Why wouldn't an embedded WMP work for one user?

April 21, 2004 1:46 AM

I've got problems with an embedded windows media player, and msdn is being predictably useless... [MI]

Okay... one user of my website is having problems with an embedded stream. It looks like the player is getting stuck on playerState 9, but all msdn states is that this means it's "transitioning" and "preparing new media". Considering it has seperate states for waiting for a connection and waiting for the stream, what the hell does this actually mean?

Has the guy's media player balleds up, is his connection shot, or is it just 'one of those things'?

He's used the system on several pcs with different windows and media player levels, but they all fail. What I don't know is if they are all on the same connection.

Any thoughts?

posted by twine42 to computers & internet (3 comments total)

It could be any of those three things you mentioned. It could also be a codec issue.

Could you perhaps provide more information? Is this an embedded player (i.e. <object> tags on your page)? Is the media file being served off of a regular server (i.e. the player just downloads the file) or is it streaming? I poked around on your site, but the only thing I could find was a link to this asx file. Is that what's causing the issue for your user?
posted by filmgoerjuan at 2:12 PM on April 21, 2004

It's for a client site so I can't give any real details.

HoHum. I will find the answer. Or hire a hitman. ;)
posted by twine42 at 1:07 AM on April 22, 2004

You can always get them to try someone else's test pages. IBM Webcasts for example.

If they're having a problem with an embedded player on a page (i.e. <object> tags), give them the direct URL to the media file you're trying to play. Get them to launch their standalone version of Windows Media Player and try to open the stream directly. Often the standalone version will be more helpful in terms of the error messages it gives when there's a problem playing content (it might indicate that it's a codec issue, for example).

Best of luck with this; I work with WinMedia more or less every day — I know what a royal pain it can be ;)
posted by filmgoerjuan at 8:21 AM on April 22, 2004