Bug with the new custom url of chromium 131: VLC can't preview and playback streaming videos with Open-In-Vlc extension

[drimis216]

Hello, huge thanks for the amazing VLC team for the great awesome vital VLC media player especially for the great support of legacy windows 7 os 32 bits which save our old laptops from destruction and save the planet from an ecological catastrophe !

So I am currently using my old weak eee pc after the breakdown of my main laptop, I watch streaming anime episodes which sometimes lag freeze in heavy html5 web browsers updated for windows 7 os like catsxp, r3dfox, supermium, GOOGLE_CHROME_Windows_7 browser, snowfox .....


and the solution found to avoid the streaming videos lags freeze is to use the famous great "Open-In-Vlc" extension that detect streaming video and adds referer, user string agent...to the detected m3u8 link and send it to VLC player and i use also the preview feature of "Cat-Catch" extension by enabling Vlc preview in settings of this extension to send streaming hls m3u8 video to our beloved VLC :

https://github.com/andy-portmen/open-in-vlc

https://github.com/xifangczy/cat-catch


i used Cat-Catch extension with "urlprotocol" developed by the developer of Cat-Catch by putting this program in the VLC installation folder :

https://github.com/xifangczy/URLProtocol

Also Open-In-Vlc extension install Native Client nodejs to helps extension to communicate with operating system :

https://github.com/andy-portmen/native-client


until recently preview embed streaming videos with VLC using Cat Catch extension and Open In VLC extension worked perfectly in Catsxp browser based on chromium kernel , but recently send detected embeded streaming videos to our beloved VLC player does not work anymore and developer of Open-In-Vlc extension told me the probelm comes from VLC and that I should contact VLC to tell them about this problem and also the developer of Cat Catch extension told me that (recent new version of) chrome has changed the custom url protocol mechanism and it is not a Cat Catch issue but a media player issue if preview with media player doesn't work and i should look for media player to solve this issue.....



I am using preview feature of cat catch with VLC with this streaming site : first media player "myTV" :

https://v5.voiranime.com/anime/initial- ... n-6-04-vf/

and also these sites :

third media player in this site :

https://french-anime.com/animes-vf/1580 ... ntier.html


kframeurl original url found in chrome://media-internals/ :

https://vidmoly.to/embed-a1jgasjjka57.html

https://4k2h4w04.xyz/ptsd/kd6uiuthixss? ... ranime.com

and unfortunately preview embed m3u8 videos with VLC using Open-in-Vlc and Cat Catch extension does not work anymore in chromium browsers, we hope this problem will be fixed please after chrome has changed the custom url protocol, thank you!

let's note a good news: we can preview embed streaming videos with VLC in firefox esr, r3dfox based on firefox kernel ! send embed streaming videos to VLC using Open-in-Vlc extension and Cat catch extension and the playback works without problem unlike new chromium browsers !
for exemple in this site, preview with VLC with Open in Vlc and Cat catch worls perfectly in firefox browser !

and we hope dream the same thing in recent version of chrome / last chromium kernels browsers like catsxp, brave..... web browsers , thanks !


UDDATE :

Mr Andy himself the developer of Open-In-VLC confirmed to me explicitly that the preview problem is caused by VLC and not by the Open-in-Vlc extension: he told me :


"I'm getting the "VLC Is Unable to Open the MRL" error. This likely indicates that the M3U8 stream is not well-defined. Consider trying other browser extensions to download the resource. Such errors are specific to VLC and cannot be resolved on the extension's side. You may need to report this issue directly to VLC."



"You can get a non-functional M3U8 link from this extension (or any other extensions) and then use VLC Player's "Open Network Stream" feature to load the M3U8. If it doesn't work, the problem lies with VLC; if it does work, then the issue is with the extension."

[Lotesdelere]

So that's a problem with these extensions, VLC is just playing what is sent to it.
It's up to the developers of these extensions to fix the problems.

[drimis216]

Mr @Lotesdelere, thank you very much for your advice but I think the problem is linked to VLC because Mr Andy himself the developer of Open-In-VLC confirmed to me explicitly that the preview problem is caused by VLC and not by the Open-in-Vlc extension:

https://github.com/andy-portmen/open-in ... 2514436658

"I'm getting the "VLC Is Unable to Open the MRL" error. This likely indicates that the M3U8 stream is not well-defined. Consider trying other browser extensions to download the resource. Such errors are specific to VLC and cannot be resolved on the extension's side. You may need to report this issue directly to VLC."



so the 2 developers of these 2 extensions confirmed to me the preview problem comes from the media player, I had the same preview problem with Potplayer because Cat-Catch also supports Potplayer when adding the command:

" potplayer://${ url} /referer="${referer}" "

in potplayer preview setting of Cat Catch extension and same for VLC, I can't preview streaming video with potplayer in the new chromium 131 kernel and the developer of Cat-Catch told me the problem is not caused by Cat catch but it is related to potplayer and he advised me to contact Potlayer and I sent an email to Potplayer who answers me the problem was fixed in the developer beta version of potplayer and potlayer sent me the link to the beta version that fixes the problem of the new custom url of chromium 131! :

https://github.com/andy-portmen/open-in ... 2515604075

https://t1.daumcdn.net/potplayer/beta/P ... etup64.exe

so we can preview streaming video with cat catch and potplayer beta in chromium 131 but we can't preview streaming video with VLC and Cat Catch so logically i think like Mr Andy the problem is related to VLC...

