
January 24, 2011

Rick, I'm having the same problem that Shari talked about. You've also emailed me about not being able to play videos. Well, I can play them - but it takes lots of patience. It usually takes me 20 minutes or more to see a 5 minute video - and several times it has just quit playing and nothing will persuade it to start again.
Right now I'm on Lesson 10, currently on part 5. I've tried starting the video, then pausing to let buffering finish, but that doesn't help. It will play a few words, then stop for many seconds, play another second or two - or sometimes it plays half a minute before stopping again. Very frustrating. In fact, I'm so glad that you have pretty much a transcript of your lessons under the player, because some of the videos I've just given up trying to play - but I can read the transcript and do what it says.
I'm concerned about the more advanced videos, though, because I know I'll want to see those in their entirety.
I'm watching in Firefox. I tried both Chrome and IE, and neither of those worked at all. I have a pretty fast wireless connection (Clearwire) and don't have trouble watching Hulu and shows on the PBS site.
Thanks so much for all the time you've put into these - I'm learning so much!
Pam

November 8, 2009

Shoot, I wish I new what to suggest. These problems are generally isolated and often go away. For example, Shari reports that the videos now display just fine. The videos are large because I created them in high definition at a large size so that they would read well at full screen. This means that they are generally quite a bit larger than a typical online video (although that video is only 57MB).
Right now I have a below average internet connection (visiting Palm Springs, CA) and the lesson 10 part 5 video is playing fine for me in all 3 browsers.
Here is the direct link to the hosted video - http://www.screencast.com/t/ODU2Y2EyNTAt
Try that and see if it works better.
I am in the process of transitioning to Amazon Cloudfront for hosting the videos, for example all of the live answer videos are hosted there. I'm mainly doing this so that my members in Europe, SE Asia and Dow Nunder have a more reliable video experience. Do the live answer videos play fine for you?
Rick Anderson – WordPress Instructor

November 8, 2009

Well, All of the new videos we are producing will be in the Live Answer format hosted by Amazon Cloudfront.
Rick Anderson – WordPress Instructor

January 24, 2011

I watched the direct link and it was no better - phooey. But now I'm watching lesson 11 and - after I went away a few minutes and let it buffer - it played just fine. That didn't work on the other videos. The hardest problems to fix - intermittent ones. So I'll just continue to watch what will play for me.
Really looking forward to more Live Answer and new videos hosted by Cloudfront. Thanks!

November 8, 2009

OK, that either means that there is a server issue or a connection issue. I'll contact screencast to see if they can diagnose your connection from their end.
Rick Anderson – WordPress Instructor

November 8, 2009

Pam, screencast.com tech support would like to contact you to try to help figure out why the videos are behaving this way for you. Are you open to that?
Rick Anderson – WordPress Instructor
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