Video does not play - simply repeats commercials over and over

The NK cam went down a few hours ago but you should be able to view the EP cam and soon the test Tembe cam since it is viewable during the daylight hours.  If you are having further problems please check and post in the other threads in this forum for possible answer.  If no answer found provide me details of your pc system and I will try to help you.

Hello, All - My first time back in a very long time and I see lots of changes. Only one's bothering me: I have the problem mentioned in the title of this thread. The opening commercials all play beautifully, but the streaming video of the cams never starts. It sits and spins a bit and then I get a message to click on one of the "buttons below" to view a cam, but when I do, all it does is re-start the cycle of commercial-spin-message-click, commercial-spin-message-click. I've tried it on Nkorho Pan and the Flamingos with the same (non-)results.

My system specs are a reasonably robust Dell PC (certainly more robust than its predecessor with which I used to watch Africam regularly). I'm running Windows XP-Pro with Service Pack 3; SP3 has been installed for many months now with no problem.

I've tried it in Firefox 3 and IE7, but no luck.

Any suggestions?

If others in the chat room or forum chat were saying they were getting the cam then we can eliminate that they were just down at the time.  You have the current version of flash installed and nothing blocking flash content?  Although I think the commercials also use flash.  How long ago were you able to watch the cams and when did you notice you were not able to?  I will forward your problem on to admin to see if they have any suggestions too.

I have been investigating this problem for a long time, ever since I also ran into to it and saw that others had too. What I have found is that the streaming server is using RTMP from Adopey. Now most internet traffic uses Windows port 80 and primarily through the browser. However, Adopey's proprietary RTMP stream doesn't use port 80...it uses port 1935....a port that is routinely blocked by intelligent firewalls. The ads get through because they are coming from a different server and use port 80 like normal internet traffic. The switch to port 1935 happens after the ads run....which is why you see them and then getting endless spinning dots. Ideally, the RTMP stream should be tunneled through port 80, but that is not happening. I have found two solutions to this problem. One....shut down the software firewall, which I do not reccomend unless you are also sitting behind a router or similar hardware firewall. And even then, I would try turning the firewall right back on after the RTMP connection is made. Better yet, would be to configure your firewall to open port 1935. The other solution I found by accident.....use Firefox and upgrade to version 3.5. I do not know why.....but FF 3.5 will access port 1935 through the firewall. It shouldn't....but it does. IE won't get through for me on Comodo Firewall......

Also please note that people add these third-party firewalls and forget to shut down the Windows XP firewall. That will also cause problems having two software firewalls running. And if you are trying to get through from a corporate (work) environment computer.....give up. Most businesses will block everything but browser ports.

In short.....in cases where people get the ads, but not the stream....I am blaming Adopey RTMP and port 1935 conflicting with security.

Then again.....your trouble might be that NK and EP are just plain down and all this is for nothing....LOL

Hello jan001

I've had exactly the same problem since the end of the last year. In order to try to figure out what causes the problem, I've done a lot of reading and testing, and I've come to the same conclusion as maxx.

The problem is port 1935, which is the standard port for RTMP (the protocol developed by Adobe for streaming over the Internet). The Africam cam players seem to be configured in such a way that the live stream only tries to go through port 1935, and doesn't try to tunnel through port 80. So if port 1935 is blocked on your firewall or the firewall of the webserver you are using, the stream simply can't get through.

You can go to the following page to test if port 1935 is blocked for you:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/164/tn_16466.html

I would be interested in hearing the results of your test.

Weird that it works for you with Firefox. I've tried watching the cams with Firefox about a million times (yes, I've upgraded to 3.5), and I see nothing but the spinning wheel with Firefox too. I've also tried Chrome and Safari with the same result. (Does good old Netscape still exist? )

I think I have qualified for Guiness Book of Records for staring at a spinning wheel for a very long time...

Yeah, I can't really go to our IT department and ask them to open the firewall for access through port 1935, so that I can watch Africam while/instead of doing my work.

The Firefox thing could be a fluke....that just happens to work in my favor. In theory....FF should not be able to get through to port 1935 along with the other browsers, but it does for me. Could be the FF add-on Flash-blocker that bridges the gap....but a wild guess.

The reason that Wildearth is getting through firewalls now is that it is coming through on port 80 now....not 1935 like it was a few weeks ago. I don't know if they did this on purpose (tunneling RTMP) or was just a troubleshooting effort when they were having transmission trouble.

