Switching tabs to and from a tab with a video freezes my Vivaldi

FramDzi

Hello,

Recently my browser started freezing often when playing videos. After a while, I noticed it froze precisely when I switch tabs to or from a video that is playing. That is, if I start a video on Youtube and switch to any other tab, then my Vivaldi will (with no exception) freeze for about 4 seconds, before acting normally again. The same exact thing happens when I switch from any tab to a tab that is currently playing a video.

I've noticed that whenever this happens, the CPU usage of Vivaldi gets really high in my task manager. And this happens not only when playing Youtube videos, but also Twitch streams and videos within Twitter and Instagram, for example.

My current version of Vivaldi is 5.7.2921.65, on a machine with 8GB ram, and a Intel Pentium G4560 processor. This problem started all of a sudden about five days ago, without any Vivaldi update or new extension being added.

I've checked that the same thing happens on private mode too (that is, without any extensions affecting anything). I also checked to see if the same thing happens in Chrome, but everything is normal in there.

I tried changing a few flags on vivaldi://flags/, following answers I found in posts of people with similar problems, but to no avail. The "use hardware acceleration when available" option is unchecked here (but I tried checking it, to no avail either).

So, I am looking to see if someone has any idea on how to stop those freezes. Since this problem is quite peculiar on its occurence, I thought there may be some other ideas on how to fix it.

Thank you!

luetage

@FramDzi Private windows still use the same profile. Create a new profile and try from there.

FramDzi

@luetage I see. I tried using a guest profile now, and everything is alright in there. Thank you, I will try removing completely certain extensions and changing certain configurations to their default to see if anything changes.

EDIT: Removing (and not only disabling) all my extensions does nothing, so the problem is likely not within them.

FramDzi

I got it. After tinkering for a while, I figured out the problem lies completely on the "Mute Tab Audio" configuration. "Prioritize Active Tab" causes this problem, while "Play All Audio" doesn't.

So that is basically it. Thank you luetage for pointing out about the private windows so I could figure this out in the end.

hazilo

@FramDzi man this is it! This issue has been irritating me for years already and I never found an answer. Now your simple solution fixed it!

MaxiHerczegh

Wow, same for me. I had been having this problem for ages and already thought about switching to another browser. Until now, I only searched for freezes while playing and when pausing videos and for not switching tabs. I also tried removing extensions etc., but that didn't change anything. Finally I found this. One changed setting and now Vivaldi works like a charm again. Thank you!
And Vivaldi Team, please try to fix this option. I found it useful, but it apparently makes the browser barely usable when you have ~100 tabs open.

mib2berlin

@MaxiHerczegh
Hi, somebody have to report this to the Vivaldi bug tracker but ...
I can set "Prioritize Active Tab" with 400 tabs open (Hibernated) and Vivaldi does not freeze.
There are several YT tabs but only one is playing.
Vivaldi 6.5.3206.53, Opensuse Linux.

Cheers, mib

cdenigris

I have PIP or POP OUT video going but when i switch tabs the damn thing stops playing. This is a problem I never experienced in other browsers and is a stupid problem to have. I have tried playing with all audio and it has no affect at all. What's up with this????

mib2berlin

@cdenigris
Hi, I guess it is one of your Chrome extensions cause this, cant reproduce it on Vivaldi 6.5.3206.57.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K0iSgxjpna7o3wYrYx2mYrseI3QpIei5/view?usp=drive_link

Please test this in a private window and/or the guest view, this except extensions and use the default settings.

https://help.vivaldi.com/article/guest-view/

Cheers, mib

cdenigris

@mib2berlin Same thing in private window. In fact the PIP button doesn't even appear half the time.

mib2berlin

@cdenigris
Hm, I test this only on YouTube.
Please add your Vivaldi, OS version and a link to such a page.

cdenigris

YouTube is too basic. I'm using Vivaldi 6.5 and 6.6 snapshot which is same issue on Windows 11. Happening with almost everything but YouTube.

jsosmd

@FramDzi I have the same problem as you describe - and now we're up to Vivaldi 6.8! but, unfortunately, the audio settings have not helped me. Somehow I am guessing that this phenomenon is related to some ads, since using a 3rd party blocker (eg. UbO) does cut down the number of sites that freeze the Vivaldi.

mib2berlin

@jsosmd
Hi, I ask for links to such video pages other user can test, got none.
Independent of YT I test Vimeo, CNN, BBC and other with own player or embedded video streams and never get a freeze.
Please add some links to such pages.

Cheers, mib

jsosmd

@mib2berlin Of course, you are correct. And thanks for even trying to help with such a difficult-to-replicate problem. So, here we go:

My Vivaldi:

Vivaldi 6.8.3381.40 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Revision c87348b6ccf8f102c14fb5e73b2bb2b63ccc093d
OS Windows 11 Version 23H2 (Build 22631.3593)
JavaScript V8 12.6.228.19
User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/126.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
Command Line "A:- VIVALDI\Application\vivaldi.exe" --disable-smooth-scrolling --profile-directory=Default --save-page-as-mhtml --vivaldi-standalone --restart --flag-switches-begin --flag-switches-end
Executable Path A:- VIVALDI\Application\vivaldi.exe
Profile Path A:- VIVALDI\User Data\Default
Variations Seed Type Null
Active Variations 5e3a236d-4113a79e

My OS:
Edition Windows 11 Home
Version 23H2
Installed on ‎Wednesday, ‎11/‎29/‎2023
OS build 22631.3593
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22700.1003.0

All extensions are disabled.
Have not made the mistake of mixing up the Default profile between Snapshot and Stable Vivaldis.
No other problems with my Vivaldi.

Just to give you my most frequent freeze-up-sites (Vivaldi locks up for 30-45 seconds after clicking on URL, then all is well)
1- YouTube - any subject, any channel, etc.
2- https://lifehacker.com/tech
3- https://www.neowin.net

Thanks,
John

DoctorG

@jsosmd said in Switching tabs to and from a tab with a video freezes my Vivaldi:

Vivaldi 6.8.3381.40

update to 6.8.3381.44 and try.
And check use of Vivaldi Blocker acting too restrictive (sometimes videos stop or do not load).

jsosmd

@DoctorG 1) setting Vivaldi blocker to No Blocking does not help. 2) your update version is the Stable, and I have the Standalone; wouldn't the update mess up my Profile?

DoctorG

@jsosmd I see that you use Snapshot. Why? OK, i guess you like to test much.
But i think, the .44 Stable has fixed more bugs than the .40 Snapshot.

Just remove the Vivaldi ...\Application\ folder
Backup your ....\User data\ folder (just in a case something breaks)
Install the 6.8 Stable as Standalone

mib2berlin

@jsosmd
Hi, testing on Windows 11, latest snapshot with uBlock and the internal ad blocker, some other extensions.
Forgot to disable the internal.
OK, open your links doesn't freeze Vivaldi pages loaded am work instantly.
What could this be?
The second usual subject is a third party security software like Avast, Eset or something.
Work flawlessly with other browser but act strange with Vivaldi.
Do you use one?

Cheers, mib

jsosmd

@DoctorG Did exactly what you suggested, but made no difference. Except for some of the sites that cause a 30-45 second Vivaldi freeze-up, the browser works perfectly. Any other ideas? Thanks.