i just hate when the vids dont work
This has been a problem with the site since they adopted the abysmal Flowplayer to stream their videos. Why they decided to use this player when the Flashplayer [.flv] worked flawlessly is beyond me. Virtually every site on the Internet uses the .flv standard to play videos. The old adage
'if it works don't fix it' seems to have been ignored for some unfathomable reason, presenting the viewer with a blank page at worst, and stuttery, jumpy pictures at best. Without getting too technical, FP relies far too heavily on CSS syntax, Javascript, and other formatting and styling which renders the video beneath other elements in the page. To the end user without the fastest of cable connections and a high-end graphics card, the format is quite simply too heavy to play to a watchable standard. One of the issues is exposed
here on FP's own site: I quote:
Splash state
When you have installed your player with an initial splash image, the Flash video player wont be loaded until the player is clicked. We call this state a splash state.
This lack of industry-standard streaming means that you will encounter problems with playback unless of course you have the luxury of a fibre-optic connection combined with a whizzy graphics card.
The sooner they revert to the proven .flv technology, the more visitors will be left high and dry.