Video Player Improvements/Bug Reporting

@monkeyman04: What do you mean by "having videos as embeds," if you don't mind me asking? Where are you trying to embed it? And I'm presuming you meant the Shadowrun Returns Quick Look? Kind of curious that you don't have the sticky button on that video.

He means that any video that is embedded into a story (like the shadowrun review) or a forum topic it will not work, but the normal video pages will work (quicklooks). None of the buttons on the video player do anything other than turn white when you mouse over like normal, but the Youtube and HTML 5 options will change to "members only" even though I am a member.

I am having the same problem on Chrome with no extensions running but does not happen when I switch to incognito mode or on IE.

Here is a better screenshot showing that it is actually embedded into a story.

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Chrome
• RAM: 8 GB
• Type Of Player: It says it is set to youtube
• Adblock: On and Off

@rorie: what @contagious said. Sorry for not giving enough info. Probably shouldn't have cropped the screen grab.

@contagious: @monkeyman04: No worries. Thanks for the info. Can either of you try looking at this window in an incognito mode in Chrome to see if an extension is causing it? I'm on Windows 7/Chrome both at home and at the office and I can't seem to replicate this.

@rorie: I got it to work by clearing my cache and cookies.

@rorie: Well, the problem seems to be back and I think I know what breaks it for me. I usually like having two Chrome windows open and having them snapped to both sides of my screen. That snapping of the windows breaks the video player when it's embedded in articles/forum post.

Same issue as @monkeyman04 and @contagious. I'm Running OS 10.8.4 here, browsing in Chrome 28. The only extension that I've had on when the problem occurred is AdBlock Plus, but the problem persists when it's off. Noticed on Worth Reading 08/02/2013 and the Shadowrun: Returns review.

However, as @rorie suggested, running in incognito mode solved the issue. The issue still persists for regular (non-incognito) Chrome. Hope any of this additional info helped.

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Chrome (latest update)
• RAM: 24 GB
• Type Of Player: Progressive
• Adblock: Off (not installed)
• Specific Problem: Video stutters and repeats 2-3 seconds of video/audio when it automatically changes quality. Usually happens every 1-2 minutes while watching.

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Chrome (beta channel)
• RAM: 12 GB
• Type Of Player: HTML5
• Adblock: On
• Location: Central Florida
• Specific Problem: Cannot watch videos due to buffering problems. Attempting to download them results in sub-300kb/s speeds. Need to pause and reload the entire page to make it through a video as pausing and playing does nothing.

Just to note, I've almost been able to watch all of the Pikmin 3 QL. I've needed to pause and refresh a couple of times, but by god, it's nearly finished.

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Firefox
• RAM: 8 GB
• Type Of Player: HTML5
• Adblock: Off
• Specific Problem: Ok...so this might be as designed, I'm not sure. So I haven't been able to watch HTML5 videos on the site (or even Vine videos) in Firefox since I switched from Chrome 3-4 months ago. I finally searched on Google and found a solution about the Vine issue where I had to disable the flag "media.windows-media-foundation.enabled" in about:config. I did that and Vine videos started working perfectly right away. Now however, I won't even see the HTML5 option in the video player on GB. It used to be there but not work but not it's just not there at all. Is this a normal consequence of me changing the flag? Considering that Youtube is the only option that actually works for me on the site, I was hoping that I had finally fixed the HTML5 issue and I could watch something on GB.

• OS: Windows Vista
• Browser: Chrome
• RAM: 8 GB
• Type Of Player: Progressive
• Adblock: On
• Specific Problem: Quick look videos make my PC shut off. I have not attempted this with other videos on the site or with the streaming. This problem has been going on for 2 weeks now, and it only occurs when I am watching quick looks. Stress tests from watching videos on others sites (Hulu, YouTube, Netflix), playing downloaded videos, and playing video games set at max graphics do not cause this issue. Because of this I have ruled out PSU failure and believe the video player to be somehow conflicting with my computers hardware and maybe causing it to overheat (although this is at best a guess). I am going to be running temperature monitors in the future and will report what I notice while watching quick looks.

