Topic: NEW: Microsoft Edge integrated browser (Read 12498 times)

Hendrik · « **on:** April 08, 2021, 06:29:11 am »

In Media Center 28, we are adding a new default integrated browser, displacing the ageing Internet Explorer.

This move was made possible by Microsoft exposing their new Chromium-based Edge browser to applications, replacing the old Internet Explorer based integration.
The new Edge being based on Chromium makes it a prime choice for integration, with the same capabilities and performance as Chromium itself, but with an easier integration and avoiding a large additional download.

Edge offers full support for DRM Video playback, allowing playback of videos on Amazon Prime or Netflix, and YouTube does allow log-in from Edge, which has stopped working with both IE and Chromium after changes made by YouTube.

Installing Microsoft Edge is not required for the integration to work. Instead we install the Microsoft WebView2 component during the Media Center installation, if its not present on the system already.
All versions of Windows, 7 to 10, are supported.

Edge is the new default browser in Media Center 28, so no further actions should be required to make use of it.
You can confirm the browser choice in the Options, Tree & View -> Web Browser

SamuriHL · « **Reply #1 on:** April 08, 2021, 08:12:14 am »

This is great. I want to play around with this when I get some time.

mwillems · « **Reply #2 on:** April 08, 2021, 09:11:17 am »

The Linux and Mac versions will still presumably rely on Chromium, though, right?

Hendrik · « **Reply #3 on:** April 08, 2021, 10:22:13 am »

Quote from: mwillems on April 08, 2021, 09:11:17 am

The Linux and Mac versions will still presumably rely on Chromium, though, right?

Of course, Edge is for Windows only.

mwillems · « **Reply #4 on:** April 08, 2021, 11:06:22 am »

I wasn't sure if they were packaging it for other platforms. There had been some rumblings from MS sources about packaging Edge for other OS's at some point after the re-base to Chromium, I just wasn't sure if that had actually happened/was going to happen.

Thanks for the confirmation!

mattkhan · « **Reply #5 on:** April 08, 2021, 11:15:26 am »

Quote from: mwillems on April 08, 2021, 11:06:22 am

I wasn't sure if they were packaging it for other platforms. There had been some rumblings from MS sources about packaging Edge for other OS's at some point after the re-base to Chromium, I just wasn't sure if that had actually happened/was going to happen.

there is a dev build of edge for linux available with a beta reportedly coming soon, whether it has advantage over chromium on linux is another Q though (which I don't know the answer to)

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #6 on:** April 08, 2021, 12:07:22 pm »

As far as I can tell the MC Edge support relies on WebView2, which is a Windows-only technology. So even if you could use the Edge core on Mac and Linux, it'd likely function exactly like Chromium with the same limitations, so there's probably no point using anything other than Chromium there.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview2/

mattkhan · « **Reply #7 on:** April 08, 2021, 12:43:42 pm »

by advantage I meant DRM, if (probably a big if) they did bring that to linux then that looks like a meaningful difference to me

Hendrik · « **Reply #8 on:** April 08, 2021, 03:11:13 pm »

If such an ability comes available on Linux as well, we might look into it, however the browser itself and the API to embed it are two different things, so even if they have plans for that, it might take a while.

David Sydney · « **Reply #9 on:** May 07, 2021, 10:47:32 pm »

Sounds great,... I have been looking forward to being able to log into Youtube via MC again so I can replicate my old VHS mix tapes from the 1990s!!

I tried before and they worked, but I did not realise that the link expires after 1 or 2 days when you are not logged in to youtube.

jachin99 · « **Reply #10 on:** May 08, 2021, 08:59:11 am »

Cool. Now if someone uses plex or emby, I wonder if that person could bring up the Emby/Plex web app in edge, and cast videos from one of their mobile apps to the running instance of plex or emby in edge chromium in JRiver. I know I can cast emby videos to any running instance of emby in a browser so I'm guessing it would work with plex also?

David Sydney · « **Reply #11 on:** May 08, 2021, 05:45:09 pm »

I hope the Webview2 embedded version is less of a memory hog that plain Edge. I have been researching last week what is going on with it. It works well but it is a massive memory hog. Open it after reboot and load about 3 pages and it clocks in at using over 300 MB of memory. Perhaps it allocated based on how much it sees the system having, rather than what it needs. Either way it's huge. I have been trying to work out if it a bug or what, my system is fully updated.

