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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - Streaming Media

GENERAL HELP:

*The video quality is poor
*Why does the video stop and restart or skip?
*Can I use Quicktime to watch videos?

WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER HELP:

*Why do the videos frequently pause to buffer?
*Windows Media Player screen is green with pink wavy lines.
*Setting the Windows Media Player to work behind a proxy or firewall
*Every time I try to open a video, it says that the file path is incorrect.
*Whenever I try to view a video, it tries to connect to the server, then it says "closed."
*When I click on a video, I hear the audio but I don't see a video picture.
*I received a "connection to the server failed," "could not connect to the server," or similar error.
*I have a T1 or cable connection but whenever I try to watch a video, it's choppy or the frame rate is much slower than the audio rate.
*Every time I go to play the video, I get a GPF error.
*I received a "your security settings do not allow the new decompressor to be installed" error message.
*In Windows Media Player, every time I try to play a video it says "the specified stream type is not recognized," the colors appear strange, or I see the video fine but I don't hear anything.
*In Windows Media Player, I clicked on a video, and it asked if I wanted to download and install a new codec. What should I do? Or I installed a new codec, and now I'm having problems watching or hearing the videos.
*Why am I not able to hear the audio?

REALPLAYER HELP:

*Why do the videos frequently pause to buffer?

GENERAL HELP

The video quality is poor.

The problem may be with the speed of your Internet connection. Users with fast connections such as T1 lines, cable modems, and DSL connections are able to watch our videos at a much higher quality than our 56K and 28K dial-up modem users. Streaming video over the Internet requires a great deal of bandwidth, and unfortunately 56K and slower connections are not fast enough to give you the quality picture you are probably looking for.

Why does the video stop and restart or skip?

If your player is skipping, your selected bandwidth might be too high for your actual Internet connection. You need to lower your bandwidth setting. On the player, underneath the video is the option "Select Bandwidth." The setting that is linked is the option you can change to. Selecting a smaller number than the current displayed one will restart the video at a lower bandwidth setting. This should prevent skipping. Streaming video over the Internet requires a great deal of bandwidth, and unfortunately 56K and slower connections are not fast enough. Because of this GGU does not offer video for 56k dial up users. To watch video, you are required to have either a DSL, cable modem, or T1 Internet connection.

Can I use Quicktime to watch videos? No, our videos are not compatible with Quicktime. You must install the RealOne Player or the Microsoft Media Player to watch our videos.

Why do the videos frequently pause to buffer? If the videos frequently buffer, then it means that you are not maintaining a fast enough connection to our servers to watch the video at the speed you selected. First, configure your player to accept HTTP streams:

Windows Media Player 7 and above Configuring your player to accept HTTP streams:

Open Windows Media Player.
On the menu bar, select "Tools" and pull down to "Options."
In Options, select the "Network" tab.
Under Protocols, uncheck "Multicast, UDP, and TCP." Only HTTP should be checked.
Then hit "OK" to close this window, and "OK" again to close the Options window.
If that doesn't fix it, try increasing your buffering rate in the player:
Open the Windows Media Player.
Pull down the Tools menu and select "Options."
Select "Performance."
Under Network Buffering, select "Buffer."
Adjust buffering to "30 seconds of data."
Click "OK."
Close and reopen your web browser.

Windows Media Player screen is green with pink wavy lines. Often issues such as this are caused by conflicts with your current video card drivers. The easiest way to correct the problem is to reduce your hardware acceleration settings to "none."

Solution: Open the Windows Media Player software, and follow these steps to turn off hardware acceleration.

Windows Media Player 6.4:

Choose the "View" menu.
Select "Options."
Set the Hardware Acceleration slider in the bottom-right corner of the General tab to "None."

Windows Media Player 7 and above:

Choose the "Tools" menu.
Select "Options."
Select the "Performance" tab.
Set the Hardware Acceleration slider to "None."

Setting the Windows Media Player to work behind a proxy or firewall (not for people with modems or other kinds of direct connections to the Internet). Some schools and offices have firewalls or proxy servers which are between your computer and the Internet. If this is your case, you need to set up Windows Media Player to pass through the firewall.

Open Windows Media Player 6.4.
Click "View," located on the Windows Media Player toolbar.
Select "Options."
Click on the "Advanced" tab.
Click "Streaming Media (Windows Media)" to highlight.
Click the "Change.." button.
At the bottom of the page, verify that the "HTTP" option is checked.
If you already know that your web browser is configured to use a web proxy, select the option labeled "Use Browser Settings." If you know the proxy address and port number follow these steps:
Select "Use Proxy."
Click the "Configure Proxy Settings" button.
Insert the proxy address and insert the correct port number, either 80 or 8080.
Click "OK."
Click "OK" to return to the Advanced Options dialog box.
Click "OK" to return to the Windows Media Player.
Click "OK."

Every time I try to open a video, it says that the file path is incorrect. This can be caused by a number of problems. If every video you try to watch on our site returns this error, it is a temporary problem caused by our streaming server breaking down from excess usage. During regular business, hours this should only take a few minutes to fix once we are aware of the problem, so check back soon and everything should work. On the other hand, if you only receive this error for one particular video, then it is possible that the video file has been corrupted, and we would appreciate your feedback so we can fix it.

