T4 - No video on YouTube app

[steve_666]

Having issues with the youtube app.
App works fine but has no video, sound works normally.
No idea why it has all of a sudden doesn't show.
Any ideas how to fix would be great
Thanks

[Gully]

We really need a lot more information including firmware, have you installed the app or was it the one that came by default, exactly what you are doing when using the app.

[steve_666]

Firmware is current 16.1
App is the default one
I open app via the menu as per normal, loads up and you see the normal layout with the videos.
I was logged in but i reset the app hoping that would work but didnt.
Click video to watch and it loads like normal but no video just audio.
Everything else runs normal, can skip can pause etc etc.
I havent installed any new plugins and everything else is working fine

[grampus]

I have a T3. fw 17.5. 20170828
The problem is similar.
Press blue button, select Youtube.
Select any of the shows that are presented. “loading” is seen, the only audio is heard no video.

Just to throw something in the mix.

I normally used to use Youtube from my Tv as one of the apps presented.
A few weeks ago all this changed.
On my TV (panasonic st50), select the youtube app. i would start to be presented with the normal you tube selection screen, and then the app would terminate.
I could use youtube ok from my Ipad.

I hunted around the internet, found an entry that advised that youtube access was being terminated on a number of panasonic models. mine being one of them. i hadn’t taken any notice of the time stamp at that time, but just now had another look and found that this entry was 2015.
Strange again as youtube had been accessible from the tv over the past few years.

Just now Tried my TV again , and now the youtube app is working fine. so something had altered back again.

This may tend to muddy the waters a bit.
But it seems that there is more to the youtube issue than meets the eye?

[MrQuade]

The discontinuation for embedded apps appears to be related to Youtube's final migration to a HTML5 platform and abandoning the old Flash videos. It says that this was happening in the end of June this year though.

Can anyone confirm if the Wiz Youtube plugin has been working since June/July? I can't remember exactly when I last tried it, but I am sure I tested it in response to another query recently, though I am not sure if I actually tried playing a video!

[steve_666]

Yes the youtube app on my LG tv is no longer supported also so I only use the wiz youtube app to watch on tv.
My youtube app has been working upto this week it just stopped showing video but everything else is fine. Can stream from my phone to it but still no video.
Strange I guess

[MrQuade]

This looks a lot like what happens when the T series tries to playback unsupported media such as files that are encoded in HEVC (black screen with audio).

If anyone is still running the 4.4 series firmware, they could test and see if playing Youtube videos hangs the box much like HEVC used to.

It may be that Youtube are mis-identifying the Beyonwiz T series capabilities and are serving an incompatible datastream now. I can't see any news about any recent changes on Youtube's end that may have triggered this though.

Edit:
I just realised that I have access to a friend's T3 that is still running 4.4!
The Youtube TV plugin refuses to even load (front panel just says "Loading Failed")on that box, so not sure what is happening there. I don't want to dig too far without further permission

[steve_666]

So you think the youtube app needs updating?
Also I downloaded a 3rd party app from the T4 download section for testing and it plays youtube videos.

[Paul_oz53]

All seems normal to me on 17.5 20170808 on the T4. Video and audio ok playing the movie trailer for Starwars.

[MrQuade]

All seems normal to me on 17.5 20170808 on the T4. Video and audio ok playing the movie trailer for Starwars.

Interesting. I wonder what settings are different on your T4 then. I am on 17.5 series firmware as well, though 170828.
I doubt that the firmware version is making a difference in this case as this is also being seen on 16.1, and also started happening out of the blue I assume?

I tried both playing videos directly, and also casting them from my phone.

Are you using the built-in Youtube TV plugin, or something else?

[Grumpy_Geoff]

No good here on (T2) 17.5 20170807 nor (T4) 17.5 20170828
Using YouTube TV plugin - no video, audio only.

[Paul_oz53]

Interesting. I wonder what settings are different on your T4 then. I am on 17.5 series firmware as well, though 170828.
I doubt that the firmware version is making a difference in this case as this is also being seen on 16.1, and also started happening out of the blue I assume?

I tried both playing videos directly, and also casting them from my phone.

Are you using the built-in Youtube TV plugin, or something else?

