[Bug 910010] [NEW] Firefox won't play HTML5 video, except for with one user

Fri Dec 30 07:35:44 UTC 2011

Public bug reported:

I have two configured users on my Ubuntu 11.10 system: balleyne and
heather. Firefox HTML5 video plays for balleyne, but not for heather,
nor for the guest user, nor for any addition users I create (tried
creating a third user).

I've tested the following so far...
- Chromium HTML5 video works for all users
- same results with WebM and Theora -- works for balleyne, not other users
- tried Firefox in -safe-mode, same results -- works only for balleyne
- compared Plugins list for balleyne and heather, same plugins, same versions
- tried creating new profiles using firefox -ProfileManager, same results: when logged in as balleyne, Firefox HTML5 video works even for a new profile in Firefox, but for heather, HTML5 video still doesn't work when creating a new profile

I have FireBug, FlashVideoReplacer, and HTTPS Everywhere in balleyne's
Firefox, no (non-default Ubuntu) Firefox add-ons in other user's Firefox
settings. I controlled for this by using safe-mode, and I tried
installing FlashVideoReplacer and Firebug in heather's Firefox, but
still couldn't get HTML5 video to work. I also disabled
FlashVideoReplacer in balleyne's Firefox, and HTML5 video still worked.

When I CTRL+i and go to Page Info > Media, I noticed a difference between balleyne and heather's Firefox:
- for balleyne, when I select a WebM video from the list, everything works fine, and Type is displayed as Type: video/webm
- for heather, when I select a WebM video, it just says "Type: Video" and then Size is Unknown and Dimensions are 0px by 0px... it doesn't pick up the type as video/webm

I've tried multiple WebM videos on web servers I control, as well as on
mozilla.org and html5video.org and vimeo.com and youtube.com.

Behaviour when videos don't work for non-balleyne users in Firefox:
- on page load, a grey box with an X is displayed in place of the video
- when I click on the grey box, or if I visit a WebM or Theora video directly, the loading icon starts to spin but there's no network activity and nothing is ever downloaded or played

I'm using Ubuntu 11.10, Firefox 8 (standard Firefox install that comes
with Ubuntu 11.10) -- more precisely: 8.0+build1-0ubuntu0.11.10.3

Both users balleyne and heather are administrators. balleyne was the
first user created in Ubuntu. Firefox 8.0+build1-0ubuntu0.11.10.3 HTML5
video works fine for balleyne -- safe-mode or not, default profile or
using a new profile -- but not for any other users, guest or actual,
administrator or non-administrator...

I ran app-port on heather's Firefox while viewing a page with HTML5
video (and seeing the grey box instead of the video, which works fine
when viewing under balleyne's account or using Chromium as heather...).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: firefox 8.0+build1-0ubuntu0.11.10.3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-14.23-generic-pae 3.0.9
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-14-generic-pae i686
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
   Subdevices: 2/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  heather    9978 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20111115184056
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfeaf8000 irq 44'
   Mixer name	: 'IDT 92HD89C2'
   Components	: 'HDA:111d76c1,12974001,00100102'
   Controls      : 28
   Simple ctrls  : 19
Channel: release
Date: Fri Dec 30 02:04:31 2011
ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/firefox-8.0/firefox
ForcedLayersAccel: False
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
IpRoute:
 default via 192.168.2.1 dev eth0  metric 100 
 169.254.0.0/16 dev eth0  scope link  metric 1000 
 192.168.2.0/24 dev eth0  proto kernel  scope link  src 192.168.2.160
IwConfig:
 lo        no wireless extensions.

 eth0      no wireless extensions.
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=8.0/20111115184056 (Running)
RfKill:
 0: hci0: Bluetooth
 	Soft blocked: no
 	Hard blocked: no
RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-10-28 (63 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 02/04/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 080015
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: FG41
dmi.board.vendor: Shuttle Inc
dmi.board.version: V20
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Shuttle Inc
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr080015:bd02/04/2010:svnShuttleInc:pnSG41:pvrV20:rvnShuttleInc:rnFG41:rvrV20:cvnShuttleInc:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: SG41
dmi.product.version: V20
dmi.sys.vendor: Shuttle Inc

** Affects: firefox (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Tags: apport-bug i386 oneiric running-unity

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Title:
  Firefox won't play HTML5 video, except for with one user

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