Replacement for Firefox?

Hey there,

I've been using Firefox for ages now, and I was completely satisfied with it... until very recently, that is. For space-saving reasons, I started to convert my media library to H265, since all devices in my network support it now. Or so I thought. One very noticeable omission is my desktop PC with Firefox. Now, if I watch something from my local media server, the server has to waste resources to convert to H264, which is a noticeable performance hit to all other things running on the server. The GPU in my Desktop PC (or the CPU for that matter) could have displayed H265 without even changing clock speed from idle. So I tried to use the native Plex App for Windows for that, but that one does not support RTX Super Resolution which was really nice when watching old DVD stuff.

From what I can see, to get both, I need a Chromium browser. Since I would rather not have two browsers open all the time: Is there any browser based on the latest Chromium Builds that is not a massive insult to one's privacy?

solution:

Firefo does support H265. It didn't for a very long time so most posts online talk about how it has no support and that it ain't planned. Yet, it has gotten support in the meantime.

change

media.wmf.hevc.enabled

To 1 in about:config, restart browser, done.

Thanks, mate

Zerush ,
@Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

The only Chromium I know which isn't an insult to privacy is Vivaldi

sugar_in_your_tea ,

How is the ad blocker? I use Brave at work for debugging frontend code, but I don't really trust the org behind it. But I need something in the Chromium family to test our app, and the ad blocker is nice (main browser is Firefox).

If Vivaldi's ad blocker is as good as Brave's, I'll switch. I'll probably keep Chromium on my personal computers though (all Linux) because Vivaldi isn't open source. I use it very rarely since Firefox meets my needs, so it's less of an issue.

Zerush ,
@Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

I use no other, the ad/trackerblocker in Vivaldi is full customizable, you can add the filterlists you want. In the adblock test I got between 90-100% (You must test the best filter combination, because too much can break some sites, adblocking is always a balance game). If you want more privacy, you can use the privacy extensions you want or use userscripts, which you can install directly as extension, if you don't want to use Tamper-,Greasy- or Violentmonkey to do this.
It's a EU company (strict GDPR), no tracking, ads or third parties behind, own sync server e2ee.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Cool, I'm playing with it. One concern is that it's closed source.

I'm not going to use it as a main browser most likely though, I'm happy with Firefox, but I need something for when websites refuse to work w/ it.

Norgur OP ,
Norgur avatar

Besides, you can always just throw uBlock on it and be done with the adblock stuff

Zerush ,
@Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

Its always good to have several browsers at hand. The perfect browser is the one which fits the needs of the user.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Eh, several seems like a bit much, but diversity in general is good. I use Firefox because it solves my needs, but I need a Chromium-based browser for random broken sites.

Zerush ,
@Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

Instead of FF I¡ve also Mullvad, apart Otter and SSuite Netsurf. so I've 4 different engines at hand, if needed. Blink, Gecko, Qt5 and WebView.

TheAnonymouseJoker Mod , (edited )
@TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

...closed source web browser? Really?

Why do you not advocate for Ungoogled Chromium, the only safe Chromium based option?

Edit: oh, and I almost forgot, how is Vivaldi or adblocker on any of these browsers better than uBO Lite by gorhill, that you can slap on UGC?

Zerush ,
@Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

Vivaldi is an ungoogled Chromium, there don't go any data to Google, except if you use the optional Google Save Search in the privacy settings. OpenSource, well, Vivaldi isn't strict OpenSource, because 5% of the script corresponding to the UI is proprietary, but full auditable and even accessible and moddeable by the user, in the forum they show how to do it (logically at own risk). There isn't any privacy issue or hidden things in it. User data in a Mozilla-Firefox Account is shared with Alphabet, googleanalytics and google-tagmanager, in Vivaldi nothing is shared with Google or other companies.

TheAnonymouseJoker Mod ,
@TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

User data in a Mozilla-Firefox Account is shared with Alphabet

Nobody needs a Mozilla account, and Google analytics domains can be disabled in uBlock Origin with 2-3 clicks, something problematic on Vivaldi since Chromium browsers hate a full featured uBO. However, I cannot opt out of the 5% closed source code in Vivaldi, if I use Vivaldi, and their "performance and security" reasons are very vague and fishy.

The user respecting choice seems clear.

Zerush ,
@Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

You need an account if you use sync and don't want third party or self hosted solutions. I don't think that there is nothing vague or fishy in Vivaldi, it's all very transparent. Chromium (Blink) is used by the vast majory of browsers in the web and Vivaldy, apart of beeing the only EU browser is a very small cooperative in Norway. What do you think ocurres if Vivaldi release its
nique UI as OpenSource, which compañies in less a second will use it for the own browser? Chrome and EDGE and killing with this definitively the competence and a free internet, include Vivaldi.

