FB1001 Unable to play videos from any computer with any browser.

[pwkinney]

I can play videos on my Android phone, but not on the computer. The thumbnail shows up, but when I select it the image appears as a half inch tall strip and clicking on it does nothing.

[StephenB]

---

@pwkinney wrote:

I can play videos on my Android phone, but not on the computer. The thumbnail shows up, but when I select it the image appears as a half inch tall strip and clicking on it does nothing.

---

The 2K video recordings are compressed with HEVC.   Playback depends on hardware support in the PC (and also depends on the browser you are using).

• What browser are you using?
• Is hardware decoding enabled in the browser settings?
• What processor is used in the PC?  (you can see this in "About this PC")

[pwkinney]

Thanks Stephen. I use either Firefox or Edge and neither one will play the videos. I now see that the videos that are manually recorded on the camera do play, leading me to think that there is a problem with recording them rather than playing them. The hardware decoding and the processor must not be the problem or the manual videos would not play. Maybe the problem is not really that I cannot play them, but that Arlo is not recording them properly?

[StephenB]

---

@pwkinney wrote:

I use either Firefox or Edge and neither one will play the videos. I now see that the videos that are manually recorded on the camera do play, leading me to think that there is a problem with recording them rather than playing them. The hardware decoding and the processor must not be the problem or the manual videos would not play. Maybe the problem is not really that I cannot play them, but that Arlo is not recording them properly?

---

The manual recordings are 1080p (not 2K) and compressed with HAVC, and not HEVC.  Those will play in any browser.

Try downloading one of the recordings that won't play in the browser, and then see if it will play in VLC:

• https://www.videolan.org/vlc/ 

If it does play, then it is not the recording.

FWIW, Edge and Chrome will play them if you have HEVC hardware acceleration.  Last time I checked, Firefox did not. One way to test this is to see if your browser will play this HEVC video:

• https://tools.woolyss.com/html5-audio-video-tester/?u=woolyss.com/f/caminandes-2-gran-dillama-x65-aa... 

[pwkinney]

I can play them in VLC just fine, but not in Firefox. So it appears that I need to add HEVC hardware acceleration to my computers? Dang, another cursed learning curve.

Any tips on how to go about that?

[StephenB]

---

@pwkinney wrote:

I can play them in VLC just fine, but not in Firefox.

There's no way to get them to play in FireFox - just double checked that.

As I said, they will play in Chrome and Edge (and they should play in Safari).  You do need to make sure that the browser settings are configured to use hardware acceleration.

But if the link I posted above doesn't work with those browsers, then you don't have HEVC acceleration.

• https://tools.woolyss.com/html5-audio-video-tester/?u=woolyss.com/f/caminandes-2-gran-dillama-x65-aa...

---

@pwkinney wrote:

So it appears that I need to add HEVC hardware acceleration to my computers?

Any tips on how to go about that?

---

Either you'd need to add a compatible GPU or buy a new PC. 

If you provide the processor info I asked for, I could double-check whether they have HEVC acceleration or not. In the case of Intel, you need a 6th generation processor or later.  These were launched in 2015, though many 2016 computers were still sold with 5th generation cpus. 

[pwkinney]

Hi Stephen,

My computer is pretty new, so I am hoping it is compatible. This is it:

Processor            AMD Ryzen 5 4600G with Radeon Graphics   3.70 GHz

Installed RAM    12.0 GB (11.4 GB usable)

Device ID             A5325548-293C-4590-B21E-6EE112043AB0

Product ID           00342-22003-47739-AAOEM

System type       64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

---

@pwkinney wrote:

My computer is pretty new, so I am hoping it is compatible. This is it:

Processor            AMD Ryzen 5 4600G with Radeon Graphics   3.70 GHz

---

Yes, that should be fine.

Try either Chrome or Edge, and make sure the browser is set to use hardware acceleration.

• https://www.howtogeek.com/412738/how-to-turn-hardware-acceleration-on-and-off-in-chrome/
• https://geekrewind.com/how-to-enable-hardware-acceleration-in-microsoft-edge/

I don't have any AMD systems myself.  It's possible there are other settings to check there.

[pwkinney]

Thank you so much, Stephen. I did get this to work in both Chrome and Edge (Edge gives me a better picture), but not in Firefox, whatever I do.

I tried to work with Arlo to get this to work, but after about 3 weeks realized that they are not at all responsive to my questions and are pretty much a waste of time. You are a really great resource, though.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.