
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aloniv,

you are really happy if most of the sites you browse use HTML5 now.

Most pages I visit use Flash and I bet they will still use Flash even in 2-3 years from now. When you ask them for Flash-alternatives you will mostly get unfriendly replies (if you get replies at all).

t3g
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The problem with YouTube is that I will be in the HTML5 trial and the majority of vids still won't play without the plugin. Especially if the channel has ads.

What would be really nice is if Adobe released the source for Flash to stay relevant in the wake of mobile and tablets not.supporting it.on top of Linux being stuck at 11.2.

aloniv

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The majority of the videos on YouTube are still available in WebM format even if not in HTML5 mode. These videos can either be downloaded (using a browser plugin such as UnPlug) or streamed (via SMPlayer after setting preferred format to WebM in the settings - you can see which format is chosen by viewing the properties in SMPlayer).

Adobe at best will release the non-DRM parts of Flash. I can't imagine Adobe providing tools to playback DRM-infested ("protected") streams without using their official client.

t3g
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I have a Greasemonkey script at http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/25105 that I had to manually edit to show WebM files, but otherwise it works great in the situation where WebM isn't available and I have to nab the MP4.

I did email the script owner asking why WebM wasn't enabled by default and he said that it would add too much clutter to the short list and was an irrelevant format. So I ended up just disabled the FLV option and made it MP4 and WebM only. :-)

starchild
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There's no problem with youtube actually. Gnash plays the non-webm videos just fine. The problem is with other sites.

And no, Flash should just go away. It's downright atrocious, ethically AND technically.

Dave_Hunt

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I never got gnash to play sound anywhere, and have to use linternamagica.

-Dave

On 08/15/2012 12:17 PM, name at domain wrote:
> There's no problem with youtube actually. Gnash plays the non-webm
> videos just fine. The problem is with other sites.

obibon
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A little while ago I noticed that I had trouble with FVR (youtube screen was black and not even flashblock loaded), but I didn't know it had anything to do with youtube not wanting 3rd party apps.

Easy Youtube Downloader and Linterna Mágica work just fine; I just hope they keep on working.

We should create GNUtube and to hell with YouTube!

Darksoul71
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>Easy Youtube Downloader and Linterna Mágica work
>just fine; I just hope they keep on working.
The problem I experiences here every day:
Many websites with Flash video do not work with any of those Flash Replacements / Downloaders.

Just to name a few:
- www.golem.de (a german IT site),
- www.gamestar.de (Gaming magazine)
- www.hr-online.de (german TV network which provides the lastest broadcasts via a so called "Mediathek")

Most videos in the www are provided as flash-only and now replacement / workaround I tested worked with all of them. Many websites do not even reply when you request that they provide content in a more free-software compatible way (aka no-flash).

Youtube is nice but not the only source of fun and information for many of us.

>We should create GNUtube and to hell with YouTube!
Well, then "we" buy a similar bunch of hardware as Google owns as soon as GNUTube stores more than a few FSF lectures ?

Good luck....

Michał Masłowski

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> Many websites with Flash video do not work with any of those Flash
> Replacements / Downloaders.

Probably wouldn't be difficult to find video URLs there and make them
work with a video downloader. (I won't do this now due to another
project.)

> Most videos in the www are provided as flash-only and now replacement
> / workaround I tested worked with all of them. Many websites do not
> even reply when you request that they provide content in a more
> free-software compatible way (aka no-flash).

They usually do much less than YouTube to make downloading their videos
harder. Asking doesn't seem as effective.

>>We should create GNUtube and to hell with YouTube!
> Well, then "we" buy a similar bunch of hardware as Google owns as soon
> as GNUTube stores more than a few FSF lectures ?

Would prefer a decentralized solution.

Darksoul71
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>Probably wouldn't be difficult to find
>video URLs there and make them work with
>a video downloader.
That might be possible but I lack the skills and knowledge to do so.
I was "just" testing a lot of my favourite websites with the various Flash replacements / alternatives available and most of those combinations failed. If someone is skilled enough I would be willing to test though.

>Asking doesn't seem as effective.
At least not to my knowledge. If they reply at all you mostly get a standard mail saying something like "Thanks for your feedback ! We will reconsider you input. It will be forwarded to the responsible department. *bla bla bla*"

Well, at least I tried....

>Would prefer a decentralized solution.
/me too. Something which combines open standards (HTML5, WebM) with available tools. In example: A decentralized meta catalogue which is searchable and holds the informations related to each video (Description, available format, Category). Distribution could then simply be done via Torrent. I did not want to sound disruptive but point out that it is not easy to replace Youtube with the Google infrastructure in the background.

gabriel1444
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How I can do to see the videos on youtube? Thanks I'm new.

Magic Banana

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With the Gnash player (by default in Trisquel), the video is replaced with a black space and a button at the bottom. Clicking on it runs the Flash code.

Horgeon
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You have a few solutions:

Using default gnash. Consumes a lot of CPU.
Using the HTML5 interface but it's still CPU hungry.
Using the viewtube greasemonkey script. Better than gnash but buggy as in videos will not always load.
And the command line solution I mentioned in another thread (stable, fast and light on resources):

totem `youtube-dl -g "youtube_video_url"`

Or whatever player you want to use. Gnome-mplayer recommended. You will need youtube-dl installed.

oysterboy

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You could also use Minitube. It is a youtube client available in Trisquel's repos and I have yet to have any problems seeing any video with it. I love it!

aloniv

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The easiest way to watch YouTube is via latest SMPlayer (available via PPA) which supports selecting preferred format and quality so you can watch the WebM encoded videos whenever they are available.

Darksoul71
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I contacted the dev of FVR a while ago and yesterday he was so kind to reply. FVR was not removed because of a request of Google but more "..to stay on the safe side" as he said.

Also sounds as if the changes in Firefox and Youtube make it cumbersome to maintain a working FVR.

It seems not shure if FVR will return anyway.