Google dominate the internet and battle against Vivaldi and others, or buy them, like Mozilla, since several years, first with discriminatory browsersniffing, blocking the access of several sites if it detected Vivaldi in the UA. Because of this, Vivaldi was disguised by the devs as Chrome against the own interests, later introducing several tracking APIs in the Chromium base, which the Vivaldi devs stripped out (except security updates) since years, before using it for Vivaldi (Because of this the Chromium base in Vivaldi is somewhat behind (~< a month) the official Chromium version. Later Google tried it with webpage APIs (FloC, idle API and others) also skipped by V devs. Mv3 also not affect Vivaldi with the inbuild blockers, no need to have the daily battle which Gorhill has to maintan uBO up to date. For YT I've enough with the Vivaldi trackerblocker and a userscript, to have YT 100% free of ads and nags since more than 8 month.

I have been using Vivaldi for 8 years and I have seen all of Google's tricks to eliminate Vivaldi as an uncomfortable competition, especially due to von Tetzchner's activism against Google's practices and web surveillance, which together with others and the Norwegian organization of consumers has driven this GDPR in the EU.

As a user I don't care about these 5% UI proprietary scripts, but I do care about the ethics and transparency of the company with the user and this is beyond any doubt

etc.

You can't buy trust with OpenSource, the trust must be gained by the author

TheAnonymouseJoker Mod ,
@TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

You need an account if you use sync and don't want third party or self hosted solutions.

And Google has nothing to do with Mozilla account. This is a bizarre conspiracy theory. It takes 1 minute with uBO to disable Google domains.

I don't think that there is nothing vague or fishy in Vivaldi, it's all very transparent. Chromium (Blink) is used by the vast majory of browsers in the web

Closed source web browser is fishy. The "security" reasoning is the most insane kind of reasoning and is given by the likes of Apple.

What do you think ocurres if Vivaldi release its
nique UI as OpenSource, which compañies in less a second will use it for the own browser?

I care about transparency, which UGC is and Vivaldi is not.

blocking the access of several sites if it detected Vivaldi in the UA.

Vivaldi was not alone. The most affected browser has always been Firefox, the global leader in rooting against Big Tech and Chromium engine monopoly. Vivaldi instead contributes to it, going against what Opera once stood for.

As a user I don't care about these 5% UI proprietary scripts, but I do care about the ethics and transparency of the company with the user and this is beyond any doubt

You can't buy trust with OpenSource, the trust must be gained by the author

You do not care about your internet web browser being closed source. This is a you problem, and a Vivaldi problem. This makes UGC the only viable Chromium based browser for privacy recommendations. Very few closed source internet programs have gained trust over time, like IDM on Windows.

Nobody buys trust with open source. The development model itself encourages transparency, unlike closed source development inventing excuses about obscurity. Internet tools with closed source code should be avoided unless no feasible alternatives exist, and Vivaldi has alternatives.

Zerush ,
@Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

https://file.coffee/u/N4aCRoJnTuS7Brsyf7Sz-.png

vs

https://file.coffee/u/2Pt6b5cVTW4h5qNZo9Y5u.png

Do you trust OpenSource made by Facebook, MS or Google? Vivaldi don't, because of this use a lot of work to gut the Chromium code (100% FOSS) before using it. For an user it's irrelevant if part of the UI is proprietary, knowing that the script is clean of any hidden things. Anyone with knowledge of programming can check it and even modify it without problem, the only limitation: it cannot be used by other browsers or companies.
Any advanced browser has parts which are not fully OpenSource because of a amount of very different licenses from the scripts of the different features which a browser offer, also Firefox , eg the translation tool of FF, which is from Lingvanex, the same as hosted by Vivaldi, which is proprietary soft.
Maybe the definition of OpenSource need an update, currently it's a pretty grayzone.

For the rest https://vivaldi.com/source/

TheAnonymouseJoker Mod ,
@TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

screenshots of Mozilla account with google domains

Why are you pushing this narrative, despite uBO domain disabling available 2-3 clicks away? Mozilla account is not dependent on google telemetry.

Do you trust OpenSource made by Facebook, MS or Google?

Android, yes. Chromium, yes, but as second opinion browser as it leaks a lot of metadata. Anything written in D language would be fine. Zstd is made by Facebook, even if I do not like it as much for technical reasons over 7Z/RAR/ARC/LOLZ, but Yann Collet did a great job just like with the legendary LZ4.

Vivaldi itself keeps 5% closed source code for fishy reasons, and it has alternatives, and it promotes Chromium engine monopoly which harms internet.

For an user it's irrelevant if part of the UI is proprietary,

No. It is critical to have transparency for an internet application, unless trust is gained over decades. https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-browser-open-source/

We don’t publish it under an open-source license and only release obfuscated versions of it. The obfuscation is partly there to improve performance, but it also very much is the first line of defense, to prevent other parties from taking the code and building an equivalent browser (essentially a fork) too easily. But should we be afraid of forks in the first place? This is highly subjective and I don’t expect to convince anyone.

