Amazon Prime Video - HD is not available anymore (since last Vivaldi Update)

VENIX

I just ran into this issue last night. I wanted to enjoy some M.I. action when I was greeted with a message saying that my browser was outdated thus HD video was not supported.

This thread is month old but I'm posting here to keep the conversation going.

Will this issue ever be solved?
Have you guys found a work-around to this issue?

Ayespy

@VENIX In the end, Vivaldi cannot solve Amazon's rejection of Vivaldi. The only permanent solution is to get Amazon to allow and to support the codecs that Vivaldi is forced to use, given that it doesn't have millions of dollars to use the ones Chrome and Firefox use.

VENIX

@Ayespy
So the issue here is Amazon itself not a lack of codecs implementation. I will take the time to write a feedback and to amazon and show my disappointment on their lack of support/rejection of Vivaldi.

I did ran the test here and everything worked/reproduced as expected.
https://help.vivaldi.com/article/widevinecdm-eme-drm-support-on-linux/
Which lead me to believe, in regards to Prime Video, that perhaps there was something wrong with my installation of Vivaldi. Now i know what's up.

Thank you for your reply.

LightBeam

If it's a problem about Vivaldi not being able to pay Amazon's fee, how is Brave able to run primevideo in HD ? I don't think they had to pay money to Amazon to get this running. It's based on Chrome but Vivaldi is also based on Chrome so I really don't understand why some chrome-based browsers would be able to run HD streaming on primevideo but not Vivaldi

Ayespy

@LightBeam said in Amazon Prime Video - HD is not available anymore (since last Vivaldi Update):

I don't think they had to pay money to Amazon to get this running.

They would have had to. And they are much better-funded than Vivaldi.

solamon77

It would be great if someone from Vivaldi could weigh in on this and let us know if it's a problem with fees or if it's a technical issue. I too am a big Vivaldi fan and it annoys me that I have to switch my browser of choice JUST for Amazon.

Pesala

@solamon77 @Ayespy and @Gwen-Dragon have already answered this. They are not employees of Vivaldi, but they are Beta testers who knows the situation very well.

jsanki

Hello guys I found some information about service quality
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GUVGB3QMQRYRERYW

This mean for them Vivaldi Browser unfairly is unsupported

I have been researching because I got some issues with Netflix as well recently with Widevine error M7702-1003, With Vivaldi on Linux I can fix this error Updating the page with F5, but with Windows there is not way to make it work . I wish Vivaldi team could handle this situation this Browser is full featured with Chromium Core and doing best things than the same Google Chrome

jsanki

@Gwen-Dragon

They dont care look at this post
https://www.amazonforum.com/s/question/0D54P00007jToNFSA0/why-i-cant-streaming-in-hd-with-vivaldi-browser-latest-version-if-i-can-play-videos-on-youtube-in-hd-1080p-as-well-as-with-netflix-in-1080p?t=1603669095958

jsanki

Maybe this will not helps to have HD permit with Amazon Prime in Vivaldi but Updating Widevine at least fixed my issue with Netflix.

I fixed it taking WidevineCdm files from Google Chrome because for some reason it is not updated with Vivaldi and I cant update with the Check for Updates button .
First go to Google Chrome (it should be installed) and open this link chrome://components and take the Widevine version information in order to create a folder inside the Vivaldi user profile
C:\Users\HOLA\AppData\Local\Vivaldi\User Data\WidevineCdm then
Create a folder in this place with the current Version in Chrome it is 4.10.1679.0 So its the folder name.
Copy the current Widevine from here C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\86.0.4240.183\WidevineCdm inside 4.10.1679.0 and voilà. This is the magic now I can watch Netflix with Vivaldi again.

Hadden89

@Ayespy Probably Brave don't have to pay due MPL licence. I knew only browsers partially closed source (as Vivaldi and ChrOpera) have to pay. But I can't be totally sure, as open source browsers couldn't get DRM access. And I'm not even sure Brave is totally open source, but who knows. Don't know about Firefox being a foundation.
Still, the DRM codec is a pain for every developer, paid or not. They're bound to g00gle and site will to have it functional, sadly.

jsanki

@Gwen-Dragon its Google Chrome 86.0.4240.183 I found some interested information in Wikipedia "Widevine Technologies was purchased by Google in 2010" so they can play as they like

Mouse2

I have Vivaldi Vivaldi 3.6.2165.34 (Stable channel) (64-bit) installed as standalone in D:\Programs.

I had a video freezing / jerky /stuttering playback problem when playing the Expanse series (SciFi) on Amazon Prime Video, and the following solved it, even when playing in High Definition. (Best Quality).

I copied Widevine 4.10.1679.0
From: Chrome Version 88.0.4324.150 (Official Build) (64-bit), location C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\88.0.4324.150\WidevineCdm
To: D:\Programs\Vivaldi\User Data\WidevineCdm\4.10.1679.0
I moved the existing Widevine folder: D:\Programs\Vivaldi\User Data\WidevineCdm\4.10.1610.0 to another directory for safekeeping
I closed Vivaldi and the Vivaldi background icon in the system tray.
I reopened Vivaldi and went to vivaldi://components, looked to the end of the list for Widevine and it had updated.
Prime Video now plays Expanse in best quality without freezes or jerks.

In my experience this is something you may need to repeat every so often as Widevine and Vivaldi update.

(NB using the update button in Vivaldi's components sheet did not update Widevine).

Kind regards and best wishes

Mouse2

Mouse2

My pleasure. Thank you for your encouraging reply.

Mouse2