BBC News Site has Problems with Videos

d_canard

I am looking for suggestions on how to approach video problems with the BBC News site.

For months, sometimes even years, the BBC News site will work properly with its video content.

Then suddenly problems will arise. Videos do not play. They not not even start to load - the little arrow wheel spins endlessly on a black screen. The problems may start with one area of BBC service only, say Reel, and then slowly spread until all areas are affected. Or they may start site wide. Sometimes they will go away spontaneously. Sometimes the problems will come and go sporadically, limited to one or two news stories at a time.

This time the problem started with BBC Reel, and then slowly spread until the entire site was affected. All browsers were affected, Chrome, Chromium, Opera, Firefox, and Vivaldi.

Then as is often the case, the problems went away on their own in all browsers, except this time not in Vivaldi. Here unfortunately and annoyingly, they persist.

I am using Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon. I keep everything patched and up to date.

The problems do not show up at all in Windows 10 with Chrome, Opera, Firefox, and Vivaldi.

I use DuckDuckGo's privacy plugin, but it is used in both Windows and Linux, and white listing the BBC in browsers in Linux does not seem to make any difference.

Suggestions?

Cheers.

d_canard

@Gwen-Dragon

Hi. Thanks for the response.

I forgot to mention that the BBC is the only site with video content that Vivaldi has problems with. Everything else works just fine, thank you. So ..... the problem may not lie with Vivaldi itself.

a) The live stream link you posted works perfectly for me, too.

1)May be your video codecs are not up-to-date.
Start Vivaldi in shell and check the error messages.

$ vivaldi
[3223:3495:1120/082124.147869:ERROR:database.cc(1581)] Calendar sqlite error 1, errno 0: no such column: etag, sql: update events set etag = ''
[3223:3495:1120/082124.148244:ERROR:calendar_database.cc(47)] Calendar DB failed to migrate from version 1. Calendar API will be disabled.
[3223:3495:1120/082124.228969:ERROR:calendar_backend.cc(152)] INIT_TOO_NEW
[3223:3223:1120/082125.832917:ERROR:CONSOLE(0)] "Unchecked runtime.lastError: The message port closed before a response was received.", source: chrome-extension://mpognobbkildjkofajifpdfhcoklimli/browser.html (0)

May be you should read these articles how to update codecs and digital rights module:
https://help.vivaldi.com/article/html5-proprietary-media-on-linux/

Test video runs fine.

https://help.vivaldi.com/article/widevinecdm-eme-drm-support-on-linux/

$ sudo /opt/vivaldi/update-widevine
[sudo] password          
Widevine (4.10.1440.18) is already installed and does not need to be updated

I see that BBC video needs use hardware acceleration (HWA) for decoding.
Did you accidentally disabled it in Settings → Websites?

Nope. It is enabled.

Perhaps you graphics chip/card does not support HWA?
Please copy first section of internal page vivaldi://gpu here so i can check.

Graphics Feature Status
Canvas: Hardware accelerated
Flash: Hardware accelerated
Flash Stage3D: Hardware accelerated
Flash Stage3D Baseline profile: Hardware accelerated
Compositing: Hardware accelerated
Multiple Raster Threads: Enabled
Out-of-process Rasterization: Disabled
Hardware Protected Video Decode: Unavailable
Rasterization: Software only. Hardware acceleration disabled
Skia Renderer: Disabled
Video Decode: Unavailable
Viz Display Compositor: Enabled
Viz Hit-test Surface Layer: Disabled
WebGL: Hardware accelerated
WebGL2: Hardware accelerated

Driver Bug Workarounds
adjust_src_dst_region_for_blitframebuffer
clear_uniforms_before_first_program_use
disable_discard_framebuffer
exit_on_context_lost
force_cube_complete
init_gl_position_in_vertex_shader
init_vertex_attributes
pack_parameters_workaround_with_pack_buffer
reset_base_mipmap_level_before_texstorage
scalarize_vec_and_mat_constructor_args
unpack_alignment_workaround_with_unpack_buffer
unpack_overlapping_rows_separately_unpack_buffer
use_virtualized_gl_contexts
disabled_extension_GL_KHR_blend_equation_advanced
disabled_extension_GL_KHR_blend_equation_advanced_coherent

