Webcast Troubleshooting

Welcome to the House of Assembly Streaming Windows Media Technical Support page. Please select the link below which best describes your problem.

        *Note to Mac users - you will need to download a Windows player to view the webcasts.

I am not receiving any video or audio

I can hear the webcast, but I cannot see the video

The quality of the webcast is very poor

I am not receiving any video or audio - Step 1: Check Your System Requirements

Were you previously able to play the stream, and are no longer able to? If yes, how long ago did the problem start happening? Do you recall any changes that were made to your computer system at this time, such as new software being installed?

Are you able to play other live Windows Media streams or are you only having this problem with this stream?

If you are currently not able to play any other streaming media, we recommend that you first make sure that you have met the minimum System Requirements for Windows Media Player 9.

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I am not receiving any video or audio - Step 2 Re-install Your Media Player

Once you have confirmed that you meet the minimum system requirements, please download and install the latest version of the player.

After you have downloaded and installed the player, try to play the stream again, and note any changes if any.

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I am not receiving any video or audio - Step 3: Are You Receiving an Error Message?

When you attempt to play the live video from the webpage, does your browser launch Windows Media Player?

Do you get any kind of error message? If so, what is that message? Please e-mail this error message to TVControlRoom@gov.nl.ca or look here for Windows Media Player 9 and 10 error messages.

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I can hear the webcast, but I cannot see the video - How to check to see if you have the proper "codecs"

If you are able to receive Audio, but no Video is displayed you may not have the proper codecs installed. To ensure that your Windows Media Player has the proper codecs installed you need to ensure the Player is automatically updating codecs. To check this, do the following:
  1. Under the "Tools" Menu item, Select "Options".
  2. Within the options window be sure that "Enable automatic codec download" is checked, and click on "OK".

If this does not solve your problem, please continue onto the Playback Quality Problems section.

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The quality of the webcast is very poor - Step 1: Frequent Buffering

Symptoms: Audio only with black video when there should be both, or frequent rebuffering

More often that not, we find that this complaint is usually a result of incorrect player settings. Please check to confirm that your Windows Media Player is properly configured for your Internet connection speed, and they have not reverted to a lower speed connection:
  1. Open the "Tools" Menu item, Select "Options"
  2. Click the "Performance" tab
  3. Select "choose connection speed" and choose the appropriate connection speed. (If you are on a high speed residential Internet connection, you should probably select one of the Cable / DSL selections)
After confirming that you have the correct performance settings, and you are still experiencing poor video, it may be a result of Internet congestion in your area, which you will need to take up with your ISP. You can check your actual Internet connection speed by doing the following: With Windows Media Player open and running (i.e., playing the Stream), open the View menu and select "statistics". When the statistics window opens, it will indicate your "network or Internet connection". If the value indicated is less than 300 kbps, you will be unable to play the High Bandwidth stream at full quality and should continue on to the next step (Playback Quality Problems - Test your Bandwidth).

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The quality of the webcast is very poor - Step 2: Test your Bandwidth

If you are not getting any error messages the problem may be bandwidth related. Even the best Internet connections can be troubled by bandwidth issues from time to time, a bad switch or an overloaded router at any one of the potentially many Internet nodes will result in overall performance issues. You may wish to test your connection the next time you are having this difficulty. You can test your bandwidth at the Bandwidth Place Speed Test site.

In order to play high bitrate streaming video, you will need at have at least as much bandwidth capacity as the stream you are trying to view. If your connection is less than expected, you should contact your Internet Service Provider.

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The quality of the webcast is very poor - Step 3: Protocol or Bandwidth Setting

Poor audio and video reception are often symptoms consistent with some kind of bandwidth or protocol restriction. It may be possible to address this by making adjustments to your Windows Media Player settings by following these steps:
  1. Open Windows Media Player. On the "Tools" menu, select "Options".
  2. Click the "Network" tab to see your current protocol configurations. Are all 4 protocol checkboxes selected? If so, try disabling the checkbox for UDP. If UDP is not selected, try selecting it.
  3. Once you have made this change, click OK, close Windows Media Player, then try to play the stream again.

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The quality of the webcast is very poor - Step 4: Buffer Setting

Increasing the Buffer time can allow the player to download more content before displaying the video and audio signal. CAUTION: This will increase the time it takes for streaming media to load. You can alter your buffer settings by following these steps:
  1. Open Windows Media Player. On the "Tools" menu, select "Options".
  2. Click the "Performance" tab and select the "Buffer" radio button under the "Network buffering" heading.
  3. Increase the network buffer time to 10 and re-test the streaming media content. Continue to increase this value in increments of 5 until you reach 60. At this point if the quality problems still exist return the radio button to "Use default buffering" and continue on to the next step.

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The quality of the webcast is very poor - Step 5: Tests to Perform

Please do the following the next time you are viewing the live stream (Windows users only):

Paste this into an e-mail and send this information to TVControlRoom@gov.nl.ca with a reference to the stream you are trying to view.

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