Black 360 videos from Ricoh Theta on Firefox mobile

Q&A about the latest versions
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CBerger
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:18 pm

Hello,

we are using 360 images as well as videos on our new tour - made with a Ricoh Theta V.

The resulting videos are not shown in Firefox mobile. We only get a black view with the audio of the video. Other browsers like mobile Chrome and Desktop Systems (like Firefox) seem to work.

The 360° videos do have an alternative image. But Firefox mobile seems to "think", that it can handle 360 videos - although it can't.

Do you have an idea, how we can solve this issue? - Is it possible to force Firefox mobile to use the alternative image instead or something like that?

Thanks again
Christian

Panorama Tour Builder
Version: 6.1.13 pro 64bit
Revision: 18080/5.12.2
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Hopki
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Hi Christian,
This is odd.
Can you tell us what Android device you have?
Also, have you tried running the video through HandBrake?
Give that a go and see how you get on.
If not then can you upload your video so we can download it?
Regards,
Garden Gnome Support
If you send an e-mail to support please send a link to the forum post for reference.
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CBerger
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:18 pm

Hello Hopki,

thanks for the hint. Unfortunately it does not help in our case.

Using your "handbrake" info, I found some additional older forum entrys like:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15822&p=66524&hilit ... ake#p66524
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15813&p=66480&hilit ... ake#p66480

I used your infos from these posts to resize the original Theta V video using handbrake.

Here are the videos I used (original; Preset Fast 1080p30 and web-optimized; Preset Fast 1080p30 and web-optimized and storage size 1024x1024):
https://my.hidrive.com/share/dc3alfh6mf

After converting I replaced the original video in the output-Tour-Folder "videos". But the result stays the same: Black Video with video sound in background and visible tour nodes (in Firefox Mobile on Android).

Devices:
Galaxy Note 10
Galay Note 10+
with latest updates and latest Firefox mobile

Thanks again
Christian

PS: Link to a temporary position of the tour and a problematic 360° video:
https://www.uni-flensburg.de/static/tmp ... .html#b199
CBerger
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:18 pm

Hello Hopki,

have you and your team been able to reproduce this issue?

Thanks
Christian
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Hopki
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Hi Christian,
Please can you test this link https://support.ggno.me/Video
Does it work on your Android phone?
Regards,
Garden Gnome Support
If you send an e-mail to support please send a link to the forum post for reference.
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CBerger
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:18 pm

Hello Hopki,

ohh, that's interesting: On a "normal" Browser I see the video and on my Android / Firefox mobile I do see a still image now (instead of the odd black video). So that would be a good solution, I guess.

How did you achieve this?

Thank you very much
Christian
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Hopki
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Hi Christian,
I tested this on iOS and Safari and Chrome on Android used a Google Pixel3, all played the 360 videos without issue.
I would say Firefox on Android is broken.

My project,
All I did was use your original MP4 video: R0013279_er.MP4 (147.2MB)
Ran it through HandBrake using the Apple Preset, Apple 1080p30 Surround, under the Audio tab added AC3 audio, then back in the Summary tab, selected Web Optimised.
The resulting video is lower resolution 2160 x 1080p but is now 9.1MB with no visible quality difference.
This is what the link is using in my post above.

When the video is added to Pano2VR it makes a preview image, R0013279_er-01.tif
So in Pano2VRs properties, you will see the thumbnail in the Tour Browser (Pano2VR pro).
In the Properties panel, you will see the TIFF as the input image and the MP4 as the video.

If your Pano2VR is not making the preview tiff panorama then it's probably due to no FFMpag plugin installed.
See: https://ggnome.com/doc/glossary_ffmpeg/
Regards,
Garden Gnome Support
If you send an e-mail to support please send a link to the forum post for reference.
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https://ggnome.com/wiki/documentation/
CBerger
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:18 pm

Hello Hopki,

I have reproduced your suggested solution precisely. And curiously, it doesn't quite work for us. But I noticed a curiosity that will definitely help us to solve the case completely:

I re-uploaded the tour again at https://www.uni-flensburg.de/static/tmp ... index.html.

For example, if I go to the https://www.uni-flensburg.de/static/tmp ... .html#b199 link directly ( that is, like your example video), it works: Firefox Mobile displays the replacement tiff image file. That's what we wanted, since the browser is not able to play the video correctly.

BUT: If I am already in the tour and go to the node "B199" by clicking, then I get the problem with the black video again.

You can test it starting from this point for example: https://www.uni-flensburg.de/static/tmp ... eilenstein

Isn't that fascinating?

I would be very grateful if you could find a solution for this last sticking point.

Many thanks
Christian
CBerger
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:18 pm

Hi Hopki,

meanwhile I was able to reproduce this behaviour (direct call of a direct node url: fine -> replacement tiff/jpeg is used; clicking on the node within the tour: black video) on 4 devices running Firefox Mobile:
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10+
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S2
- Google Nexus 5

Additionally I used the device testing tools on https://www.browserstack.com and was able to reproduce it on any device using Firefox Mobile. So it definitely is a browser and not a device related issue.

Do you have any good news for us?

Many thanks
Christian
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Hopki
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Hi Christian,
Sorry for my late reply, we have already raised a bug report to look into this issue.
But using Chrome which is Androids default browser there are no issues, it is only Firefox.
Android is updated to 12 and uses the latest Firefox build.

I also tried different builds of Firefox and all show the same result.
Regards,
Garden Gnome Support
If you send an e-mail to support please send a link to the forum post for reference.
support@ggnome.com
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