Internet Video Playback

30 respostas [Última entrada]
Royalblunts
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Joined: 08/26/2015

So nothing works... Followed countless posts. This abrowser can't even handle text. I type and the words don't show up for a dozen seconds, it constantly scrolls to the top of the page, or freezes...
Uninstalled gnash and all that crap because it did not work in the slightest and forum posts say to get rid of it, it's not listed in synapse anymore either.
No one will tell how to get adobe, seems pretty conceded to me considering nothing else works making this OS useless to me, what am I supposed to do? I have never felt more locked down on an OS.
Bottom line, how do I get videos to work on EVERY website not just fkn youtube. If this is impossible tell me now, if not, I will try everything I can to get this so called "free" software to work. I obviously don't know what I am doing so bare with me I am learning and this take about an hour to write because of the text freezing.

None of youre video drivers would work with my 970 so I have to use nvidias, no one had a problem with that so why is it so hated upon to use adobe until free software gets up to par? Should I use a different OS until gnash actually works? And all I could find about lightspark was extremely outdated.

I got youtube playing but not working, can't control the time navigation, on other sites it will play sound and show the thumbnail and no video, other show a black screen and some show a white screen.

pizzaiolo
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Joined: 03/12/2015

Get the add-on Random Agent Spoofer and switch your useragent to mobile. Lots of sites offer HTML5 video for mobile users but not desktop users, for some reason. This trick works very often for me.

t3g
t3g
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Joined: 05/15/2011

I have to switch my user agent to iPad for sites that try to force Flash on me when going to their site. This serves up a MP4 most of the time, which sucks that it isn't WebM. It's better than nothing I guess.

Chris

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Joined: 04/23/2011

Try MPV. It's a plug-in that for the browser that uses youtube-dl to display the video within the browser without Adobe Flash. It works on near 1000 sites minus the few commercial streaming sites (ie Netflix and probably Amazon Prime, and Hulu):

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/watch-with-mpv/

Now it is humorous that these sites would demand DRM considering that there are lots of sites distributing this same material presumably in violation of the copyright owners. However I know of very (actually I can't think of more than one person) few people who would respect the major entertainment players copyrights which means the entire DRM-effort is utterly pointless.

Now I think you should adjust this to Android 3.0.1 instead of pretending to be using an iPad. I'd suggest not contributing to the Apple user statistics. This give Apple more leverage and they one of the bigger players at odds with our interests. You can fix this in the User Agent Switcher. Go to Tools > Default User Agent > Edit User Agent and click the New button > New User Agent. In the user agent field past the following:

Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 3.0.1; en-us; GT-P7100 Build/HRI83) AppleWebkit/534.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Safari/534.13

And for the App code name:

Mozilla

You can enter Android 3 for the description and delete whatever is in the other fields (other than the ones above of course)...

It is a valid argument that Android is Google and Android isn't much better, but I think in the scheme of things Apple is more of a threat, which is why I'd suggest switching. I don't know how this compares to Apple as far as sites supporting it, but Android also doesn't support Flash so it should probably be just as effective. I know for the BBC news videos the Android 3.0.1 user agent string above works wonderfully.

t3g
t3g
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Joined: 05/15/2011

If switching to Android forced the sites to serve WebM instead of MP4, then I would use it. Unfortunately, MP4 is served pretty much 100% of the time no matter if you are using an Android or iPad user agent. I would say that many site developers only think that iPads exist and you generally get a better experience when emulating its agent over Android's.

Chris

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Joined: 04/23/2011

That may be, but you don't help the situation by pretending to have an iPad.

Royalblunts
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Joined: 08/26/2015

Alright, I'll be able to try it in 4 hours when I put my kid to bed and I'll post back. Thanks a ton in advance, Trisquel has been my best Gnu/Linux experience yet, I won't give up easily. So from what I gather, correct me if I'm wrong, gnash or other freeware just isn't capable of keeping up to all the new video format updates recently?

tomlukeywood
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Joined: 12/05/2014

Just to be clear the point of trisquel is to have a system running entirely free as in freedom software

when we say "free software" or "libre software" we are talking about freedom not price (although a lot of free as in freedom software is free of charge)

sometimes this means not running certain programs like Microsoft office or Skype which are proprietary and restrict the user of those programs
but it most cases the free software community write replacement software that dose not restrict the user

so for example Libreoffice is a free alternative to Microsoft office and Jitsi as a alternative to Skype

You can find a very good video explaining what free as in freedom software is Here
If you can get your video working! XD

Anyway lets get on with the post!

