Video Viewing Preoblem

[I am an alumus]

I cannot view this link, as well as other videos from the same source, unless I disable NoScript: https://www.amherst.edu/give/annual_fund/video . Clicking on the NoScript icon and selecting `allow everything' does not work. amherst.edu is in my NoScript white list. What can I do to get NoScript to allow the college videos to play?

Incidentally, the problem is not present with all Amherst College videos; this is the second or third one I have encountered recently that would not play without disabling NoScriipt, while others have worked properly.

[therube]

Worked for me.
Thought it did take a good 30 or more seconds before it actually started playing.

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+jwpcdn.com
+amherst.edu

(First you have to allow amherst, after that jwpcdn will show up.)

[I am an alumus]

Thanks for testing, but not for me, and I have both entries in my white list. I have let the college site sit in a Firefox tab for well over a minute, and nothing is happening.

On top of that, I just found another site that does not work unless I first disable NoScript: http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-f ... 7-airspace . Much like the Amherst site, this one tries to load the map, then gives me an error message, "An error has occurred Unable to create map."

I wonder if this might be another case of what appears to be a NoScript problem actually being caused by an extension below NoScript in my extension list. I had one of that nature fairly recently: I don't remember what the site might have been, but IF i remember correctly, I reported the problem here, others could not duplicate it, and I continued to disable extensions below NoS until the site in question started working. (At least that is what I vaguely recall took place.

[I am an alumus]

No go: I disabled all extensions except NoScript, as well as all plugins, restarted Firefox, college site does not work. (I wonder if the site is trying to tell me that I did not actually graduate, despite my having a diploma on real sheepskin?)

[I am an alumus]

Very curious: I just installed NoScript on a new profile, installed Flash, tried the College video, and got the same error that I first reported in this thread. Something is interfering with the video on my computer, requiring that I disable NoScript to play it, and that something does not appear to be a problem with my usual Firefox profile, given that the problem also appears with a new profile; what is causing the interference is not something that I can figure out.

[Hecuba's daughter]

On top of that, I just found another site that does not work{...}"An error has occurred Unable to create map."

Works for me if I "temporarily allow all this page" when first landing on the page ---- I couldn't be bothered working out exactly which of the gigantic list of sites on that first page was responsible for the "tour" ------
then when the "unable to create map" error shows, temp allow:

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arcgisonline.com

It seems that that site is only loaded when the

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storymaps.esri.com

site is loaded.

[Hecuba's daughter]

Very curious: I just installed NoScript on a new profile, installed Flash, tried the College video, and got the same error that I first reported in this thread.

Can you quote the exact error message?

Something is interfering with the video on my computer, requiring that I disable NoScript to play it, and that something does not appear to be a problem with my usual Firefox profile, given that the problem also appears with a new profile

Disabling NS is a rather drastic reaction - you've taken some good troubleshooting steps there, but it doesn't appear to me that you've examined all NS options yet.

Not all blocked objects get a placeholder from NS on the page itself.
Have you examined the "Blocked Objects" items in the NS context menu, after allowing all other items in the context menu?
I have NS configured to "apply these restrictions to whitelisted sites too" on the embeddings config page. Do you?
After an error message is loaded into the video player, reading:

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Error loading media:
File could not be played

I could get the file to play when I unblocked an item in the Blocked Objects list -

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video/mp4@https://www.amherst.edu

[I am an alumus]

Dear Creusa, Laodice, Polyxena, or Cassandra:

Thanks for looking at this.

1. The error message you get is exactly the same as the one I get.

2. I just looked at the blocked objects list, which may contain an interesting clue: The list contains five items, all starting with 'temporarily allow," even though I have the College set in NoScript to always allow everything on the page. The first entry in above a horizontal line, and is one of three entries about allowing "video/mp4...". What may be interesting is that the three video-related entries (which are all different) is that the are proceeded by the icon for VLC.

I do use VLC: Is there a connection between NoS and VLC which is blocking the video in Firefox?

3. Yes, NS is configured to "apply these restrictions to whitelisted sites too" on the embeddings config page.

4. Ah, Ha: I just clicked on the first item in the blocked objects list, which--again--starts with 'temporarily allow," and now the video plays. I can not now quote the precise entry without restarting Firefox, losing this missive. I'll do that later, and post the entry, assuming that it reappears. This action puzzled me as I thought that `temporarily allow' means that it is not blocked but, rather, is allowed--but then, as an Amherst College graduate, perhaps I don't know the difference between allow and block....

Incidentally, in the fifth slide, the one showing a group of students with a trophy, you can see an adult woman wearing glasses on the left; she is the college president, who replaced the previous president, who is now the president of the New York Public Library.


Yours truly,

A proxy for King Priam

[Guest]

The code which, when clicked on, allows the video to play:

[VLC icon]Temporarily allow video/mp4@https://www.amherst.edu/.../Thank%20you%20slidesho...

[Hecuba's daughter]

So, I'm a Trojan Woman - you got me banged to rights there Guv
If I never have to see another schoolkid's infected machine It'll be too soon.

The different variations of "media file" (which VLC in your system rightly associates itself with - others may have other media players associated, but it's all the same diff) @ amherst are just different levels of restriction of permission. They are meaningful in some cases but not here - just for a single play of a file.
It's not worth writing a term paper on it now, but your amhurst scripts firstly called on the jplayer thingy to show you some media files (the VLC files) and it seems like the jplayer thingy gets distracted when it is first given permission to run and then has to stop getting the files to run because you've restricted your permissions for amhurst *not* to let the jplayer thingy run until you say it can - ie the "apply these restrictions to trusted sites too (amhurst you've trusted in this case) is interrupting what appears to be a two-step process.
In these heady days of HTML players, the good old big fat flash player placeholder is giving way to some extra steps in the scripting - so you'll probably find you will have a smoother experience if you uncheck that restriction on trusted sites if your priority is security. That way, you'll only whitelist particular sites, and not have to go and allow scripts globally too often Perhaps?
Try running the player without that trusted restriction to satisfy yourself it won't throw up the blocked video objects.
Of course that's a user's kind of explanation; I can't vouch for it being the whole truth in any aspect, but it works for me

[I am an alumus]

Ignoring the "amhurst" misspelling, I do appreciate your assistance. I did "uncheck that restriction on trusted sites" and the Amherst (properly spelled...) video did run without any further actionn needed on my part. I was not really aware of what that option does; it was checked, I would guess by default, so I simply left it alone, as I don't know much about how all of the NoScript options work. I've never allowed scripts globally.

I've only encountered a few problems with sites that NoS caused me to have to disable it to get the sites to work. I had one such not long ago, and while someone who appears to be quite knowledgeable about NoS did try to assist me, I finally gave up and disabled NoS for that site. I don't recall the site, one that I've not visited for some time now, so I cannot try it with my newly-disabled NoS option, but would surmise that it would now work with NoS enabled.

Again, please accept my thanks for your assistance. Now I can go back to my reading of the newest textbook on the history of the Carolingians, and leave the Trojans to my wife; she's the resident classicist, I'm the resident medievalist.