1244900 - Since upgrading to Firefox 44 on XP, Some Youtube videos only play at 360p, with link to download chrome/etc if you click "Missing Quality"

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Core :: Audio/Video: Playback, defect)

Description

[Eric]

Attachment: firefoxyoutubebug.JPG

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:44.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/44.0
Build ID: 20160123151951

Steps to reproduce:

Windows XP SP3
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Ram: 2 gig
GPU: EVGA GTX+ 9800 (Video card spec site:http://www.evga.com/articles/421.asp)


Running "Check Plugin Updates"

Flash 	Up to Date
v20.0.0.286

Java Runtime Environment Up to Date
v8.0.71

The "Open Cisco H264 forced plugin" Shows it was recently automatically updated 
Version 1.5.3


Right clicking youtube html5 window on the screenshot I've attached and selecting "Stats For Nerds"

Video ID: jpr4vzZdP9M
Dimensions: 768 x 480
Resolution: 576 x 360
Volume: 100%
Stream Host:
Stream Type: https
CPN: Z8u4SNNhcr3cyI02
Mime Type: video/webm; codecs="vp8.0, vorbis"
DASH: no (43)
Connection Speed: 0 Kbps
Dropped Frames: 411/1612


 



After updating, was looking up a simple walkthrough on a game puzzle that had me stumped on my 2nd pc. Quality was bad, and ever since Firefox 43 first came out I lost the ability to play any content in HD as Firefox 42 plays 1080p HD full screen smoothly but not anymore. So I was just hoping to bump it up to 480p but noticed all quality listings have disappeared. There's 360p and link to "Missing Quality?" which opens a page to download different web browsers.

The url of the walk through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpr4vzZdP9M

I've attached screenshot



Actual results:

See screenshots, various youtube videos won't play above 360p or even give the option to go above 360p.

At least after the last version of Firefox 43 it did give the option to choose HD, but unfortunately no HD video is actually able to be played as the browser locks up or you get 1 frame a minute. Prior to the introduction of Firefox 43 videos were played up to 1080p smoothly. Even VLC which is set to hardware acceleration plays bluray files at 1080p smooth as silk. So I am unsure what occured that vp9 playback was degraded so badly between youtube or mixture of both. I dunno. 

But now I've lost all options to pick anything above 360




Here is a copy of my "Troubleshoot into" copy/paste:

---------------------------------------------------
Application Basics
------------------

Name: Firefox
Version: 44.0
Build ID: 20160123151951
Update Channel: release
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:44.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/44.0
Multiprocess Windows: 0/2 (default: false)
Safe Mode: false

Crash Reports for the Last 3 Days
---------------------------------

All Crash Reports

Extensions
----------

Name: Adblock Plus
Version: 2.7.1
Enabled: true
ID: {d10d0bf8-f5b5-c8b4-a8b2-2b9879e08c5d}

Name: FireFTP
Version: 2.0.26
Enabled: true
ID: {a7c6cf7f-112c-4500-a7ea-39801a327e5f}


Name: Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant
Version: 1.0
Enabled: false
ID: {20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}

Graphics
--------

Adapter Description: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+
Adapter Drivers: nv4_disp
Adapter RAM: Unknown
Asynchronous Pan/Zoom: none
Device ID: 0x0613
DirectWrite Enabled: false (0.0.0.0)
Driver Date: 3-14-2013
Driver Version: 6.14.13.1422
GPU #2 Active: false
GPU Accelerated Windows: 2/2 Direct3D 9 (OMTC)
Subsys ID: 0592196e
Supports Hardware H264 Decoding: No; Failed to create H264 decoder
Vendor ID: 0x10de
WebGL Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ Direct3D9 vs_3_0 ps_3_0)
windowLayerManagerRemote: true
AzureCanvasBackend: skia
AzureContentBackend: cairo
AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo
AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0

