Unable to open video files

[Charleyono]

I had no trouble watching the videos the first time (or two?) that I visited the site, however; I am now unable to do so. When using Firefox and I click on the video, the viewing area becomes totally white. So, I tried using Explorer and I receive a message which reads, "Error: Feed has an error or in not valid." Tried visiting Adobe - unable to find a solution.
I open all other links with no difficulty, youtube, email attachments, newscasts, etc. So far, I've only encountered trouble on this particular site.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[AndrewB]

Works for me at this time. Maybe a temporary system outage at the video hosting site?

[Charleyono]

(08-09-2010, 04:55 PM)AndrewB Wrote:  Works for me at this time. Maybe a temporary system outage at the video hosting site?

I just tried it again with the same results. I wonder what it could be?

There's a feature on Firefox that shows the sequence of events that take place when the system attempts to connect to a different website. The text sequence is very fast, so it is very difficult to track. I did notice, however, that one of the sites it scans is Facebook. I have set my Facebook account privacy settings to 'Friends Only', but I'm sure that has nothing to do with it.

I'm at a loss, I haven't got a clue. Any techies out there wanna give this a shot?

[Bill]

try clearing out the cache?

[AndrewB]

If you surf to http://www.blip.tv/ , can you play content from there? And from youtube as well?

Might you have noScript as an addon or AdBlock as an ad blocker?


Andrew

[Alex Ramon]

Not sure if you already installed Adobe Flash player, but it is required to view videos. I believe it is a separate install for firefox and IE. You can get it for free here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

[Charleyono]

I have the latest Version of FlashPlayer loaded. I checked and I do not have NoScript as an Add-On
and Kaspersky has an Anti Banner Block feature, which is not turned on. I checked the Active X settings, all seems to be OK. I did notice that I cannot play the files from http://www.blip.tv/
but I can open files from YouTube with no problems. That's got to be a clue! I think you're on to something, Andrew.

[AndrewB]

blip.tv is where Alex's videos are served from.

So if you go here, what version is reported of Adobe Flash: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/completion/dlm/

As of today, it should be 10,1,82,76 (or 10.1.82.76). Adobe released a new version on 8/10 to cover some security holes related to streaming videos.

[Charleyono]

Thanks! I was unaware that there was a new version of FlashPlayer. I downloaded it with great expectations, only to be disappointed again. My problem remains.

[Charleyono]

I visited http://www.blip.tv/ to verify that there was no change, and I noticed that there was a support feature on that website. I placed an inquiry there, so hopefully, between here and there
is a path to somewhere! LOL

[AndrewB]

I found as I was updating my various computers last night, that often I had to close Firefox before doing the Flash installation. That wasn't clear in some of the instructions, as the installation would claim it's done, and then I'd go to that URL I listed above and I'd still have the older version. So when you visit that URL, you are getting the latest version reported?

Good idea on contacting blip. Maybe they have others with similar problems they can associate you with. It might also be good to tell them that you can see videos on youtube, hulu, and other web video sites so you can tell them it's probably something between you and them rather than your pc.

[Charleyono]

I am using Firefox and I am aware that the browser needs to close to download Flashplayer. I verified that version 10.1.82.76 was indeed downloaded. blip was absolutely no help because they said it wasn't their problem, that no other had reported trouble. I know it's a setting on my desktop because
my wife's laptop works on the site just fine. The two machines use different browsers. hers is IE,
other than that, the same anti-virus, same ISP.

---

Another anomaly I've noticed, when I select a video to play on the working laptop, the task bar at the bottom of the screen reads, connecting to bikeride.com. When I do it on my desktop, the screen bottom goes thru a longer sequence, connecting to bikeride.com, gravatar,com, google analytics, facebook, & blip. Then nothing, a white screen.

[Bill]

One of the things you can check is file extensions and associations. I really do not remember how it is done but maybe one of the players you installed in a previous time took over as the default player?

[Charleyono]

When I right click on the video page, I get a drop down menu, which includes Flash player settings options, so I'm sure the FlashPlayer is at play here. I've noticed that bicycletutor and bliptv use UTF-8 Encoding. The files I'm able to play do not. Also, when I attempt to access this Repair Forum, I get an error message which reads, "Google Error-Not Found. The registered URL thread-1996-newpost.html was not found on this server." I had to go to a different computer to enter this message.

[Charleyono]

Well, I wish to modify my previous statement. I visited http://www.hulu.com and fancast.com, which both use Unicode UTF-8 Encoding, and the videos open nicely. The Google Error, which occurs when trying to open the forum, doesn't happen every time, just occasionally. So, now I'm back to square one. The only two sites I have difficulty with are bikeride.com and bliptv. Isn't that odd? What is so different about these two sites??

[Charleyono]

Success! Success! Success! Success! Success! Success! Success! Success! Success!

I hope this helps some others who may be experiencing the same problem. I wouldn't have gone through so much trouble if I didn't love this site! I wanted my videos back - and now I've got them!
Time to Celebrate!! Here's what the problem was:
FlashPlayer Global Settings Panel - Ensure that the box is checked, next to "Allow third party Flash content to store data on your computer."
Dah! Sometimes it's the simplest things in life that cause the most grief.
Thank you so much, Andrew B, Bill, Alex, for taking the time to help me. I really do appreciate it!

[AndrewB]

Wow, I'd have never thought of that. Congrats!

[Bill]

Yea I would have not thought of that one, but indeed glad it worked out for ya .

[Charleyono]

Thanks guys

[brickman7]

Well, I found a way to finally see the vids, I started using Firefox 17.0....updated my Flash....and everything is turning out great!!!!!!!!