Some HTML5 videos look washed out with MSE enabled Topic is solved

[-KADC-]

I just started using Pale Moon (it's the Firefox I wish Firefox still was -- thank you!) and noticed that some HTML5 videos on YouTube, etc. appear washed out whereas all videos using Flash look fine. I had this problem using Firefox as well.

Disabling MSE (Options/Content/Video) appears to resolve this problem. I have ensured my NVIDIA graphic card is set to Full Dynamic Range for video playback (a cause of this problem for some people). I did not find a resolution for this problem in either the MozillaZine Knowledge Base or Firefox Support, but a possible explanation for this issue appears on this unofficial Twitch subredit forum https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comments/4zs5if/html5_player_washed_out_colors/:

It seems as if the HTML5 player is doublely-limiting certain color ranges. I.E. If a streamer has their OBS set to limited (partial) color range, and the recording reflects that successfully, that the HTML5 player is limiting it twice - making what should be black from a limited video feed on a limited display, gray instead, with off hue/brightness/saturation. Really hope there's a fix soon cause the stream I manage is affected by this constantly.

Edit- Just tested streaming at Full Range and that displays the way partial should - So Partial (Limited) range on a partial/limited display plays correctly in recordings but not on Twitch (HTML5). This is so hard to word to be honest.

Partial Range OBS + A Partial Range Display = Correct in Recordings/Incorrect in Twitch (HTML5)
Full Range OBS + A Partial Range Display = Incorrect in Recordings/What partial Should Be in Twitch (HTML5)

If I stream at Partial range on a partial range display and play it back through the HTML5 player on Twitch it will be incorrect, but if I download that video FROM Twitch and play it back in VLC/WMP it WILL look correct in those players. It's purely the way the HTML5's player is displaying them.

System information:
Pale Moon Version: 27.4.1 (64-bit)
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
all drivers, system and software updates are up-to-date

[Moonchild]

Since this affects all browsers, including Chrome according to the subreddit, it's clearly an issue with how the HTML5 player is implemented on Twitch. Quite likely there's an issue with how they construct/send video meta-data when streaming with MSE.
Of note, if you download the video for off-line playback, you're not being served the same video; MSE video is served on-demand. Most likely what you're given for download is the original recording.

[-KADC-]

That was the only article I could find that referenced MSE specifically with regard to washed-out HTML5 videos. All I know for certain is that on YouTube and XNXX (only two sites I re-checked so far with and without MSE), any video that looked washed out with MSE enabled looked fine without it. I'm afraid that turning MSE on and off and seeing the results is the limit of my knowledge about how MSE affects video playback. I'll be happy to test any other solutions that you might suggest if you believe there are reasons to leave MSE enabled.

[Moonchild]

There are "reasons to leave MSE enabled" enough for us to make sure we work on improving it. Without MSE, sites may simply not have viewable media. I still think it's likely to be a problem in player implementations when sending video chunks to the browser. Just because multiple sites display this problem doesn't necessarily mean it's the browser at fault either (many players share common code).
Unfortunately there's also very little that's actionable here, that I can see. I don't have an issue, and I don't know the exact set of circumstances that cause this issue for you (what is "limited range", exactly, where is it set? How can a monitor not have a full luminance range available?). I also don't know if it's NVidia specific or not.

[eskaton]

This explains full vs limited range, but more in the context of TVs and game consoles.

http://referencehometheater.com/2014/co ... s-limited/

The same theory applies to computers and monitors. I had to wrestle with this on my laptop that I have connected to our HDTV via an HDMI cable to make sure both the TV and laptop were set to the same thing. I believe nVidia, AMD, and Intel all offer options to change the full/limited setting in their respective options panel.

That being said, I agree with Moonchild that the player/MSE code being served should have the checks and validation for this and not pass the problem to individual browsers.

[Tomaso]

I've reported this issue several times myself.
For me, HTML5 videos at YouTube looks washed out too, both with MSE enabled and disabled.
As a workaround, I have to let the colour adjustments be handled by the settings in my Nvidia driver, configuring it to use full dynamic range.
SeaMonkey seems to be completely unaffected by this issue.
If remember correctly, I think that some of Pale Moon's v27.4 unstable builds was unaffected, and I'm pretty sure that the first unstable v27.5 build that I tried was unaffected too.
However, in the latest unstable build (v27.5.0a1,2017-08-08), the problem has returned! :(
This is definitely something that needs to be looked into.