"I have never felt more locked down on an OS."
you can install adobe flash or just about anything else
we just have a policy of not recommending non-free software on this forum

and btw i highly recommend against installing adobe flash if you care about your freedom and or privacy

also gnash is not the only way of viewing some online videos there are quite a few better ways

see this wiki page:
https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/internet-video

this video explains the method i use for viewing video online using only free software

and if on the rare occasion you cant get video even using that method most of the time the program youtube-dl-gui
will work you can find info on it here:
https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/play-videos-without-using-flash

if you have any more problems with this feel free to post a reply!

Royalblunts
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Joined: 08/26/2015

I've seen a few Richard Stallman videos about free(dom) software and that is how I came across Trisquel. I only feel locked down because of my lack of experience with the OS not because of the actual features. I greatly respect that there are actually people out there using their knowledge to create this software and help people like me learn it. Would you recommend keeping gnash installed while using these plugins? I'll try all these suggestions right away and let you guys know how it goes.

tomlukeywood
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Joined: 12/05/2014

"Would you recommend keeping gnash installed while using these plugins?"

i personally don’t use gnash but i don’t think it would hurt to have it.

you can always uninstall it if you have problems

Legimet
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Joined: 12/10/2013

I would recommend disabling it, because some websites fallback to HTML5 video.

Aprendiz_de_linux
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Joined: 03/02/2014

Tom, can you show me how can you see videos from, for instance, Anitube animes online?
Because even with these methods i still can't see. This site have flash, so so far as i know, there is no workaround that works perfectly nor remotely...
So, not all sites we can do movies, only a few of them.
Best regards

tomlukeywood
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Joined: 12/05/2014

For that website(Anitube animes online) and many others you can use youtube-dl

you can find info on how to use youtube-dl on this wiki page:
https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/play-videos-without-using-flash
also if you dont like the command line that you can use the graphical version youtube-dl-gui of which you can also find info on at the wiki page!

Aprendiz_de_linux
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Joined: 03/02/2014

Thanks for your reply Tom :)
Let's try then and see it.
Best regards

Chris

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Joined: 04/23/2011

Trisquel doesn't include Adobe Flash or any proprietary pieces which are needed for most commercial video sites. Some exceptions do exist, but are not necessarily sources for major motion pictures, TV shows, and the like. For example YouTube will work great with Trisquel particularly if you install the MPV plug-in (it appears all flash-only and HTML5 videos work then), but it's not necessarily a good source for major hollywood films or TV shows:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/watch-with-mpv/

The plug-in also works with close to 1000 sites both major and insignificant:

https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/supportedsites.html

If it isn't supported yet (BBC news videos for instance) it probably will be- and if it isn't there is also another plug-in you can use called User Agent Switcher:

http://chrispederick.com/work/user-agent-switcher/

What this will do is 'trick' a site into showing you content in HTML5 instead of Adobe Flash. Most sites that support Android/Apple devices also support HTML5 as Adobe Flash isn't supported by Android nor Apple devices. The reason these sites don't work already without Adobe Flash on Trisquel is more a matter of poor site design. So the only way to force them to show you the content in a format that is compatible with your computer is to trick them into thinking your on an Android/iDevice.

You can do this with the User Agent Switcher. To do this is pretty simple, just install the plug-in and then go to Tools > Default User Agent > Edit User Agent and click the New button > New User Agent. In the user agent field past the following:

Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 3.0.1; en-us; GT-P7100 Build/HRI83) AppleWebkit/534.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Safari/534.13

And for the App code name:

Mozilla

You can enter Android 3 for the description and delete whatever is in the other fields (other than the ones above of course)...

As long as your not using sites that depend on a DRM (digital restrictions management) component it'll probably work. This works for news web sites, etc. It won't work for sites like Netflix or Amazon Prime as these sites distribute 'premium' commercial content that the entertainment industry is fiercely protective off. Humorously all this content is available DRM-free elsewhere, but of course the majority of people don't care it's infringing these companies copyrights. They'd be better off just streaming unencrypted as the way it is now they're just pushing people to sites that don't respect the industries copyrights.

