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OneSkyWalker
OneSkyWalker
Inspiring
April 7, 2010
Answered

Trouble with current playback time on progress bar

  • April 7, 2010
  • 1 reply
  • 3085 views

First, some terminology.

As Adobe Flash Player is preparing to play a video, it displays a spinning icon in the center of the video window.  I have seen web pages which refer to this as the spinning beach ball.  I will refer to this simply as the "spinning icon".

While Adobe Flash Player is playing a video, when one hovers the cursor over the video window (or moves the cursor while playing the video in full screen mode), one sees a progress bar at the bottom of the window.  To the left of the progress bar is a pause button.

The progress bar has a pointer representing the current playback time within the video.  The progress bar also has a display of the current playback time and length of the video (eg, 40:37 / 01:12:35, meaning that play back is at 40 minutes and 37 seconds within a video which is 72 minutes and 35 seconds long).

On my Windows XP system, when Flash Player V10.0.32.18 is playing a streaming video, the video pauses when bandwidth is momentarily insufficient to deliver the video bit stream.  The spinning icon appears in the center of the video window.  The current playback time on the progress bar also pauses, as it should.  But when the video resumes, the current playback time does not begin incrementing again.  It remains stalled at the time the pause occurred, which is irritating because it is no longer possible to tell how much time remains in the video.

It took me a very long time to discover that once the current playback time has stalled, pressing the pause button will cause the current playback time to refresh to the correct playback time and begin incrementing again.  Yaaayyyyyy!

Now, perhaps someone can help me with a challenge I have been unable to solve.

On occasion, I want to back up a few seconds within a video.  But if I use my mouse to grab the pointer within the progress bar and move it backward, moving the pointer only a few seconds is a huge challenge.  Even a slight movement of my mouse moves the pointer back a minute or two.

Is there a way to move the pointer using a key (eg, an arrow key) so that each key press moves the pointer back only a second or two?

And how about being able to key in a time and press enter, thereby causing the pointer to move to the specified time? Any way to do that?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer

    Hi OSW, You say you are using XP, SP1, 2 or 3? What version of IE are you using with XP? Are you speaking of two different computers or just the XP? Do you use any other browser?

    The Flash Player version is very old, that would be part of your problem as most websites have updated to the latest,

    which is 10.0.45.2.

    In my opinion, this is the cause of all that you are experiencing.

    Post back some info and we'll go from there.

    Thanks,

    eidnolb

    1 reply

    A
    Anonymous
    Correct answer
    April 7, 2010

    Hi OSW, You say you are using XP, SP1, 2 or 3? What version of IE are you using with XP? Are you speaking of two different computers or just the XP? Do you use any other browser?

    The Flash Player version is very old, that would be part of your problem as most websites have updated to the latest,

    which is 10.0.45.2.

    In my opinion, this is the cause of all that you are experiencing.

    Post back some info and we'll go from there.

    Thanks,

    eidnolb

    OneSkyWalker
    OneSkyWalkerAuthor
    Inspiring
    April 7, 2010

    Hi, eidnolb.

    Thanks for the prompt response.

    You asked, "Are you speaking of two different computers or just the XP?"

    A single computer running Windows XP.

    You asked, "What version of IE are you using with XP?"

    Version 6.0.2900.5512.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090804-1435

    You asked, "Do you use any other browser?"

    Yes, I have Mozilla Firefox V3.5.7 (which seems to be in the process of updating itself to V3.5.9) installed on the same computer.  I see the same behavior when using that browser.

    You wrote, "In my opinion, this is the cause of all that you are experiencing."

    At this point, I am not reporting a problem.  In my opinion, Adobe Flash Player is working correctly.  Having said that, I do believe users need to know that when the current playback time (on the progress bar) stalls, one needs to press the pause button to cause the current playback time to begin incrementing again.  That behavior is somewhat counterintuitive (press pause to make something start again?!??), but oh well.

    At this point, I have two questions which are related to one another:

    1. Is there a way to move the current playback time pointer using a key (eg, an arrow key) so that each key press moves the pointer back only a second or two?
    2. Is there an option to somehow key in a time (eg, 40:30), thereby causing Adobe Flash Player to start playing back at 40 minutes and 30 seconds into the video which is currently playing?
    A
    Anonymous
    April 7, 2010

    Hi, thanks for the reply. I use XP/SP3 and IE6 also and get yelled at a lot:-)

    I don't have a problem with videos and  can use my mouse pointer directly on the progress bar to go forward or backward

    2-3 seconds at a time. Youtube works for me this way and other sites that have videos.

    To answer your first question, no not that I know of. What you could try (I just did), Pause it, then put the mouse pointer on the progress bar and move it back or forward, however you want. You can watch the progress time move, 1, 2, 3, seconds etc. Then when you have it where you want it, click play and it will start to play where you set the time.

    Your question #2, no I don't think so. That appears to be accomplished by moving the progress bar.

    Now, I have not experienced what you are with videos. The stalling that you refer to, in my opinion is caused not by Flash Player, but something else. I don't experience that either. The Pause feature works like the DVR.

    If this is happening on just one video, or just one site, then I would say there is something wrong with the video itself.

    Is there some particular reason that you want to keep that version of Flash Player and not update? Just wondering.

    Hope this info is helpful.

    eidnolb

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