Embedded widget using Edge browser hangs

[jerbob92]

Player Version

Specify the full version you are using, including the revision number.
xibo-client-v2-R254.1-win32-x86.msi

Please describe in detail the issue you are experiencing, including any errors shown on the Player Status page or in the Logs section of the CMS.

Because the Youtube player doesn’t work by default in the latest player, we decided to use the Edge browser for it, by adding the following on top of the HTML:
<!-- BROWSER=edge -->
This has worked for a long time, but suddenly the widget won’t appear (the screen actually hangs on the widget before the embedded one). Anyone know what could have caused this?

I enabled the auditing for the player, but I don’t see anything that’s related to this.

[dan]

Hi and welcome,

The edge browser isn’t particularly stable, which is why we moved to using a Browser based on CEF which we later discovered has problems with H.264 files due to codec licensing. Setting that aside, you might find that there are multiple “Desktop Web Viewer” processes running on your Player from Edge use, and that those are tying up all memory on the Player, causing the hang.

You might get some mileage using <!-- BROWSER=ie --> instead, so that it uses the IE11 browser control instead of Edge.

We’re looking at our options here for the future, but no good choices have presented themselves at present.

[jerbob92]

I’m using Edge indeed because CEF didn’t work properly with a YouTube livestream.

I don’t think it’s due to multiple Edge processes. It just seems like it can’t start the browser anymore due to some error, and that’s why it hangs. It also happens when the player just booted up. When I push a new version of the layout it actually starts playing it again up until the embedded widget, so I think the player is actually doing fine besides the layout hanging at a specific widget.

Thanks for the “ie” tip! I’m going to try it tomorrow when back at the office!

[jerbob92]

@dan thanks for the <!-- BROWSER=ie --> tip, the YouTube player works again!
Perhaps it’s a good idea to show a dropdown in the CMS to select which browser you want to use for the embed widget, as the BROWSER thingy isn’t so widely known/documented it seems.

[dan]

@jerbob92

Perhaps it’s a good idea to show a dropdown in the CMS to select which browser you want to use for the embed widget, as the BROWSER thingy isn’t so widely known/documented it seems.

We’re avoiding it because we don’t want it to be a permanent requirement - instead we’re searching for a solution which just works (IE will eventually go away, as will the current version of Edge).