Play videos under Chrome?

[HMishkoff]

I finally upgraded to the "new" Arlo experience, and now my videos won't play in Chrome under Windows 10. ("This video is not able to play in your browser. Please download to view.") Chrome does display the live feed, and the videos do play under Edge.

Is there anything I can do to view Arlo videos under Chrome, or do I just have to switch to Edge?

[StephenB]

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@HMishkoff wrote:

Is there anything I can do to view Arlo videos under Chrome, or do I just have to switch to Edge?

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Does Edge work?  What processor is in the PC? 

Chrome requires hardware support for HEVC (H.265) video decoding.  So first make sure that "use graphics acceleration when available" is enabled in Chrome's settings.

[HMishkoff]

The videos do play under Edge. But under Chrome, although the live videos play, the recorded videos do not. And I do have "graphics acceleration" enabled in Chrome.

Processor: Intel Core i7 -4770 CPU @ 3.4 GHz

Graphics Card: NVIDIA  GeForce GT 635, 985 MB

[StephenB]

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@HMishkoff wrote:

Processor: Intel Core i7 -4770 CPU @ 3.4 GHz

Graphics Card: NVIDIA  GeForce GT 635, 985 MB

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Both of these are too old to have hardware support for HEVC, so Chrome will not play 2K or 4K Arlo recordings on this PC.

I think that Edge will play them if the HEVC Microsoft Extension for Windows was installed on the PC.

So I suggest that you should just use Edge.

[HMishkoff]

Is the Chrome limitation new? I didn't have any problem playing video clips under Chrome under the old interface, and I'm wondering what changed.

[StephenB]

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@HMishkoff wrote:

Is the Chrome limitation new? 

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No, it is nothing new.

FWIW, there are some HEVC files that have nothing to do with Arlo that you can use to test playback here:

• https://bitmovin.com/demos/stream-test?format=hls&manifest=https://demo.unified-streaming.com/k8s/fe...
• https://lf-tk-sg.ibytedtos.com/obj/tcs-client-sg/resources/video_demo_hevc.html#main-bt709-sample-1

If you try the first one be careful NOT to press the "use our defaults" control.

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@HMishkoff wrote:

I didn't have any problem playing video clips under Chrome under the old interface, and I'm wondering what changed.

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If the cameras were zoomed in (or had auto zoom & tracking set), then the recordings would be H.264 @ 1080p, which would play in Chrome.

[HMishkoff]

I tried the first one, it played under Edge but not under Chrome. I don't know what that means, but I'm guessing you're going to tell me it means that I won't be able to play Arlo video clips under Chrome. 😥

[StephenB]

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@HMishkoff wrote:

but I'm guessing you're going to tell me it means that I won't be able to play Arlo video clips under Chrome. 😥

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Yes.  It is clear that Chrome does not play HEVC/H.265 video on your system.

If this worked before, the camera must have been recording 1080p AVC/H.264 - which Chrome will play.

[HMishkoff]

Is there a setting I can change to restore the camera resolution so that Arlo might play my video clips? (Perhaps my camera resolution changed when I upgraded the software.)

[StephenB]

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@HMishkoff wrote:

Is there a setting I can change to restore the camera resolution so that Arlo might play my video clips? (Perhaps my camera resolution changed when I upgraded the software.)

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Turning on "auto zoom and tracking" in the video settings should do it.

[HMishkoff]

Still doesn't work in Chrome. 😥 I watched the clips in Edge, however; zoom-and-track is an interesting effect.

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@HMishkoff wrote:

Still doesn't work in Chrome. 😥 I watched the clips in Edge, however; zoom-and-track is an interesting effect.

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I guess Edge is the best option then.