channel4 4od stream not working

[mf205]

I recently installed ubuntu 12.04 alongside W7 on my wife's old Dell laptop. This sits next to our TV, and we primarily use it for catching up TV programmes. Flash seems to be installed correctly, since BBC iPlayer and ITV player are both working fine. But I can't get channel 4 4od to work - when I choose a programme and hit play, I just get the buffering animation (pictured) ad infinitum. This is on Firefox, but I've also tried it with chromium and have the same problem.

I have adblock plus enabled; if I disable this, then the ads play quite happily, but when it comes to the actual programme, I have the same problem.

Any ideas?

[cheesah]

Hi,
I've just installed Mythbuntu and am having the same issue with 4oD. I've installed Firefox and Opera, to see if it was just Chromium but they're all the same. itv, bbc etc. are all ok.
Also tried the flash settings manager, adding channel4 to the allow list and upping the local storage.

[devnull12]

Following advice I found on this (http://m.jguk.org/2012/10/resolved-channel4-4od-working-with.html) page, I fixed this by installing the "hal" package:

sudo apt-get install hal

I have no idea that that package is for. Maybe it would be a good idea for it to be part of the standard distro.

[cheesah]

Fantastic! This worked, thank you.

[Greg K Nicholson]

Yes! Thank you.

Remarkably, it seems that HAL is required to play 4oD programmes on Ubuntu (and presumably Linux in general).

This is remarkable because HAL is a fairly low-level piece of software (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_%28software%29) used to detect hardware properly. It's also been obsolete for several years, and the most recent version dates from 2011.

HAL *should* be completely unrelated to video. I can only suspect that 4oD is using some sort of DRM (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRM), and that my netbook's hardware (which came with Linux) somehow passes 4oD's inquisition.

Once again, the fix (that worked for me) is to install the “hal” package (https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/hal/) (and disable AdBlock).

[Herby Pepper]

thanks devnull12 (http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=1748679) !
sudo apt-get install hal
works for me (Mint 14.1)

[Purple Penguin]

Hi, Hal worked for me too, thank you! :D
(Ubuntu 12.10)

[Yettie]

Whatever the reason, this solution worked for me too.

[shof2k]

I've tried reinstalling HAL, but this isn't helping anymore. I suspect it has something to do with the recent update to Flash.

Following adobe support instructions at http://forums.adobe.com/message/4797322 (message 21), the adobe console at http://drmtest2.adobe.com/AccessPlayer/player.html comes up with the following error message.



Status event received on Sun Apr 14 19:11:00 GMT+0100 2013 code = DRM.UpdateNeededButIncompatible level = error
Start to download DRM Module Sun Apr 14 19:10:59 GMT+0100 2013


Any adobe wizards know how to sort this out?

Peace

[Fynn]

Worked for me, thanks.

[shof2k]

which version of flash do you have. Did you try my instructions? If so, what was the result?

[shantiq]

Thank you Hal thanx for talking to me and for stopping that wheel and playing the docum:oentary, thank you Hal

[funkeymonkey]

ohhh hal, why dont you work? :( after crying in to my coffee cup and hunting over the whole wide interweb and trying all the bits one by one and all at once ive found i can now watch the ads! yippie,,,,, for some reason i really wanna buy some nike trainers and a useless windows 8 laptop...... erm yeah, back to it, i'm running ubuntu 13.4 and updated all codecs and everything i can think of, flash, restet flash, tried other sites.... also... you know those sites where the people are leing down but look like they are fighting? why do they always work flawlessley? so after 10 mins break (actually 2 mins:p) of watching people kinda fighting but without punching,,,, i got back to finding the fault and cant..... dont make me boot windows! ohh i hate windows! and p.s this is my first post so thought i'd ramble on, sorry for my spelling i'm lazy and dumb! :) love you! boo 4od! and nope i havent installed add blocker...... well.... the two ladies wrestling is back on,,,,, whats that long black thing.....? O_o ohhh.... this may not be wrestling....... x_x

[jpules]

This worked for me, too! Very strange!

