Improvement requests :
K-Meleon Web Browser Forum
I note that the HTML5 player in K-Meleon only supports WebM and VP8 codecs which do not offer hardware acceleration of video playback. If you are using Vista or above Chrome and IE will offer playing of MP4 video in the HTML5 video using the system's Media Foundation codecs, but they do not support the Direct Show codecs in Windows XP so even if you can get MP4 (H.264 + AAC) HTML5 video with Firefox and XP using the Adobe Primetime CDM extension you will not obtain hardware acceleration of video playback.
Given that K-Meleon seems to attract a disproportionate number of diehard 2000 and XP users using legacy hardware I think that it would be cool to offer playback of MP4 video in the HTML5 player using the system's Direct Show decoder with the appropriate codecs.
I know it can be done because IE9 offered the option of linking the HTML5 player to the decoder of your choice and I distinctly remember using a third party DS decoder for playback of Youtube videos.
K-Meleon's code is based on Firefox ESR.
Firefox doesn't have the MP4 decoder built-in natively because MP4 is a proprietary codec. AFAIK, Google and Microsoft are coowners of that codec.
However if the OS has the splitter/decoder built-in, Firefox will use it to play MP4 files. Same applies for K-Meleon.
On Windows7 I can watch MP4 streams or locally saved MP4 files with K-Meleon.
To make it short, what you are asking for might constitute a proprietary rights infringement that not even Firefox can afford, let alone K-Meleon.
I am not suggesting that K-Meleon be bundled with propriety decoders and codecs. However for playing MP4 video with the HTML5 player it could include code from the open source libavcodec library from the ffmpeg project , which is also I believe, the foundation of the open source ffdshow decoder. Perhaps there are other open source decoders that support MP4 video.
What I was suggesting is that K-Meleon has an option that allows it to be configured to use any HD decoder installed on the user's system for playing MP4 video in the HTML5 player. This is no different in principle than the Direct Show video players like MPC-HC that permit the option of using external decoders, which obviously does not infringe anyone's intellectual property rights.
The fact that you are able to play MP4 video in K-Meleon's HTML5 player suggests to me that K-Meleon is designed to either use the Windows 7's Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder, which is a Direct Show decoder, or Media Foundation. Perhaps the K-Meleon developers could provide an option for an external MP4 decoder in Preferences for us poor struggling XP diehards, who are after all, more numerous than Linux users.
Use this forum to talk about a feature you're missing.
HTML5 player plays MP4 video using system codecs and DXVA1
Posted by:
Zephyr
Date: September 20, 2016 11:26AM
I note that the HTML5 player in K-Meleon only supports WebM and VP8 codecs which do not offer hardware acceleration of video playback. If you are using Vista or above Chrome and IE will offer playing of MP4 video in the HTML5 video using the system's Media Foundation codecs, but they do not support the Direct Show codecs in Windows XP so even if you can get MP4 (H.264 + AAC) HTML5 video with Firefox and XP using the Adobe Primetime CDM extension you will not obtain hardware acceleration of video playback.
Given that K-Meleon seems to attract a disproportionate number of diehard 2000 and XP users using legacy hardware I think that it would be cool to offer playback of MP4 video in the HTML5 player using the system's Direct Show decoder with the appropriate codecs.
I know it can be done because IE9 offered the option of linking the HTML5 player to the decoder of your choice and I distinctly remember using a third party DS decoder for playback of Youtube videos.
Re: HTML5 player plays MP4 video using system codecs and DXVA1
Posted by:
Yogi
Date: September 20, 2016 02:46PM
K-Meleon's code is based on Firefox ESR.
Firefox doesn't have the MP4 decoder built-in natively because MP4 is a proprietary codec. AFAIK, Google and Microsoft are coowners of that codec.
However if the OS has the splitter/decoder built-in, Firefox will use it to play MP4 files. Same applies for K-Meleon.
On Windows7 I can watch MP4 streams or locally saved MP4 files with K-Meleon.
To make it short, what you are asking for might constitute a proprietary rights infringement that not even Firefox can afford, let alone K-Meleon.
Re: HTML5 player plays MP4 video using system codecs and DXVA1
Posted by:
Zephyr
Date: September 24, 2016 07:08PM
I am not suggesting that K-Meleon be bundled with propriety decoders and codecs. However for playing MP4 video with the HTML5 player it could include code from the open source libavcodec library from the ffmpeg project , which is also I believe, the foundation of the open source ffdshow decoder. Perhaps there are other open source decoders that support MP4 video.
What I was suggesting is that K-Meleon has an option that allows it to be configured to use any HD decoder installed on the user's system for playing MP4 video in the HTML5 player. This is no different in principle than the Direct Show video players like MPC-HC that permit the option of using external decoders, which obviously does not infringe anyone's intellectual property rights.
The fact that you are able to play MP4 video in K-Meleon's HTML5 player suggests to me that K-Meleon is designed to either use the Windows 7's Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder, which is a Direct Show decoder, or Media Foundation. Perhaps the K-Meleon developers could provide an option for an external MP4 decoder in Preferences for us poor struggling XP diehards, who are after all, more numerous than Linux users.
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