I was using the inbuilt app and the default settings. Did notice with more playback the video brightness was quite dull. Then I tried the other option mentioned by the O.P. Obtained via MENU->PLUGINS->DOWNLOAD PLUGINS->Extensions->youtube.

The alternative worked with normal brightness and a slightly more usable interface. I think the alternative is preferable based on my brief testing.

[steve_666]

So some others are having the same issue with the YouTube TV app also then, glad its not just me in a way.

So its not working on the beta firmware also? (17.5 20170828) So no point testing it then.

The download plugin called YouTube on the MENU->PLUGINS->DOWNLOAD PLUGINS->Extension youtube (git314) i think it was works if that helps in anyway

[peteru]

I had a quick peek at this issue today. It's not that there is no video, rather the video is very, very dark. Almost, but not completely black. I suspect that Google have done something to cause this - possibly a very dark rectangle over the video stream to host advertising.

I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done about this.

[MrQuade]

I had a quick peek at this issue today. It's not that there is no video, rather the video is very, very dark. Almost, but not completely black.

Ahh of course!
I set my GUI transparency from 255 to 200 and now I can see Youtube underneath the (almost) black overlay.

I am guessing that Paul_oz53 is running with GUI transparency turned down, hence the screen looking dim. Or perhaps it is Overlay-HD? I know that IanSav spent a while mucking around with transparencies such that they work a little differently to the regular skin.

Might be time to switch the default Youtube plugin to one that forgoes that "helpful" overlay.

[Paul_oz53]

I had a quick peek at this issue today. It's not that there is no video, rather the video is very, very dark. Almost, but not completely black.

Ahh of course!
I set my GUI transparency from 255 to 200 and now I can see Youtube underneath the (almost) black overlay.

I am guessing that Paul_oz53 is running with GUI transparency turned down, hence the screen looking dim. Or perhaps it is Overlay-HD? I know that IanSav spent a while mucking around with transparencies such that they work a little differently to the regular skin.

Might be time to switch the default Youtube plugin to one that forgoes that "helpful" overlay.

Good guess Mr Quade.

I agree there is a recent dark overlay over the picture in the std plugin that I wasn't able to resolve in Overlay HD with changes to the transparency. I tried 0%, 50% and 100% with reboots (just to be sure) but no change in brightness.

But the other plugin works fine. It lacks the gloss of the standard app but was quite easy to use and had a good brightness. I will keep using it (I love watching dashcam updates and explosions on you tube).

[steve_666]

Hope they fix it with the new update. I use the youtube tv app all the time.

I tried to use the Web browser and no way can you use that...hangs and freezes my T4, unusable.

[IanSav]

Hi MrQuade and Paul,

I am guessing that Paul_oz53 is running with GUI transparency turned down, hence the screen looking dim. Or perhaps it is Overlay-HD? I know that IanSav spent a while mucking around with transparencies such that they work a little differently to the regular skin.

A point of clarification. OverlayHD does NOT play with the UI overlay transparency. All the transparency settings within OverlayHD work *WITHIN* the parameters/limits set by MENU > Setup > AV setup > OSD Position > User interface visibility transparency. At NO time do I override the user's preferred settings for the UI transparency. OverlayHD does nothing particularly different in this regard than *any* other skin.

In other words, this issue really has nothing to do with OverlayHD. OverlayHD's flexibility may expose the issue but is not the cause.

Regards,
Ian.

[MrQuade]

In other words, this issue really has nothing to do with OverlayHD. OverlayHD's flexibility may expose the issue but is not the cause.

It's ok, noone was suggesting it was a cause . If anything, the default OverlayHD settings somewhat mitigate the issue. The black overlay is present in the plugin and thus visible to varying degrees on all skins.

[RockinghamWA]

We're having the same issue but it doesn't just look like an overlay. It's just a totally black screen, occasionally on exit there's an extremely quick flash of what we would be watching if it'd work. It's only on the T4 and no other devices, even pairing with a tablet we still get the black screen. It's driving us crazy now.

[MrQuade]

We're having the same issue but it doesn't just look like an overlay. It's just a totally black screen,

It is a completely black overlay that goes over the top of the video which plays underneath. As mentioned previously, you can prove this by adjusting the GUI transparency (via the OSD position options), and the video will show through (by default, the overlay is completely opaque).