MrGadget · « **Reply #12 on:** May 10, 2021, 05:17:27 pm »

MS Edge is a horrible resource hog. I always uninstall it (with Revo Uninstaller) every time a windows update re-installs it. I use Chrome for JRiver, but my default browser is Firefox.

JimH · « **Reply #13 on:** May 10, 2021, 06:01:22 pm »

We're talking about the browser engine, not the browser. We haven't seen any problems yet.

bmoura · « **Reply #14 on:** May 24, 2021, 01:48:18 am »

Quote from: Hendrik on April 08, 2021, 10:22:13 am

Of course, Edge is for Windows only.

Edge is now available for IOS as well. I'm using it here on an iPad.

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #15 on:** May 24, 2021, 03:57:22 am »

Quote from: bmoura on May 24, 2021, 01:48:18 am

Edge is now available for IOS as well. I'm using it here on an iPad.

One thing to keep in mind is, on iOS all web browsers are required by Apple to use Safari's WebKit engine. They can't use their own on iOS (so Blink for Chrome/Edge/Opera/Vivaldi/etc. and Gecko/Quantum for Firefox). Essentially this means all web browsers on iOS are Safari skins.

What Jim and Hendrik means is the Edge-based WebView2 component which MC28 now uses is Windows only.

JimH · « **Reply #16 on:** May 24, 2021, 06:36:55 am »

Quote from: Awesome Donkey on May 24, 2021, 03:57:22 am

One thing to keep in mind is, on iOS all web browsers are required by Apple to use Safari's WebKit engine. They can't use their own on iOS (so Blink for Chrome/Edge/Opera/Vivaldi/etc. and Gecko/Quantum for Firefox). Essentially this means all web browsers on iOS are Safari skins.

That says a lot about Apple. It's unfortunate.

jesseinsf · « **Reply #17 on:** June 22, 2021, 09:01:12 am »

Quote from: MrGadget on May 10, 2021, 05:17:27 pm

MS Edge is a horrible resource hog. I always uninstall it (with Revo Uninstaller) every time a windows update re-installs it. I use Chrome for JRiver, but my default browser is Firefox.

We don't care why you don't like it; we care about full Video streaming services compatibility. Edge is the ONLY browser than can stream 4K Netflix in Windows. All the other browsers do 720p or 1080p.

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #18 on:** June 22, 2021, 09:05:31 am »

Also Media Center 28 uses the Edge-based WebView2 component, not the actual Microsoft Edge browser.

P.S. In general it's worth mentioning that the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge web browser should use the same amount of resources, if not less than Google Chrome does. Microsoft has been working on improving Chromium's resource footprint so it should be equal to or less than Chrome's.

slerch666 · « **Reply #19 on:** June 22, 2021, 09:32:58 am »

Quote from: JimH on May 24, 2021, 06:36:55 am

That says a lot about Apple. It's unfortunate.

Google requires similar for Android so they followed Apple's lead there.

mwillems · « **Reply #20 on:** June 22, 2021, 09:45:59 am »

Quote from: slerch666 on June 22, 2021, 09:32:58 am

Google requires similar for Android so they followed Apple's lead there.

I'm not sure that's true. As far as I know there's no requirement for browsers to use blink or chromium on android, Firefox offers an android browser that uses it's own native rendering engine that's not based on chromium. It's true that, as a descriptive matter, most modern browsers are chromium based, but I don't think that's an android requirement just a fact of market reality (firefox and safari are the main remaining holdouts). I think Apple is pretty much alone on mandating a browser backend on their platforms.

slerch666 · « **Reply #21 on:** June 22, 2021, 09:56:56 am »

Quote from: mwillems on June 22, 2021, 09:45:59 am

I'm not sure that's true. As far as I know there's no requirement for browsers to use blink or chromium on android, Firefox offers an android browser that uses it's own native rendering engine that's not based on chromium. It's true that, as a descriptive matter, most modern browsers are chromium based, but I don't think that's an android requirement just a fact of market reality (firefox and safari are the main remaining holdouts). I think Apple is pretty much alone on mandating a browser backend on their platforms.

