Chromium web browser not showing mp4 videos

[Laura Czajkowski]

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PROBLEM ::
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embedded playback of mp4 videos works in Firefox, fails in Chromium

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REPRODUCE ::
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examples are the videos in coursera.org If you are signed up for ml class,
start chromium-browser with url
https://class.coursera.org/ml/lecture/view?lecture_id=1
If chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra is not installed, which it isn't by default, you get a black screen for the video.
Reproduced on Ubuntu12.04 and 11.10
    chromium-browser --version
Chromium 18.0.1025.151 Ubuntu 12.04

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SOLUTION ::
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Ubuntu software center should suggest the addon plugin equivalent to:
sudo apt-get install chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

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DETAILS ::
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To tell if the library is installed:
dpkg-query -l chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

The needed library is installed as:
/usr/lib/chromium-browser/libffmpegsumo.so

I found this out with the command
dpkg-query -L chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

chromium-browser already has an alternate dependency: chromium-codecs-ffmpeg (>= 0.6) | chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra (>= 0.6)
We can add an Enhances for the plugins on chromium-browser which should make it show up in USC

[Anita (a-lewis)]

I found a fix for this from Coursera: Install chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

[David Biesack (david-biesack-sas)]

I'm running chromium-browser Version 41.0.2272.76 Ubuntu 14.04 (64-bit) and installed the chromium-codecs-ffmpeg and chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra but I still can't play mp4/H.264 videos in the browser. I get a black window with a play button, an empty progress bar, "0:00" and a disabled audio button, but no video frame or playback.

The same video plays in Firefox.

VLC reports Stream 0 is Video, H264 - MPEG AVC (part 10) (avc1), decoded format Planar 4:2:0 YUV; Stream 1 is audio MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a1)

I believe I've installed these correctly:

    $ dpkg-query -l chromium-browser
    Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
    | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
    |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
    ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
    +++-========================-=================-=================-=====================================================
    ii chromium-browser 41.0.2272.76-0ubu amd64 Chromium web browser, open-source version of Chrome

    $ dpkg-query -l chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra
    Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
    | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
    |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
    ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
    +++-========================-=================-=================-=====================================================
    ii chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-e 41.0.2272.76-0ubu amd64 Extra ffmpeg codecs for the Chromium Browser

    $ dpkg-query -l chromium-codecs-ffmpeg
    Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
    | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
    |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
    ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
    +++-========================-=================-=================-=====================================================
    ii chromium-codecs-ffmpeg 41.0.2272.76-0ubu amd64 Free ffmpeg codecs for the Chromium Browser

[David Biesack (david-biesack-sas)]

It turns out that chrome fails to play the videos when they are served from a SharePoint server (on our intranet). If I download the videos, I can Ctrl-O Open them in Chrome and view them. Same if I move them to a web server instead of a document folder in SharePoint. (Note that Firefox can view the files in the SharePoint folder)

Developer Tools in chrome shows the attached source.

[Chad Miller (cmiller)]

Please open a terminal and run, with a URL of a video that does not play in its place,

$ wget -O /dev/null --server-response URLHERE

Paste the result. exit the terminal.

[David Biesack (david-biesack-sas)]

attached is the wget log.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for chromium-browser (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Chad Miller (cmiller)]

Hrm, a proxy and two HTTP 401s and then a 200-success. That's interesting.

Let's try seeing what the browser does for that sequence. Open the network trace. Ctrl-Shift-I . "Network" tab. Go to the containing page, and then try to play a video. I'm interested in the requests that come out after that.

[David Biesack (david-biesack-sas)]

Attached is a screenshot of the Network view.
The video is 68MB, so the content size is correct.
Hope it helps.

[Chad Miller (cmiller)]

That's damned interesting. I don't know what it means yet.