The Flash player got an update today and there is also a Flash Debug player update. I always have a problem finding the debug player download page. So I thought I’d share in case I’m not the only one.

Side note: I use FireFox as my primary browser but I use IE as the default player to publish my Flex apps in. Debugging crashes the browser fairly often, at least I do, and this way I don’t have to wait for those tabs to open up again on startup. Plus, FireFox isn’t the quickest launching browser by a long shot.

It seems as though the post I wrote about the NFL.com switching to Flash video has become the de facto support page for people having trouble watching their videos. There are 30 comments so far mostly about people having trouble getting the videos to play. Even some of the NFL.com developers have commented there.

Here is a list of some of the suggestions posted in the comments. If you have this problem then see if any of this helps. If not then read through the comments and see if there might be another solution in there for you.

Note: You should try playing a video after each change you make. If you try a bunch of solutions in a row without testing you won’t know which fix was the thing that made a difference.

• Even though the problems people have usually involve ad blockers or anti-virus software the first and easiest thing to try is updating your Flash Player. Simply right-click on any Flash content and select “About Adobe Flash…” at the bottom of the menu.
• If you have comcast w/ the McAfee security here’s how to fix it. Click “Internet and network” click “configure” on the right side. Under web browsing protection click “advanced”. Simply uncheck the “block advertisements” box and hit apply.
• AdBlock with Firefox might be the cause. If you use it then try disabling or add NFL.com to the accepted site list  and see if the videos work.
• If you have comcast w/ the McAfee security here’s how to fix it. Click “Internet and network” click “configure” on the right side. Under web browsing protection click “advanced”. Simply uncheck the “block advertisements” box and hit apply.
• Norton Personal Firewall: if the stuff isn’t showing up, you likely have the ad blocking feature on the firewall turned on. Read this comment for details.
• go to your browsers settings and add nfl.com to the list of exceptions for websites that popups are no blocked
• For all you fellow Mac users that are having trouble w/ Safari, you can select to recieve all cookies, and the videos work fine, except for the 15 second commercial…. arghh
• If you have ZoneAlarm Pro: turn off Spy Site Blocking (Anti-Spyware section, Spy Site Blocking tab)
• Check your HOSTS file. Flash will not work if the ad it wants to pull is blocked. Many programs (like Spybot or Hosts replacers, MVPS Hosts) will block the server it needs to pull from (either static.nfl.com or a doubleclick site). Your HOSTS file on MS systems is found in the system folder/drivers/etc
• Turn off Mpy Sweeper by Webroot. That did it. Watched the video then restarted Spy Sweeper.
• I’ve got them to work on my Mac by removing “ad.doubleclick.net” from the hosts file. From the “Go” menu select “Go to folder” type in etc, this should bring up a window, find “Hosts” and copy it to your desktop. Open it using “TextEdit” and remove “ad.doubleclick.net” save the file and copy it back in to the “etc” folder.
• IE – Just go to the “Tools” tab on the top right of the screen. Click “Internet Options”. Click the “Privacy” tab. Click the “Sites” button. If you see NFL.com listed there, click “Remove”
• I did a little research,and found out that you might be missing this software. There is the link to check if you have it or not, and download it. http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp
• I shut down kaspersky internet security 8.0, then the videos play. I can’t figure out how to get them to play if it is on.
• I had this problem and it was driving me crazy because I don’t have any adblock software anymore. I went into Windows/system32/etc and found a file called hosts and I deleted any lines that ref’d ad.doubleclick.net.

I haven’t had any issues myself but I don’t have McAfee security. From what I’ve been able to piece together the issue lies with the communication between the HTML navigation and the Flash video player they built.

If you’re having trouble then hopefully this will take care of it.