Full-screen video in browser is choppy

General Help
1

I recently switched to Zorin OS Lite on my laptop from Windows as a trial, and have noticed that videos played in my browser (Firefox) are very choppy with a poor framerate when in full-screen. It becomes mostly smooth again when I remove full-screen mode.

I do have an older laptop, so I thought it could be because of my lack of newer hardware, but I didn’t have any problems in full-screen in Windows, so I don’t think it’s due to my hardware limitations.

Any suggestions on how to fix this?
Dave

2

See if anything is listed under Software Updater -> Settings -> Additional Drivers
If it is just your browser and not your media player (whichever one you use) then check your browser version using Synaptic: Installing packages using Synaptic Package Manager GUI

3

The only item listed under Additional Drivers is a Broadcom wireless card. Firefox is listed as 85.0.1 in Firefox, the Software Center, and in Synaptic Package Manager.

Some more data points in case it helps:

  • I don’t seem to have any problems in the default Parole Media Player
  • I installed Chromium 87.0.4280.66 and the issue is NOT there in Chromium
  • I’m on a 32-bit system. (Interestingly, terminal command “cat /etc/issue” gives me Zorin OS 15.3, but doesn’t mention Lite anywhere. Is there a way to make sure I installed Lite, and not Core by accident?)
4

Core is not offered in 32bit. So you do have Lite installed.

Edit: what is your refresh rate on your monitor?

5

(Ah, thanks. I’m glad Zorin still supports 32-bit systems.)

I’m on a laptop, without a separate monitor. I ran hwinfo, and copied some of the more relevant specs that popped up:

  • Model: “T635C 154WX5 LCD Monitor”
  • Resolution: 1280x800@60Hz
  • Frequencies: 70.50 MHz, 49.23 kHz, 60.04 Hz

The setting under Display is 60.0Hz, but I just also tried out the 59.9Hz and 59.8Hz settings, with no improvement to the choppy video.

6

Well… it was worth a shot. It’s about all I could think of. Have you checked Mozilla Support page?

On a sidenote: I believe that Zorin 16, due for release at any time, now… Will no longer support 32 bit.
Zorin 15 is LTS based, though.

7

Yeah, I will try Mozilla support, since it now seems like a Firefox issue.

Thanks for the heads-up about Zorin 16 - it looks like I will have to stick with Zorin 15 for a while.

Thank you both for the help!

[Edit: As another experiment, I booted from the flash-drive that I used to install Zorin, and the video plays fine on Firefox. What could cause a difference in performance between the live flash-drive, and the permanent installation?]

8

Mozilla forum was no help. Multiple re-installs of Firefox didn’t solve the problem, until I installed Firefox ESR (v78.7.1). Now video plays smoothly in Firefox while in full-screen mode.

Hope this helps someone else.

1 Like
9

@Dave Out of interest, which version of Firefox did you have the problem with?
Also how did you install that version, or was it the one includeed in the Zorin software bundle?

10

@zabadabadoo, the Firefox version I initially had was 85.0.1 (32-bit). I don’t know if that was the version that was included with the Zorin bundle, but I tried removing and reinstalling through the Zorin software database, and also through Synaptic, but my choppy videos remained.

To install Firefox ESR, I went to the Firefox ESR website and downloaded the installation file. Then I had to search how to run the installation from the file (which I don’t remember now).

11

OK. I was just concerned you may have installed a Snap version, but if you used Synaptic to install FF, then I guess that rules that out.