Problems Detected
Accelerated video decode is unavailable on Linux: 137247
Disabled Features: accelerated_video_decode
Protected video decoding with swap chain is for Windows and Intel only
Disabled Features: protected_video_decode
Program link fails in NVIDIA Linux if gl_Position is not set: 286468
Applied Workarounds: init_gl_position_in_vertex_shader
Clear uniforms before first program use on all platforms: 124764, 349137
Applied Workarounds: clear_uniforms_before_first_program_use
Linux NVIDIA drivers don't have the correct defaults for vertex attributes: 351528
Applied Workarounds: init_vertex_attributes
Always rewrite vec/mat constructors to be consistent: 398694
Applied Workarounds: scalarize_vec_and_mat_constructor_args
MakeCurrent is slow on Linux with NVIDIA drivers: 449150, 514510
Applied Workarounds: use_virtualized_gl_contexts
NVIDIA fails glReadPixels from incomplete cube map texture: 518889
Applied Workarounds: force_cube_complete
Pack parameters work incorrectly with pack buffer bound: 563714
Applied Workarounds: pack_parameters_workaround_with_pack_buffer
Alignment works incorrectly with unpack buffer bound: 563714
Applied Workarounds: unpack_alignment_workaround_with_unpack_buffer
Framebuffer discarding can hurt performance on non-tilers: 570897
Applied Workarounds: disable_discard_framebuffer
Unpacking overlapping rows from unpack buffers is unstable on NVIDIA GL driver: 596774
Applied Workarounds: unpack_overlapping_rows_separately_unpack_buffer
Disable KHR_blend_equation_advanced until cc shaders are updated: 661715
Applied Workarounds: disable(GL_KHR_blend_equation_advanced), disable(GL_KHR_blend_equation_advanced_coherent)
glTexStorage* are buggy when base mipmap level is not 0: 877874
Applied Workarounds: reset_base_mipmap_level_before_texstorage
Some drivers can't recover after OUT_OF_MEM and context lost: 893177
Applied Workarounds: exit_on_context_lost
adjust src/dst region if blitting pixels outside framebuffer on Linux NVIDIA: 830046
Applied Workarounds: adjust_src_dst_region_for_blitframebuffer

May be your extension block too much,
Please test in Private Window to start without any extension.

No change.

d_canard

@Gwen-Dragon said in BBC News Site has Problems with Videos:

This video works nice for me. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-50482862/election-debate-conservatives-defend-factcheckuk-twitter-profile

But which video does not play for you and describe what fails.

And this reel video works for me https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p07qq8hf/is-this-the-world-s-most-dangerous-island-

//EDIT: I checked this with Debian 10.1 and Mint 19 Tara.

Hi again.

Neither of the two linked stories with video content work for me in Vivaldi. All I see for video content is a black video frame with the spinning arrow wheel. Nothing beyond this happens.

Here is another link that does not work for me, chosen at random, first up in the Video tab from the website:
https://www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/must_see/50482863/johnson-v-corbyn-the-head-to-head-in-three-minutes

This is all very curious, and curiosity is the only real reason I started this thread. There is a simple and practical solution: don't use Vivaldi for the BBC.

As I said, the problem started with Reel, no videos from this BBC feature would play, but everything else on the site was fine. Then slowly over a few days fewer and fewer videos worked until none worked. Again, initially it affected all browsers on my computer.

Then after a while, other browsers started to work again, but not Vivaldi.

I can use Vivaldi for pretty much any other site which has streaming video content. In fact I cannot find one, except the BBC, where there is any problem at all. So let's see .... problem with Vivaldi or problem with BBC? I would lean towards problem with BBC.

I am confident that one day, I will check the BBC with Vivaldi again, and everything will work again. This is not the first time I have had problems with the BBC. It has always started to work again without intervention on my part.

Vivaldi is my go-to browser. I love it. But this problem is just intriguingly weird.

TbGbe · Win: Snapshot Vivaldi 7.4.3671.3

@d_canard said in BBC News Site has Problems with Videos:

Neither of the two linked stories with video content work for me in Vivaldi. All I see for video content is a black video frame with the spinning arrow wheel. Nothing beyond this happens.
Here is another link that does not work for me

Well, all 3 videos work for me - so not Vivaldi & Linux related problem.
I also have NVidia GPU.
Very strange!

Could it be some type of Geo block? I'm in UK so BBC always available to me.

d_canard

@TbGbe said in BBC News Site has Problems with Videos:

@d_canard said in BBC News Site has Problems with Videos:

Neither of the two linked stories with video content work for me in Vivaldi. All I see for video content is a black video frame with the spinning arrow wheel. Nothing beyond this happens.
Here is another link that does not work for me

Well, all 3 videos work for me - so not Vivaldi & Linux related problem.
I also have NVidia GPU.
Very strange!

Could it be some type of Geo block? I'm in UK so BBC always available to me.

Welcome to weird street. Thanks for the reply.

Very strange indeed!

The BBC site lists a sort of Geo blocking as a potential problem - easily remedied by contacting one's ISP. I don't remember the details now. But it can't be this, or the site would not work with other browsers or other platforms. In Windows, everything works fine and has always done so, not that I use my Windows machines much anymore. My Android phone connected to WIFI through the same router as the rest of my network works fine with the BBC.

Pathduck

The BBC site is a monster in terms of cookies it sets. I count 200 cookies in use on a single page, and they use a lot of third-party providers as well. I'd start with clearing all cookies from bbc.co.uk and bbc.com, then all those third-parties when the situation occurs.

I've not had any issues playing videos on the BBC News site. But really hard for someone outside the UK to reproduce this since we can't access a lot of the services.

