It all started when the hubby and I wanted to watch the pilot for Life On Mars. After realizing that I did not set the TiVo for the pilot (likely due to our excitement over the Supernatural episode that evening), we had no worries, for we could catch it online at our leisure.
After all, we’ve done it many times before. Our outmoded DirectTV receiver earlier in the year kept screwing up during ABC broadcasts and ruining our Lost recordings. We went to ABC.com, selected the full episodes list, clicked on the episode we eagerly wanted to check out and…nothing. No warnings, no errors, no nothing.
Given that both the hubby and I are Information Technology professionals, we did what any normal geeks would do. We sought answers on the Internet. Surely we weren’t the only people having this problem. Sadly, we found we weren’t. After swarming through pages and pages of similar complaints on the ABC.com boards, there were no answers.
I'm Getting To The Bottom Of This
Leave it up to me to dig in for the rest of the evening and go into my technical troubleshooting mode. I built a long and successful career on finding issues with applications as a Software Quality Engineer and I wasn’t about to be deterred. After all, I’m running the most common setup out there. Windows Vista with the Internet Explorer (IE) 7.0 browser.
It wasn’t long before I found that the new HD player that ABC.com recently implemented is provided by a company called Move Networks. Their player needed to be downloaded and for some reason that download wasn’t happening. I looked on my list of programs and found I already had a Move media player installed. I guess ABC.com didn’t see that.
No problem, I know what to do in those situations. Delete and reinstall. Using the Windows Vista uninstall programs utility, I removed the media player and went back to ABC.com. That prompted something! I was now given the option to install the player, which I did. I selected the pilot again, the commercial played, it got to the episode and…nothing. This time it was a white swirly thing that wouldn’t stop.
One Google search on Move Networks later and I found they also provide the players for The CW and Fox. I went to those sites to play videos and got the same problem. This was especially troubling for me since Supernatural on The CW is my favorite show and I need my regular Winchester fix. Fox is a non-issue though because their stuff is also on the very much working Hulu.com.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mark Buckingham
Good experiential piece here. I was kind of surprised to hear someone in IT doesn't use Firefox on a regular basis already. With the IE Tab plugin, I switched to Firefox and never looked back. All those few stubborn sites that don't play well with FF open fine in IE Tab.
I honestly don't know when the last time I opened IE was. The distro of Ubuntu Linux I played around with briefly installed Firefox as the default browser even. No IE to be found anywhere (not that I'm surprised; it's Linux).
2 - Jim
Thanks for writing such an interesting article on your personal experience watching video online.
While I appreciate this was your personal experience, mine was dramatically different. I am not a "techie," but I have not had a single issue watching my favorite episodes on ABC.com. I don't know what your setup is, but I am pretty sure it isn't the most common setup out there. I absolutely love watching episodes on ABC.com and have since the site launched the new player about two years ago (I think). My current setup is Vista Ultimate and IE7.
Personally, I was delighted to find online video that looked and felt like a real television broadcast and didn't continually pause and buffer. Again, I didn't have any issues whatsoever. No need to debug javascript or use Firefox. My guess is that your setup is somewhat unique or that you have a personal preference most of us don't have, since you experienced this issue on more than one computer.
While I know this represents your experience, I find it hard to believe more information wasn't readily available if this is such a common issue for the millions (or at least hundreds of thousands) of people who watch ABC.com, CWTV, FOX, ESPN, and other sites that stream video using this player.
I just did a few searches and noticed the player was used for the Democratic National Convention, which received rave reviews and for some production earlier this year for Oprah's Harpo Productions.
I am glad you were able to get this resolved through a workaround, and I can feel through your frustration that this experience was very painful for you. I only doubt that this issue is as common as you make it sound.
Thanks again for a great read. It has made me grateful that my favorite videos "just play" for me, since I could never pursue the process you describe to make it work. Nor would I have the patience.
3 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Welcome to the age of open source, where thanks to a flashy interface and savvy marketing even the flakiest architecture will excite four networks into making the bonehead decision.
Well, I wouldn't call FireFox a "bonehead" decision.
Mozilla's browser v3.03 is far from flaky & kicks the sh!t out of IE7. Hell, Google spanked Microsoft into submission with their "open source"/free software. Why else would MS rush such a crappy OS like Vista onto the market(and now they have abandoned that for Windows 7).