-UPDATE-

• Processor: Intel Quad Q9400 (factory clock)

I determined the shutdown was from my CPU overheating. After a thorough cleaning my temperatures have returned to normal levels (from 50-60 idle to 30-40 idle); however, videos on the site are still making my temps jump by 20-30 degrees Celsius. While this is no longer an issue for me, I thought you should be aware.

@rylockpmortis: Now that's just super weird. I'm not sure of anything that could cause this, but I'll ask around.

@megasoum: Just to check, does HTML5 still work for you in Chrome?

Yup it works fine in Chrome. So basically, in Firefox, if I leave the flag to enabled I see HTML 5 in the choices but it doesn't work (and no other HTML 5 videos work) but if I disable the flag I can watch HTML5 videos on other site while the option completely disappear on GB.

• OS: Windows 7, 32-bit
• Browser: Chrome, but problem also presents itself in Firefox
• RAM: 8GB
• Type of Player: Usually watch in Progressive, but problem presents itself across all playback options
• Adblock: Not installed
• Specific Problem: Video chugs with really low framerate, especially when in fullscreen

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Chrome
• RAM: 8 GB
• Type Of Player: All
• Adblock: Off
• Specific Problem: I cannot get the "Grand Theft Auto Online Looks Absolutely Insane" video to do anything on the page. I click the big play button in the middle of the video area, nothing. I click the play button on the player, noth. I swap how I want to video the video (HTML5, Progressive or Streaming) nothing. I've even changed quality and still nothing. This is the only video I've ever had this happen on and to test I've watched 3 other videos and gone back to it. I managed to find links to the HTML5 videos in the source code and watched it there fine, but the video player will just have none of me watching the video.

@firrae: This actually occurred to me, as well, and I'm not at all sure what's happening. All I can assume is that there's something wonky with the age gate feature in Chrome, but I didn't notice many other people having the issue. Since it works in incognito mode, I'm assuming it has something to do with an add-on. Not sure which one, though.

@rorie: I only have 3 extensions currently on my Chrome install. They are: Reddit Enhancement Suite, ADBlock (Which is disabled sitewide for GB) , and "Screen Capture (By Google)." I have viewed other age gated videos on the site with just these on before fine, so I'm not sure what's up. Don't know if I have any other info that may help you guys figure out if this is my side or something in between.

@firrae: Yeah, dunno. Weird that it doesn't work with all my extensions turned off, but does work when I'm in incognito. Perhaps a cookie or tracking bug or something.

@rorie: Well, kinda sucks, but hopefully someone can figure out what the issue is and spread the fix so it doesn't crop up more in the future.

I'd like to be able to select the quality of streaming video myself. Having it 100% auto means there will be jumps between quality levels as the player adjusts itself to my connection throughout the video. Which essentially makes the streaming option useless to me. It doesn't need to be auto-only. If someone selects a bitrate their connection is not capable of sustaining, they will know immediately anyway.

@rorie: I have this issue not being able to start some videos. Like "Grand Theft Auto Online Looks Absolutely Insane" and "Proof Dying Light Is the Real Sequel to Dead Island", but QL: Divekick and Daily Dota working fine.

Chrome is up to date, 1Password extenssion. Windows 7 64bit

@firrae: @ionkinetic: This is an issue with the agegate; for some reason the age isn't being read correctly from the user profile. I'm told the issue has been fixed, but it might take some time to roll it out as they're looking to throw out a bunch of video player improvements at once when they're ready to do so. In the meantime, either logging out or quickly popping into an incognito window will let you watch normally. Stinks, but it's a known issue and will be fixed, hopefully soon.

@rorie: Thanks. The download button is cool to.

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Chrome
• RAM: 8 GB
• Type Of Player: Streaming
• Adblock: Off
• Specific Problem: The "resuming video from saved position" green bar pops up, but the video just starts from the beginning every time. It used to work fine a couple of weeks ago.

• OS: OSX 10.8.4
• Browser: Chrome
• RAM: 4 GB
• Type Of Player: HTML5
• Adblock: On
• Specific Problem: Pauses at random intervals without the play button coming up, won't allow to be 'unpaused' with the lack of play button so have to refresh. Also does the same, pauses at random intervals play button does come up, pressing it does nothing.

