Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2017-02-22 01:50, Dave Howorth wrote:
On Wed, 22 Feb 2017 00:03:39 +0000 Richmond dnomhcir@gmx.com wrote:
OK but why doesn't installing Firefox install the codecs, or when Firefox installs the Cisco H.264 plugin?
Apart from what Billie said, how would Firefox know that you wanted that codec? Perhaps you prefer Flash? (Or equally, I would be extremely upset if Firefox automatically installed a Flash player on my machine!)
Well, FF has to render the page. If the page includes a video and FF alone can't play it, it has to give an error and say what is missing.
I tried that page. It asks to opt in to html5 or do nothing to use flash. With html5 it plays fine.
The process list doesn't mention mplayer.
I think that whatever is missing must be proprietary software, so it cannot be installed when Firefox is installed. But the Cisco H.264 plugin is downloaded at run time I think. So maybe that should get the codecs too? I have no idea how it would work. I was not expecting that Firefox called mplayer, but that Firefox uses some library which was installed when I installed mplayer. Mplayer comes from Packman which contains non-free software.
Perhaps the question I should have asked is: If someone installs opensuse and firefox, and then goes to the bbc.co.uk/html5 video, how will they know why it is not working and what they are supposed to do to get it working?
p.s. there is no point in asking the BBC.