Emailed alert video clips no longer preview in Gmail (browser)

erkme73

BIT Beta Team
Nov 9, 2014
1,578
1,491
It's a bit hard to describe this in the title, but here's what I'm looking for...

I have my BI alerts send me a few sequential jpg images and a 10-second clip via email any time the criteria is met (driveway alert is triggered).

In the past, I'd the clip was directly playable in my Gmail inbox web page (Brave/Chrome). It would pop up a preview in what amounts to an embedded YouTube player - thereby negating the need to physically download the clip and playing it with an external video player.

Along the way, something has changed and now when the alert arrives, I can see the jpg images, but when I get to the video clip I get this:

upload_2019-5-7_10-6-15.png
And if I click on the mp4 video, where it used to play, it now shows this:

upload_2019-5-7_10-7-6.png

I'm certain that this is a self-inflicted problem that I inadvertently created - but at this point I figured I'd ask...
 
It appears that the "new Gmail" interface is not compatible with mp4 videos. Fortunately, there is a Chrome/Brave plugin which will restore the ability to play them without having to download the file.

Extension for either Chrome or Brave can be found here: Gmail Mod

I can't speak to the trustworthiness of the extension, but it has good (but few) reviews, and it does appear to work as stated. There is a new "play" button that is generated in the thumbnail:

upload_2019-5-7_21-52-49.png