As a professional information "techie" I'm surprised at how uninformed you come across in this article. People are tired of paying big bucks for buggy/crappy software built by people who only have their wallets in mind. The only time I ever have to use IE7(IE Tab plugin) is to "watch instantly" on Netflix. Beyond that I can only hope that Microsoft goes bankrupt & the Internet Explorer series dies with it. Maybe I will get the courage to use Linux(open source)
4 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
*Sorry*
My point was that I believe these networks are going with FireFox because your "set-up" isn't as commonplace as you make it out to be. Vista is being dumped for Win XP "Downgrades" in the computer marketplace. IE8 will be behind the ball because Mozilla & Google have already confronted the majority of the issues with their browsers.
Again, I think these Networks realize the crucial changes that are happening online and don't want to be behind the curve.
5 - Christopher Rose
Brian, could you please either enter a complete URL in the wee box above where you write in your comments OR delete the http:// that you have in there now?
Ta.
Christopher Rose
Blogcritics Comments Editor
6 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Is that better??
7 - Amy
And I, on the other hand, the least technically savvy person I know, get up on ABC.com and watch my favorite shows every week without a blip. Gorgeous video -- HDTV quality, starts immediately, never starts or buffers. Perfect full screen picture. Love it!
8 - Christopher Rose
Yes, that's great, thanks.
9 - Amy
That is....never stops or buffers...
10 - DP
Alice, maybe you should try a Mac?
11 - bliffle
The internet was designed as an OPEN and NON_PROPRIETARY network. It was designed for the benefit of users, not commercial enterprises.
Microsoft and other commercial enterprises have been attempting to dominate the internet with their proprietary software since the beginning. To that end, they distribute pernicious programs to users to be used on the users own machines. That way they control both ends of the communication experience and can control what you see and what advertising you get and they can even pervert your software.
I wise person never installs Flash, which is one of the worst offenders, and certainly not Active-X. Both have builtin facilities for hacking your computer.
Use only open software for internet communications, and for anything proprietary run it in some sort of virtual macine.
12 - Alice Jester
Thanks everyone for the feedback! It should be noted, it's not a question of whether I was able to figure out the issue. I'm all for open source, but from my experience, Internet Explorer is the gold standard. Most people use it. When companies develop something like this, they cannot ignore Microsoft when marketing to the masses. When marketing to only techies, Mozilla is best.
There are plenty of non-technical people out there (like my parents) who buy pre-configured machines at a big box retailer and because of the setup (Windows Script Host) they can't play these videos and don't know why. ABC isn't telling them either, or is Move Networks. Judging by the compliants I saw on the forums, there are many out there that are frustrated and aren't getting answers, so they are abandoning watching videos online.
13 - Richard Holden
I have personal knowledge that every version of the Move Networks player is tested with Vista and IE7, so I'm not sure why it would have made it to ABC, CW, Fox and ESPN with breakage like that.
14 - bliffle
It's been a long time since IE was considered the Gold Standard by internet engineering professionals for the simple reason that it is loaded with proprietary code that is in direct conflict with IETF standards.
It doesn't matter whether you or anyone else approves of open software or not: the internet is open architecture. When there is a conflict between MS and the internet it is MS that is out of bounds.
But that doesn't stop them from doing it. They have open contempt for the rules, whether internet engineering rules or business/legal rules.
Anyone who downloads a proprietary video player is leaving the open architecture internet and opening their system to viruses and other malware. Don't do it if you value your system security and your personal information.
15 - Alice Jester
Richard - As someone who has done software testing for 17 years, I know that test environments are imperfect. My entire household has bought computers from Dell, where Windows (both XP and Vista) is configured to run Windows Script Host for launching java scripts. There is no way from looking at the code that I can see how this player can work running this setup. There is also no way I can tell to turn this off.
This is why hulu.com and thewb.com have run lengthy beta cycles, so issues with various setups and security holes can be discovered and addressed before being released to the masses. We often ran beta programs at AOL. I do not know of any of these networks or the Move Media player going through such a rigorous or lengthy beta test. If it was just me having this problem, I'd accept it as a personal setup issue. However, there are many frustrated people out there not getting answers.
Biffle - I agree with you 100 percent. Microsoft is awful with their engineering, especially Vista, but that doesn't change the fact most people use it. Most average users like my parents and in-laws don't understand issues about proprietary code and Malware. They just want to play videos, and these networks are advertising during their programs to just go to their websites and watch them.
