They work ok for me. The BBC not long ago improved the players, and solved a problem they had with the FlashPlayer Cookies, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2011/03/bbc_media_player_update_fix_fo.html

Obviously worth clearing the browser cache and cookies, it is also worth checking security software is not blocking any pages that the BBC news uses

John99, Your research was very knowledgeable and potentially of great help. However, I am unable to tell if these will solve the problem I am experiencing, or not.

 The blog entries were interesting reading, but gave no instruction on how to make use of the improvements of which they spoke.
 Your comments on cleaning and checking were very encouraging; however, I am in need of more concert directions.

Thank you, Eve L Doer

Are you in the UK and using a UK ISP or are you outside the UK.

Can you give an example of the video feed (its link or URL as shown in the location bar etc) at the BBC you are trying to use, is it one of the live channels or recordings intended for mainly UK only use and branded as iPlayer, or are you trying to use the ordinary news pages which may include video clips such as: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
is the above page ok, if it currently has video clips on it do they play ?

It is probably worth trying the iPlayer diagnostics to see if that completes without any problems: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics
with a video capable internet connection it should run and complete in only a matter of tens of seconds.

Clearing cookies and the firefox browser cache is explained here:

• How to clear the Firefox cache <-- blue links are clickable --

Potentially security software, can block scripts or parts of web pages displaying properly.

John99, First of all; thanks for hanging in with me. I am in the USofA and am using an ISP from here (TWC-Roadrunner). Using the link you provided for BBC video clips I learned that the two I tried didn't work. I went on to the link to the BBC Diagnostics you provided. download speed = 8684 kbps Speed 1 = 10738 kbps Speed 2 = 21559 kbps Speed 3 = 20172 kbps

Connection speeds 17489 kbps (n/a) TV-HD 1500 green check TV 800 green check TV 500 green check Radio 128 green check

Then, using the link you provided, I cleaned my cache. I then linked to the first and attempted, once again, to view a [[video|http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13501695]]. It still failed to work.

I understand that my security software (Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security) may cause problems, but point out that the only site I have had trouble with is BBC.

Once again, thank you.

Eve L Doer

What you get in Canada will differ slightly from what I get in the UK. The UK service is for instance advert free, overseas services are not.

The fact the diagnostics works is a good sign. The specific video clip you link to works ok for me. The top video clip being about the Tornados.

What exactly do you see, is it a blank square where the clip is, and if you right click that what info do you get. I see

• EMP v.3.0.0.r426652_426614_1
• 13501695 | 800kbps | AK 3.5

Do you get all the text and still images ok ?

You probably need to check that security software or adblockers firewall etc are not blocking anything. I note some of the addreses associated with the BBC clip include

• http://static.bbc.co.uk/ ...
• http://node1.bbcimg.co.uk/ ...
• http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/ ...
• http://playlists.bbc.co.uk/ ...

I mention this because any security safelists you have may need to include a lot more than just http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

Obviously you will have javascript enabled in firefox. It would be worth checking using firefox

• Tools -> Page Info ( Keyboard Alt T, I)
  try and look to see if anything is obviously blocked.

I do note you have an up to date version of Flash Player, so that should not be a problem. You could consider temporarily disabling security software to see if that helps, but ensure it is re-enabled afterwards, and that it is only the single bbc site you try to access.

Unfortunately BBC customer support may not be what is expected from a major international internet media company, especially when supporting its international users. BBC sometimes seems to have difficulty tracking down CDN problems. Of course it must be remembered it is an odd quasi government organisation with constraints on both its income from licence fees, the profits it is permitted to make and services it is allowed to provide.

John99, I now suddenly am able to access videos on BBC. I haven't been able to do this for a very long time.

Why this took place I do not know. Now, earlier today, or last evening, I did get a notice of a software upgrade. I activated it and moved along, not giving it much thought. I am unable to locate it, again. Wish I could.

What I have been able to watch was the News Minute, or whatever it is they call it. It is the one where the music is played and there are some line graphics that portray three or four concentric partial globes.

I am not Canadian, I am American (as in citizen of United States of America). I saw no commercial notices; like - please buy our excellent product.

So, it appears to be working and I am unsure as to why that is so.

If you still have questions about what pops up when I right-click or have an idea of where to check out what recent updates I have added; please let me know.

Thank you very much, Eve L Doer

Glad it works.

Not sure why I thought you were Canadian, possibly I just saw Canada related clips on the link you provided. The reason I asked about the info from right clicking is that certainly on some of the Embedded Media Players that the BBC uses or has used this will sometimes display error messages when there is a problem.

The only software besides the OS/browser usually needed to view the BBC video clips is Flash Player. Sometimes an update to the browser of flashplayer could cause a problem with the upgraded software not being recognised by some form of security software, there have even been occasional reports of security software blocking firefox upgrades.

I did expect you would see adverts, whereas the UK version is totally advert free, so I wondered if say some adblock software may block some of the BBC site and potentially cause problems. The BBC newsite was totally revamped last year, and a prime reason for that was to provide space for adverts, as mentioned in BBC ...U.K. Broadcaster Plans to Grab More Media Dollars, Not Pounds and the BBC's own news story a few years earlier http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7050625.stm

The problem could have been with the BBC Content Distribution Network, they do have problems with this overseas, but I would intuitively have thought that was less likely on any streams that carry advertisements, the BBC has an obvious incentive/obligation to make those reliable. So for instance the advert free Overseas Radio service can be problematic.

Thank you for all your help, and encouragement.

Eve L Doer

If the videos are Flash videos, you may have turned off an option in Flash preferences to not allow sites to store Flash cookies on your machine. BBC videos made in Flash expect to be able to store Flash cookies, so the videos may not work with this Flash option turned off.

Go to Flash Global Storage Settings Panel which is served from Adobe/Macromedia's site and check the "Allow third-party Flash content..." box, where you can then manage sites you have already visited. You'll have to reload the BBC page after you change this setting.