Player Troubleshooting and Configuration

Correct Connection Problems and Get the Most from Your Connection

If you don't have Windows Media Player or you don't have the latest version. You can download the latest version (including a version for Mac OS X) by going to the Microsoft Windows Media Download Center. We recommend Windows Media Player 11. This will give a higher quality experience especially if you have a broadband Internet connection. If you have a Mac, we recommend the Flip 4 Mac Windows Media Plugin for the QuickTime Player.

Most of the connection problems that were present in earlier versions have been corrected in version 11 of Windows Media Player. Not being able to connect at all with Windows Media Player 11 is rare. Buffering and pauses during play are usually associated with low or constrained bandwidth from the end-users Internet connection or Internet Service Provider. Here are some things you can check to be sure that your Windows Media Player is properly configured. You should only change these if you are experiencing connection problems:

1) Open Windows Media Player.

2) If you don't see the menu selections File View Play Tools Help at the top of the player, RIGHT-click on the very top-left corner of the player and you will see the above selections.

3) Select Tools and then Options and the Network tab.

4) Under the Protocols for MMS URLs section, be sure that all three protocols are selected.

5) Select the Performance tab.

6) In the Connection Speed section, select Detect Connection speed (recommended).

7) select the Player tab.

8) In the Automatic Updates section, be sure that Download Codecs Automatically is checked.

9) Be sure that Connect to the Internet (overrides all other commands) is checked.

10) Select the File Types tab.

11) Click the Select All button or at least the top three Windows Media formats.

12) Click OK and totally close the player and try connecting again.

Buffering, pauses and disconnects can occur when there is a blockage of data somewhere between the streaming server and your computer. Typically but not always, this occurs in what is referred to as "the last mile" right before your computer. Even on a broadband connection, many homes are connected to what is called a shared connection. In other words only a certain amount of bandwidth is allocated to your neighborhood and when demand is higher than what is allocated, buffering of the player can result.

Experience has shown that typically there will be about 2-3% of the audience that will have problems receiving streams that are being transmitted correctly. Persistent problems should be referred to the end-user's Internet Service Provider (ISP). NetBroadcasting.tv streams are transmitted over several Internet redundant backbone carriers (Tier One Providers) that are continuously monitored for quality. It is very unlikely that isolated end-users experiencing buffering, pauses, or disconnects are a result of problems with stream serving. If the entire audience is experiencing the problem, then for a live event, the connectivity of the Windows Media Encoder computer must be considered, and for an on-demand stream, then the encoded file must be verified. End-users that are having problems with buffering, pauses, etc. are welcome to use the NetBroadcasting.tv bandwidth test. This will verify Internet connectivity from the NetBroadcasting.tv streaming servers all the way to the end-user's computer.

Before running the test, end-users should stop any programs that use bandwidth. These would include audio and video media players, downloads, email programs, etc. We suggest that the test be run several times and use the overall results as a general guide. Connectivity should be about 5 to 10 kbps above the stream bitrate in order to assure stream stability. Run the test.

NetBroadcasting.tv uses the primary Tier One backbone providers that make up the Internet. We do this to provide our content to Internet Service Providers (ISP's) by the most direct routes possible. Because the Internet itself is not a single entity, we can provide our content by the most high-quality routes possible to the Internet, but it is up to individual Internet Service Providers to connect to the Internet by the highest quality methods to provide the best service possible for their customers. We can say from experience that many ISP's do a fine job in doing this, but there are some that don't.

Those of you that do experience on-going connection problems, after you have gone through all of the troubleshooting methods included on this page, you may want to consider changing Internet Service Providers.