[Bug 1296705] [NEW] Amazon Prime Instant Video Does Not Work

[TrombaMarina]

Public bug reported:

Expected experience: Click on the big "A" for Amazon icon, log into my
Amazon account, and watch Prime Instant Videos.

Actual experience: Click on the big "A" for Amazon icon, log into my
Amazon account, try to watch a Prime Instant Video and get a "you must
upgrade your player" warning with a broken link.  The broken link is
Amazon's fault.  The broken player is the issue I'm reporting.

Background and work-arounds (that have changed over time):
Every year it's harder to make Amazon Prime instant videos work. First they just worked in Chrome and Firefox. Then they only worked in Firefox (I think). In 12.04 you had to install hal[1]. In 12.10 or 13.04, hal was removed from the repositories and you had to add the ubuntu raring main universe repository[2]. Now, in 13.10 that doesn't work and you have to add ppa:mjblenner/ppa-hal [3]. I think this is just one guy maintaining some otherwise completely outdated software, just so that the rest of us can watch Amazon Instant Video.

On 13.10, all dash searches include Amazon by default. There's a big "A"
for Amazon icon in the launcher. Yet, Prime videos don't work without
fiddling at the command line based on following an ever-more-difficult
set of steps outlined in forum comments.  I'd love to see this fixed in
14.04.

I have 2 ubuntu systems that I've been upgrading over the years and just
verified this with two separate clean installs on another system.  It's
not a bug in any one piece of software.  I think it's more of a missed
dependency and some code that needs to be added to one package (unknown)
that used to be in hal.  I'm guessing that's a more appropriate fix than
including hal back in the primary Ubuntu repositories.

  [1]: http://askubuntu.com/questions/286297/is-there-a-work-around-to-get-protected-hulu-or-amazon-prime-instant-videos-work
  [2]: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2144347&p=12811464#post12811464
  [3]: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2144347&page=2&p=12874114#post12874114

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: firefox 28.0+build2-0ubuntu0.13.10.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-18.32-generic 3.11.10.4
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-18-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC2:  gpeterso   2437 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1:  gpeterso   2437 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  gpeterso   2437 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20140317233501
Channel: Unavailable
Date: Mon Mar 24 08:33:42 2014
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
IncompatibleExtensions:
 English (GB) Language Pack - langpack-en-GB at firefox.mozilla.org
 English (South Africa) Language Pack - langpack-en-ZA at firefox.mozilla.org
 Default - {972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd}
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-05-08 (685 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
IpRoute:
 default via 172.16.0.1 dev eth0  proto static 
 72.32.210.89 via 172.16.0.1 dev eth0  src 172.16.0.101 
 172.16.0.0/24 dev eth0  proto kernel  scope link  src 172.16.0.101  metric 1 
 192.168.1.0/24 dev tun0  scope link
IwConfig:
 tun0      no wireless extensions.
 
 eth0      no wireless extensions.
 
 lo        no wireless extensions.
MarkForUpload: True
PrefSources: prefs.js
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=28.0/20140317233501 (In use)
RelatedPackageVersions:
 google-talkplugin 5.2.4.0-1
 icedtea-7-plugin  1.4-3ubuntu2.1
 totem-mozilla     3.8.2-0ubuntu1
RfKill:
 
RunningIncompatibleAddons: True
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2013-11-30 (114 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 03/11/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.0c
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: C2SEA
dmi.board.vendor: Supermicro
dmi.board.version: 1234567890
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Supermicro
dmi.chassis.version: 1234567890
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1.0c:bd03/11/2009:svnSupermicro:pnC2SEA:pvr1234567890:rvnSupermicro:rnC2SEA:rvr1234567890:cvnSupermicro:ct3:cvr1234567890:
dmi.product.name: C2SEA
dmi.product.version: 1234567890
dmi.sys.vendor: Supermicro

** Affects: firefox (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug saucy

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Mozilla
Bugs, which is subscribed to firefox in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1296705

Title:
  Amazon Prime Instant Video Does Not Work

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/1296705/+subscriptions