Right now....port 1935 RTMP from Adopey is the most likely suspect for people having trouble with Africam feeds, but not having Flash trouble elsewhere. But I am open to other suggestions for where the trouble lies if someone has a better supsect.

Let me illustrate what happens when you turn on the cam. In the screenshot below you see 4 highlighted connections. These are the connections your machine makes for the cam stream. The ones in green are most likely the ad servers or distribution servers and show they are being delivered on port 80 (the number after the colon is the port number). The one in red is the actual cam feed....and is showing port 1935. Just wanted to show the image so people don't think I am making this stuff up.....or been drinking too much....LOL

So why isn't everyone affected you may ask? Well....if your firewall is letting this stream through without you having to do anything, then your firewall isn't doing it's job very well. A solid firewall SHOULD block that port by default to be truly stealth. So what Africam needs to do is tunnel that stream through port 80....where everybody's browser hangs out. Or have their distributor do it is more accurate. I believe Adopey provides for HTTP tunneling to convert that stream from RTMP to RTMPT. Someone likely just needs to implement some Adopey coding on the server.

The reason for port 1935 is that computationally & bandwidth wise its far more effecient than tunneling. Also by far the majority of people do not have port 1935 blocked.

Having said that we recently reconfigured the server to allow connections via port 80, as a last option. We briefly tested this & it didnt work and at the time i had to move onto more pressing issues.

I have now put port 80 at the head end. Have a test and let me know

Don't have time for a full check.....I will try later. But I am still getting it on port 1935 and it seems you have added HTTPS port 443, which is the internet secure connection port. Not sure why that would be in there...?

EDIT: Forgot to add.....firewall still blocking...

OK...I see why the secure port 433 now. The connect attempt sequence is 1935, 433, 80.....then finally tunnel 80. That had me wondering for awhile. And I agree most people have an open port 1935....and they likely also have a bunch of other open ports too.

ok, i have juggled a few things aroud on the networking. See if u can connect via port 80 now?

Short version....stream using port 1935 (Firefox 3.5)...

Long version...

Not afraid to admit I am reaching the end of my abilities on this one....and getting confused. Here's what I have. Internet Explorer behind a Comodo Firewall (strong security) gets as far as the port 433 attempt in the sequence and stops.

However....FF 3.5, even though the stream is coming in on 1935, seems to be able to reach beyond the firewall and take it. Port 1935 is not open to my machine....period. Thus my confusion. Now on a lark, I have an odd setup on my test laptop and tried that. It is running IE8 but behind an old and weak version of Sygate firewall.....it can get the stream. Sygate doesn't have the cool traffic analysis like Comodo, so I don't have a screenshot for that. I am not sure what the heck is going on now. For the most part, I can rig things to get the stream through. However, those without direct access to their firewall (work/business computers) or the knowledge to make adjustments....are still going to need that port 80 connect I would think. The only thing I know for sure is that I receive from 1935.

I have done some research on the cross-browser port 1935 issue and there are a couple other folks out there in the tech community that noticed it too. Something about the GET headers or source ports or something maybe....but they were way over my head (which isn't hard to reach).

In summary and near as I can figure....anyone behind high security is still going to have trouble because port 1935 is still carrying the stream. As I mentioned earlier....I have spoken with some people who couldn't get Wildearth a few weeks ago. Then Wildearth, for whatever reason, switched to port 80 and people started getting the stream with no adjustments to security.....it just started working for them. I'm not saying you need to follow WE's lead....just using it as an example of port assignment being the difference. And I hate to see people uninstalling and reinstalling Flash player....over and over....when that isn't the problem. I am not sure where you go at this point.

BTW....the latest Flash Player is flawed, it won't take some streams. Adopey is supposedly working on that. And the previous version to this update had about a dozen security holes. The Flash world is a mess right now and Adopey forums is loaded with angry people.

Silverlight anyone? LOL

This explains why I no longer get Africam streams at work (heavy firewall) but can get other streams. Some comfort in knowing

Yeah donna.....I would say that most people having trouble will be those trying to watch from work and people like me with strong home security. Even if the issue cannot be resolved....this thread at least serves a purpose to explain to folks what is happening....and stop pulling out their hair.

Thanks for the info! That confirms my theory why I suddenly can watch WE again.

I can't. It's still the same: The ad and then nothing but the spinning wheel.

yes, i had to hastily disassemble what i did as there were impacts in other parts of our system.

there is no quick fix here as i thought there would be - i need to really investigate/plan this. it is not too far down the list so will be back to this later

So sorry Katja