cant play youtube or netflicks on imac g5 system 10.5.8

Not a lot of support around these days for our old PPC G5s, but there are workarounds!

I am in the same boat. I cannot watch flash videos on the BBC website or on BBC iPlayer, although all other flash videos (YouTube for example) are fine.

For reasons that passeth all understanding, they work with the PPC version of Firefox, called TenFourFoxG5.app, once you have anabled plug-ins, as it does not natively support Flash.

You can download TenFourFoxG5 from here:

http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/

Now for the interesting bit: TenFourFox, like Firefox, does not support most plug-ins. Unless you are prone to headaches (in which case don't) you can read about that here:

http://code.google.com/p/tenfourfox/wiki/PluginsNoLongerSupported

But there is a workaround!

Open TenFourFox and type in the address bar: about:config (no spaces) and click return. This gives you a warning that it might harm the application. Ignore that and click on 'I'll be careful, I promise' and you get the config file that you can edit - with great care.

Look/search (scroll down) for: tenfourfox.plugins.enabled

Set it to true. (Double click it to toggle it)

Now close TenFourFox, open it again, and Flash will now work, as it now uses the plug-ins that Safari has stored.

I am using Flash 11.5.502.55 in TenFourFox and it works just fine.

You can check here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/about/ to see which version you should install for your Mac and OS. Note that version 10,1,102,64 is the last version available to PPC Mac users*. The latest version,10.3.183.23 or later, is for Intel Macs only running Tiger or Leopard, as Adobe no longer support the PPC platform. Version 11.4.402.265 or later is for Snow Leopard onwards.

* Unhelpfully, if you want the last version for PPC (G4 or G5) Macs, you need to go here: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/142/tn_14266.html and scroll down to 'Archived Versions/Older Archives'. Flash Player 10.1.102.64 is the one you download. More information here: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/838/cpsid_83808.html

You should first uninstall any previous version of Flash Player, using the uninstaller from here (make sure you use the correct one!):

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/909/cpsid_90906.html

and also that you follow the instructions closely, such as closing ALL applications first before installing. You must also carry out a permission repair after installing anything from Adobe.

(If you are running a PPC Mac with Flash Player 10.1.102.64 and are having problems with watching videos on FaceBook or other sites, try the following solution which fools the site into thinking that you are running the version 11.5.502.55:)

Download this http://scriptogr.am/nordkril/post/adobe-flash-11.5-for-powerpc to your desktop, unzip it, and replace the current Flash Player plug-in which is in your main/Library/Internet Plug-Ins folder, (not the user Library). Save the old one just in case this one doesn't work.

With SilverLight, Microsoft attempted to create their own version of what a replacement for Flash could be - but not to universal acclaim. You can read more about it here:

http://silverlight.net/

So, if you go to any sites that have been designed for this new Silverlight stuff, you can download the plug-in from here (but make certain that you are downloading SilverLight v.1.0 for OS X (10.4.8 upwards) if you are using a PPC Mac, but even this will not work with Safari 4. Version 2 only works with Intel Macs and does work with Safari 4/5. The solution is to download and install the latest version of Flip4Mac, which now includes a Silverlight component:

http://dynamic.telestream.net/downloads/download-flip4macwmv.htm

But the latest news is that Microsoft will probably abandon Silverlight in favour of HTML5:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/10/29/apples_ios_pushes_microsoft_to_dia l_down_silverlight_for_html5.html and

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11673384

If you want to remove Silverlight the instructions are here:

http://www.microsoft.com/getsilverlight/get-started/install/removing-silverlight -mac.aspx

Recommendation: Close all applications before installing any of the above, repair permissions, reboot, and repair permissions again.

Here is your Netflix problem, straight from their system requirements page (click to enlarge if needed):

Netflix provides no support for PowerPC Macs like your G5