I've made sure I'm not using the beta version - have had a bookmark to the original page for a while. The Pirates popout is enabled and I still get the blank screen and audio.
Following the method above about changing the url gives the same outcome for me. So unless I have other issues, I've not seen any change.

Majority of programs work fine for me using the old method, but it definitely looks to be the larger bitrate videos that don't play. Low bandwidth also does the same for me.