If the sites your using have lots of advertisement I'd also suggest Adblock Plus:

https://adblockplus.org/

Normally I'd not bother installing this, but a lot of the good sources for entertainment include advertisements that make them unbearable without this plug-in.

tomlukeywood
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Joined: 12/05/2014

"Trisquel doesn't include Adobe Flash or any proprietary pieces which are needed for most commercial video sites."
flash is not exactly needed youtube-dl can be a replacement for most of these sites

Chris

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Joined: 04/23/2011

If you find you can't handle Trisquel, but still care about your freedom, privacy, etc consider another distribution that includes the non-free pieces. While this is horrible thing for your freedom it's better than returning to a completely or mostly non-free OS like Microsoft Windows/Mac OS X and is generally still just as easy to use (if not easier) than Microsoft Windows/Mac OS X.

I think we sometimes forget here to emphasize this. Nobody is going to support you here with anything non-free, but that doesn't mean you have to revert back to a completely non-free OS. Most all the people here did start out elsewhere and grasped Trisquel as they became more proficient with and discovered why using only free software was so important. All GNU/Linux distributions are going to be better for your freedom even if they don't intentionally take steps to respect your freedom like Trisquel does beyond what is required by the license agreements.

If this is your first time with GNU/Linux Trisquel is going to be a pretty big barrier relative to other distributions, but it's likely in time that barrier will shrink, as you become more familiar with GNU/Linux in general. There may come a day when you can handle the jump to Trisquel or another 100% free distribution.

Ultimately I think Trisquel actually is getting easier to use with plug-ins like MPV. This plug-in and similar ones make the distribution much more bearable as more entertainment and news options open up. At least for those addicted to these things and whom also are determined and technical enough to put up with the minor inconveniences.

Royalblunts
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Joined: 08/26/2015

Well I started with vanilla Ubuntu and it was a very painful learning curve just because of driver support and getting raid 0 to work. I was immensely proud of myself when I finally got my gpu, wifi, and raid all working then out of nowhere it would just lock up. Tried a few other distros, mainly Ubuntu derivatives but I understand the importance of our privacy and freedom so once I heard Trisquel from Stallman I was sold so to speak. I don't think I will quit unless there is another more developed alternative. Although I'm dual booting windows for gaming purposes I would like to in the near future cut it out entirely. Thanks for the tips, I will let you guys know how things go in a few minutes here.

Chris

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Joined: 04/23/2011

Ubuntu should be easier than Trisquel, as more sites will work (ie due to including Adobe Flash), but ultimately the solution to the problems your running into with hardware are best solved (that is from a ease of use and make it work perspective) by replacing the hardware with free software friendly devices. If your not dependent on Adobe Flash or can use MPV and the user agent switcher instead then I'd argue Trisquel is probably easier than Ubuntu. I don't think Unity (the desktop environment in Ubuntu) is all that user friendly.

Royalblunts
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Joined: 08/26/2015

Many, many thanks to everyone! I installed the Random Agent Spoofer and MPV and my main websites are working just fine. Now that I have video I will check out Tomlukeywoods methods of freeware, however on fist glance I didn't see any download link for WebM and I am horrible with repositories and packages (not to mention synapse take a few minutes just to register I pressed a key) but I will check out the video. Now I just have to wait for freeware gpu and wifi (tethering my phone with vpn right now, probably worse then broadcom) driver support and I will be 100% free... In good time. Thanks a lot for the help, much appreciated.

Am I supposed to mark this as solved somehow or is that a moderator duty?

Chris

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I pointed out above that the problems your running into are with the hardware and/or proprietary components. It's not likely your going to see a fix for these- or if you do it won't be any time soon (including likely after you've disposed of the PC).

There are a few things you might be able to do in relation to the touchpad problem (ie the keyboard behaving in a problematic way when you type). You can configure it to automatically disable the touchpad which may solve the keyboard problem. What might be going on is your palm is touching the touchpad while your typing which is causing problems. You might also be able to force the system to recognize the touchpad as a PS2 mouse. You'll lose out on multi-touch and scrolling, but it may work better.