[steve_666]

Yes can agree if you tune the osd position- user interface visibility down so u can just see it then goto the app you can see the video.
So is there anyway to fix this?

[MrQuade]

So is there anyway to fix this?

The plugin would need to be modified, or substituted for a different one. Not sure what the purpose of the overlay is, or why it is suddenly appearing.

In the meantime, you should still be able to use that other plugin that you mentioned. Or is that one not as good?

You may also find that an investment in another device like a Chromecast may end up resulting in a superior experience too.

[Paul_oz53]

I usually chromecast you tube so it is a better option.

The alternative plugin is far better visually than the default option at the moment but a very basic interface. It hides in the plugin submenu when installed i.e. not the Menu item.

Ian - I was just reporting my setup. Not suggesting that overlay HD was a problem - in fact, maybe a reason I could see that whìch others could not see.

Still a committed user of OverlayHD

Paul

[IanSav]

Hi Paul,

I usually chromecast you tube so it is a better option.

I find my Chromecasts very helpful in watching things that the Beyonwiz doesn't do well. In fact I am very dependant on my Chromecasts at the moment as all my Beyonwiz T series units are in various states of broken. (I am *still* awaiting a replacement T4 motherboard so I can ship the lot to Mark for repairs.)

Ian - I was just reporting my setup. Not suggesting that overlay HD was a problem - in fact, maybe a reason I could see that whìch others could not see.

Still a committed user of OverlayHD

I felt it important to be clear about what was happening as some people chose to read the forum and believe that issues may exist where they don't.

Regards,
Ian.

[peteru]

Just to be clear, the pre-installed YouTube player uses the web browser to render whatever Google are sending. It's Google that introduced the extra layer which blocks the view of the video. There's nothing that can be done about this.

The 3rd party YouTube plugin works differently. It parses pages retrieved from Google and tries to find links to the video streams. It then tries to play those streams directly.

The main difference to the end user is that the web based YouTube player uses the user interface provided by Google and requires a full web browser, whereas the 3rd party plugin provides it's own user interface and does not require a full blown web browser implementation. Under the hood, things get a bit more complex.

At this stage, I think the best way to move forward would be to remove the existing YouTube player from the default installation and add the 3rd party YouTube plugin. I'll look into it. In the meantime, feel free to install the 3rd party plugin as a workaround.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

I've tried the "YouTube" and "TSTube" plugins, in addition to the pre-installed "YouTube TV" plugin.
"YouTube TV" doesn't show any video (audio only).
Both "YouTube" and "TSTube" display video in the majority of tests I did, but occasionally the video won't display (audio only).

[steve_666]

So is there anyway to fix this?

The plugin would need to be modified, or substituted for a different one. Not sure what the purpose of the overlay is, or why it is suddenly appearing.

In the meantime, you should still be able to use that other plugin that you mentioned. Or is that one not as good?

You may also find that an investment in another device like a Chromecast may end up resulting in a superior experience too.

Yeah just using the others for now, I have a chromecast around here somewhere which I use.

Also with Overlay HD, it does it with all skins.
As Peter said use the 3Rd party ones if needed, they don't look as good though..until it's fixed oneday.
Thanks for the help and advice

[prl]

Just to be clear, the pre-installed YouTube player uses the web browser to render whatever Google are sending. It's Google that introduced the extra layer which blocks the view of the video. There's nothing that can be done about this.
...

I've been wondering a bit how the YouTube server can cause the Beyonwiz UI overlay screen to appear, and whether that can be controlled somehow on the browser side.

[MrQuade]

I've been wondering a bit how the YouTube server can cause the Beyonwiz UI overlay screen to appear, and whether that can be controlled somehow on the browser side.

Its probably just inserting a web element over the screen and since the browser that renders the web element is part of the GUI (and the video rendering isnt), then the overlay will inherit any of the GUI's transparency settings.

You'd probably have to hack apart the opera rendering engine to filter out random elements like that unless the Opera browser offers some sort of handy external hooks.

[peteru]

I think there is an Opera update in the making, that explicitly detects the problematic element. Not sure if/when we'll be able to get it.