[jim_deadlock]

This has previously worked for me, but now there is no hal in the saucy repository. I've tried manually installing hal but the installation package insists that I don't have expat installed (I have). So my 4od is currently not working. Any suggestions?

[jim_deadlock]

As luck would have it, OMG! Ubuntu have covered this very thing here (http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/10/fixing-amazon-prime-streaming-drm-protected-flash-13-10).

[samwillc]

Following advice I found on this (http://m.jguk.org/2012/10/resolved-channel4-4od-working-with.html) page, I fixed this by installing the "hal" package:

sudo apt-get install hal


Good find, thanks!


As luck would have it, OMG! Ubuntu have covered this very thing here (http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/10/fixing-amazon-prime-streaming-drm-protected-flash-13-10).

I only tried 4OD this morning and wondered why the little circle just kept spinning. Thanks for the link.

[submarine1980]

sudo apt-get install hal

worked for me (channel 5 - Monty Halls series!!!)

thanks

D

[nicolasdiogo]

in my case i had to install HAL

and also enable javascript (as i have a pluggin that blocks it - NoScript)
for adobe.com and macromedia.com

just test your installation on the macromedia website and if it works you should be good to go!

thanks for the comments above!

now i can watch my video on the way home?

LOL

[joll-nicholas]

This - or rather the following - works for me on Firefox (on Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon x64) but not on Chromium or Opera.

rm ~/.adobe -rf
sudo apt-get -y install hal hal-info
sudo apt-get -y install flashplugin-installer --reinstall
sudo rm -r /etc/hal
sudo ln -sn /usr/share/hal /etc/hal
cd ~/.adobe/Flash_Player
rm -rf NativeCache AssetCache APSPrivateData2

I managed to get Chromium (haven't tried Opera) to use PepperFlash, but that didn't help.

[your_name3]

This - or rather the following - works for me on Firefox (on Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon x64) but not on Chromium or Opera.

rm ~/.adobe -rf
sudo apt-get -y install hal hal-info
sudo apt-get -y install flashplugin-installer --reinstall
sudo rm -r /etc/hal
sudo ln -sn /usr/share/hal /etc/hal
cd ~/.adobe/Flash_Player
rm -rf NativeCache AssetCache APSPrivateData2


Confirmed with Ubuntu 14.14/Firefox. :)

[MrSteve]

just giving some info that i picked up about HAL ...

flash player in firefox is a plug in so HAL will work
but in chromium and chrome (also the new opera) flash is built into the browser and is not a plug in so HAL will not work

here is a link to a HAL ppa for ubuntu ...
https://launchpad.net/~mjblenner/+archive/ubuntu/ppa-hal

[theonewhoshallnotbenamed]

oh man, I have tried literally everything suggested on this thread and still having problems.

My 4od has been working fine on Ubuntu 14.04 for the last three months. All of a sudden, it stops. It never worked on Chrome anyway which I use for Netflix now as no other browser lets that play and I've been using FFox for 4od. Friday I was watching it, by Monday, I was getting a black box, not even an image or spinning circle. Nothing.

Have tried installing hal, reckons its the most recent version now. Installed the pepper flash thing. disabled adblockers. I'm at a total loss now. I wouldnt have minded if I'd done something to have caused a sudden change but I was using it fine on Friday and havent used it over the weekend and then bam, gone. Its spinning circle on Chrome and black box on Chromium.

HELP!?

[jim_deadlock]

I'm glad you said that because I suddenly have exactly the same as what you said. They must have changed something on their end to break it. Bah!

[theonewhoshallnotbenamed]

argh so frustrating and I have googled and tried stuff for hours and hours now and I'm so frustrated. I havent seen whether it's stopped working on my mint pc yet but it does work via the app on my phone. this isn't the best option, but, if I do want to watch anything from channel 4 at least I have that. I used to like just watching reruns of Gogglebox when there was nothing else on TV... now I cant :-( I am relieved however also that it's not just me! although that doesnt really help either of us haha!