Why You Can't Watch Videos on ABC.com, CWTV.com, or Fox.com - Comments Page 2

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• 26 - NickD

  Nov 24, 2008 at 5:05 pm

  I still can't view ABC programs in FF either. I too am in IT and I tried other browsers as well and they are not supported. I still can't figure out why. My other computers on my home network can view the episodes but not mine. I'm still looking for an answer.

• 27 - Angie

  Dec 11, 2008 at 6:37 pm

  I ran into the same problems with the ABC player not working in IE when I tried to watch online a couple shows that I missed the other night. I was able to find one at surfthechannel.com. After an unsuccessful internet search for the other show being offered online at another player other than ABC, I did a search for 'why can't I watch the ABC player?' and came across your article. I just want to say thanks for an informative article that even a 'non-techie' like me could understand. It answered my questions and it is a shame that it seems like ABC and Fox don't care to fix the players so they'll run in IE. Now where can I download firefox?

• 28 - Alice Jester

  Dec 11, 2008 at 10:50 pm

  Firefox can be downloaded here.
  
  The problem seems to be related to any variety of other programs that have Active X controls on your computer. I got the player to work finally, but it affected other stuff that was working. It could be anything. Since Active X is not a problem on Firefox, that is still the desired solution.

• 29 - Terry in Seattle

  Dec 15, 2008 at 4:18 pm

  Thanks alot. I had the problem where the player would play the ads then nothing else. I stumbled around the web yesterday for hours looking for a fix before coming across this. This was a perfect recap for a novice like me who still likes to try to understand things. Using firefox took care of the problem.

• 30 - ABC's Full Episode Player is a Joke!

  Jan 29, 2009 at 10:26 am

  I'm using the latest version of Firefox, and can't get the Player to work to save my life. I get success indicated by the install, and can see and hear the test video, but when I try to view an actual episode, get the GSOD (Grey Screen of Death). Why ABC couldn't just use an existing format or offer the video directly on Hulu, I don't know. Idiotic management, I would assume.

• 31 - I want to watch my shows

  Feb 10, 2009 at 10:33 pm

  Thank you! Thank you! I didn't understand why I was getting the GSOD (Grey Screen of Death) until I read your very informative blog post.
  Great job figuring out the problem for all of us!

• 32 - ZK

  Feb 11, 2009 at 2:01 am

  Still unable to watch videos using firefox. I went through all the steps and I am able to view the commercials, but not the actual shows on cw or abc. Any ideas?

• 33 - Alice Jester

  Feb 11, 2009 at 8:05 am

  ZK - As a matter of fact, a new problem has popped up since I wrote this. It seems that the videos are having a problem on Java version 6 update 11. I was running version 6 update 10 and that seems to work fine.
  
  I know from experience everytime Java puts out a new version, many interfaces stop working. It's amazing companies don't check for this, but I'm not sure Sun (who does Java) is very cooperative either. If this isn't your problem let me know, but if the commericals run and not the video, the Move Player did not install properly.

• 34 - ZK

  Feb 12, 2009 at 10:43 am

  Thank you for the quick reply.
  
  I am going to try to uninstall the current version of java and install 6 update 10. Following that, I will uninstall move player and reinstall. I will let you know if that works. I sure hope so, because after that, I am at a lost.

• 35 - ZK

  Feb 13, 2009 at 7:46 pm

  Cannot find java 6 update 10. Therefore, I am at not sure what to do. Please help if anyone knows what the problem maybe.

• 36 - Alice Jester

  Feb 13, 2009 at 9:26 pm

  ZK - I went and got adventurous and updated my Java to update 11. Try this. In your Firefox browser, go to Tools, Add-ons. Find the Move Media Player and then uninstall it. Go to www.cwtv.com (I find their installation process to be more painless than abc). Click on the video tab and play any full episode. You will be prompted to install the player. Do the install and see if that helps. If that doesn't work, what add-ons do you have installed? There could be a conflict.
  
  Please let me know if this works, but I did get the videos to play when doing this.

• 37 - ZK

  Mar 01, 2009 at 5:21 am

  No working. Updated Java, and still no go.

• 38 - Alice Jester

  Mar 01, 2009 at 4:44 pm

  ZK - I've been working with a couple of other people via email offering suggestions. My question is do you have the problem on abc.com, cwtv.com, and fox.com or just one of the sites? If it's all three, the move media player didn't install properly. If it's just ABC (which I'm finding is often the case), there are a number of things to check, starting with upgrading the flash player to Flash 10r2.
  
  If none of this helps, click on the url next to my name. On the jesterz.net site is a contact us page. That'll send me an email and we can go through some suggestions offline.

• 39 - ZK

  Mar 01, 2009 at 9:25 pm

  Alice,
  
  Thank you for the reply. I am having trouble with all three players. I went to the move player site and tried to install from there, and it didn't work. Then I uninstalled and tried from cw's site, and still no luck.