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Chrome
• Ram: 8GB
• Type of Player: Streaming
• Adblock: On
• Specific Problem: Sometimes the videos can't be started. The play button will highlight on roll-over, but clicking it does nothing. Both the Infamous and Killzone videos from Patrick from the PS4 press conference are doing that right now. I've flushed my cache but it doesn't really matter. When this happens I have to download the video to watch.

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Chrome
• RAM: 4GB
• Type Of Player: Streaming
• Adblock: Off
• Specific Problem: Videos are choppy and stutters along. For example, I was trying to watch the Pay Day 2 Quick Look but it was constantly stuttering/choppy, to the point where it's really hard to even watch the video. I just opted out for watching it on the YouTube channel instead.

my only problem is that quicklooks are very low audio volume.and friday show to. have to pumped the audio to max to hear something.

tryed to sites own player,youtube, and even downloading and watch on computer and still low audio volume.

bombcast works.

older quicklook´s works but lets say about in june to forward, audio is very low.

Videos just keep stopping. I made it 45 minutes into the XCOM quick look and it suddenly decided it wanted to stop. Reloading the page doesn't seem to do much.

Starting to have issues with videos repeating here as well, both on Chrome and Firefox, both with fresh installs and with plugins. Running on Windows 8 but we have computers running Win7 with the same issue. ISP is TWC which could be a problem in and of itself, but what's weird is that the roll back isn't always a clean key frame jump, the audio will go out of sync, the video will speed up and stop and then try waiting for the audio to get back in sync once more. This wouldn't be a big issue, but it's gotten so bad that the audio will sometimes repeat itself numerous times (I've had Jeff say the same thing 7 times in a row during a Unpro Fri, while the video waits nearly 45 seconds past for the audio to catch up). I've tried all the normal fixes like clearing cache or starting on low quality but nothing seems to fix it. This just started to get bad in the last couple of days, with today being pretty much unwatchable unless I download the video in advance.

@jneam said:

I'm getting this as well. Multiple operating systems (Windows 8 and Ubuntu 12.04

• OS: Windows 8 & Ubuntu 12.04
• Browser: Chrome (Latest Stable)
• RAM: 4GB
• Type of Player: Streaming
• Adblock: off and on

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Firefox, Chrome
• RAM: 8 GB (home computer) and 4GB (work computer)
• Type Of Player: Streaming, Progressive, and HTML
• Adblock: On
• Specific Problem: Player says it's the end of the video even though only a few minutes into a quicklook/long feature video. It's done it on all options available. It has happened on my home computer and my work computer at the University. I use Firefox at home and Chrome at work.

@barrock: @protonguy: @jazzycola: @kkotd: @haziqonfire: @razielcuts:@danishmaggot:

Just FYI the engineers are working on what sounds like a pretty major re-working of the video player. It'll take a few weeks for all these changes to hit, but when they do, they'll probably hit all at once. In the meantime, if you're having bad problems with the player, I might recommend hitting the Download button where it's available. That will pop most videos up in their own tab, where you can watch them as they download. Kind of the same thing as using the player in effect, even if it is a bit of a janky workaround.

I'll give it a shot. It's very spotty. Right now it's working just fine.

Also Rorie I give you five puppies.

@rorie: Thanks! I'll give that a try.

@crusader8463 said:

• OS: Windows 8
• Browser: Chrome
• RAM: 16 GB
• Type Of Player: Anything but youtube.
• Adblock: Off
• Specific Problem: How about a better gradient of video quality? High is too HD and I can't stream it anymore like I used to, and low has such a piss poor video quality that I keep thinking I'm watching japanese porn because it's so pixelated.

I can watch Streams and youtube at 480p with no problem but nothing on the site. It really sucks that I gotta watch everything on youtube to be able to see what's on the video.

I'm having this exact same problem, but only within the last like 2 months. I was using the HTML version of the player on high and it was working fine, but suddenly it got REAL choppy (video and audio got crackly and out of synk) and I had to switch to low which looks like that ^. I'm kinda forced to use youtube and can't watch any of the subscription stuff because it ether looks like poo, or becomes super choppy if I use any of the other player modes (HTML/Stream/Progressive.)

i have this isuee rorie told me to put it here

After watching videos in progressive the screen goes gray then sometimes around 80% of the time the video starts again but i only see the gray screen but the sound works and the bar is reloading like normal

Why can't I download video files anymore? The download speed starts up at normal download speed and then a bit into the download it starts to go slower until it stops. This seems to be less of a problem early morning(america time), but later in the day I cant download any video from GB. I had this problem a couple of months ago and it was fixed, and now it's back. I can download at full speed from anywhere else.