Ultimately a new computer is probably your best answer because of the # and severity of these issues. With the graphics card you can probably just remove it and use the integrated Intel graphics (if it has an Intel CPU with graphics) and you may be able to replace the wifi card in the computer. If it is a larger more traditional AMD desktop system you could also get an older nouveau supported card (nouveau is the free NVIDIA graphics driver). If you can't do the wifi card you could probably just get an external one. The internal cards are better though IMHO- though I like our USB G adapter a lot (despite it being older tech there isn't any firmware and it'll work *everywhere* with *everything* including TVs, mini boards (ie like ARM), etc. though the 802.11n USB adapters are also the next widely supported... but the support doesn't go back as far... ).

Anyway if you have any questions about hardware ... it's one area I'm good with answering questions on. I work for and have an interest in ThinkPenguin... which basically mean I do a lot of back and forth with developers, engineers, testing of just about every type of hardware you can imagine, etc, and it's all free software specific as we don't do the non-free stuff (I should be careful here- there are some non-free pieces in every system, but in large part we take whatever steps we can to stamp as much of it out as humanly possible, which basically leads to 'it's as free as it gets' right now, which basically means 100% of the catalog works with Trisquel using only free-drivers and any OS loadable firmware is also 100% free... the computer BIOS is not... sadly. It's a non-trivial issue to port for older systems (see minifree.org) and modern X86 systems can't be free'd).

Royalblunts
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Joined: 08/26/2015

Well my issue with the text is on my laptop and my desktop, currently both have Trisquel. So it can't be a touchpad issue as my desktop doesnt have one. It's as if every few seconds it scrolls to the top of the page. when I am at the top of the page and typing in search bars or whatever I am assuming its just the scrolling that is making me unable to type/deselecting the text bar. Abrowser is crashing alot for me as well giving me no option but the pkill command. With my skill level as is I should probably just try to redownload it on an stock clocked machine or maybe use a different tool to create the usb image, I have been using Linux Light USB Creator in windows as the Trisquel freezes up too much for me to get the OS downloaded. Same issues in Firefox as Abrowser making me want to try a different browser but you know how that is, defeats the porpose of a free distro.

Chris

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I don't know what is going on, but it sounds like a user specific issue. Meaning that there isn't a problem with the distribution or browser. If there was others would be reporting this as well. Maybe there is a problem with installation disk or .... there is some other weird issue with hardware your using on both machines, etc.

Magic Banana

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MPV looks great... but it does not properly work here. I installed the youtube-dl package and the plugin and tried to configure it to use /usr/bin/totem or /usr/bin/player. In the former case, totem is launched but seems to recursively load in the playlist every single file in my home folder! In the latter case, MPlayer does not even seem to be launched. A conflict with one of my other extensions maybe?

Chris

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You shouldn't have to do anything other than install the MPV plug-in and restart. Not sure what other plug-ins you have installed.

Magic Banana

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It does not seem to work with /usr/bin/totem or /usr/bin/mplayer (I even tried deactivating all my other add-ons and restarting). It indeed works with the MPV player (that I have just installed).

SuperTramp83

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Joined: 10/31/2014

On my lappy with ati gpu crap mpv delivers a horrible performance. Vids stutter so much they're unwatchable..
mplayer2 works fine.

tomlukeywood
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Joined: 12/05/2014

wow that bad?
i would of though a 2GHZ cpu could play video without stuttering even if your gpu wont work well?

SuperTramp83

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Joined: 10/31/2014

Nope Tom, 720p vids are fine using mplayer but on mpv I can't watch them. 1080p vids are slow in any case..
The biggest problem is the temps. The CPU touched 90 C° this summer !!

ATI cpu an GPU arrrr.

tomlukeywood
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Joined: 12/05/2014

it may be worth selling it for a machine with better freedom compatibility
like a x200 or x60

bluzeo
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Joined: 08/27/2015

Tom. i reconmend something like Linux mint or my personal Fav Debian 8 - both KDE - i planning of switching to trosquel when i get me a libre free media hub- oh another thing - for me libre means a little different - it means we acknowlege we dont want non free software but we can becuase it our freedom to do so.