When I try to use VLC with firefox, I get an error

[slyght]

I'm trying to playback video files via the file browser but can't get it to work. The error message I get is "Playback of video files failed. Please install VLC player or VLC-Browser-Plugin (MAC) and try again". Indeed I installed the latest version of VLC (1.1.9) but the message doesn't disappear.

I'm using latest Firefox 4 Browser but also tried Internet Explorer 9. This time the vlc stuff itself seems to work but it says the desired file format is not supported. I tried a bunch of different video files but none of them worked.

Any suggestions?

[danielp]

Hello,

Please uninstall VLC player and during reinstall, please be sure to check Mozilla plugin and ActiveX plugin

In the DSM Help:
# VLC is supported by the following browsers:

* Windows: Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox
* Mac: Firefox

# VLC is not supported by the following browsers:

* Windows: Chrome
* Mac: Safari

When using Firefox 4 and IE9, video playback is done by HTML5 and new Javascript engines, therefore, some of the formats may not be currently supported. You may uninstall Firefox 4 and install 3.6.17 for better results until updates for the newer browsers are released.

Regards,
Daniel

[slyght]

Please uninstall VLC player and during reinstall, please be sure to check Mozilla plugin and ActiveX plugin

You're right, I indeed forgot to select the Mozilla-Plugin during installation. Thanks!

When using Firefox 4 and IE9, video playback is done by HTML5 and new Javascript engines, therefore, some of the formats may not be currently supported. You may uninstall Firefox 4 and install 3.6.17 for better results until updates for the newer browsers are released.

So up to now I tried to playback the files with IE9, Firefox 3.6.17 and Firefox 4.0.1 and I wasn't able to playback any of my video files. In all three browsers I get the error that the format is not supported by either the browser or vlc-plugin. Is there a list of supported video formats/codecs?

Thanks

[cukaldo]

I´ve the same problem.
DSM3.1-1594

Does someone have any idéas?

[slyght]

Searching around the other posts in this forum I found out it is actually due to my SSL/TLS configuration for HTTP. The playback woun't work as long as you don't have a valid certificate (even self-signed certificates don't work). So all I can do is disabling HTTPS. Video playback now works well for every file types I have tested so far.

Too bad that the error message doesn't give a hint on that at all. I guess this is rather the fault of the vlc plugin than the dsm software, though.

[cukaldo]

Thanks for the post.

I can´t get it working though.
Im not using HTTPS and I´ve disabled SSL /TLS in Firefox 3.6.17 but without any success.
Is it possible to explain little more in detail about your set up?

Best regards,
cu

[cukaldo]

Update!

When updating to 1742 the player started to work.
Problem solved for (atleast) me.

cu

[cukaldo]

Update 2!

Not completly solved!!
Tested the feature outside the router, at my office (with firefox 3....)
Unchecked SSL and TSL.
It didn´t work!

Any special ports that has to be opend?
Anything else?

cu

[Oedipus]

Update 2!

Not completly solved!!
Tested the feature outside the router, at my office (with firefox 3....)
Unchecked SSL and TSL.
It didn´t work!

Any special ports that has to be opend?
Anything else?

cu

I ran into the issue with SSL enabled. Hopefully we can get this fix soon, as the main reason I want to use this is to watch videos while traveling, and encryption would be much safer. In the meantime, I'm thinking of setting up a SSH tunnel from my server to the DSM so I can still be encrypted.

Basically, all you need is to have the DSM open on a port, I'm using the default 5000 port, and unselect Enable HTTPS connection. From there you should be able to NAT the port to the Synology and watch supported videos with the VLC plugin. MKV, AVI, and MPG containers work fine, but some older formats like OGG don't show up as video formats. I've been able to stream pretty much up to Blu-Ray quality 1080p with FLAC without issue as long as the bandwidth is available on both ends. I'm running the latest FireFox 5 with VLC 1.1.10.0 plugin.

[banzai75x]

Trying to play .mp4 from NAS. I connect remotely via Firefox, Launch File Browser, navigate to my .mp4 file, rightclick and choose PLAY.

VLC player opens on host computer, and then after 5-10 seconds I get an error "Failed to play the video because its format is not supported by your browser or VLC plug-in".

I installed VLC on host computer (XP) and chose the tickbox for ActiveX and Mozilla.

Can anyone help?

[Taxman]

You should probably contact tech support directly, the only thing I can suggest is re-installing the latest version of VLC and try another browser like Internet Explorer.

Remote media playback may work if you activate the FTP server on the NAS, install XBMC on remote PC then add the FTP server as a media source*, provided the link is fast enough it should play.

* videos->add source->add network location->cycle to FTP->fill in details->Now add the FTP server.

[gamble007]

I'm having the same issue...I've downloaded the latest version of VLC (1.1.11) and tried using this to play .avi files on both Firefox and IE and neither worked. Would love to know if anyone has used this feature successfully.

[cl0d]

Does no one know how to solve this issue?
I have latest versions of DSM and VLC and I've tested on Chrome, Firefox 5 and IE9.
Thanks,
Claudio

[andlommy]

As per latest query to Synology and playing video files across HTTPS see below

Hi,

thank you for the inquiry.

After further testing, we find VLC player has compatibility issues with HTTPS. As a current workaround, please use HTTP connection when streaming with File Browser. I apologize for any inconvenience.


Sincerely,
Andrew Lai

Hope this gets fixed in next version :S
Would love to stream stuff over https. opening up http to the world is just too dangerous

[vsellwood]

I had the same problem with always getting "Failed to play the video because its format is not supported by your browser or vlc plug-in", particularly frustrating as I was trying to access standard video files (.AVI particularly) that would play happily in VLC stand-alone.

The solution for me was to switch off the HTTP -> HTTPS automatic redirect for when you log-in to the Synology. When you want to watch a video via the VLC plug-in, log-in via HTTP... When you want to do anything else, HTTPS...

Regards,
Victor