• 40 - Meglet

  Mar 10, 2009 at 11:53 pm

  Oh my GOSH I can't believe I've found this. I've been trying for months now to get the stupid thing to work. I too can't get FOX or ABC to work on my computer for anything. I tried Firefox AND IE, tried my IE tab in Firefox, I have uninstalled and reinstalled just about everything possible. NOTHING WORKS. I have a friend who was regularly watching Lost the day after on her computer and suddenly two weeks ago she began having errors too. Mine says something about player:null. HELP HELP HELP!! I want to watch my shows online when I miss them!!! I just tried your idea of using CWTV to install the player but I still get nothing.

• 41 - Cynthia

  Mar 30, 2009 at 1:41 am

  I am not a techie and am having the same problems as everyone else-seems like add-on loads,I get the commercial and then the forever swirlie.I'm usually on Mozilla but tried Explorer just in case.Didn't work on either. I tried the last suggestion of uninstalling, going to CW-reinstalling-I was told it was a temporary install-which wouldn't have helped me get that episode of Lost we missed-but tried anyway-got an inner swirlie-no program. I can watch other stuff on Hulu and if someone downloads the episode onto MegaVideo this week I'll be okay, that's how my husband watched it last week, but so far no one has. Any other suggestions appreciated.

• 42 - Eric Thompson

  Apr 15, 2009 at 9:57 pm

  THANK YOU! This has been driving me batty. I also have noticed that ABC and ESPN don't work on my laptop but do work on my desktop and ABC's customer support has been completely unhelpful so far (suggesting I might have slow hardware while I have a brand new professional laptop).
  
  You have saved my sanity! If only the networks and software vendor would see your article and understand how folks like you and I are so upset.

• 43 - Eric Thompson

  Apr 15, 2009 at 10:28 pm

  Another note...I tried installing Firefox and the latest from Adobe's flash player. I still have the choppy video problem on ESPN and ABC (didn't check the other networks you had troubles with). Looks like that doesn't solve the issue.

• 44 - Alice Jester

  Apr 15, 2009 at 10:39 pm

  Eric - no problem, choppy video problem can be fixed. There have been a number of new issues uncovered since I wrote this. This is a follow up article I did.
  
  If this doesn't help, let me know through the comments here, and I'll give more suggestions! Also, a new one just came to me within the last week. Check these two things:
  
  1. Go to Tools, Add Ons, on the Firefox Browser and check to see if Adblock Plus is enabled. If so, disable it.
  
  2. Go to Tools, Options, Content, Advanced, and make sure Move and Resize Windows is checked.
  
  Restart Firefox and try playing again.
  
  

• 45 - Bill

  Apr 27, 2009 at 3:03 pm

  I'd been trying everything to get past the grey screen of death, and you're the first one to tell me I need to allow JavaScript to move and resize windows. Who knew? Especially since I don't see it obviously resizing its popup or anything. Thanks!

• 46 - Melissa

  May 19, 2009 at 5:48 pm

  Here's REALLY how to fix the problem. Under Tools, Internet Options, Advanced tab, Security section, make sure the box "Check for Server Certificate Revocation" is deselected and restart your computer. Nothing else worked for me.

• 47 - Kat

  May 20, 2009 at 12:28 am

  Here it is... 1:15am and I'm ready to throw this computer out the window! I rarely get to see videos online. It's hit and miss with IE and Firefox.
  
  Tonight, all I wanted to do was watch some raptors at allaboutbirds.org. No go.
  
  I tried installing Flash 10 again, included the Flash Player 10 ActiveX control content debugger (for IE), disabled adblock plus, flashblock, deselected the box "Check for Server Certificate Revocation", allowed JavaScript to move and resize windows, disabled quicktime task, stopped all Apple services, rebooted a hundred times or so and...
  
  NOTHING! I cannot figure this thing out. Argh!
  
  Any other ideas?
  
  I use Vista, btw.

• 48 - CKO

  Jul 11, 2009 at 9:04 am

  Anyone have pointers for Windows 7 RC? I cannot get ABC.COM to play in either browser. TNT.com will play if added to IE8 compatibility mode but it's choppy and I have consistent 8MB download speeds so it's not the network. Any help would be appreciated...

• 49 - Buzzby

  Jul 28, 2009 at 6:34 pm

  I also had trouble viewing TV shows on ABC. After searching, it seems to be Explorer 8. So I downloaded Safari. Still no success. Then I downloaded Mozilla and I can now use the ABC video player.

• 50 - Troy

  Sep 13, 2009 at 6:58 pm

  I read your article hoping for a solution, I am having the same problem but since Fox and ABC are on Hulu the only issue is with the CW and since I have no TV this has to be solved. I am having the problem on both Firefox 3.0 and IE 8 and I think the issue is that I update my browsers and the brilliant people at Move Media do not update their video player.

• 51 - Ralph

  Nov 17, 2009 at 3:05 am

  If you are using Firefox or IE go to Fancast, then as you begin to watch for example Smallville- right click youre mouse which opens a window showing settings for flash player increase to 1mb storage or more-now you can see whatever you want.