Bug fixes: video playback, youtube, iOS and you.

Hey there!

Quick developer update here. Now live are a couple of fixes related to video playback.

First, we've seen bug reporting over time related to videos failing to load at all, showing just a black screen with no play button. The issue that has been resolved is related to having "Youtube" selected as the default option, as a user with adblock. 8/10 times, the video will fail to load under certain conditions. This should now work, yay. Of course there are still issues with certain extensions that are beyond our control, but a lot of bug reports have been left open because we haven't been able to identify this issue related to adblock and youtube, until now. So go forth and let me know if it's any better.

Second, iPad and tablet playback problems. You guys have had issues with playback relating to scrubbing, and fullscreening on tablet. It totally sucked. It's something Jeff has been asking about and I wanted to fix it. So, please, test away on your tablet devices, and report back issues. I primarily tested with iPad since that's what I have at home, so curious how it affects stranger tablet devices. You guys should now see native playback support, which means real full screen, and video scrubbing.

Curious to hear if it's any improvement for you guys.

I'm viewing the site on an iPad Air 2 running the iOS 9 beta and I have the iOS video controls back! You rock @jSlack

Scrubbing and full screen work great now, thanks! Not sure if it is on my end or the site. But I used to also be able to playback video to AirPlay on an Apple TV 3 without interruption of the iPad locking. That seems to have changed. Now videos drop when the auto lock kicks in. Let me know if it's just me. I am on an iPad Air 2 running iOS 9 (beta) and do not seem to have this problem in other applications that I have noticed yet. Using the Giant Bomb video buddy app is my current workaround,

@thelastgunslinger:awesome

@commonreason: Interesting, I don't have an Apple TV but I'll try to find someone with one so I can test it. In reading documentation on apple, and on the forums (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4930414) looks like it happens to a lot of apps. It might be due to the streaming format. Will try to see what I can do.

Edit: Looks like after people reboot their phones it starts working. Looks like it might be memory related. Care to experiment next livestream?

@jslack: I will try it again during a live stream. Thanks for replying. Specifically though, the issue I was describing was during watching any posted video, not just live. For instance, I was watching the new mailbag and the Mad Max Quick Look yesterday. I would try it from the embedded video player as well as selecting the download button just get it the video in a single window. I would then going into the Control Center (slide up from the bottom of the screen) and select AirPlay. It would work fine until the display went to sleep (auto-lock), then just drop me back to the Apple TV main menu. If I unlock my iPad, it starts playing again. This did not happen previously. I have done both reboots and hard resets, neither seem to work. Now that you mention it though, it does seem to be an issue with other sites, but it did not happen before on GB. I always wondered if it had to do with changes to the video player format. Currently though, if I use the third party Giant Bomb Video Buddy app, I can start a video and then just lock the device and it still keeps playing. Hope this helps possibly diagnose an issue and thanks again for taking the time to investigate.

@commonreason: Ah I misunderstood, testing on any video is a lot easier. Thank you for the detailed report! Will look into this, I appreciate it.

This is a something I brought up awhile ago, I believe I actually created a thread about it.

Everytime I use the video player, the audio control seems to only have 4 settings.

The first is max volume.

The second is no volume.

The third is right next to no volume, which is sometimes how I have to set it.

The fourth and final is everything in between those three settings. It seems like no matter where I slide the volume button aside from those 3 spots, it doesn't change the volume. This is only annoying because if I want to play a game or have something on in the background, I can't really control the volume. I discovered you can adjust the volume inside Windows volume mixer, but that isn't really a solution, only a band-aid.

Am I the only one? Is this something you are aware of?

Thanks!

@doublespy: I have never seen that personally. Would be curious if anyone has ever seen that. Wonder if it happens on other sites for you too?

Thank you so much for using the native controls again on iPad. Whenever a video only fills a browser screen on any site I get annoyed and almost immediately kill the video. It's working great here. Before this I was using the video buddy app instead of browsing the site for that reason alone.