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General discussion

Playing video and audio on the internet.

Aug 3, 2005 8:18AM PDT

Windows XP Pro, 2.8 ghz p4, 512 mb ddr,IE 6, Netscape 8.0.2, Windows Media Player 10 (required for site), NAV, Zone Alarm Free, Adaware, Spybot, Microsoft Antispyware.
I used to enjoy visiting cmt.com and listening to music and videos.
About two months ago, they added a lengthy promo to the beginning of each video. Since that time I have not been able to access the video or audio.
The promo and commercials play without a hitch, but no video. I've used the above mentioned browsers.
I've turned off pop-up blockers. I have gone so far as to disable NAV and Zone Alarm, but still no positive results.
I have also read on their site where others are experiencing similar problems, but I'm not sure if it relates to my problem. Others state that they have no problems accessing the media.
I have visited other sites, Yahoo, etc. and have not experienced any similar problems.
I would appreciate any input on this mystery. This used to work fine before they made the changes.
Any country music fans out there?
Thanks

Discussion is locked

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Update
Aug 4, 2005 1:52PM PDT

I see that no one jumped on this, but I'm sure that some of you may have guessed that WMP was at fault.
Although it worked on other sites that I tried, it would not work on cmt.com.
The solution: I uninstall from Add/Remove, Windows programs. I'm not sure if that has any effect.
I downloaded and installed Real Player and set it as the default player.
It works perfectly.
Just more evidence that WMP is full of bugs.
Hope this will help someone.
Stan

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Hi Stan
Aug 5, 2005 10:06PM PDT

Sorry about not responding.

I ''had'' read you first post but for the life of me I can't remember why I didn't reply.

I didn't have an immediate answer, but when I went to www.cmt.com at first I thought I would need to register before I could view any videos. Perhaps that's why I stopped, but didn't report back to you.

I've been again and have found a list of videos to play, but my own WMP 9 has ''failed the test''. I have the message;

''WINDOWS MEDIA TEST

We have detected your browser does not have the required Windows Media 9 plug-in to play this video.

Click here to download the plug-in.''

And a Help option.

Did you get the same? If so, did you try and download and install the plugin?

I'm not usually too happy about installing loads of plugins. I'm sure cmt.com is bona fide, and it is probably just a codec, but I haven't gone that extra mile yet.

Could it be a plugin problem?

Mark

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WMPlayer
Aug 6, 2005 2:34AM PDT

Hi Mark: Thanks for your reply.

My WMP v.9 was working perfectly on this site, until they did some adding of promotional video. I'm not sure if this was the cause of my problem, but it started at the same time.

I didn't receive any error messages. When I clicked the link, it could not connect to the video or audio.
In desparation, and against my better judgement, I installed WMP v.10. It had no effect at all.

I tried to access the media on six different XP machines, using IE, before having any success. The sixth machine worked perfectly. I compared all the setting in IE and WMP with my computer, but could find no difference.

Based on what I have read on their site, the problem is widespread. It is possible that the cause may be related to the changes that were made on their site.
While I'm not knowledgeable enough in that area to discern that, I did find that Real Player works just fine.

By the way, you don't have to join the site to access the media. I signed up in order to complain about the problem, but that was a waste of time.

Best of Luck
Stan

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WMP10
Aug 7, 2005 4:12AM PDT

I am soooooo sorry for you....... Happy

I have been able to avoid downloading WMP10 so far.

I bet you're right though, it looks like an internal site setup problem and not the customers'.

At least you got the videos to work in Real Player. Did you manage to avoid all the "load at startup" and "connect to the internet to update this that and the other" whenever you open Real Player? It was war with me when I installed it. There were popups and access requests all over the desktop, and "Are you sure you do not want to check for updates, new media content, etc etc", but I beat the beast back down into the ground finally.

Mark

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WMP10
Aug 7, 2005 10:56AM PDT

Hi Mark:
I'm one who can't seem to leave well enough alone.
I've since uninstalled Real Player and reinstalled WMP 10. I tried to install WMP 9, but of course it wouldn't let me do that.
Very surprised, but it's working again.
That indicates to me that it's not their site, but something was awry in WMP, or the registry.
This has gotten beyond my scope of knowledge, but I'm trying to learn from it.
I may be back here tomorrow with more woes, but for now, I think that I will leave well enough alone.
Thanks
Stan

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Now that "is" weird
Aug 8, 2005 8:45AM PDT

Good luck though, perhaps its fixed for good now.

Mark

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Same problem
Aug 9, 2005 8:08PM PDT

I was surprised to see this post, as I have the same problem. On one computer I have XPPro SP1 and WMP9. It plays the cmt videos just fine. In another location, I have XPHome SP2 (but I have the security center stuff turned off and disabled) and WMP10, and it just plays the commercials and promos, but no videos.

The funny thing is, the 2nd computer worked on CMT until the latest round of windows updates. I uninstalled all the updates that were removable, but it still didn't work, so I put them back.

Settings are the same in IE and WMP on both computers.

I had read that using free Real One would work, but I do not want to install all that extra baggage it brings along just for one site that doesn't work.

I'm going to try uninstalling and reinstalling WMP10 when I get to where the 2nd computer is, and see if it fixes it like it did for you.

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Same Problem
Aug 10, 2005 12:19AM PDT

Sorry, I can't say that I'm surprised. I've read many posts in their forums where people are complaining with the same problem. If you read my earlier posts, I've tested five or six different machines and all but one failed to connect with the media at cmt, using WMP. It's very difficult to detect the cause, due to so many problems with WMP 10. Although some of these had WMP 9.

Determining if the problem lies with WMP or their site is very frustrating.

On the one hand, WMP will work just fine on the Yahoo Music site, but not their site. Since all was working for me until they added the lengthy promo to the videos, I immediately suspected something was askew with the site.

On the other hand, I installed Real Player and everything worked again, leading me to believe that WMP was the culprit.

WMP will play everything, wma, mp3, video, etc., at any other site, but will not play anything at the their site.

I've since reinstalled WMP 10 and it started working again, but I'm not confident that it will last.
If anyone has a clue, I would like to hear it.

Best of Luck