Railfan Technology > Can't read Vimeo videos on XP dinosaur PC

I admit that I am still a dinosaur working with XP Pro service pack- 2.

I get a "Oops or Drat" comment that I am unable to open Vimeo files.

Am I stuck until I upgrade to WIN 7, 8 or 10?

Many thanks in advance,

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

So you can't play videos n the vimeo website like this one? https://vimeo.com/184560434
I believe they use HTML5 to display video. What browser and version are you using to view vimeo?

Ryan Wilkerson
Fair Oaks, CA

Ryan, Thanks,

I am using Firefox Version 50.0.2 which I beleive is the latest version.

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

Jim, doing some reading and I see multiple mentions of HTML5 not being supported on XP. Some people usually find a way around constraints like this but it's usually a multistep process and takes some level of effort to get it to work. I am leery of suggesting something as I don't have XP to try it. I'm sure I'll be in a similar situation in a few years with my Windows 7!

Ryan Wilkerson
Fair Oaks, CA

Thanks again Ryan,
Advice well taken.

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

JimBaker Wrote:
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> Thanks again Ryan,
> Advice well taken.

FYI, the main issue is native support of H.264, which currently is the most utilized video codec for encoding and playback. MP4 files typically use H.264 for video and AAC for audio. If you want to know more in depth, those keywords should get you started.

Windows XP's support for current generation codecs is rather lacking. Things improved dramatically with Windows Vista, and I'm one of the very few users who like it, because of good video editing support in that version. It's otherwise a mediocre release of Windows.

I scanned through various discussions on YouTube, vimeo, Adobe Flash, H.264 support after I saw your thread, and even if you install third-party codec packages to try to make XP play H.264 via an Internet browser, you are likely going to run into problems. Previously, vimeo would play video in Flash instead of HTML5 on XP, but that support may have been dropped earlier this year.

I saw a claim that Chrome browser might work with vimeo, but I can't verify that. I used Chrome's cousin, Opera, and it doesn't work on XP.

I had no problems playing Ryan's link in Windows Vista, by the way - that may not be true for all versions of Vista, as I installed a third-party software package to support H.264 natively.