[Tomaso]

Here are some screenshots, to illustrate the problem (the two first ones have washed out colours, which becomes more apparent in fullscreen):

Pale Moon v27.4.1,x64 (HW acceleration / Player settings / MSE disabled):


Pale Moon v27.4.1,x64 (HW acceleration / Player settings / MSE enabled):


Pale Moon v27.4.1,x64 (HW acceleration / Nvidia settings / MSE disabled):


Pale Moon v27.4.1,x64 (HW acceleration / Nvidia settings / MSE enabled):


SeaMonkey v2.48,x86 (HW acceleration / Player settings / MSE disabled):


SeaMonkey v2.48,x86 (HW acceleration / Player settings / MSE enabled):


SeaMonkey v2.48,x86 (HW acceleration / Nvidia settings / MSE disabled):


SeaMonkey v2.48,x86 (HW acceleration / Nvidia settings / MSE enabled):


Test video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_6J9BqgonU

[-KADC-]

The washed out effect is looks even more pronounced on my primary monitor when I experience this issue. It's nearly as bad as trying to watch TV with a sunbeam shining on it, and it's the reason I had to switch from Firefox to Chrome for watching videos. I'll be happy to try anything to help identify the specific cause of this issue so I never have to go back to using Chrome.

[Tomaso]

Like I wrote, the workaround with letting colour adjustments be handled by the Nvidia driver, and configuring this to use full dynamic range, works for me.
But if it doesn't work for you, I'd be curious to know how videos will look in SeaMonkey on your system, because like you can see from my screenshots; that browser seems to be immune to this issue here at my end!

[-KADC-]

Here's a curious twist to the issue: Today, with MSE either enabled or disabled, it makes no difference when playing HTML5 videos in Pale Moon -- they are all washed out. I picked five videos at random after the first one played washed out, and all five were also washed out (with MSE both enabled and disabled). I guess MSE isn't the culprit after all, but it's strange that this problem went away for several dozen videos (more than 50 but less than 100) only after I disabled MSE for it not to be tied into this issue somehow.

Anyway, I checked the same five videos in Firefox and Chrome (I did not test with SeaMonkey). Now, I never have this problem with Chrome, so no surprise there, but I always have this problem with Firefox (which is why I went browser shopping in the first place) and, surprisingly, Firefox ran all five videos fine today.

With videos fine in two browsers but not in Pale Moon (today), all three browsers running at the same time, I think that rules out driver and video card setting issues, and now I have to rule out MSE as well. I was thinking at one point that it could have something to do with YouTube ads, but the odds of getting 12 "bad" ads for Pale Moon and 10 "good" ads for Firefox and Chrome (not that I actually see the ads with ABP/ABL installed) is unlikely.

Here are screenshots:

Note that the thumbnail for the Pale Moon video is fine while the video itself is washed out, providing an excellent contrast of just how washed out these videos look. Also note that Chrome is quite notably giving more accurate colour in the video.

Pale Moon

video is washed out yet the thumbnail is fine

FireFox

both the video and thumbnail are fine

Chrome

both the video and thumbnail are fine

[Tomaso]

You weren't kidding when you said that the issue is more pronounced on your system, that's for sure!

Regarding the Nvidia workaround..
Are you sure that you applied it correctly, like this?:
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=13785&p=98940#p98940

[-KADC-]

It is and always has been set to full range, but I changed it then changed it back again so I could click "apply". There have been instances when a game would override the hardware setting (specifically, the brightness and contrast for my second monitor) and I have to "apply" to get it back the way it should be. No such luck in this case though, but again, it seems unlikely it could be the graphic card settings when the same video is running fine simultaneously in two other browsers.

[Tomaso]

it seems unlikely it could be the graphic card settings when the same video is running fine simultaneously in two other browsers.

Indeed.
..but the whole point of the Nvidia workaround is to let your graphics driver control the colour adjustments, instead of the browsers.
It's weird that you still get different results, depending on which browser you're using.
At least for me, the Nvidia workaround solves the problem that Pale Moon seems to be having with HTML5 videos.