so why we can preview streming videos successfully without bug with VLC using Cat catch extension and Open in Vlc extension extension in Firefox but preview with VLC does not work in recent chromium 131 ? I think logically the problem is related to VLC , I think as confirmed by Mr Andy the developer of Open-in-Vlc, I contacted Mr Andy the developer of Open-in-Vlc and I asked him to contact VLC or intervene in this issue....

to confirm my opinion, I tested Open-in-Vlc with Supermium browser which uses chromium 126 LTS kernel and therefore Supermeium browser uses the old chromium 126 which use the previous custom url protocol and preview with VLC using Open -in-Vlc and Cat-Catch work without problem in Supermium chromum 126 ! so it proves the brand new chromium 131 kernel has broken the custom url compatibility between the web browser and the VLC media player !


Mr @Lotesdelere, please if it doesn't bother you, if you have an account on github, i think it will be very good idea for the benefit of all the users of VLC to discuss this important problem with Mr Andy the develper of Open in Vlc extension in this issue that I opened in github because Mr Andy affirms this problem is not related to its extension :

https://github.com/andy-portmen/open-in-vlc/issues/74

[drimis216]

NEW UPDATE :

Mr Andy Portmen the developer tells me now and now reconfirms his assertion that the preview problem is not linked to its extension optimized for VLC Open-in-Vlc but the problem is related to VLC! :


https://github.com/andy-portmen/open-in ... 2530767575

"You can get a non-functional M3U8 link from this extension (or any other extensions) and then use VLC Player's "Open Network Stream" feature to load the M3U8. If it doesn't work, the problem lies with VLC; if it does work, then the issue is with the extension."

[Lotesdelere]

Then post the VLC full messages log.

[drimis216]

It was difficult to make log file, but it seem i succeed, one time the log file is empty totally blank, another time log displays this, and let's note the same video, we can preview the same video with VLC and Open in Vlc extesion in Firefox without any problem, the problem appears in updated chromium browsers :

"main: one instance mode ENABLED
main: Lancement de vlc avec l’interface par défaut. Utiliser « cvlc » pour démarrer VLC sans interface.
main: playlist is empty
access error: HTTP 403 error
-- logger module stopped --
-- logger module started --
main: one instance mode ENABLED
main: Lancement de vlc avec l’interface par défaut. Utiliser « cvlc » pour démarrer VLC sans interface.
main: playlist is empty
access error: HTTP 403 error
-- logger module stopped --"

[drimis216]

Here another log with different video streaming platform , i mean the second media player "LECTEUR MOON" in voiranime site :

"-- logger module started --
main: one instance mode ENABLED
main: Lancement de vlc avec l’interface par défaut. Utiliser « cvlc » pour démarrer VLC sans interface.
main: playlist is empty
direct3d9 error: SetThumbNailClip failed: 0x800706f4
direct3d9 error: SetThumbNailClip failed: 0x800706f4
direct3d9 error: SetThumbNailClip failed: 0x800706f4
-- logger module stopped --"

[Lotesdelere]

access error: HTTP 403 error
access error: HTTP 403 error

Error 403: "The server understood the request, but is refusing to authorize it."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_403

[drimis216]

Yes, it seems there is probelm with certificate of vidmoly, but even with other streaming site, VLC can't preview video with Open in Vlc extension, and i could preview with VLC the same video with Open in Vlc in Firefox

[drimis216]

Hi Mr Lotesdelere, about this vidmoly Error 403 , just now i install the new stable version of Potpayer and i can preview perfectly without any problem or bug this vidmoly video (first media player in the list) using Cat-Catch extension in Catsxp browser based on chromium 131 kernel ! :

https://v5.voiranime.com/anime/maou-209 ... 099-05-vf/


(i add this command advised by the developer to preview settings of cat catch : potplayer://${ url} /referer="${referer}" and i use urlprotocl to associate potplayer with the browser : https://github.com/xifangczy/URLProtocol )

so so in my humble opinion, there is no doubt, the problem is not related to vidmoly platform nor to the Cat catch or Open in vlc extension, but related to VLC which I think should make changes to manage preview streaming embedded video m3u8 links hls videos as it was the case before the update to chromium 131 which seems broke the custom url compatibility between VLC and Chromium !

[drimis216]

UPDATE :

Preview doen't work in our beloved VLC, the last hope was in Potplayer !

I was destroyed, Ptoplayer told me it fixed the video preview problem that appeared with chromium 131 kernel and I installed the new stable version of Potplayer , where only once, I can playback the streaming video using preview feature of Cat-Catch, then preview does not work anymore!

until tonight I found the solution to this problem!

the fault is that I changed a default parameter, and to make chromium browsers even lighter, I disabled many things including the option "continue running applications in the background after closing chrome"!

chrome://settings/system

just reactivate this option and the problem is fixed alhamdoulilAllah!

also, i discover disabling the option "continue running applications in the background after closing chrome" affected the ability to display the temporary video while it was downloading and so i could not playback the video while downloading and had to wait for the long download to end,
and re-enabling the option: "continue running applications in the background after closing chrome"! allows to display and playback the video while downloading !!

i think to help users of our planet, this major discovery should be added to the FAQ because probably many people change the default values ​​of the browser which affects extensions that use media player like VLC to preview streaming videos, thank you!