Comments and Questions about New Flash Stream

[Karen-inVA (Moderator)]

Please add your Comments and Questions about the New Flash Stream in here. Thanks.

[Peggy Humphrey]

My only complaint is not being able to see the time on the bottom. It is wonderful for WE to share this great
site with everyone. The ads do not bother me. I know that helps keep this site available to all that love the
beautiful animals. Thank you WE

[Patti]

There appear to be glitches in hotspots. I have found that accessing them through quickview option is better than the linked option - they're not in sync. However, "Highlights" tab at wildearth.tv does not offer quickview option. Hope WE get these glitches fixed soon. Thanks!

[Peter Braat]

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for all the feedback. Unfortunately, for various reasons, WE had to roll out this player at a time it was not completely finished tested yet and hence the glitches. Now that the player is out WE are working hard to correct these and e.g. add back in the time and viewer counts.

It might take some time to get everything working perfectly though, so WE ask for your patience and understanding, and also for continued feedback on what does not work. The more detailed this feedback (included e.g. operating system, browser, etc) the more helpful it will be.

[Laura (aka AnimalLadyLAE)]

Hotspots are having an issue. When viewing them. The stream starts just fine. Today got them to run for a few mintues then it just stops and all you get is the circle. Right in the middle usually. Yesterday was not able to get hotspots to load at all. So a step in the right direction just not completely fixed yet. Also, do like having the time and counter on there, but thats just for fun.

Have noticed that setting of hotspots is also different. How about giving us a lesson on how to set them in the new player?

When going large screen, very grainy. Poor picture quality. And the ads... understand the need but lord they are definately interfering with screen caps and video caps. The nice thing is the +ad thing disappears in a few seconds but then immediately another ad pops back up. Have also found that when the screen decides to reload.. The ads start back up again with a vengence, after a few mintues sometimes they do tend to slow down but so far have not been able to get them to stop. Used to be on the old player, after a few minutes the ads would stop. Made screen caps and videos a much better quality.

As far as what operating system i am running, brand new computer, so shouldnt have issues with internet files being full or cookies being an issue. computer isnt even 2 weeks old yet. Hope this helps with all the issues. Love you guys and gals. Laura

[Patti]

Thanks, Pete. We know you're working hard to fix the problems. To add to my post about hotspots from earlier today. I have been helping with hotspots for Operation Migration. I have found that if you try to create a hotspot with the link, when you open that hotspot, it does not take you to the spot. However, if you create the hotspot through the quickview, it's the correct spot.

I use Firefox latest version, and operating system is Vista at both work and home, All was working perfectly until the change. Thanks for working through the problems. We appreciate all the hard work that everyone at WE do. And by the way, welcome back!

Patti

[Michelle]

Just wanted to say that I am not having any problems except that I can't increase the size of the screen. I can either watch it where it is at, which is really small, or in full screen which is grainy. I love watching this site and have always increased the screen size to 150% which, in my opinion is the perfect size. I use IE and have Vista.

[Patricia Campbell (luvthebirds)]

Following are some of the problems I am having with the new player. I use a MacBook with OSX (10.5.8) and usually use the Safari Browser (v 4.0.3). I use the Firefox browser only occasionally. The problem I am going to describe concerning the zooming happens with both Safari and Firefox.

Before you changed players, I could use the "View" button in my browser to "Zoom In" to enlarge the picture. Since you changed, when I zoom in the picture area gets larger, but the actual picture size stays the same. So the picture doesn't enlarge, but sits in a larger dark edged area. I watched the a.m. drive tonight both on Justin.tv and WE to see what would happen with the zoom. I also checked the feed on Zaplive. On WE and Zap I had the new problem. On Justin, the zoom worked well, just as it had before the player change.

Regarding hotspots: With the player change, I have had many of the hotspots stop during viewing and freeze with the white circle running. They do not restart.

Also on hotspots: When you watch a hot spot, a large "set hotspot now" appears. It does this if I click to close an ad, simply put my cursor (arrow) on the screen, or advance the feed.

Also on hotspots: There seem to be an extremely large number of ads. Several come in groups of three in a row. If I advance the feed, it also creates more ads.

Also on hotspots: When viewing a hotspot stream, I used to be able to click on another hotspot in the 10 min. segment and it would play. Now, the only way to make this happen is to try to advance the stream. This is hit or miss, and the times do not line up with the hotspot markers.

On hotspots and in general: It is tedious to wait through intro screen (Pieter among the elephants) with the white circle every time I want to view.

In general: Seem to be a lot more ads, especially in bunches. And with the new player border, the ads seem to be more predominant on the screen. Would it be possible for you to place the ads above or below the screen, rather than on the picture?

In general: The new wildearth.tv white print in the upper right portion of the screen is large and quite pronounced. When taking screen shots, it is really quite irritating. Your old wildearth.tv print was lighter and less obtrusive, although sill often in screen shots. Would it be possible to go back to a lighter, smaller print?

In general: It would be nice to have the clock with CAT time back below the screen. It is also interesting to see the number of viewers, although not as necessary as the time information.

This question is not related to the new player, but is a request. When searching through hotspots (or broadcast archives), it would be nice if one is viewing something on page 79 for example, that it stay there and not return to page 1 each viewing. I often like to view the hotspots and some times need to go back over a hundred pages. Each time I want to see another hotspot, I must click through many pages to get there. (the single arrow only advances about 4 pages at a time) When trying to recreate a drive (or other events from the still camera views), it is very tedious to get through the process of getting back to the pages after viewing one hotspot. On the plus side, I truly appreciate having the hotspots/archives available.

I think I have some other problems noted with the new player, but cannot interpret my notes! lol When more occur to me, I will post for you again.

Thank you to WE for providing the cams/drives! I trust you will be able to get the kinks out of the new player. (Especially would like my zoom feature to work once again!)

Thank you for considering my comments.

[Skipper]

Hi, Pete!

I'm on Windows XP and using IE7. I have the same problems that others have outlined with the hotspots. My other "issue" with the new player is that you cannot re-size it--or you can but it cuts out a lot of the picture. I have a small monitor and I also like to post on the Hancock forum as I watch the drive. So I have two windows open--side by side. In order to fit everything on the screen, I reduce the WE screen to 75%.

Hmmmm--how to explain this? Before the new player, all that happened is that I would see the same thing at 75% that I would see at 100%. But now, I don't. At 75%, all I get is 75% of the picture--so some is cut off.

Here is an example from the archives.. The top is what I see at 75% and the bottom is the same thing but at 100%.