Important Modified Preferences
------------------------------

accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0
browser.cache.disk.capacity: 153600
browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported: 1
browser.cache.disk.hashstats_reported: 1
browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.enabled: false
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
browser.cache.frecency_experiment: 1
browser.download.folderList: 0
browser.download.importedFromSqlite: true
browser.download.useDownloadDir: false
browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 7
browser.search.suggest.enabled: false
browser.search.update: false
browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20160123151951
browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20160123151951
browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 44.0
dom.apps.reset-permissions: true
dom.mozApps.used: true
dom.w3c_touch_events.expose: false
extensions.lastAppVersion: 44.0
font.internaluseonly.changed: true
gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.appVersion: 44.0
gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.deviceID: 0x0613
gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.driverVersion: 6.14.13.1422
gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.feature-d2d: false
gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.feature-d3d11: true
gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.appVersion: 44.0
gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.deviceID: 0x0613
gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.driverVersion: 6.14.13.1422
gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.direct3d11-angle: true
gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle: true
gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-d3d11: false
gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-warp: false
gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-try-d3d11: true
gfx.crash-guard.status.d3d11layers: 2
gfx.crash-guard.status.glcontext: 2
gfx.direct2d.disabled: true
gfx.driver-init.appVersion: 42.0
gfx.driver-init.deviceID: 0x0613
gfx.driver-init.driverVersion: 6.14.13.1422
gfx.driver-init.feature-d2d: true
gfx.driver-init.feature-d3d11: true
gfx.driver-init.status: 2
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.abi: x86-msvc-x86
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.lastUpdate: 1453932595
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.version: 1.5.3
media.gmp-manager.buildID: 20160123151951
media.gmp-manager.lastCheck: 1454280052
media.hardware-video-decoding.failed: true
media.youtube-ua.override: false
network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
network.http.speculative-parallel-limit: 0
network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
places.database.lastMaintenance: 1453842195
places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 53666
plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf
plugin.importedState: true
plugin.state.npdrmv: 0
plugin.state.npdsplay: 0
plugin.state.npwmsdrm: 0
plugin.state.npwpf: 0
privacy.donottrackheader.enabled: true
privacy.sanitize.migrateClearSavedPwdsOnExit: true
privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs: true
security.disable_button.openCertManager: false
security.disable_button.openDeviceManager: false
storage.vacuum.last.index: 1
storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1453160480

Important Locked Preferences
----------------------------

JavaScript
----------

Incremental GC: true

Accessibility
-------------

Activated: false
Prevent Accessibility: 0

Library Versions
----------------

NSPR
Expected minimum version: 4.11
Version in use: 4.11

NSS
Expected minimum version: 3.21 Basic ECC
Version in use: 3.21 Basic ECC

NSSSMIME
Expected minimum version: 3.21 Basic ECC
Version in use: 3.21 Basic ECC

NSSSSL
Expected minimum version: 3.21 Basic ECC
Version in use: 3.21 Basic ECC

NSSUTIL
Expected minimum version: 3.21
Version in use: 3.21

Experimental Features
---------------------



Expected results:


I "Expected" Youtube's html5 player to play HD video smoothly like it used to on this same machine prior to the problems between youtube/firefox that occured in v43. 

But I expected the options for selecting qualities to at least still be there, since I've been forced to use 480p which only causes the browser to stutter slightly as CPU usage is at 95%-99% on task manager with any youtube playback.

Comment 1

[Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya]]

could you try installing a User Agent override and select "Chrome" as User-Agent and see when you right click on the video "Stats for nerds" if it suddenly shows up at DASH: yes

You should be getting MSE/webm (that is vp9) when using Windows XP.
Here you're getting plain webm with vp8 which indicates YouTube not sending you what it should

Comment 2

[Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya]]

alternatively, can you set in about:config the preference media.mediasource.webm to true?

Comment 3

[Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya]]

sorry that is media.mediasource.webm.enabled

Comment 4

[Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya]]

Correction:
this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpr4vzZdP9M

is only encoded in either mp4/h264 (up to 1080p) and webm/vp8 (360p) only.

There are no h264 decoders on Windows XP at present.
So you are stuck with 360p for that particular video

Most other YouTube videos are also encoded with webm/vp9 so you will get the choice of higher resolution with those.

I'd be tempted to close as invalid.

