Ubuntu homepage uses videos that can't be played in Firefox w/o Flash

[Josh Leverette]

Ubuntu should replace its homepage videos with videos that will work on Firefox without Flash.

http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/whats-new

Vimeo has some HTML5 support but not for Firefox: http://vimeo.com/blog:391

Original description
--
it claims that the video cannot play without flash because firefox 4 is not html5 compatible. What the junk?!?! yes it is! and since its the default browser with ubuntu maybe you should consider putting that video into one of the html5 video formats compatible with firefox 4 so that people don't need flash to play ubuntu website's own videos. Just fyi.

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Not confirming here - it works fine for me. In any case, it doesn't look like a Firefox problem

[Josh Leverette (coder543)]

its only if you don't have flash installed, i was running it from a live cd

On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 11:08 PM, Chris Coulson <<email address hidden>
> wrote:

> Not confirming here - it works fine for me. In any case, it doesn't look
> like a Firefox problem
>
> ** Tags removed: check default firefox flash html5 programs sanity
>
> ** Changed in: firefox (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Invalid
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/772778
>
> Title:
> the default browser, firefox 4, is claimed to not be modern html5 by
> the what's new? page and cannot play the video via html5
>
> Status in Ubuntu Website Product:
> New
> Status in “firefox” package in Ubuntu:
> Invalid
>
> Bug description:
> http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/whats-new
>
> it claims that the video cannot play without flash because firefox 4
> is not html5 compatible. What the junk?!?! yes it is! and since its
> the default browser with ubuntu maybe you should consider putting that
> video into one of the html5 video formats compatible with firefox 4 so
> that people don't need flash to play ubuntu website's own videos. Just
> fyi.
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-website/+bug/772778/+subscribe
>

--
Sincerely,
    Josh

[Josh Leverette (coder543)]

I guess technically its not a firefox problem, but perhaps I was suggesting that we use chromium for the default browser.. but its not important enough of a suggestion to warrant a bug report on its own. At least, not important enough to me. But, try the website from a livecd/liveusb.. the video will not play from firefox

[Andres Muniz (andresmp)]

Hello This bug affects me when using firefox 4.0.1 on a windows XP machine. When I click on the link to HTML 5 it sends me to safari.

[Inayaili de León (yaili)]

This is definitely a problem. We'll have a look at possible solutions. Can you see YouTube HTML5 videos by any chance? http://www.youtube.com/html5

[Josh Leverette (coder543)]

wait... this is just now confirmed? This should have been a simple "let's transcode the video into a format natively supported by firefox" solution when I first reported it. And this is a time essential bug, the moment I reported it, it should have been fixed. Lots of people flocked to the website to download this when it came out, and the longer you waited, the more people who encountered this bug and had a bad first impression. Sometimes time is of the essence.

[Andres Muniz (andresmp)]

Hi guys, should have said that I do not have flash installed.

http://www.youtube.com/html5
Says that it will not work with videos with adds and it seems most of them have ads.
But I have been able to see these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SScZfkkMC8Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWPfzsV_SXA

But I was unable to see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIMO0eglEJA
or http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/whats-new
The latter sending me to safari as an html5 complaint browser.

I've read a bit on this: does it have to do with the H.1xxx something codec that safari, and chrome pay loads of cash for in licence?

[Chris Johnston (cjohnston)]

Josh, please only comment on this bug if you have something to add, not just a rant. To maintain a respectful atmosphere, please follow the code of conduct - http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct/ . Bug reports are handled by humans, the majority of whom are volunteers, so please bear this in mind.

[Josh Leverette (coder543)]

I'm not ranting. I understand all of that, and that's a main reason why I love ubuntu, but try as I might, I have been unable to find the source of that video in order for me to download it and convert it to WebM (which firefox supports). Also, I've been unable to find the source code for the current version of the website, where I would branch it and attempt to get it to work with an html5 video player compatible with firefox. I found this website: http://www.html5video.org/demos/ which leads to this nice html5 video player that worked perfectly with firefox, http://www.kaltura.org/apis/html5lib/kplayer-examples/Player_Themable.html and I'm sure there are others. I want to help, or at least try, even if I fail, but when I get frustrated is when I feel like I cannot do anything to even try to help. No disrespect has been intended, just frustration.. although it comes from other places too, its not just from this bug or launchpad in general.. so, sorry.

[Chris Johnston (cjohnston)]

The website is a tricky beast.. The community does not have the ability to change, edit, modify, fix the site. The best thing to do is to get in touch with people who would be able to fix it.. The ubuntu-website-content project on LP is the place that all the people who can fix the bug are subscribed. The ubuntu-website project is slowly being migrated away from. You can always go to #ubuntu-website on freenode if you have an issue and someone will hopefully be around to point you in the right direction.

[Andres Muniz (andresmp)]

i do not know if this adds any info but does not work with firefox mobile either. hopefully i'll be able to test on ubuntu

[Andres Muniz (andresmp)]

Does not work on ubuntu 11.04 either.

[Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb)]

This is Vimeo’s fault. Just change the video in Ubuntu website with another one that can be reproduced without Flash (in another format), and if Vimeo does not allow to upload it, use YouTube, just like www.gnome3.org.

[Steve Edwards (steve-edwards)]

Video moved to YouTube. It'll update with the next release. Thanks all, and let us know if you continue to have problems.