Uassets: NationalGeographic.com - Video playback issue (uBlock Legacy fix needed)

[THEtomaso]

Affected site:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/

Issue:

Huge delay before video playback starts (relative to the length of a blocked video ad).

Note:

Chromium browsers seems to be unaffected.

Examples:

https://video.nationalgeographic.com/

Known problem filters:

* EasyList:
.net/ad/$~object-subrequest
/admanager.$~object-subrequest,domain=~admanager.google.com
||fwmrm.net^$~object-subrequest,third-party

* Malvertising list by Disconnect:
fwmrm.net

* MVPS HOSTS:
1c6e2.v.fwmrm.net
m.v.fwmrm.net

* Schacks Adblock Plus liste:
||fwmrm.net

Filter suitable for a potential fix:

• uBlock filters - Legacy

Semi-fix (not a viable solution, since it also allows video ads):

@@||v.fwmrm.net^$domain=nationalgeographic.com

Reference (Pale Moon forum):

https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21694/

--

• OS/version: Windows 8.1 Pro (x64)
• Browser/version: Pale Moon v28.4.0 (x64)
• Adblock Extension/version: uBlock Origin v1.16.4.10 (XUL)

[THEtomaso]

Think I've solved it..
By limiting the requests to v.fwmrm.net to scripts only, the ads seems to be skipped just fine!:
@@||v.fwmrm.net^$script,domain=nationalgeographic.com
(awaiting confirmation(s) in the Pale Moon forum)

--

EDIT:
Nah, scratch that.
After some further testing, I've confirmed that the ads are still there.
It's a bit hard to reproduce though, because even with a empty cache, sometimes an ad will play, and sometimes it won't!

[okiehsch]

Does
||fwmrm.net/ad/*$script,redirect=noopjs,domain=nationalgeographic.com @@||fwmrm.net/*/fox_live/AdManager.js$script,domain=nationalgeographic.com
help?

[THEtomaso]

Yes, it helps.
With those rules in place, the ads are skipped, and the delay before the playback starts is much shorter than before.
I'd say that the delay is about 6 seconds for most videos now, although it's still as much as 13 seconds for some.

[okiehsch]

I can reproduce a delay using Firefox stable, so I added the Firefox specific filters to uBO-filters.

[THEtomaso]

With the !#if env_firefox condition in place, the rules doesn't work for Pale Moon though.

[okiehsch]

I also added them to the legacy list without the !#if condition.
https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/commit/b05bd23817a8f46f8c4b51ba94f6e4da5b89b7f1

[THEtomaso]

Great! :)

Just one question..
Shouldn't all of the conditions for issue #5120 be removed from the Legacy filter?
I mean, why would anyone use that filter if they aren't using a FF legacy based browser?

[okiehsch]

Users of Firefox 24 to Firefox 56 will also use the legacy list and could potentially benefit from the condition.
I can reproduce pre-roll ads if I add
@@||svonm.com/hd-main.js$script,domain=kicker.de|kino.de|videos.giga.de|video.spieletipps.de
using Firefox stable.

[THEtomaso]

OK.
Closing this one now.