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wikedguy
Participant
June 23, 2009
Question

flash videos playing weirdly in firefox - malformed

  • June 23, 2009
  • 2 replies
  • 4322 views

I have had this problem for a long time, running through all versions of Firefox 3 (including the latest 3.5 preview releases).

I am updated to the latest version of Flash, and am running Windows XP (also fully up to date).

All flash videos play fine in IE8.

On some sites, while videos are playing, the picture flicks quickly between a normal picture and the effect shown in the screenshot - the usual image tiny, with weird blurred lines around it. This continues through the whole video, flicking very rapidly, and making the video effectively unwatchable. The effect remains even when the video is paused. I've attached screenshots below which should make the nature of the distortion clear.

I have experienced the problem most on Youtube (as I use this more than other video sites). The only other site I have noted the problem on is facebook video. Metacafe, Google Videos, Dailymotion, Vimeo and BBC iPlayer did not exhibit any distortion.

On Youtube, it is sometimes possible to play videos properly by switching to high quality, but usually it does the same thing, but flicking to a much larger picture, so it only seems to be blurry around the very edges.

I should also mention that embedded YouTube videos play fine on other pages.

My computer is pretty old - with an AMD Athlon Processor 996 MHz and 752 MB of RAM - but definitely has the capacity to play these videos, as it manages on Internet Explorer.

I created a thread on the firefox support forums before I came here - not much progress was made, but I should mention a few details of the only other reported case of this problem.

"Matt" seems to be experiencing the same problem on Firefox, also with a pretty old computer, but on Windows 2000, not XP. He reports the same problem on Opera also on his computer; I haven't tested this on my system.

Personally, I am at a complete loss with this problem - I have no idea how it can be caused, or fixed, and it's a major obstacle to casual web browsing. (I have to load Internet Explorer just to watch a youtube video!)

I really hope someone is able to shed some light on this issue; please ask if you would like any more details on my system.

Thanks.

(Ben)

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    H
    hikarimakozu
    Participant
    September 11, 2009

    Hello, I can confirm this is also the case on Linux also. I am running a dual boot of Windows XP Service pack 3 and Ubuntu Linux 9.04 Jaunty. I have the problem on both systems and also on another computer running Ubuntu that someone in my house owns. This problem has been happening to me on Firefox 3 through to 3.5 (win) and 3.5.4-pre (ubu).
    I have also noticed this problem using the Opera browser but not on the Ubuntu Epiphany browser
    My PC's specs are AMD Athalon 1200mhz, 1gig RAM, 128mb Ati Radeon 9200 grapahics card. It's quite old compared to today's standards but it's still capable on various things regardless.

    I first noticed the problem beginning with the Youtube Wide-screen format update ages ago and has been going on since then. Usually on linux when this happens the flickering often causes Firefox to unexpectedly crash after a certain amount of time playing the video.

    I also own a Mac running Tiger, but due to it being a 400Mhz PowerPC G4 used only for Graphics Design work the whole concept of using it for Youtube is pointless anyway.

    I am glad to have finally located others with this issue. Not knowing what to call the issue I had problems searching for any help on the matter.

    Makozu

    M
    Matt_Taylor
    Participant
    June 23, 2009

    Hello all,

    Yes to follow up Ben, I'm experiencing the exact same problems as him. I changed browser to Firefox 3.0.11 a couple of months ago and hence downloaded the Flash plugin for Firefox. I noticed the issue straight away in Youtube, but not on other sites. As I attributed the problem to Firefox, I then downloaded Opera 9.64 - but experienced the same problem. This led me to believe the issue was the Flash plugin, as both browsers are served by the same Adobe plugin for 'alternative browsers' to IE.

    I then tried IE6 again in youtube and it didn't have the problem on standard view, however the problem was (and still is) occurring in full screen view. I'm nearly 100% sure this problem didn't occur before I downloaded the Flash plugin for Firefox / Opera. Regardless of whether that is the issue, the problem was definitely not happening on my system in IE6 earlier this year.

    As Ben said, my computer is fairly old but well managed and up to date. OS is Windows 2000 SP4, system is AMD Athlon 900 (slot A), 512 Mb RAM, 16Mb Voodoo 3 graphics, m/board MSI MS-6191.

    I've also tried removing the Flash plugin for Firefox/Opera and for IE6 and reinstalling it but had no joy there either. I would try an updated version of IE too but IE6 is the last version compatible with Win 2k.

    Any help appreciated, thanks.

    Matt

    D
    Daniel Cruit
    Participant
    August 12, 2009

    I like how we're the only people in the world who are having this problem...?

    This is a pretty big deal in terms of malfunctions. I can either watch youtube videos and not watch everything else on the itnernet that now requires Flash 10 or higher, or I can watch everything else on the internet but not Youtube videos.

    There has to be a lot more people having this problem.

    I have Windows XP, using Firefox, everything is pretty up-to-date. Right now I'm having to make due with Flash 8, which isn't seeming to play what it used to anymore.

    Seriously, does nobody else in the world have this problem? I've had this trouble for almost 6 months now.

    M
    Matt_Taylor
    Participant
    August 12, 2009

    Hi Daniel,

    Most progress is being made on this Youtube support thread as far as I can tell, I've been trying to rally round some support - people power! It has the links to the Adobe bug reporting system which will probably achieve most clout if enough people report the issue and vote.

    Link is:

    http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/youtube/thread?fid=1bd70555008277fa00047032e7380818&hl=en

    Best regards, Matt

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