Name is required.
Email address is required.
Invalid email address
Answer is required.
Exceeding max length of 5KB

Could not load plugins: File not found

Hi,

this error was some minutes ago:
http://s1.directupload.net/images/130612/ixajrn66.jpg

"Could not load plugins: File not found"

URL:
http://www.neothesus.de/2013/05/13/crowdinvesting-als-finanzierungsinstrument/

The same time http://www.longtailvideo.com was offline. When your websity was working again, immediately the player works also again. How is that possible? When your Server is down, my player is not working?! This would be very bad, because your servers are every second time I visit your website offline / not available.

I a pay a lot of money, so I expect the player is working independent of your server status!!

PS: I am hosting the player at my own webspace (self-hosted).

Alex

42 Community Answers

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

That concerns me, as well. Very often, the LTV servers respond with "504 Gateway timeout" or a similar error. The servers are not very robust or reliable. To have my pages dependent upon someone else's poorly-managed servers is really unacceptable.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
1 rated :

We use a CDN and there shouldn’t be issues like this. The link provided just has a picture of a player, clicking it does nothing.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

I get server connection failures to LTV routinely.

But seriously, if a user is self-hosting the scripts, there should be no third-party dependencies, period. That's just inexcusable. It means that the site is being held hostage to someone else's infrastructure. Turn off the calls to the mother ship - they accomplish nothing for the user at all. If a user actually _wants_ to use analytics, for example, let him turn it on. But the default should be "off" for all of this stuff.

I've encountered more and more sites these days that periodically lock up completely when you try to load them. If you pull up the console, you discover that it isn't the primary site that's not responding. What you encounter is a site that's making calls to a dozen other places, and if any one of them is down, the page won't load. Bad, bad idea.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

Just like with the old JW5 player, plugins, and certain features, load off our CDN. This was the case in JW as well. You can also disable analytics, as well, which disables this. If you are simply running the player, just watching a video, and don’t want any 3rd party pings, you can simply disable it – http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/jw-player/28852/using-jw-player-analytics

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

Yeah, for a mere $99 a year. Oy.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

We also have monthly options and people can cancel at any time. Also, if you are an old license holder we have discounts available, too.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

You can't even use analytics unless you have a license. But you can't turn off the "phone home" unless you have a license. In what universe does that make any sense at all?

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

You can use analytics with the free player. Every edition includes it. Even free.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

Wow, did I have to hunt for that! Analytics demands a license key, which would sort of imply that you need, well, ya' know, a _license_?! The free license key is buried on an easily-ignored link that produces a too-small-to-read popup box. Good thing it's at least copy-and-pastable.

Still, the free user is probably the _least_ likely to want to use analytics, but that's the user who can't shut the damned thing off.

I've said it before, but JW Player has become downright hostile to the non-commercial user. I just don't understand how that benefits the company.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

Yes, free users can have a key, too.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

Now I have to ask again:
I am using JW Player 6 Pro with analytics. The self-hosted-Version. Is there any connection during initialization of the player or during playing a video to another server than my one?

I assume the analytics needs a connection for tracking the views. Your solution is to disable analytics to run my player, when your server is down? This is NO solution for a paying client.

If you dont find a better solution, i want my money back. There are such a lot of problems with that jwplayer. For this probleme there is also no solution:
http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/forums/jw-player/setup-issues-and-embedding/32207/html5-not-working-in-chrome/

I wrote a mail to your support and I didnt get an answer.

THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

Our server wasn’t down, though. Analytics being down wouldn’t cause this error, either.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

So what is the reason for such an error?! It has to be a huge coincidence, when the same time the error exists your server is down / not available.

I didnt chance anything at that page and die video-file was also reachable...

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

The only thing I could think of is that your ISP is blocking things that we host. However, analytics not loading don’t break player embeds though.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

But the fact remains that if JW Player can't contact the Mother Ship, it fails, utterly, even if you're running the scripts from your own hard drive.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

Not for analytics, it should gracefully fail.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

Who cares which piece causes the failure? A non-working player is a non-working player. "Self-hosted" should mean just that.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

BTW, I do understand that this is the way the web is going these days, but it's really terrible engineering. "Gee, let's see how many different failure points we can introduce into a simple web page!" It's like producing a car whose tires immediately go flat if the workers on a Malaysian rubber plantation stage a walkout.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

It is just a weird case, because I still don’t see the error. I have yet to see it at home or our office.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

Unplug your Ethernet cable. Try viewing a video on your own PC.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

I can still view one on our site for example, if I pull out the cable after. (or disable wifi on my laptop)

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

Nonsense. I have the JW scripts on my PC. I have the MP4 on my PC. I can't view that MP4 with JW Player if I'm not connected to the web.

