We’ve been anticipating it for years,1 and it’s finally happening. Google is finally killing uBlock Origin – with a note on their web store stating that the extension will soon no longer be available because it “doesn’t follow the best practices for Chrome extensions”.2 Daly Barnett. “Chrome Users Beware: Manifest V3 is Deceitful and Threatening.” EFF, December 9, 2021. ↩ Lawrence Abrams. “Google warns uBlock Origin and other extensions may be disabled soon.” Bleeping Computer, October 13, 2024. ↩

We’ve been anticipating it for years, and it’s finally happening. Google is finally killing uBlock Origin – with a note on their web store stating that the extension will soon no longer be available because it “doesn’t follow the best practices for Chrome extensions”.

Now that it is finally happening, many seem to be oddly resigned to the idea that Google is taking away the best and most powerful ad content blocker available on any web browser today, with one article recommending people set up a DNS based content blocker on their network 😒 – instead of more obvious solutions.

I may not have blogged about this but I recently read an article from 1999 about why Gopher lost out to the Web, where Christopher Lee discusses the importance of the then-novel term “mind share” and how it played an important part in dictating why the web won out. In my last post, I touched on the importance of good information to democracies – the same applies to markets (including the browser market) – and it seems to me that we aren’t getting good information about this topic.

This post is me trying to give you that information, to help increase the mind share of an actual alternative. Enjoy!

  • AlternateRoute@lemmy.caEnglish
    99·
    2 months ago

    No, HVEC / H.265 codec support so no modern 4K security camera or plex/jellyfin etc high quality video support.

    • cum@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      https://caniuse.com/hevc

      looks like the bigger issue is hvec itself. Also the support is extremely spotty with all the other browsers as well, with it still only having limited support in Chrome as well depending on your hardware.

      Or just use av1 instead. I’ve literally never run into this as an issue before lol.

    • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
      22·
      2 months ago

      According to caniuse.com, it works now in the Nightly builds and can be enabled in other builds via the media.wmf.hevc.enabled pref in about:config.

      I use Firefox Dev Edition and I think it’s enabled there. But either way, you can enable it on stable.

      • AlternateRoute@lemmy.caEnglish
        46·
        2 months ago

        Night, windows only, and needs to be enabled with about: config… ie it almost has some support maybe. Also doesn’t work via webrtc so it doesn’t actually help me with the viewing the security cam feeds.

          • AlternateRoute@lemmy.caEnglish
            34·
            2 months ago

            Core web app compatibility vs … “enhanced” ad blocking. MS teams and some other business tools also don’t support Firefox but work fine in Chrome and Safari.

            It is something the Firefox team needs to work on again. I used Firefox from when it was released until Chrome came out and mopped the floor with it. At the time Firefox became the bloated beast and went through a reset.

            Unfortunately trying to have a firm stance on not implementing HVEC when they no longer had the largest market share was a bad move and they seem to be slowly back tracking on that.

            • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
              81·
              2 months ago

              MS Teams not working as well in Firefox is a “we want you using Edge or Chrome” Microsoft issue, not a Firefox issue.

              You wouldn’t believe the amount of enterprise-sector MS websites that have went from works fine on Firefox to completely broken on anything but Chrome and Edge very quickly after Edge became Chrome with a lick of paint.

                • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  6·
                  2 months ago

                  So it’s not something Firefox needs to work on, it’s something Microsoft should be punished for. The bulk of these sites for fine if you spoof your useragent to look like edge or chrome, proving it’s nothing to do with browser capability.

                  They’re using their market position to sabotage a competitor.

    • wax@feddit.nuEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      Probably no ads on your self-hosted frigate/jellyfin pages though, so you can just keep using chrome for that ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

    • bdonvr@thelemmy.clubEnglish
      9·
      2 months ago

      plex/jellyfin etc high quality video support

      H265 isn’t the only option there. AV1 is great and fully supported by Jellyfin (and I imagine Plex?)

      • AlternateRoute@lemmy.caEnglish
        56·
        2 months ago

        H.265 is the defecto standard on Security cameras, and I am not going to migrate content to AV1 that is already in H.265.

        • bdonvr@thelemmy.clubEnglish
          6·
          2 months ago

          Jellyfin can handle the transcoding to AV1 where needed. Albeit that’s a bit less ideal than direct play as you need the hardware to transcode.

          • AlternateRoute@lemmy.caEnglish
            33·
            2 months ago

            Not spending hundreds to upgrade my server to support 4K to 4K transcoding. Even accelerated on a VERY recent CPU or GPU Encoding in AV1 is costly while at the same time decoding H.265.

            Again Essentially every major browser supports HVEC now, other than Firefox.

            • bdonvr@thelemmy.clubEnglish
              4·
              2 months ago

              If it’s a personal machine in which you have a choice on browser why not just use one of the native Jellyfin apps?

              major browser supports HVEC now, other than Firefox.

              Every other major browser is an overcommercialized pile of crap (or built atop the same) that can afford to pay for the licenses to use HEVC or has no qualms shipping proprietary code with their software that they don’t control.

              Also apparently on Windows you can enable experimental HEVC hardware decoding support. You’ll need to install “HEVC Video Extensions” (from Microsoft themselves) ($0.99) in the Windows App Store and toggle “media.wmf.hevc.enabled” in about:config.

          • AlternateRoute@lemmy.caEnglish
            43·
            2 months ago

            Not when you are using an NVR with scrubbing and everything in the web UI. https://frigate.video/

            All in all it would be an inconvenient workaround for something that already works seamlessly across Safari, Edge, Chrome etc.

              • shinratdr@lemmy.caEnglish
                63·
                2 months ago

                How is giving a sober and straightforward explanation of why he can’t use Firefox “bitching”? The simple fact is “switch to Firefox” isn’t a solution for everyone in every case. Burying your head in the sand about that benefits nobody.

                • ddh@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
                  52·
                  2 months ago

                  They can enjoy some ads then, I guess. But it was the general attitude of unwillingness to entertain suggestions and just shutting down every one.

                • AlternateRoute@lemmy.caEnglish
                  33·
                  2 months ago

                  It is generally hard to have an opposing opinion or need discussion on the internet without people feeling attacked and start name calling.

    • vividspecter@lemm.eeEnglish
      7·
      2 months ago

      Jellyfin

      Use the desktop client or jellyfin-mpv-shim and you’ll get HEVC support and superior image quality.