For the Firefox experts: MPEG-4 opening in QT

terrypin wrote on 11/6/2012, 6:05 AM

I've spent hours trying in vain to understand the behaviour of an MPEG-4 opened in Firefox. I made it to finish off my reply here:

http://www.magix.info/uk/does-anyone-know-how-to-make-the-end-credits.knowledge.879194.html

It played OK on my PC with VLC (its associated app). I uploaded it to my Dropbox account and posted the link
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/CreditsPhotos-2a.mp4
But it wouldn't play properly here. FF used Quicktime to open it and it was totally corrupted aftre the firsr couple of seconds. So in FF I went to Tools > Options > Applications and found the entry for MPEG4.

QT wasn't one of the options. And what does 'Always ask' mean? FF never asks me anything.

Anyway, I changed it to 'Use VLC Web Plugin (in Firefox)', and tried the link again. But it didn't work.

So I then changed it to 'Use VLC media player...' and this time closed and restarted FF. The link now plays the video OK.

In summary, there seem to be two issues here:

1. The FF puzzle. Basically I haven't a clue how that facility is supposed to work, or even how those apps were assigned in the first place. In particular, what does 'Always ask' mean? Scores of types have that setting, including ASCII, yet I'm never asked when I click a link to a TXT file - FF just opens it in new tab.

2. Should I expect QT to play my MPEG-4?

 

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Last changed by terrypin on 11/6/2012, 6:05 AM, changed a total of 1 times.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK. PC: i7 6700K, 4.0 GHz, 32GB with Win 10 pro. Used many earlier versions of MEPP, currently mainly MEPP 2016 & 2017 (Using scores of macro scripts to add functionality, tailored to these versions.)

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 11/7/2012, 7:56 AM

Hi Terry

The way it works is something like this:

1.  You ask for a web page containing a video

2.  The server sends the web page and, if configured with the correct MIME type for the video, tells the web browser which player to use.

3.  If the browser has that player then it will use it, otherwise it will default to a player that can play the video if there is one and it may not necessarily be the one in the lists you have looked at.

If QT is your default mp4 player then this is what will be used.

John

Last changed by johnebaker on 11/7/2012, 7:56 AM, changed a total of 1 times.

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terrypin wrote on 11/7/2012, 2:46 PM

Thanks John, but my issue is that QT is not the default for playing MP4, VLC is. Nor is the Firefox QT plugin assigned to play MP4.

I've stepped through another example, this time for an MPG file.

1. Opened a (randomly found) link to an MPG file. It opens and plays with Quicktime (specifically the Quicktime plugin 7.7.2) as you see here:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/FF-PluginsPuzzle-1.jpg


I do not know why it plays with QT, for the reasons given earlier.

2. To investigate further I found its Content Type (or just 'Type') to be video/mpeg.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/FF-PluginsPuzzle-2.jpg

3. I searched FF > Options > Applications for 'video/mpeg'. It doesn't appear in the list. (Any idea why not?) There's an entry for 'Video clip', which is assigned to the VLC plugin. But that is not used to play the file.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/FF-PluginsPuzzle-3.jpg

4. And one for Movie file (mpeg) which is arguably the closest match. As I've reported previously, that is not set to QT but to 'Always Ask'. FF does not ask anything (before perversely playing the clip in QT).

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/FF-PluginsPuzzle-3a.jpg


5. I then opened about:plugins. There are 7 separate sections for the QT plugin.  (Why?) and one of them includes an entry for video/mpeg:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/FF-PluginsPuzzle-4.jpg

Which just appears to tell me that QT can handle that type.

6. Scrolling further I see a similar entry for the VLC plugin:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/FF-PluginsPuzzle-5.jpg

I've also been discussing this in the Firefox forum. I'm coming to the conclusion that FF has got into a scrambled mess and that my only recourse now is to delete the mimeTypes.rdf file in my profile, and start from cold.

I'd be interested to know what app you (and other FF users) get that MPG played with?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Last changed by terrypin on 11/7/2012, 2:46 PM, changed a total of 1 times.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK. PC: i7 6700K, 4.0 GHz, 32GB with Win 10 pro. Used many earlier versions of MEPP, currently mainly MEPP 2016 & 2017 (Using scores of macro scripts to add functionality, tailored to these versions.)