Some On-line video not playing - A Flash problem?

I'm having a problem with some video (on-line) not playing - nothing, just a solid black screen.



For example, I go to the Comedy Central site, select a video, and the screen stays black. Also, certain live streaming video like on pgatour.com will not play, just a black screen as well. It sometimes shows a spinning gear for a brief moment and then it disappears. 

No indication of any kind that I'm missing some plug-in or need to update something.

In addition, if I right click in the video window to bring up the Flash control panel, the panel comes up, but when I move the arrow from my mouse over the window and click on a tab, there is no response.



I can play TV programs, pressed play, and it works fine - I get a short preview.

I've visited several news sites, watched videos. No indication of why. Other videos that I have on disk (TV programs etc) run fine. 

 I've tried various sites in an effort to determine the nature of the problem, but it's beyond me at this point. 



I have gone through Adobe's Flash Control panel site, set and reset various storage/security setting - no change.

 I have cleared out the caches and run disc permissions repairs.



(My wife's macbook works fine and plays video from CC and other sites where mine won't.)



I just upgraded to Lion and there is no change.



iMac24-inch, Early 2009

Processor 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Memory 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9400 256 MB

Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7 (11A511)



I would greatly appreciate any suggestions.

do you have flip4mac and perian installed? If not, install those and try again

tried it

I had flip4mac and just installed Perian. No luck.

Any other thoughts.

Thanks.

Yes, it's a Flash issue. All the sites you mentioned use Flash. You need to update yours, most likely.

I have

I've updated Flash, uninstalled it, reinstalled it. Nothing.

Just for some troubleshooting, can you go to the Help > Installed plugins menu item of Safari, and the Tools > Add-ons > plugins menu item of Firefox, to see which version of Flash is "recognized?"

not showing

The most recent Adobe flash player is installed on my computer but it is not showing up as an installed plug-in on any of the "installed plug-in" menus from Safari, Firefox, or Chrome.

Not sure why.

Go to Macintosh HD (unless you've changed the name) > Library > Internet Plug-Ins. Do you see a file named "Flash Player.plugin" in that folder?

Perhaps a stupid question but have you quit and reopened your browser since reinstalling Flash?

yes

I do see it in the Library > Internet Plug-ins folder. And I have restarted the browsers since the installs.

Some videos start with an ad or have ads in them. If you're using Adblock it "can" stop the vids from playing. Try disabling it on the page.
Took me a while to find that one.

obleyo said:

The most recent Adobe flash player is installed on my computer but it is not showing up as an installed plug-in on any of the "installed plug-in" menus from Safari, Firefox, or Chrome.

Not sure why.

Click to expand...

So, this is your issue. I think the chances are good it is caused by some corruption of the hard drive.
Follow one of these methods to repair the hard drive (preferred is to boot from install DVD to "Try Disk Utility"):
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck

I'm having the exact same issue on my iMac. Black screen when playing comedy central videos & some other sites such as ign. I've also uninstalled & re-installed flash but, no luck.

What extensions do you have installed in your browser? It's possible that one is causing an issue (as cradom alluded to above).

I also have the same problem with black image with embedded Flash videos on some sites (YouTube works fine).

I have no plugins in any of my browsers and the problem is the same in Safari, Firefox, Chrome and Opera.

I have used the Flash uninstall tool and reinstalled the latest version (10.3.183.5).

Seems to be a growing common problem?

Just tried here. All I have installed is Perian and Flip4Mac. Comedy Central videos all playing fine. Not sure what is up, but Safari not showing the latest Flash version is the Issue I think. Try what Van and others have suggested and get back to us.

I even removed flash and tried an older version but still no luck. No videos showing on certian UK sites such as The Telegraph for me!

But I am now convinced it is not a Flash or Plugin issue. It seems to be an issue where the video requires an advert to play first before the main video and the initial advert will not load.

When you get the black/empty spot where the video loads, I have to wonder if the plugin is being loaded at all. In the empty spot, when you right click, is the contextual menu a Flash one or the default one for the browser. I'm interested to know if Flash is even being loaded on these sites.

The other that might be an issue regards the permissions of the plugin. If you go to Macintosh HD > Library > Internet Plug-Ins, right click the Flash Player.plugin file and select Get Info, what are the values under "Sharing & Permissions"? If you're user doesn't have at least "read" permissions, you won't be able to load the plugin.

I can right click and see the Flash contextual menu without an issue (as it works fine on other sites). The permissions are set fine on the plugin, System & Admin are Read & Write, Everyone is set for Read only.

Just an update. If I create a new user account on my system all Flash videos play back fine!

So it looks like a problem with my main account.

Problem fixed!

Found that in the Global Storage Settings Panel for Flash the box to allow third party Flash content to be stored on this computer was not ticked. Once ticked all was fine again in all my browsers.

Either right click on a Flash image or go to Adobe to make the settings.