Troubleshooting Hints

 

Confirm a Connection
Verify that your computer has at least a 28K modem connection to the Internet. Consult with your IT person for specific questions on connection capabilities.

 

Verify that your computer has the capabilities to run compressed audio/video in real-time.
 
Video will play but I can't hear audio.
Verify that your computer contains a sound card.
Verify that your computer speakers are turned on.

 

I can hear audio, but it hisses, pops, sounds scratchy, or sometimes drops in and out.

Verify that you are using the proper and most up-to-date drivers for your sound card. Poorly implemented or incorrect sound card drivers may cause problems with compressed audio. Many users unknowingly live with bad drivers for a long time because all of the system sounds included with the operating system are uncompressed audio files which will often play correctly even with bad or mismatched drivers. Virtually any multimedia program that uses sound codecs and compressed audio files would exhibit similar behavior.

When I am watching the presentation, I hear a clicking sound every few seconds.  Can I shut off this sound?
Yes.  Go to your control panel and open Sounds.  Once the window opens for sound, find the topic that says Windows Explorer. Under Windows explorer, there will be a line that says "Start Navigation"  There should be an audio symbol next to it.  To remove this audio symbol, highlight this line, look below this to see where it says sound name, it will say "START.WAV" Click on the arrow beside this text and use the scroll bar to find the option that says "(None)" and then click apply and OK. Close out of Control panel and continue to view the presentation.
  
Why doesn't the audio/video content play?

The server may be down, the content may have been moved, or the URL to the content is wrong. In these situations you can do nothing. If the content is embedded in the HTML page, try clicking on the player's video screen. In some cases, network congestion could cause the player to time out; keep trying, or try again later when the network is less congested.
 
I can play audio/video from some sites but not others.

Most likely you are behind a corporate firewall that has not had the appropriate ports opened. For best quality and consistent results, encourage your administrator to open the appropriate ports on the firewall to allow streaming for both the Windows Media Player and the RealPlayer.

  

The quality of the video is poor.

This problem is usually associated with certain video card drivers that have difficulty with some features that the player utilizes. In many cases, simply updating the drivers for your video card will correct the problem. Following these additional steps may help to receive the best possible video image:

• Set your monitor to millions of colors

• Close all other applications on your computer

• Do not resize the video window

In a slide show presentation, images seem to have been dropped or have blocks on them where the graphics appear smeared of fuzzy.

This is most likely due to network congestion. Illustrated audio presentations are created from still images. If too much of an image's data is lost because of a bad or congested network connection, the image will be skipped and it will appear to the user that the presentation is missing an image or images. Try again when the connection is better, or be sure to select content that's targeted for the bandwidth you have available.

 

What does it mean when I receive an "error 11" message?

This error occurs when you attempt to play content with an older version of the player. If you do not have the most recent version of the the Windows Media Player or the RealPlayer download it now from our Download and Test page.

 

What does it mean when I receive an "error 19" message?

This error may occur for several reasons. The server may be down or you may be behind a corporate firewall.
 

Check Restrictions
Verify that there are no firewall restrictions on your site prohibiting you from viewing content

 

How do I receive audio/video behind a firewall?

 

RealPlayer Firewall Information
cheap hotels in Amsterdam You will need to either connect to the broadcast site from outside of the firewall or ask your MIS department to open a port, which supports audio & video streaming. Your MIS department can support the following standard ports:
 
Real Player automatically selects the most efficient transport for your network without any intervention. You should only change this setting if you are experiencing problems receiving RealAudio and Real Video clips or you have been notified by your network administrator that you should change this setting.
 
The HTTP Only option allows almost all Players behind a firewall to access RealAudio and Real Video content. Quality may not be as good as the other options, however.

  

Real UDP- requires clients from inside of the firewall to be able to access server TCP port 554, UDP data channels are assigned dynamically using ports 6970-32000.

 

Real TCP- requires clients from inside of the firewall to be able to access server TCP port 554, TCP data is send over port 554. In the Preferences window, click the Transport tab.

 

Real HTTP- requires clients from inside of the firewall to be able to access server TCP port 80 or 8080(Activate servers listen on both ports), TCP data is sent over either port 80 or 8080, depending on which port the client connected to.

 

For technical support prior to the webcast, please contact Cyndi via email at cyndi@altausa.com or call her at 781-272-0748.