Enable MP4 (H.264 + AAC) HTML5 video in Firefox on Windows XP without Flash

[Dave-H]

NPAPI plugins don't work, except Flash, in the normal release version of Firefox 52, but they do in the ESR version.
I don't know if there are any other important differences.
Nice to see someone else likes their Windows XP to look like 98/2000 BTW!

 

[dencorso]

I confirm Silverlight v. 5.1.50901.0 actually is working on 52.0 esr! And here is a handy Silverlight test page, for the sake of completeness.
And I confirm 52.0 esr removes two important booleans from about:config, so I had to add them back again, as per @mixit's report, quoted below:

On 3/6/2017 at 1:38 PM, mixit said:

With Firefox 52.0 slated to go live tomorrow, I tried the RC2 standalone installer (expected to be identical to the release version) and it seems that it resets/removes the media.gmp-eme-adobe.visible and media.gmp-eme-adobe.enabled prefs, so you'll likely have to add those again in about:config and set both to true.

However, just after updating, I was sent to a FF page (<link>) which told of the imminent FF EoS for XP and Vista, but contained an interesting remark, which I quote here below (red highlight is mine) :

Quote

Firefox security updates for XP and Vista users will continue until September 2017, although new features will not be offered. In mid-2017, a final support end date will be announced based on the number of users still on Windows XP and Vista.

That seems to be potential good news, IMO.

[Dave-H]

Yes, let's hope there's enough of us on their radar for them to justify keeping 52 ESR at least updated with security patches for another year or two.

 

[Advanced User]

What about my question? 48.0.2 is latest version w/o SSE2, which runs on my PC. Any tips?

[patclash]

Quote

What about my question? 48.0.2 is latest version w/o SSE2, which runs on my PC. Any tips?

Primetime Content Decryption Module plugin need SSE2 , so if CPU doesn't support SSE2 it can't work

(I have a PC with a AMD CPU that has this issue too )

[Bersaglio]

Important note! If You don't have Forefox in Your system (Windows XP SP3 presumably) and You are going to install Firefox 52.x ESR then keep in mind that You should also change media.gmp-manager.url parameter in about:config from "https://aus5.mozilla.org/update/3/GMP/%VERSION%/%BUILD_ID%/%BUILD_TARGET%/%LOCALE%/%CHANNEL%/%OS_VERSION%/%DISTRIBUTION%/%DISTRIBUTION_VERSION%/update.xml" (default value) to "https://aus5.mozilla.org/update/3/GMP/51.0/%BUILD_ID%/%BUILD_TARGET%/%LOCALE%/%CHANNEL%/%OS_VERSION%/%DISTRIBUTION%/%DISTRIBUTION_VERSION%/update.xml" (%VERSION% -> 51.0)

Otherwise Adobe Primetime Content Decryption Module will never load into Your Forefox 52.x ESR...

Edited March 13, 2017 by Bersaglio

[Dave-H]

Do you still need to do that if you've already got the plugin, or does it not matter in that case?

 

[dencorso]

3 minutes ago, Dave-H said:

Do you still need to do that if you've already got the plugin, or does it not matter in that case?

If it's already downloaded, there's no need to do that.
I think @Bersaglio actually meant "download", so his comment should read like this:

16 minutes ago, Bersaglio said:

Otherwise Adobe Primetime Content Decryption Module will never [down]load into Your Forefox 52.x ESR...

[ThomasW]

Thanks for the clarifications!

Not everyone knows the hidden meaning of the percent sign, so that's appreciated!

There is a nice article called "Command shell overview" in the Windows XP Help system which explains environmental variables and lists the built-in ones.

[Dave-H]

Ah, understood (I think!)
So if the Firefox version being declared to the servers is 52.0, which it would be now if you left the variable as "%VERSION%, the plugin will never download as it's not offered on versions above 51, so you have to make sure it always still pretends to be version 51?
I guess if you already have the plugin and you're still saying you're version 52, it just means you would never be offered any updates to the plugin, but I presume that's never going to happen now anyway!

 

[Monroe]

I'm curious as to how everyone has Firefox v52 ESR? I switched from regular Firefox Portable to Firefox Portable ESR around December. My version is Firefox Portable ESR v45.7.0 and when I run the FF update check ... it says 'Firefox is up to date'. Just checked it again before posting this.

Where's the FF ESR v52 coming from or does the portable version go with a different version number?
 

[Mathwiz]

3 hours ago, monroe said:

Where's the FF ESR v52 coming from or does the portable version go with a different version number?

Besaglio gave us the link a few posts ago (this is for the regular version though):

On 3/6/2017 at 2:09 PM, Bersaglio said:

Firefox 52.0 ESR released! All is working! Yeehaw!

Like yours, my FF 45 ESR claimed to be up-to-date. I had to download & install the upgrade manually

[patclash]

FF 45 ESR and FF 52 ESR are 2 parallel branches  ;

As seem there :

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/faq/

FF 45 ESR will auto update to FF 52 ESR with version 45.9.0 ESR that is at EOL for FF 45 branch

Then FF 45.9.0 will be automatic update to 52.1.0 with the next merge on  2017-04-18 :

https://wiki.mozilla.org/RapidRelease/Calendar

Edited March 13, 2017 by patclash

[Monroe]

Thanks guys for the clarification on all the Firefox versions. I guess I will just wait and let it update automatically to version 52 in April.

I just ran a Google search in December asking for the latest FF ESR version  and downloaded that.

monroe
 

[Bersaglio]

22 hours ago, monroe said:

I guess I will just wait and let it update automatically to version 52 in April.

Sorry but FF 45.9.0 ESR will not automatically update to the FF 52.1.0 ESR in April. FF 45.9.0 ESR EoL date is June 13,2017 so FF 45.9.0 ESR will be automatically updated to the FF 52.2.0 ESR after June 13 (long wait)...

P.S. By the way, in the portable Firefox assemblies the ability to (automatically) update is usually blocked or disabled. You need to download a new portable build instead (45.8.0 ESR or 52.0 ESR are relevant nowadays).

Edited March 14, 2017 by Bersaglio
P.S.