Media Debugging Tips: Difference between revisions

== Basic Media Playback Issues ==

For starters, file a [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Core&component=Audio%2FVideo bug report] in Bugzilla describing the issue you've run into. Please include a URL to or sample of the audio or video you're experiencing issues with. Below are some additional steps you can take to help.  

For simple playback issues (videos on popular sites that fail to play back properly), the first place to look is to check the [https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/devtools-user/web_console/ web developer console] for error messages related to media format issues. If you see messages here related to media playback errors, please add this information to your bug report.

'''Share Your about:support Text'''

1) Visit https://profiler.firefox.com/ and enable the Profiler toolbar button<br />

2) Click the toolbar button down arrow and select 'Media' in the Settings drop down.<br />

3) Open a tab and visit the page with the affected media content.<br />

4) Click the Profiler toolbar main button to start recording.<br />

5) Play the media until the issue you are seeing manifests.<br />

6) Click the Profiler toolbar button again to stop recording.<br />

7) When a new Profile tab opens, click the upload profile button on the upper right.<br />

8) Copy the resulting profile URL and post this to your Bugzilla report.<br />

Plugin Update debugging steps for users -

# Launch Firefox using a clean profile via about:profiles

# Open a tab and visit about:logging

# Click 'Start Logging' at the top of the page

# Open a new tab for testing and view the media you are having an issue with. (After reproducing, DO NOT close this test tab yet.)

# Go back to the about:logging tab and click 'Stop logging' and close the test tab. (After a moment, a new performance profile tab will open.)

# Within the profiler tab click the 'upload local profile' button on the upper right side of the tab. Once the upload is complete, a drop down menu will open displaying the URL of the profile. Select this text and copy it.

For DRM content (Amazon Prime, Netflix) it can be helpful to generate EME related logging. Logs are generated for both the browser and Gecko Media Plugin (GMP) child processes. The steps to produce these logs are bit more involved compared to basic media playback logging but are worth the effort when tracking down drm related issues.

General testing setup steps -

# Install Firefox Nightly on the test device and open the browser. The test device should be a clean system that has not had Firefox installed on it prior. If the test device does have existing Firefox installs, open Firefox Nightly and open about:profiles. Create a [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles new profile for testing purposes], and launch a browser using this profile.

# Once Firefox is open and running in a clean profile, check for browser updates via the Help menu -> About option. If there are browser updates available, apply them and then restart the browser.  

# Once Firefox is open and running in a clean profile with updates applied, open a tab and visit https://profiler.firefox.com/ and enable the Firefox Profiler Button. In the dropdown menu on the button, select the 'Media' setting. Close Firefox Nightly. (For general information on how to use the profiler, visit the documentation site.)

# Launch Firefox using a clean profile via about:profiles.

# In the browser, open a tab and view about:config.

# Close the about:config tab, restart the browser.

# In the browser, open a tab and view about:logging.

# Add 'timestamp,sync,GMP:5,EME:5' to the media preset 'new log modules' text and click on 'Set Log Modules'.

# In about:logging, click the 'Start Logging' button.

# Open a new tab for testing and view the media you are having an issue with. (After reproducing, DO NOT close this test tab yet.)

# Switch to the about:logging tab, click 'Stop logging', then close the test tab.

# Wait approximately 10 - 20 seconds for a new tab to automatically open containing the generated performance profile with logging.

# Within the profiler tab click the 'upload local profile' button on the upper right side of the tab. Once the upload is complete, a drop down menu will open displaying the URL of the profile. Select this text and copy it.