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SteveInBavaria
Asked: 2020-01-13 07:36:47 +0800 CST

Ubuntu 19.10 some drm content not streaming

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I am running Ubuntu 19.10 as the only OS on my laptop. Up until recently, that is a few days ago, I regularly watched ITVHub in the Chrome browser on my laptop.

Yesterday I tried to watch a programme only to get the warning that I needed to enable "Protected Content" in Chrome or "Digital Right Management (DRM) Content" in Firefox. I tried to stream the programme in Firefox but got the same warning. I checked and the options were enabled in the Chrome and Firefox browsers. I can stream the BBC iPlayer and All4, two other UK streaming sites without any problem.

I then tried streaming ITVHub using Chrome in my Android tablet and it worked perfectly.

I regularly update my Ubuntu OS and there was an update prior to this problem occuring. Because Chrome can stream ITVHub on my Android tablet but not on my Ubuntu laptop I suspect the problem may be an OS problem.

I have all of the ubuntu-restricted-extras etc installed and the ITVHub was working on my 19.10 OS until very recently.

Any ideas of what may be causing this?

drm

6 Answers

  1. Not exactly an answer, but I can't post a comment...

    I emailed ITV about this problem and received this reply:

    Thank you for your email.

    I'm afraid that Linux hasn't ever been fully supported on our website.

    We are however looking into an issue where DRM content is causing a error message to appear on our website.

    If you are getting a message to update your browser, this will probably be resolved for you once they have fixed the issue with DRM content.

    If I can be of further assistance, please do get back in touch. 

    So I guess we wait and see, but doesn't sound hopeful. It's not clear to me who "they" are (as in "...once they have fixed..."); ITV or browser authors? Nor if this is definitely related to the problem - I have not been prompted to update my browser.

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  2. Best Answer

    ITVHub have replied to my emails confirming that the issue is a "Widevine issue". They said that they hoped to resolve the issue by last Tuesday but, as I wrote and told them, it has still not been resolved.

    I'm afraid this is not a lot of help to Martin Thoma but at least he could write to MaxDome.de and specify that ITV-Hub recognize that it is a Widevine issue.

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  3. This is the reason for some streaming-services not working with linux and chrome OS anymore:

    https://www.widevine.com/news

    They need to set an override for the new standard-rule:

    All Widevine browser-based integrations (platforms and applications) must support VMP.

    Only Windows- and Apple- based Browsers support VMP (verified media path). Android is still working, because widevine is implemented in Android OS, but not in the browser.

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  4. I have has some problems playing DRM content when the resolution is set higher than 1080p. As far as I can tell in my case; this is because DRM components often are proprietary black-box DRM setups that negotiate an unbroken chain of DRM from decryption to screen. These are not available as open-source, and therefore not in Linux. Microsoft and Intel probably regard this DRM as a competitive advantage they can offer to rights-holders.

    I suspect that your ITV would work on Windows with high resolution in the default browser. Alternatively set the resolution to 720p (good enough for streaming on a PC) and try again since the DRM implemented in Firefox supports that for sure.

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  5. I contacted ITV support and they said that they intentionally didn't support Linux. I used Virtualbox to run W10 and it still didn't work using "Edge" but did with FF until today when it bombed halfway through.I think they're paranoid about people skipping ads.

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  6. Since yesterday ITVHub seems to be working again.

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