Whenever I try to view a video, it tries to connect to the server, then it says "closed." To find out more information on what the error is, right-click in the viewing window of your Windows Media Player after it says "closed" and select "Error Details" from the menu. This should give you more information on what the problem is so you can find the correct help topic here.

When I click on a video, I hear the audio but I don't see a video picture. There are a few reasons why you may not be able to view the video content streaming from our servers. They are included below, with the most common causes listed first.

You may be attempting to watch the material at a higher bandwidth than your Internet connection currently supports. To change the speed at which the Windows Media Player attempts to download content, please follow these steps:

Start Windows Media Player.
On the Tools menu, select "Options."
Click the "Performance" tab.
In the "My connection speed is" box, choose the appropriate setting. You should set this speed to match the speed of your Internet connection.
Click "OK."

The second reason may be that your Windows Media Player is not currently set as the default application for video streaming. This can occur if you install another application and allow it to 'claim' these file type associations. To correct this, follow these steps:

Start Windows Media Player.
On the Tools menu, select "Options."
Click the "File Types" tab.
In this area, ensure that the "Windows Media," "Windows Media Audio," and "Windows Media Video" file types are selected.
Click "OK."
Please let us know if the above solutions do not correct your problem.

I received a "connection to the server failed," "could not connect to the server," or similar error. Chances are we are experiencing heavy web traffic which is tying up our streaming server. Try to watch the video again later, and it should be fine.

I have a T1 or cable connection but whenever I try to watch a video, it's choppy or the frame rate is much slower than the audio rate. If you have tried increasing your buffer size and made sure you have the proper bandwidth selected, then most likely this is caused by you having either outdated hardware (a Pentium or lower), an outdated operating system (Win 3.1), an outdated browser (Netscape 3, IE 3), or not enough memory, video RAM, etc. The Windows media codecs are optimized for Pentium III and run fine on Pentium II, but on a Pentium or lower, they choke completely. Also you need a decent amount of system resources, RAM, VRAM, etc., to get good results.

Every time I go to play the video, I get a GPF error. This kind of error usually pops up due to a software conflict or improper install of system level software. Please try the latest update for Windows and Internet Explorer.

I received a "your security settings do not allow the new decompressor to be installed" error message. This is caused by Windows Media Player trying to automatically install a newer version of the codec needed to play the video. Before you click to watch the video, set your browser's security in the Preferences (or Internet Options) to "Low." Then click to watch the video, and you should not get this error.

After you have watched the video, you can set your browser security back to "Medium" or "High" and watch all the videos you want since Windows Media Player will have properly installed the newer version of the codec.

In Windows Media Player, every time I try to play a video it says "the specified stream type is not recognized," the colors appear strange, or I see the video fine but I don't hear anything. You might need the newest Windows codec (the compression algorithm for the media file). When you first attempted to install Windows Media Player, you may not have had the necessary permission to install software or your Internet security may have been set to "Medium" or "High." This will prevent the codecs from being properly installed. Change your Internet security to "Low" during the installation process, or see your network administrator for proper installation.

In Windows Media Player, I clicked on a video, and it asked if I wanted to download and install a new codec. What should I do? Or I installed a new codec, and now I'm having problems watching or hearing the videos. If you try to view a video and your computer asks you if you want to install a new codec, first check your security settings before selecting "yes." In Internet Explorer, in either the View or the Tools menu, find the "Internet Options" dialog box and open it. Click on the "Security" tab in this window. Make sure that your security setting for the Internet Zone is set to "Low" before installing the new codecs. If you select "yes" to add a new codec, you must restart your system for the new codec to function properly. If you installed a new codec, but did not follow these instructions, you may now be having problems. If you are having problems after installing a new codec, please go to: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/video.aspx Simply download the software and install it. Once installation is complete, restart your system. You should then be able to see and hear all videos properly.

Why am I not able to hear the audio? There are several possible causes of this problem. We suggest that you check each of the following to be sure your system is configured correctly:

Check that your external speakers or headphones are fully connected.
Check to verify that you are able to hear system alerts or other computer sounds (this would ensure that there isn't a problem with your sound card or speakers).
Be sure that the audio level on your speakers is not turned down too low or turned off.
Make sure the Windows Media Player is not muted or that the sound level is not set too low.
If you are connecting from your workplace or on a home network, are you behind proxy server(firewall)? If so, you may need to configure your Windows Media Player(See above).
If you are still unable to resolve the problem, please contact our customer support department by selecting the 'No' button at the bottom of this page.

REALPLAYER HELP:

Why do the videos frequently pause to buffer? If the videos frequently buffer, then it means that you are not maintaining a fast enough connection to our servers to watch the video at the speed you selected. First, configure your player to accept HTTP streams:

Open the RealOne Player.
On the menu bar, select "Tools" and then pull down to "Preferences."
In the Preferences window, select the + icon next to Connection.
Select the "Playback Settings" option.
Locate "Buffered Play" under Playback Settings.
Adjust buffering to "30 seconds of the clip before playing."
Click "OK."