How can I watch .asx videos with FireFox?

Question

I want to watch this film. I'm using Ubuntu 11.10 on a laptop and FireFox 8.0. The video doesn't play in the browser, and I can't use the 'copy' feature in the player (I think the built in player of firefos is used). What can I do to watch this?

Answer 1

You didn't say which version of Firefox; some still have issues with ASX files. I think it might be better to use a browser that doesn't have issues with ASX files or perhaps learn a little about what the ASX file does... An ASX file is a bit like an M3U file, in that both file types serve as a sort of playlist. The real video file is referenced within the ASX file. Open a terminal.

wget http://wstreaming.zdf.de/3sat/veryhigh/111211_hacker_film.asx
cat 111211_hacker_film.asx

The output:

<ASX version ="3.0">
    <Entry>
        <Ref href="mms://a1014.v1252931.c125293.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1014/125293/v0001/wm.od.origin.zdf.de.gl-systemhaus.de/none/3sat/11/12/111211_hacker_film_vh.wmv"/>
    </Entry>
</ASX>

The ASX file merely references a WMV file and MMS protocol (multi-media streaming). So plop the real URL in your Firefox and see how it goes:

mms://a1014.v1252931.c125293.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1014/125293/v0001/wm.od.origin.zdf.de.gl-systemhaus.de/none/3sat/11/12/111211_hacker_film_vh.wmv

Success?

Answer 2

To play the video in Firefox, try installing mplayer

sudo apt-get install mplayer