I have rarely heard of reasons more bullshit than this to stay closed source.

translation tool of FF, which is from Lingvanex, the same as hosted by Vivaldi, which is proprietary soft.

This is misinformation. This is the repository of FF translations (https://github.com/mozilla/firefox-translations) marked read only due to moving issue tracker to Bugzilla, which is based on the open source Bergamot toolkit (https://github.com/browsermt/bergamot-translator), not Lingvanex proprietary code.

Maybe the definition of OpenSource need an update, currently it's a pretty grayzone.

Or maybe... Vivaldi must be considered closed source proprietary internet web browser software.

PopOfAfrica ,

I quite like the Falkon Browser by KDE. Definately need to use Greesemonkey scripts to replace some simple extensions tho.

eager_eagle ,
@eager_eagle@lemmy.world avatar

also, that's windows only

Supported for devices with hardware support (the range is the same as Edge) on Windows only. Enabled by default in Nightly and can be enabled via the media.wmf.hevc.enabled pref in about:config. 10-bit or higher colors are not supported.

https://caniuse.com/hevc

royalties are really great, innit?

GravitySpoiled ,

On fedora you have to install the codecs yourself 😅

Iirc, Opensuse solves the issue by installing firefox after the OS was installed.

dukethorion ,
@dukethorion@lemmy.one avatar

What's wrong with ungoogled-chromium?

GolfNovemberUniform ,

No advanced tracking mitigation by default maybe?

dukethorion ,
@dukethorion@lemmy.one avatar

OP wanted a Chromium browser that wasn't a massive privacy invasion. With Google stuff removed, it'll be good enough. Add uBO and ClearURLs.

GolfNovemberUniform ,

Ungoogled Chromium doesn't have extension store support by default

DaveedMee ,
@DaveedMee@beehaw.org avatar

it tells u how to get extensions at the first start and its literally just 4 clicks to setup

GolfNovemberUniform ,

Yes but 1. It's not the default 2. It kills some privacy stuff afaik

ReversalHatchery ,

I don't think that ungoogling chromium is to much use. For a start, take the points given by uBlock Origin's developer: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox

I'm sure there are more details where, where it's not that Firefox is better, but that chromium is worse. Chromium is not only tainted by embedded google services, but by many design decisions of google.

Delusion6903 ,

Librewolf is my go-to

user224 ,
@user224@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

I've had the same issue. I just use AV1 now. AV1 video + Opus audio in WebM container. Seems like a good combination.

Handbrake supports it too.

GravitySpoiled ,

Firefox can display x265. Do you use the flatpak version? If so, create a bug report.

If not, search for enable x265 on firefox and install the codecs.

Whats the log in plex?

Norgur OP ,
Norgur avatar

Holy… why the fuck would this be disabled? And why the fuck didn't I find this information in the first place?!

To all wondering:
change

media.wmf.hevc.enabled

To 1 in about:config, restart browser, done.

Thanks, mate

Atemu , (edited )
@Atemu@lemmy.ml avatar

The reason is software patents and asinine licensing for HEVC. Thank the greedy fucks in suits for that.

Norgur OP ,
Norgur avatar

So it can be implemented but not enabled? Weird shit, man

Ephera ,

Could be that Firefox downloads the codec after you enable that. At least, I've heard of it being implemented like that in other software...

Atemu ,
@Atemu@lemmy.ml avatar

AFAIK, this is a Windows-specific option which requires the user to have purchased a license for the Windows HEVC decoder on the windows store.

bionicjoey ,

Sounds like you had an XY problem

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Story of my life. Fortunately, now that I'm older, I often catch myself and provide the context. But not always.

GravitySpoiled ,

That's nice. Thanks for the link

Norgur OP ,
Norgur avatar

Well, I thought I had ruled out X as solution, so I didn't ask about it in the first place <insert hide the pain Harold here>

poVoq ,
@poVoq@slrpnk.net avatar

Long term you are probably better off converting to AV1 and sticking with Firefox, but I understand that your desktop GPU might not currently support AV1?

Norgur OP ,
Norgur avatar

My GPU does, but many other devices in my Network don't, so that would only shift the problem.

user224 ,
@user224@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

What devices are those?

UckyBon ,

Washing machine, microwave, robot vacuum, fridge…

slazer2au ,

Lightbulb, power outlets

Norgur OP ,
Norgur avatar

My hair dryer mostly :P

tobogganablaze ,

Have you considered converting to AV1 instead of H265?

I have a similar issue with my mac+chrome having to convert H265 -> H264 (even though it should be able to play it), but it has no trouble direct-playing AV1 for some reason.

Norgur OP ,
Norgur avatar

My GPU does, but many other devices in my Network don't, so that would only shift the problem.

HumanPerson ,

If it is local network stuff you could see if you can allow it just network connection but no internet. I'm not sure how you could do that though.

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