Since it seems inconsistent and only happens from time to time, it's really up to you to do the detective work here. Delete cookies, exclude any extensions interfering, try in a Guest Profile, all the regular things you'd do to eliminate any causes.

If you can find a consistent way of reproducing it in Vivaldi, when it doesn't occur in other browsers, then report it:
https://vivaldi.com/bugreport/

If you are able to find a consistent reproduction, make sure to also report it to the BBC support. After all, you do pay taxes for this service to work

d_canard

OK. So I went and booted up another Linux Mint system, one that I use as a media PC. It is the same version of Linux Mint, same patch level. It also has an (older) nVida GPU and an (older) AMD CPU. It also has Vivaldi installed. What is different about this Vivaldi installation is that it was a clean installation, nothing brought forward from another system.

Here on this system, Vivaldi does not work with the BBC's video content either. But ..... in a private window it does work - where it did not on my main computer.

d_canard

@Pathduck said in BBC News Site has Problems with Videos:

The BBC site is a monster in terms of cookies it sets. I count 200 cookies in use on a single page, and they use a lot of third-party providers as well. I'd start with clearing all cookies from bbc.co.uk and bbc.com, then all those third-parties when the situation occurs.

I've not had any issues playing videos on the BBC News site. But really hard for someone outside the UK to reproduce this since we can't access a lot of the services.

Since it seems inconsistent and only happens from time to time, it's really up to you to do the detective work here. Delete cookies, exclude any extensions interfering, try in a Guest Profile, all the regular things you'd do to eliminate any causes.

If you can find a consistent way of reproducing it in Vivaldi, when it doesn't occur in other browsers, then report it:
https://vivaldi.com/bugreport/

If you are able to find a consistent reproduction, make sure to also report it to the BBC support. After all, you do pay taxes for this service to work

Hi.

I generally keep my browser caches clean. If I remember to do it, I clear cache, including cookies, upon leaving one site and before going on to another. All browsers are set to delete history upon exit.

Consistency? We don't need no stinking consistency. There is nothing consistent about any of this. LOL.

The site does not work in Vivaldi today. But who knows about tomorrow.

Yesterday, the site did work in Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, and Opera.

Today, it does not work in Firefox, Chrome or Chromium.

But it does work in Opera.

Pathduck

@d_canard said in BBC News Site has Problems with Videos:

I clear cache, including cookies, upon leaving one site and before going on to another.

That a ... special way to browse the web, but good on you for being careful I guess

Consistency? We don't need no stinking consistency.

Oh I get the reference ... but if you can't reproduce it in a way that others also can do the same, how can anyone else figure out what goes on? And if you report it without a way to reproduce, it will just get closed with "cannot reproduce"...

Without a way to reproduce it, all you're left with is guesswork, conjecture and notions of black magic.

And if you're saying this happens in all browsers, then obviously this is not a Vivaldi issue is it?

d_canard

@Pathduck said in BBC News Site has Problems with Videos:

@d_canard said in BBC News Site has Problems with Videos:

if you can't reproduce it in a way that others also can do the same, how can anyone else figure out what goes on? And if you report it without a way to reproduce, it will just get closed with "cannot reproduce"...

Without a way to reproduce it, all you're left with is guesswork, conjecture and notions of black magic.

Sadly true. To reproduce the problem, I will need to find the exact cause of the problem, but then if I find the exact cause of the problem, I suspect that there would soon be no problem.

And if you're saying this happens in all browsers, then obviously this is not a Vivaldi issue is it?

Again, there is no consistency. The current episode of this problem started with all browsers. But then only Vivaldi was left not working. But now the only browser working today is Opera.

I have suggested that it is not a Vivaldi problem. If I may quote myself:

I can use Vivaldi for pretty much any other site which has streaming video content. In fact I cannot find one, except the BBC, where there is any problem at all. So let's see .... problem with Vivaldi or problem with BBC? I would lean towards problem with BBC.

LOL.

I am just looking for suggestions here.

d_canard

If we are looking for any sort of consistency here, then I would have to say that most consistently the BBC does not work with Vivaldi, not that I think this is a Vivaldi problem, per se. LOL.

d_canard

One more bit of random weirdness to toss in here. If I connect to a UK proxy, all browsers, including, Vivaldi work perfectly with the BBC site. :face_with_stuck-out_tongue_winking_eye:

d_canard

Rechecked Win 7 and Win 10 systems. BBC works with everything, except Firefox in Win 10 (different problem, easily fixed)

The BBC works perfectly with Vivaldi if I connect through a UK proxy. It does not work, however, if I connect through a Canadian proxy.

Opera continues to work ... for the moment ... without a proxy.

Path of least resistance is .... keep using lovely Vivaldi, but with a proxy for the BBC or use Opera.

As curious as this weirdness, I think enough time has been spent on it.

Thank you to everyone for their inputs and suggestions. Nice community here. Cheers.