Video playback via browser

[stanl]

I subscribe to the Criterion Channel (https://www.criterionchannel.com/) which is a
movie streaming service.

No matter which browser I use to view a movie (Chrome, Firefox, Surf or Iridium) the
error message is always the same:

This video could not be loaded or timed out. Try refreshing the page and playing again.

This is running OpenBSD 6.5 on a ThinkPad x220.

I should also mention that Criterion works with no problems on a MacBook Air.

Any help would be appreciated.

[jggimi]

I'll just make a wild guess that the service requires an HDCP plugin such as Google Widevine. These are not available on OpenBSD.

[shep]

Without knowing the steaming format, html5 vs flash vs ...., it is hard to give an answer.

It might be possible, once your are logged in, to copy the video link and open it in VLC or mplayer. Depending on which multimedia player you are using, a web search will tell you have to start the stream. There are also Firefox plugins for VLC and mplayer.

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/h...gin-in-firefox

Edit: Concurrently posted w/ jggimi. If it is digitally signed/encrypted wi HDCP, you have a challenge. My search did find a wikileaks pdf on how NSA cracked an HDCP video and played it back in mplayer.

[stanl]

Thanks to both jggimi and Shep for taking the time to reply. I had never heard of HDCP until jggimi mentioned it at which point I searched Criterion's web site. Sure enough that seems to be the problem.
I don't have anywhere near the knowledge to work around this if that is even possible so I'll confine myself to watching on a Mac or thru my roku.
Thanks again to both of you.

[jggimi]

To my knowledge, there are no open source HDCP client solutions, because these are used by DRM streaming services and open-source client would allow us to obtain their streaming media in plaintext.

As an example, Google's Widevine is closed source, and they make binary plug-ins available for major browsers on the OSes they care about: Windows, Mac, and Linux (including Chrome OS).

[ripe]

If you want you can ask to criterion channel, it will be a challange to them in that matter because you are a customer and so maybe they will tell you what to do or you can ask for a compensation maybe. I remenber reporting a bug in punkbuster for RTCW:ET and they resolved it.