Hmm.

Good. I was under the impression Google was doing the same crap practice as Apple, but if not, good for them. And a more open world.

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #22 on:** June 22, 2021, 10:14:39 am »

No, Google doesn't do that. Firefox, like mentioned, uses its own Gecko/Quantium rendering engine on Android and not Chromium's Blink. Other browsers also use their own rendering engine.

It's just on iOS that Apple forces all web browsers to use Safari's WebKit rendering engine and not their own.

parmafran · « **Reply #23 on:** June 23, 2021, 04:42:00 pm »

Any way someone could fork Ublock Origin so it works in JRiver's Edge Browser?

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #24 on:** June 24, 2021, 03:52:23 am »

That's unlikely, because Media Center doesn't use the full Microsoft Edge, it uses the WebView2 component which is based on Edge. Don't think it's possible to install browser extensions into that.

JimH · « **Reply #25 on:** June 24, 2021, 07:00:55 am »

Quote from: Awesome Donkey on June 24, 2021, 03:52:23 am

That's unlikely, because Media Center doesn't use the full Microsoft Edge, it uses the WebView2 component which is based on Edge. Don't think it's possible to install browser extensions into that.

Let's hope not.

jsmith967 · « **Reply #26 on:** June 25, 2021, 06:38:21 am »

Does this integration mean that we can use JRiver processing (audio or video) on streaming content? For example, MadVR or DSP on Netflix?

JimH · « **Reply #27 on:** June 25, 2021, 06:43:29 am »

Audio yes because you're using JRiver's WDM Driver.

Video no.

nathanchavez · « **Reply #28 on:** July 27, 2021, 06:36:05 pm »

On my Win10x64 system, MC 28.0.44 does not work well using the edge engine. When I select it and then try to go to any pre-installed bookmark (like Youtube) nothing happens; the page does not even load. I get a message that tells me to use the most recent version of MC, which I am. No components even try to download or load. If I switch the engine back to chromium everything runs fine.

JimH · « **Reply #29 on:** July 27, 2021, 06:43:05 pm »

Try the same thing outside MC, in a browser, just to see what happens.

nathanchavez · « **Reply #30 on:** July 28, 2021, 04:34:22 pm »

Quote from: JimH on July 27, 2021, 06:43:05 pm

Try the same thing outside MC, in a browser, just to see what happens.

If I launch edge outside of MC it launches just fine. It's not my primary driver; I still prefer firefox. Interestingly, I did a repair install of Edge and was was still unable to get anything to launch using that engine in MC28.

pr1me · « **Reply #31 on:** August 15, 2021, 10:11:41 pm »

anyone can login youtube with JRiver 28 with the edge engine ? it still doesn't work for me

ths61 · « **Reply #32 on:** August 28, 2021, 03:46:43 pm »

Anyway to install MC28 without MS Edge and WebView2 ?

I don't use MC for web videos.

Thanks

David Sydney · « **Reply #33 on:** August 29, 2021, 06:43:47 pm »

Quote from: pr1me on August 15, 2021, 10:11:41 pm

anyone can login youtube with JRiver 28 with the edge engine ? it still doesn't work for me

Yes works fine for me & updates my history?

Gatherum · « **Reply #34 on:** September 29, 2021, 05:07:51 pm »

What do?

ppp8816 · « **Reply #35 on:** October 14, 2021, 01:26:15 am »

Quote from: Goatshade on September 29, 2021, 05:07:51 pm

What do?

I'm in the same situation, is there any solution?

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #36 on:** October 15, 2021, 04:47:02 am »

There's a good chance Google might've started blocking the WebView2 version of Edge from being able to log into Google, YouTube, etc. like they've done with all other embedded browsers like CEF.

Gatherum · « **Reply #37 on:** October 16, 2021, 02:27:23 am »

CrazyBlue · « **Reply #38 on:** March 02, 2022, 11:59:47 am »

Problem resolved.

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Author Topic: NEW: Microsoft Edge integrated browser (Read 12498 times)