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Help - I can't view the trailers in Tom's Games

Forum Tom's Hardware Forum related : Structure - Help - I can't view the trailers in Tom's Games

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Arbie   03-15-2008 at 07:27:39 AM

I'm running WinXP SP2, and have the same problem with both IE7 and Firefox (just tried the latest version). When I go to watch a trailer like the Zerg 'Swarm' clip available now, I just get a totally blank, empty white spot where the video should be. Oddly, I can watch streamed videos on many other sites (including YouTube, GameTrailers.com).

I have downloaded & installed the very latest Flash software. Also, I've checked my Internet Tools | Advanced settings for anything that looks like it could possibly interfere with video displays.

Can you tell me what technology you are using for your streamed videos, so I'll know what to look for? Do you have any idea what the problem could be?

Thanks,

Arbie

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Ombudsman   03-18-2008 at 01:55:08 AM
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The Toms Hardware player uses flash. Same as YouTube. Ad blockers have been known to interfere with the player.

Is this only with trailers, or can you see other videos?

Is this only on Tom's Games or on Tom's Hardware and Tom's Guide as well?

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Arbie   03-19-2008 at 06:34:59 AM
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Thanks for the reply Ombudsman.

I can't see most of the videos on Tom's Hardware either. The left panel usually shows an internet error. I always assume that's ads and don't worry about it. The TH banner is flash, I think, and it shows up OK. Youtube videos run fine. It doesn't help to disable popup or phishing blockers, nor does disabling my personal firewall. I have just now reinstalled IE7, but that didn't help - the problem remains. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the latest versions of Adobe Flash many times, and Adobe Shockwave. I have the same problem with Firefox as with IE7.

Interestingly, my PC at work has exactly the same symptoms. It to is WinXP but there is no other similarity.... corporate firewall etc.

I will correct one thing I said previously - the space for the video looks blank but if I right-click on it I get a dialog offering "Movie not loaded..." (but that's grayed out) or "About Adobe Flash" (which is active).

So I suppose it's a Flash subtley combined with something in my WinXP setup combined with some Tom's is doing. I suggest that Tom's try their trailers at Adobe's Flash text site to make sure something hasn't gone wrong. Since both my home and work PCs have the same problem, I'd be surprised if many other people don't have it too but haven't asked about it.

Thanks again & for any ideas

Arbie

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Arbie   03-22-2008 at 09:47:02 PM
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Problem resolved.

It turns out that Tom's puts the videos on via an ad server. The trailers come through "atdmt" which is disliked and generally blacklisted by spyware-defense programs such as Spysweeper, AdAware etc.

In fact there are about two dozen websites listing ways to remove atdmt spyware from your system, though I don't know how much of a problem it really is. The same blacklists lock out casalmedia which is a very bad organization. Once you get casal spyware on your PC you may as well just reformat.

Anyway... the defense programs disable connections to "atdmt" via an entry in Windows 'Hosts' file. That's why I can't see some of the flash ads on Tom's site and can't see the trailers.

I'll be keeping my Hosts file as-is, I think. Most sites load faster and are safer that way. Sorry I can't see everything at Tom's but that's OK - there are other game trailer sites. I will say that this took me many hours of work to figure out, and led me to mess up many IE settings and other things unnecessarily, as usual in a bug hunt.

Arbie

Arbie

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