Comment 5

[Eric]

(In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #3)
> sorry that is media.mediasource.webm.enabled

I toggled it and restarted but no luck. 
Gonna try a user agent changer and see if that works.

Comment 6

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

Eric, a User Agent switcher add-on won't help because Firefox doesn't support H.264 on XP, though Flash does. (Adobe includes their own H.264 codec in Flash, whereas Firefox depends on the operating system's codecs.)

Now that YouTube no longer (officially) supports Flash, they are supposed to serve high-quality VP9 to Firefox, but this particular video is only available in 360p VP8. 

I recommend installing the following browser add-on to force YouTube to serve 1080p Flash again:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-flash-video-player/

Comment 7

[Eric]

(In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #4)
> Correction:
> this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpr4vzZdP9M
> 
> is only encoded in either mp4/h264 (up to 1080p) and webm/vp8 (360p) only.
> 
> There are no h264 decoders on Windows XP at present.
> So you are stuck with 360p for that particular video
> 
> Most other YouTube videos are also encoded with webm/vp9 so you will get the
> choice of higher resolution with those.
> 
> I'd be tempted to close as invalid.


My Screenshot of h264 decoding on XP: http://goo.gl/l3a2ZH

 nVidia added PureVideo HD decode acceleration for GeForce series GPUs under Windows XP in driver 163.71+
Quote:
NVIDIA PureVideo provides ultra-smooth playback of H.264, WMV/VC-1 and MPEG-4 HD and SD videos with minimal CPU usage. 
 A dual-core CPU is recommended with the GeForce 7 Series
1GB of system memory is recommended under Windows XP; 2GB is recommended under Windows Vista. 

Trying to play HD in browser of course cpu at 99% and locks up
but copy and pasting the youtube URL into VLC plays 1080p full screen cpu at 20-30%.



(In reply to Chris Peterson [:cpeterson] from comment #6)
> Eric, a User Agent switcher add-on won't help because Firefox doesn't
> support H.264 on XP, though Flash does. (Adobe includes their own H.264
> codec in Flash, whereas Firefox depends on the operating system's codecs.)
> 
> Now that YouTube no longer (officially) supports Flash, they are supposed to
> serve high-quality VP9 to Firefox, but this particular video is only
> available in 360p VP8. 
> 
> I recommend installing the following browser add-on to force YouTube to
> serve 1080p Flash again:
> 
> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-flash-video-player/


ugh alrighty, thanks :)

is there a way to just send it through my video card via purevideo api or something?
of course I have no idea if possible, but not meaning to be a slight, it's just weird that playing hd in a video player like open source vlc, decodes with low cpu useage. but a 480p youtube starts getting to 90% cpu and 1080p locks the browser up as if I forkbombed the system. It's really confusing is all.

thanks everyone. Chris I'll try that plugin out. Or I may try and add greasemonkey plugin and see if I can write a greasemonkey script or look if there is one I can modify so that when clicking a youtube video it'll load it in vlc player instead since it has no problem decoding using the gpu instead of cpu.


I'm being completely honest though before the v43 debacle with youtube, v42 played 1080p full screen without any issue, even with a few tabs open. I used to watch twitch streams in HD on this XP box while gaming with the person on my main gaming pc. But I've lost that ability since v43. But I understand...

Thanks for all the info guys!

Comment 8

[Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya]]

Unfortunately, we only support h264 video decoding via the Windows Media Foundation framework (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms696274%28v=vs.85%29.aspx). This framework was introduced in Windows Vista only.

Before that, each drivers/gpu had their own methods, and typically was only partially accelerated.

The screen capture you provided is for VLC. VLC also ships with their own h264 software decoder (ffh264 from ffmpeg).
For various reasons, we can't ship Firefox with this decoder.

As I'm sure you can understand, we won't be investing any time supporting particular video drivers in Windows XP at this time.

Comment 10

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

Eric, thanks for reporting this issue. After our investigation above, I'm closing this bug as WONTFIX because YouTube controls whether they serve 360p VP8 instead of Flash video. YouTube tells us that nearly all videos have a VP9 encoding available, which would be higher quality than VP8.