Errors are happening and these networks and Move Networks aren't giving sound advice like "run Firefox". The troubleshooting page is actually telling people to turn off their pop up blockers and anti-virus! That's far more reckless in my opinion.
16 - cygnl7
The JavaScript error you are seeing is caused by the fact that you tried to access the .js file directly. What IE does in this case is ask you if you'd like to run the file. When you tell it to do so it runs the js file outside of the browser environment in the JScript VM directly. This means there is no DOM to interact with. If there's no DOM then there's no 'window' or 'document' variables to use. So the script will fail.
In short, since this movenetworks.js file is meant to run in a browser it won't work when run outside of a browser.
17 - cygnl7
I'm also guessing that your IE security settings are more strict than what is provided "out of the box." When I set my Internet security zone to the "high" setting I also see no video. When I relax them back to the default the video plays fine.
Maybe this would help?
18 - bliffle
Alice,
Just because "...most people use it. Most average users like my parents and in-laws don't understand issues about proprietary code and Malware." doesn't make it right to submit. Users have to push back against MS and others like them.
Your in-laws will grow discontent soon enough when they tire of inserted commercials and popups and, finally, viruses that steal their stuff. Hackers are just as capable as MS at using the hooks that MS has embedded in their players.
19 - Alice Jester
cyngl7 - Thanks for the info. I ran the script within the IE browser and got an error. What I did fail to mention is I ran the same script in the Mozilla browser and the code displayed. That's the result I was looking for. I managed to find info that the 'window' trigger doesn't work with Jscript.
My security settings are default. I relaxed them on low on the XP machine and got the same issue. I'll admit, messing with security settings makes me nervous, especially with IE. That opens up all sorts of vulnerabilities for attacks.
Bliffle mentioned in a comment something that rings very true. It's not wise to be forced to download a player, plus flash, plus a Java upgrade all so I can watch a TV program online. Hulu.com and TheWB.com doesn't require that and I can watch programs there without incident. The HD quality on TheWB.com is fantastic too.
I'm going to start examining the architecture and technology used with Hulu.com and TheWB.com and see if using them opens up the same risks the Move Media player seems to be asking for by encouraging me to lower my security settings and download other programs. What ABC.com is asking of me seems irresponsible, but I need further analysis before I make that assumption.
All in all, this has been a great lesson learned.
20 - Natalie
I don't know why anyone would even use Explorer anyway. The only reason I keep it around is because it's part of Windows, so you can't get rid of it. And using another browser to see if that fixes the problem is such an obvious solution, I don't know why you didn't think of that first.
But I do have a question. A lot of thse sites are blocked if you don't live in the US, which I find really annoying. I can't really see a reason for it. Would you happen to know why they do this?
21 - bliffle
With the tremendous number of multimedia players and easy accessibility to codecs for every platform, you have to ask yourself "why do they insist on using a proprietary player?"
The answer, of course, is so that they can control the playback experience. To what purpose? To inject commercials that you can't avoid, and to steal your personal data from the computer.
Is that what you want?
22 - Poweruser
First off, when you can't even get the name right- It's Mozilla Firefox, NOT the other way around - it doesn't appear that you would be smart enough to even try anything other than IE. Your RUDE and condescending approach to any browser other than IE is appalling! Like open source has never come up with anything good? [Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor] Firefox has approximately 30% market share (a lot more than that in some places). It's not some backyard initiative. It neither has a 'flashy' interface nor 'savvy marketing'- Care to tell us which part of the interface you found flashy? Marketing? What marketing? The Firefox users' word of mouth is what has made Firefox what it is today. And it works because it is BETTER.
And as far as your problem goes- There's no problem with IE or those sites. IE works as well. Perhaps you should try reinstalling Windows and then eat your words? The problem here is clearly between the keyboard and the computer. [Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor]
23 - malleus74
Move Media only works with Windows and Mac, so anyone using Ubuntu or any other linux distribution is out of luck, unless they use Wine to emulate a Windows-compatible browser.
24 - cygnl7
@Alice
I believe there's a misunderstanding here regarding what "running in the browser" means. When you put the js URL directly in the browser URL input field the browser does not run the js. In Firefox it displays it (as you saw) and in IE it runs it locally, outside of the browser, in the JScript engine. That won't work with a script that's meant to be run in the context of a web page.
25 - Tanya
and I can't get the ABC player to run for me.
Sigh.