Google disrupted YouTube video playback on Firefox, again - gHacks Tech News ( www.ghacks.net )

Some Firefox users noticed playback issues on YouTube for several months. These affected high resolution videos only, from 1080p and up. To make matters worse, no clear pattern could be identified.

Some videos played fine, others would stop abruptly when they ran out of buffer.

JPAKx4 ,

Reminder for everyone to use a user-agent spoofing extension to make their Firefox appear to be chrome/another browser to Google

michael_palmer ,

Just add flag in about:config page

Sterile_Technique ,
@Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world avatar

Any you recommend? I tried this during during the first round of YouTube fuckiness on Firefox, and it didn't seem to make a difference.

I'm also probably the least techy person on Lemmy, so chances are high that I fucked something up.

JPAKx4 ,

I personally use Chameleon on Firefox. Alternativly, you may find luck using a web client such as piped.

InternetUser2012 ,

When it all goes down, there's always the option of just downloading what you want to watch and watch it in your favorite media player. That's what I do on my phone since I refuse to watch ads and they make everything buffer. Hit the dl button and in under a minute i have the video downloaded in hd.

oce ,
@oce@jlai.lu avatar

It seems Netflix is able to detect that spoofing, and sends this error when trying to play videos, "Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again later.". I had to disable my add-ons one by one to identify that it was User Agent Switcher causing it.

Sestren ,

Simple solution is to not pay Netflix and just pirate their content. They go out of their way to make the experience worse for paying customers on a regular basis. Sonarr+Jellyfin on an old computer with no video card and you've got a better Netflix where your content doesn't just magically disappear or fail to play on some devices.

brbposting ,

This ends with $500/mo Netflix subscriptions. An employee comes to your house and holds a laptop up in front of your couch while looking for hidden cameras camming the show.

Bathroom breaks are allowed, but they’ll pause the show if it’s during commercials.

outerspace ,

*pause the ads

SeekPie ,

I've been really happy with Stremio + Real-Debrid. Yes, it costs money, yes it's worth it (less than 3€/month).

Azzu ,
@Azzu@lemm.ee avatar

Any piracy costing money is also really really likely to be shut down relatively soon, making you need to change your setup.

SeekPie ,

Been using it for 2 years, no issues so far.

mrvictory1 ,

The DRM module tells Netflix you are on Firefox. For Netflix I would use Chrome on Wine tbh, it now supports 1080p w/o extensions. Or maybe Chromium w/ ChromeOS' Widevine module.

oce ,
@oce@jlai.lu avatar

Good point

InternetUser2012 ,

Yuck. Piss on anything chrome related. Just hit the high seas for what you want to watch, it doesn't care what browser or os you're using.

noodlejetski ,

sadly, skewing stats like that gives Google more reason not to support Firefox in the long run.

petrol_sniff_king ,

Well.. yes, but I assume that this specifically was sabotage. Like how Intel products have been throttling amd cpu performance for years.

pineapplelover ,

Absolutely not, I want them to know I'm using Firefox on my Linux computer. I'm doing my best to boost up marketshare.

fine_sandy_bottom ,

what would be the benefit of that?

YurkshireLad ,

For months I’ve had problems with YouTube videos in Firefox, at any resolution. They would play at really low FPS. Sometimes the player would pause and continue at the correct FPS, but usually not. Skipping backwards or forwards usually fixes it but not always. Another step in their monopoly to destroy competition.

mrvictory1 ,

Firefox for Android? Happens with any video, this is not YT bug.

bolexforsoup ,

I love freetube

stardust ,

Me too. So nice not needing an account to keep a playlist or channel subs.

stormesp ,
@stormesp@lemm.ee avatar

Oh lol so that was it, yesterday all of a sudden 1440p and 4k videos were unwatchable, it was a stutter fest and thought something was wrong with my gpu.

hushable ,

I've noticed that 60fps videos struggle a lot, even at 720p, suspiciously, no issues on chrome

Zetta ,

Ya I've had this issue for months now, the video will freeze when the original 10 seconds of buffer is used, and it'll play fine if I skip another 10 seconds but just buffer indefinitely otherwise.

casmael ,

You can get an extension to easily change your browser ‘user agent’ to make YouTube think you’re on chrome lol

SendMePhotos ,

Which one

mrvictory1 ,

Not OP, I use this
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/uaswitcher/

brb ,

I've been having this exact issue too

DmMacniel ,

Clearly this isn't an anti-competition effort.

nul9o9 ,

We need to being back trust busting.

entropicdrift ,
@entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

FTC is already on Google's case

M0oP0o ,
@M0oP0o@mander.xyz avatar

Yeah that $1000 fine should fix things (or whatever amount they pick)

jawa21 ,
@jawa21@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

75% of annual revenue until the issue is addressed would actually work.

eric5949 ,

Yes well that's pie in the sky.

MelodiousFunk ,
@MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net avatar

A pie in the face is worth two in the sky.

M0oP0o ,
@M0oP0o@mander.xyz avatar

The question is why? Having big corporations beyond the control of regulation should not be as normalized as it is.

ms_lane ,

I stopped watching on their website due to this. It's faster and I get better scalers on ytdl(p)+mpv

eskimofry ,

Are Piped or vanced affected as well?

30p87 ,

I exclusively use Piped, and never have any problems. No ads, no bullshit, sponsorblock and DeArrow.

t0fr ,
@t0fr@lemmy.ca avatar

You browse YouTube in the browser then use a handler to send it to MPV?

Potatisen ,

What is this?

GodsKillerKirb ,
@GodsKillerKirb@sh.itjust.works avatar

mpv? yt-dlp?

  • mpv is a media player, kind of like VLC but more powerful and lightweight.
  • yt-dlp is a CLI (command line interface) tool that allows you to download youtube videos as videos, videos without audio, or just as audio files.
ChicoSuave ,

More powerful and lightweight than VLC? I didn't know such things existed.

Kuro ,

Could you elaborate on your workflow for that? I am really interested in doing the same.

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