Any idea what may be causing this?

I'm having this exact problem as well, with the same settings mentioned there too, but 64-bit windows 7. The video framerate seems to be halved when I go fullscreen, but in the normal window it's doubled, seemingly. It's bad. I strictly watch the videos on Youtube now.

• OS: Windows 7, 64-bit
• Browser: Chrome,
• RAM: 16GB
• Type of Player: HTML5
• Adblock: installed, but not running
• Specific Problem: When playing in HTML5, the screen suddently went black after unplugging usb headphones. The audio is fine, as is the timer on the bottom of the video. Tried restarting Chrome several times to no avail. Streaming and progressive work just fine, but whenever I switch back to HTML5 the screen is still black

This is my problem as well (although I am using Windows 8), not a massive deal I suppose but it is annoying having to spend a few minutes trying to find where I was in a video.

OS: XP, 32
Browser : Firefox
RAM: 2GB
Type of Player : Progressive
Adblock: installed, disabled
Specific Problem : After pausing a video or scrubbing through to a specific point, display will freeze, sound continues as normal. It's solved on a browser restart but clearing cache/cookies or page refreshes do nothing.

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Chrome
• RAM: 8 GB
• Type Of Player: Streaming
• Adblock: Off
• Specific Problem: My video resume where last left off feature does not seem to be working. I will come back to watch a video later and it just starts at the beginning. :(

I'm also getting extremely frustrated with the new video player. At work, I'm on 10Mbit/sec fiber that can (and usually does) burst to 90Mbit/sec+. At home, I'm on 150MBit/sec cable (seriously, just got it, I pay a fortune for it) that regularly reports as over 100MBit/sec from SpeedTest.net.) I can download video files from Giant Bomb at 10MBytes/sec (as in, an entire Unprofessional Fridays in 5 minutes) but when playing videos in streaming, the quality constantly goes up and down and it stutters each time and when trying to play progressive (which is automatically worse because you lose the resume functionality), the download regularly stalls before completion. It happens on both connections, which are different ISPs with multi-homed backhauls. I can play 1080p YouTube videos no problem and every other streaming media I try works fine, including Super HD Netflix. But Giant Bomb still has issues. This happened before on the old site, then the new player (and supposedly new video host) rolled out, it worked great for a month and now it's crap again. I'm located in Ottawa, Canada. As a premium member who has multiple years paid in advance, these constant playback issues are becoming really frustrating and I don't know why it continues to be so difficult for a solution to be found, especially when it seems to be affecting a large number of people.

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Chrome
• RAM: 4 GB
• Type Of Player: Streaming
• Adblock: Off
• Specific Problem: Don't know if it's an actual bug but a lot of videos buffer very very slow for me some days. I tested my bandwidth and I have over 100mb down right now, but yet it can take ~5 minutes to buffer 1 minute of video. Very frustrating. This happens once in a while, and when it does it applies to every video across the site.

@rorie

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/bug-reporting-33/video-player-control-bar-fades-in-and-out-when-in--1424068/

Posted 7 months, 3 days ago.

this problem is on and off for me. for giantbomb, im using chrome on my pc and laptop(just for gb.com). my video works most times, even HD. but the control bar DRIVES ME CRAZY. sometimes i have no problem at all, other times i can kill every killable task in task manager, disable all addons, reinstall chrome and im still getting the problem.

i really hope its gonna be fixed soon. i have this problem on 2 different OS, 3 different browsers and 2 different PCs. most times i watch videos windowed and not fullscreen, just because of this bug.

• OS: Windows 7
• Browser: Firefox
• RAM : 8GB
• Type Of Player: Progressive & Stream
• Adblock: off
• Specific Problem: Won't properly go fullscreen since forever. Effect of trying to fullscreen player equals pushing F11, with the top of Firefox still showing (navigation, tabs, URL).