YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

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Moonchild
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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Moonchild » 2024-09-29, 18:20

Far as I know, MP4 is necessary for a good number of IoT devices like smart TVs that have MP4 h.264 hardware decoders, but not VP8/VP9 WebM codecs. So it's needed for compatibility.
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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Daikun » 2024-09-29, 23:02

Moonchild wrote:
2024-09-29, 07:00
I've seen more issues pop up with YouTube lately, including video corruption at chunk boundaries, and that even happens in Edge (which as you know is Blink-based), so it seems that YT is really causing a mess at the moment.
A workaround would be (if I understood correctly) to disable WebM playback and force h.264/MP4 as a result (preferences -> content -> tab "Media" -> untick the "WebM" checkbox) until the fix is in.
Thank you for that tip. :thumbup:
Will I have to untick "Enable MSE for WebM Video" as well?

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Enobarbous » 2024-09-30, 00:43

A workaround would be (if I understood correctly) to disable WebM playback and force h.264/MP4 as a result (preferences -> content -> tab "Media" -> untick the "WebM" checkbox) until the fix is in.
As an alternative to globally disabling WebM, you can use a script for youtube. As far as I remember, the old h264ify extension will also work.
I am sorry for the use of auto-translator to post

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by BenFenner » 2024-09-30, 16:18

Moonchild wrote:
2024-09-29, 07:00
A workaround would be (if I understood correctly) to disable WebM playback and force h.264/MP4 as a result (preferences -> content -> tab "Media" -> untick the "WebM" checkbox) until the fix is in.
Thanks. Maybe a useful workaround for others. Personally, I'm perfectly happy to just wait until the fix gets released. At the end of the day I'm beyond happy that this is something Pale Moon can smooth over and compensate for on its end while we wait for YouTube to get its act together (if it ever does).

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Enobarbous » 2024-09-30, 19:13

Moonchild wrote:
2024-09-25, 20:24
Porting seems to solve the issue.
Commit 0aeac02b89
Following up on 1878510 - it seems that bug 1900191 also affects PM?
I am sorry for the use of auto-translator to post

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Moonchild » 2024-09-30, 20:14

Yeah potentially. I'll look into it.
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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by KlarkKentThe3rd » 2024-10-02, 22:42

Disabling WEBM improved Youtube significantly. Did not know PM can just have such a simple check/uncheck feature. And no restart required, nice.

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by BenFenner » 2024-10-08, 15:20

I'm excited to have PM 33.4.0 now with the YouTube solution. I'll test for a day or two with dozens of videos before reporting back. :thumbup:

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Massacre » 2024-10-08, 21:34

KlarkKentThe3rd wrote:
2024-09-29, 17:09
This is the first time someone brought it up, which half-answers my "how come YT stores MP4 and WEBM copies instead of a single file in one format". Could YT one day decide to only store and serve 1 format for every video?
And make Apple users sad.

Btw, in case of almost everything 1080p or less, H264 format is superior, VP9 sacrifices quality for size.

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Moonchild » 2024-10-08, 23:33

Massacre wrote:
2024-10-08, 21:34
VP9 sacrifices quality for size.
That's almost always the case (unless there's some real breakthrough in compression).
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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by KlarkKentThe3rd » 2024-10-08, 23:44

Massacre wrote:
2024-10-08, 21:34
And make Apple users sad.

Btw, in case of almost everything 1080p or less, H264 format is superior, VP9 sacrifices quality for size.
I am still an Apple user, and every browser I use (don't use Safari) just runs WEBM no problem. And unless my eyes lie to me, I just don't see the increase in quality going from WEBM to MP4. And aren't YT videos h265 anyway?

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Top Gun » 2024-10-09, 17:12

Hate to have to report this, but I'm still experiencing the occasional video hang after upgrading to 33.4.0. I've hit it more than once during this video, and I think it happened during another video I watched yesterday. Both instances were of the video freezing while the audio continues to play.

Edit: Strangely I've watched multiple other videos that have played all the way through without issue. So at the very least the problem seems less frequent than it was beforehand, when the majority of videos I tried would freeze up at some point. Or maybe it's just a small sample size and I'm getting lucky.

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by BenFenner » 2024-10-09, 20:42

I've been through 50+ videos (many of them very long) so far and not experienced any issues yet (was seeing multiple issues on nearly every video in the past). Do you have timestamps from that linked Zelda play-through video for us to check for the freezing?

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Top Gun » 2024-10-09, 21:13

BenFenner wrote:
2024-10-09, 20:42
I've been through 50+ videos (many of them very long) so far and not experienced any issues yet (was seeing multiple issues on nearly every video in the past). Do you have timestamps from that linked Zelda play-through video for us to check for the freezing?
Just loaded it up, and I hit a freeze at around 7:28. I can get it consistently there even after restarting the video. I know there was at least one other spot I hit earlier but I haven't been able to find the exact point yet.

Edit: And then I just replayed it a second time from the beginning and it doesn't freeze there. Shrug.

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Daikun » 2024-10-10, 00:14

If you're still having issues, you can always try disabling WebM for video.

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by BenFenner » 2024-10-10, 01:20

I watched from 7:00 to 8:00 with no freezing at 720p. Sorry I forgot to ask what video quality you were using, as I believe that can cause the stream to have issues at different timestamps.

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Top Gun » 2024-10-10, 02:54

BenFenner wrote:
2024-10-10, 01:20
I watched from 7:00 to 8:00 with no freezing at 720p. Sorry I forgot to ask what video quality you were using, as I believe that can cause the stream to have issues at different timestamps.
I have it set to Auto, so you're right, it may have happened to be at different resolutions both times.

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Massacre » 2024-10-10, 04:27

KlarkKentThe3rd wrote:
2024-10-08, 23:44
Massacre wrote:
2024-10-08, 21:34
And make Apple users sad.

Btw, in case of almost everything 1080p or less, H264 format is superior, VP9 sacrifices quality for size.
I am still an Apple user, and every browser I use (don't use Safari) just runs WEBM no problem.
It may be supported (from iOS 14), but has problems with hardware acceleration.
And unless my eyes lie to me, I just don't see the increase in quality going from WEBM to MP4. And aren't YT videos h265 anyway?
YT videos could be H264 (up to 1080p), VP9 (including 4K) and AV1 (maybe including 4K too? didn't see that myself). In most cases, H264 has superior quality (and higher bitrate) in anything 1080p or less. The quality could be verified frame-by-frame in any video editor. There could be some exceptions, though... I have found one 480p video that looks very blurred in H264 but mostly OK in VP9, but this is an exception.

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Shadow » 2024-10-10, 10:37

Massacre wrote:
2024-10-10, 04:27
YT videos could be H264 (up to 1080p), VP9 (including 4K) and AV1 (maybe including 4K too? didn't see that myself).
AV1 includes 4K too.

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Re: YouTube videos freezing video while audio plays normally (or just freezing completely)

Unread post by Moonchild » 2024-10-10, 10:49

Shadow wrote:
2024-10-10, 10:37
AV1 includes 4K too.
AV1 at 4k is extremely computationally expensive.
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