Playback/audio failure on firefox 52.2.0 on debian 9.0.0

Trying firefox on a fresh install of debian 9.0.0, it plays youtube video fine - sans audio. To figure out whether the silence is due to me having to do something more than hook up the hdmi cable and check that the monitor's speakers are unmuted and set to 50%¹, I thought I'd try www.abc.net.au/news and click on the link to the 24 hr news tv channel. But that evinces an "Error loading player: No playable sources found." OK, I did an apt-get install mplayer, with the same result. Then I added: deb http://mirror.optus.net/deb-multimedia/ stable main to /etc/apt/sources.list, and after that an apt-get update: # apt-get install deb-multimedia-keyring gave "E: Unable to locate package deb-multimedia-keyring" In contrast, this older debian wheezy host plays both sites fine. It would be especially nice to get the audio working, as this new Udoo X86 was bought for its claimed ability to stream to three 4K screens simultaneously. ¹ I also tried an hdmi to vga adaptor, with stereo audio cable plugged into the monitor's audio jack (and the monitor menu-switched to vga mode), but that also gave only silent movies. Erik

hi from firefox 52 onwards only pulseaudio is in the compiled release alsa can be activated by compiling a local version of firefox with ac_add_options --disable-pulseaudio ac_add_options --enable-alsa in the firefox-mozconfig file the alsa driver will be dropped from the source at some stage Steve On 20/07/17 20:39, Erik Christiansen via luv-main wrote:
Trying firefox on a fresh install of debian 9.0.0, it plays youtube video fine - sans audio. To figure out whether the silence is due to me having to do something more than hook up the hdmi cable and check that the monitor's speakers are unmuted and set to 50%¹, I thought I'd try www.abc.net.au/news and click on the link to the 24 hr news tv channel. But that evinces an "Error loading player: No playable sources found."
OK, I did an apt-get install mplayer, with the same result. Then I added:
deb http://mirror.optus.net/deb-multimedia/ stable main
to /etc/apt/sources.list, and after that an apt-get update:
# apt-get install deb-multimedia-keyring
gave "E: Unable to locate package deb-multimedia-keyring"
In contrast, this older debian wheezy host plays both sites fine.
It would be especially nice to get the audio working, as this new Udoo X86 was bought for its claimed ability to stream to three 4K screens simultaneously.
¹ I also tried an hdmi to vga adaptor, with stereo audio cable plugged into the monitor's audio jack (and the monitor menu-switched to vga mode), but that also gave only silent movies.
Erik _______________________________________________ luv-main mailing list luv-main@luv.asn.au https://lists.luv.asn.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/luv-main

On 20.07.17 23:32, Steve Roylance via luv-main wrote:
hi
from firefox 52 onwards only pulseaudio is in the compiled release alsa can be activated by compiling a local version of firefox with
ac_add_options --disable-pulseaudio ac_add_options --enable-alsa in the firefox-mozconfig file
the alsa driver will be dropped from the source at some stage
Hi Steve, That's interesting, but I'm still catching up. Are you saying that pulseaudio does not work, and thus is the most likely cause of no audio on the hdmi with firefox 52.2.0 on debian 9.0.0? And if pulseaudio is the problem, then why is it that the alsa driver will be dropped? I'd thought that I'd just missed some install/config step. It beggars belief that debian 9.0.0 would be released with a firefox from the silent movies era - and still not be fixed. =8-O Clicking on "Sound & Video" -> "PulseAudio Volume Control" shows "Firefox AudioStream" to be at 46% (-20.25 db). Holy smokes! that's 3/5 of BA. I cranked it up to 100%, which is still only 0 dB, but still no sound. The VU-meter bar under that control is flapping about vigorously, so there's audio coming from firefox - it's just stuck in there. The "Output Devices" tab provides two options at "Port": Speakers Headphones (unplugged) That's hopefully just a distraction, because hdmi is only hdmi when it has audio. It's late. Mañana. Erik

On 21/07/17 00:22, Erik Christiansen via luv-main wrote:
On 20.07.17 23:32, Steve Roylance via luv-main wrote:
hi
from firefox 52 onwards only pulseaudio is in the compiled release alsa can be activated by compiling a local version of firefox with
ac_add_options --disable-pulseaudio ac_add_options --enable-alsa in the firefox-mozconfig file
the alsa driver will be dropped from the source at some stage
Hi Steve,
That's interesting, but I'm still catching up. Are you saying that pulseaudio does not work, and thus is the most likely cause of no audio on the hdmi with firefox 52.2.0 on debian 9.0.0?
And if pulseaudio is the problem, then why is it that the alsa driver will be dropped?
I'd thought that I'd just missed some install/config step. It beggars belief that debian 9.0.0 would be released with a firefox from the silent movies era - and still not be fixed. =8-O
Clicking on "Sound & Video" -> "PulseAudio Volume Control" shows "Firefox AudioStream" to be at 46% (-20.25 db). Holy smokes! that's 3/5 of BA. I cranked it up to 100%, which is still only 0 dB, but still no sound. The VU-meter bar under that control is flapping about vigorously, so there's audio coming from firefox - it's just stuck in there.
The "Output Devices" tab provides two options at "Port": Speakers Headphones (unplugged)
That's hopefully just a distraction, because hdmi is only hdmi when it has audio.
It's late. Mañana.
Erik hi
for firefox from v52 onwards pulseaudio should work and it is the preferred linux sound system alsa & jack don't work and need a locally built from source version of firefox I use jack so I need the alsa system until the native jack is fixed Steve

On 21.07.17 13:05, Steve Roylance via luv-main wrote:
for firefox from v52 onwards pulseaudio should work and it is the preferred linux sound system
alsa & jack don't work and need a locally built from source version of firefox
I use jack so I need the alsa system until the native jack is fixed
Thanks, Steve. A second evening of perseverance revealed the deeply hidden secret. The "Sound & Video" -> "PulseAudio Volume Control" menu item has only 3 widely spaced tabs, underutilising the available space, and the "Output Ports" tab offered no management/configuration possibilities. But there are two tiny dark triangles in the corners, and clicking on the RH one leads to an extra hidden tab, "Input Devices", and clicking again reveals "Configuration". There, in a "Profile" selection box, it is possible to select "Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output". Once selected, it even seems to be the power-on default. (Much to my surprise, given the user-hostile perversity of the devious GUI design.) Granted, the purpose of a GUI is to put access to necessary functions at the end of deep maze rat runs - but invisible secret tabs with double blind access?! I do believe that some of these devs are being paid by Microsoft to paralyse linux. (If not, we know that they were born arse-backwards, and have never turned around.) Erik (Who in 30 years of s/w development never let a team member produce crap like that.)
participants (2)
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Erik Christiansen
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Steve Roylance