Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2016 April 6

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April 6

When I hit "pause" on a video, the picture gets obstructed. How do I fix that?

This is something that I have noticed about watching/playing videos on my computer. I am referring usually to news stories and such that are posted on the Internet. (I am not referring to watching a commercially-made DVD movie or TV show or such.) Sometimes, when watching the video, I want to hit "pause" so that I can see more clearly a certain portion of the video. In other words, I want to "freeze" the video so that I can take a closer look at that certain spot. However, when I hit "pause", I don't really get a "freeze frame" of the action in the video. Rather, I will get some words or ads or written information that now covers/blocks the video. If I hit "un-pause", the video will resume as normal. However, when it is paused (or frozen), I cannot see the contents of the video because there are words and writings and other things blocking the view. Is there any way to fix/avoid this? is there any way for me to see a clear and unobstructed view of the freeze frame? Thanks. If necessary, here is an example of a video that I am trying to freeze and look at: Hundreds rally, protest at Hartford city council meeting. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:19, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Just as a hypothetical example: on that video (above), there is a picture of the City of Hartford official seal at the 1:04 time mark. I want to get a better/closer look at that seal, to read its content, etc. So, I will hit "freeze" or "pause" at the 1:04 time mark. But, then the video/picture of the City official seal will pretty much disappear. And there will be all sorts of writing (other links, other news stories to click, etc.) that all obstruct my view of the City seal. So, in the end, I never get a freeze frame of the seal and I can't read/see it. I find this happens all the time. Not just with this particular website or news station, etc. Is there a way to circumvent all that obstruction? And just get a clear freeze frame of the picture that I want to inspect? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:26, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

They may do this intentionally, for several reasons:

1) They can put advertisements there.

2) They want to hide the poor quality of the video. If you could see a freeze frame, you would see how bad it really is. StuRat (talk) 17:33, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

You may be able to use a "youtube downloader" application (mentioned above, and many placed in our archives) to download the video in question. When playing a video locally on your computer, you should be able to freeze and get clear images. FFMPEG and many other programs can even grab still frames out of video files, or you can use your OS's screenshot functionality. For playing through a browser, something like NoScript or Adblock plus may sometimes prevent unwanted cruft from popping up over your paused video, but when someone else is paying for your ability to view their videos, they can pretty much do whatever they want. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:46, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

I did use the YouTube Downloader mentioned in a previous question above. (Which was indeed my own question, which I myself had posted up above.) Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 18:58, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Are you saying that you get junk covering the image even when you play that downloaded video in a separate video playing program? If so, look in that program's settings for some way to turn that off, or find a different program. VLC media player will play practically anything. -- BenRG (talk) 20:06, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

I played the video with "Windows Media Player". I believe that this is some type of default in my computer (Windows 10). And, yes, it definitively covers/obstructs the (stopped) video so that I don't get a clean freeze frame. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:34, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

So you're saying that you can't get a clean freeze frame using windows media player? Then that is what the question should be about, and Youtube is a red herring. I don't know anything about WMP, but I suggest the problem will go away if you use a better player, like the VLC Ben mentions above. SemanticMantis (talk) 21:51, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

But this is not default behaviour for wither WMP or the Windows Store Films & TV player so it sounds like something the OP set up. I believe both will show the UI (including play etc buttons) when paused and it will not disappear over time like it does when playing if you don't do anythingand Films & TV will initially slightly grey out the video and also put the title (but this will disappear after a short time of no action) but that's all you should see. Actually it's a fairly weird problem since I'm pretty sure neither player have any ability to add news headlines by default, so it must be some sort of addon. It's a fairly weird thing, are the headlines related to the headlines the site shows when you play back on the site? If so, I've never heard of a player that does that. If you remove the news headline issue and find the UI elements a problem, I'm not sure if you can turn these off but both MPC-HC and VLC have similar default UI behaviour while paused as during playback. Nil Einne (talk) 14:39, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

No, I definitely didn't do any "set up" of anything. I am not computer tech savvy, so I don't know what I am doing. Windows Media Player is the default. So, when I open a video, the Windows Media Player (by default) is the program that plays the video. I didn't go in and change any settings at all. Wouldn't know how to. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 05:18, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Sorry. I should have been clearermore careful in my wording. This is definitely not default behaviour for WMP so it sounds like something which was set up by somene on the computer that is being used; whether it's the OP, the manufacturer of the computer or someone else. Nil Einne (talk) 11:56, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

By default, YouTube turns on annotations and all kinds of other garbage to hide the video. If you click the gear, you can uncheck a lot of that garbage. However, it goes back to checked as soon as the next video starts. So, you have to uncheck it every time you watch a video. 199.15.144.250 (talk) 19:06, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Are you talking about the web site You Tube? Or that You Tube downloader software? Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:46, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

The web site (I assume, because YouTube does that and youtube-dl doesn't). -- BenRG (talk) 20:06, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:56, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

URL's

I have a problem with one of my computers which runs Windows 10 OS. It is a weird OS in my opinion. It is "free" to install but in fact it is loaded with ads and they are in your face from the moment you look at desktop. The problem however, is this. In any other OS like Win 7 if you open an editor or an email browser and place there an URL like this one:

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=39210633&nid=1017&title=have-you-seen-this-spectacular-top-tricks

it will be highlighted. You can click on it and this will invoke an internet page you can use. In Windows 10 the URL's are not highlighted and you cannot click on them.

My question is: Is there a way to change this bug and I consider it a bug.

Thanks, ---AboutFace 22 (talk) 20:45, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

That's a feature/nonfeature of particular Windows software, not of Windows itself. You need to specify which editor or email program you're using. If you had an editor/email program that you liked on Windows 7, you can probably use it on Windows 10. You don't have to switch to Windows Store appware.

Re the ads, I don't know which ones you mean but they can probably be switched off in the OS settings. See e.g. this article about Start menu "suggestions". -- BenRG (talk) 22:01, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

The email browser is Outlook Web Application, light version. Thanks, --AboutFace 22 (talk) 19:19, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Is Adobe trying to keep me from reading their license agreement ?

1) A pop-up says, in English, that I need to update my Adobe PDF reader.

2) I have to check a box that says, in English, that I have read the license agreement.

3) The license agreement is not on that page, but there is a link, in English.

4) That link brings me to a page with every license agreement they have, with the titles in English.

5) I find what I think is the right one, and click on it.

6) It forgets that I speak English and pops up something in Arabic that's 304 pages long.

7) Scanning through it, it seems to have every language known to man.

8) Even if I could find the English version in there, the original pop-up is an "always on top" window, meaning I can only see a bit around the edges.

It looks very much to me like they don't want me to read their license agreement, therefore I quit the install instead. So, is there some point at which they make reading their licence agreement so difficult, that they are no longer protected from legal liability by the check box ? Could they just include an address and ask us to mail them a stamped, self-addressed envelope ? Could they say I have to go to corporate HQ and wait in line for a year to read it ? Just what are the limits ? StuRat (talk) 22:57, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Possibly something to email them about with regards to an error in their links as opposed to something as extreme as what you suggested. That said, here is the link for the EULA for Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, and this is the general Adobe terms. RegistryKey^(RegEdit) 01:32, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

• Solely from a legal perspective, if they were legitimately trying to make the EULA unreadable, it wouldn't be binding in court so the whole thing would be self-defeating. Our article on shrink wrap contract has a few examples of cases where the EULA was considered too hidden and therefore unenforceable. Smurrayinchester 08:50, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

• But, of course, the Reference Desk does not give legal advice. --69.159.61.172 (talk) 22:51, 8 April 2016 (UTC)