Problem With Html5 Video In All Browsers

I have my own forum and as my signature on that forum I have an mp4 video running on a loop. It used to run smoothly but now it's stopping and starting, skipping ahead, jumping back and forth, taking ages to load, or just stopping entirely. It's also causing any browser window I view it in to crash. Firefox, Opera, and Chrome. I can't scroll smoothly up or down, and I even have difficulty just closing the window. Can anyone help? I'm on Windows 8.1.

 

Jesse Newell...

Could you post the link, so we can see if it's happening on our end too?

 

I can't even control my mouse properly when I'm on that page now.

Here's the link.

http://whoneedsatopic.if1.us/board/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3

 

That page uses more CPU than FarCry 4.

 

So it's not just me then. It used to load fine for me though, no problems at all. I've only noticed this lagging and freezing in about the last week or so.

 

Didn't get the unusual processor hit, but I am using NoScript and Ghostery in Firefox, and I have Flash set to "ask to use". Didn't get the option to use Flash to see the video, even though I allowed scripts via NoScript. As a result, I didn't see the video issue, unfortunately. I only noticed a static header (pic) of a dino t-rex there...

 

I don't know if I'm using NoScript but I am using Ghostery. Flash is set to always activate but the video isn't Flash, it's mp4.

 

JN...

Chances are really good you would know if you were using NoScript. It blocks everything, and even blocks redirect/bypass scripts that can be BIG security problems. The redeeming feature of NoScript from a user standpoint is that sites can be whitelisted or blanket approved. This makes it less user demanding, even though it does require "taming".

NoScript is super hands on the way I am using it. I don't just approve very many sites, so I have to constantly allow things temporarily, which means clicking on the NS icon and select the temporarily allow option. However, I have gotten used to it now. Ghostery is a great plugin and a great compliment for NoScript. If you blanket allow (every time) a site in NS, Ghostery will still block the ad related things that lead to tracking cookies and so on.

I think your mp4 video is html5. I have a plugin that enables Flash for YouTube after YouTube dropped primary support for the Flash plugin. Sites like Facebook and Twitch and other video sources have all dropped Flash. I like Flash better, so it's sad to me, but for now this is the option with most of the larger sites...

 

Sorry for taking so long to get back about this. Yep, the video is HTML5. I would prefer Flash myself too. But, as you said, everyone's forcing us to move away from it. I'd just like to know why HTML5 suddenly started causing me this problem, when it hadn't before. If I had changed the video, or the site I was linking to the video from, I'd have some clue. But the exact same video file, on the exact same site, which used to play and loop smoothly no matter how many times it repeated on the page, now can't even load and play a first time without the browser grinding to a halt. Google, Chrome, and Firefox. Haven't tried IE yet but it's the same on Safari too. It's really bugging me. satrow posted that pic before of how much that page took of his computer power. I just don't understand what happened or how to fix it.

 

I've just installed W10 as a test, the problem looks like it's the number of HTML5 vids on the page, the guy has it as his sig and he has ~10 posts in there. I don't get the same CPU hit now (but I've upgraded my browser recently) but I'm seeing a massive rise in the Kernel activity, spiking above 15%. Gamers would shout over a 5% Kernel activity, by 8%, many users would feel it as lag, 10-12% would make a game feel unplayable.

I've no idea whether HTML5 video can be set to not play automatically, if it can, it's probably some deep down per browser setting.

 

I'd actually never really thought about the number of vids on the page. I can remember being able to scroll smoothly down a page with several of my posts on it, all showing my video signature, and not a problem. And I was able to make those 10 posts on that page without it freezing up on me. But now, as you've mentioned the number of my posts, I tested to see if pages with fewer of them would run better, and they did. So to hell with it. Flash doesn't cause the same freezing problems HTML5 does. Until HTML5 improves, I'm gonna stick mostly to Flash. Thanks.