JW Player can't be used offline. Period. If the player can't contact the Mother Ship, it doesn't work. Bad, bad engineering.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

If you are using Flash mode, you can’t run the player locally (not a web sever, like a local C drive). However, using html5 mode, this works fine. I have already tested this extensively.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

Again, nonsense. I'm using HTML5 mode, not Flash. Unplug from the 'net, and the player fails. Every time. Reliably. Reproducably.

These repeated denials aren't convincing anyone. There have been several posts about this in the past. One example:

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/forums/jw-player/setup-issues-and-embedding/32462/what-a-problem-it-does-not-work-without-internet-conection/

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

I can email you a zip package of it working if you’d like.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

The example I've posted as http://earlyout.org/JW6embed/ works just fine as a test case. If those files are sitting on my PC, that video won't play if I'm not connected to the web.

It's calling jwpsrv.js from p.jwpcdn.com, not finding it, and yielding "Could not load plugins: File not found."

If the file happens to be sitting in the brower cache, it works. But clear the cache, and you're a dead duck. This is true in FF 21, Chrome 27, and IE10.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

Have to confirm the problem, Ethan!

Please dont test it only, but talk to your developers and give us some feedback!

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

I can confirm the following, the set up works if you have no connection, use the player in html5 mode (not flash), and are using a paid edition of the player (at least pro). The free version doesn’t support offline playback. In fact, the player doesn’t really support this officially, as Flash mode will still fail (we don’t plan on supporting offline playback, really). However, this set up will work, only in html5 compliant browsers though:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<script src="jwplayer.js"></script>
<script>jwplayer.key="your_key"</script>
<center>
<div id='my-video'>
</div>
</center>
<script type='text/javascript'>
    jwplayer('my-video').setup({
		playlist: [{
        image: "bunny.jpg",
        sources: [{
          file: "bunny.mp4"
        },{
          file: "bunny.webm"
        }]
        }],
        width: '580',
        height: '370',
		analytics: {
        cookies: false,
		enabled: false
		}
    });
</script>

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

The mysterious LongTail Video campaign to get rid of non-commercial users continues.

Think about this folks. Only in the paid version can you use the player offline. Why? What possible reason could there be to design your software that way?

When browser support for the <video> tag matures a bit more, there are going to be a lot of people happily dumping JW Player.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

What is your use case of using the player from a local C drive without an internet connection? Most cases I encounter is people burning dics / making thumb drives with the player, generally for a product that is being sold.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

There are still large numbers of people with only dial-up connections, or shaky satellite connections. There are people who want to take a laptop to grandma's nursing home, and show her the videos of her grandkids in the school play.

But the more fundamental question is WHY one would need a pro license to enable offline play. How does this accrue to LTV's benefit? What genius came up with this? It's just "beat your head against the wall" stupid.

All it does is introduce a needless failure point into the process. I know you claim that you've never seen this failure, but I can promise you I have. Why does my website have to depend upon your cloud service, when I'm self-hosting the scripts? It's boneheaded.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

Ethan

The original point was regarding the free player not being loaded if "your server" is unavailable. *This is a common occurrence and a valid complaint.*

You seem distracted with the local C drive scenario and the analytic's "ping" image.

As you have stated the ping image (coming from "jwpltx.com") will not cause rendering failure - agreed. You also seem to have a strong opinion regarding the use of JW offline - I don't like or agree with the LongTail model but fine - you make the rules there.

However, what we are talking about here involves neither of those directly.

It involves the free version (forget where it is hosted) being forced to make a call to "jwpcdn.com" for "jwpsrv.js" as part of the stock plugins _- which is where the analytics plugin gets setup and the ping image request comes from..._.

If *this JavaScript file* cannot be accessed the player fails to load.

The mad thing about this is:

1) As stated before, the users of the free version are unlikely to actually care about analytics - it's one instance where a chargeable value add service makes sense.
2) You are effectively crippling peoples ability to evaluate your product with a view to paying for an enhanced version
3) Providing a *robust* free version that plays everywhere (online) has got to be one of the best mechanisms to advertise and promote your product - given it will clearly have your branding and links to your site.

The response that "we use a CDN" means nothing if the end users regularly experience connection issues to that CDN.

The response that "just like the old JW5 player... plugins load from our CDN" is a weak diversion. With JW5 the plugins were loaded only IF I chose to include them -with JW6 users of the free version have no choice.


Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

I know that these are valid complains. I am not the one who has the final call here, but I will mention these, thanks guys.

Up Down

JeroenW

JW Player Support Agent  
1 rated :

EarlyOut, James: The fact the free player breaks whenever (for some reason) jwpcdn.com is not available is indeed not good. I was under the impression that loading of that plugin would fail silently, but the free player would still get set up. We’ll investigate what is going on here and how we can gracefully fail loading of this plugin.

Around using JW Player for offline use, I agree with Ethan though – we don’t officially support it, since JW Player is a product used for embedding videos in websites. There are indeed certain situations in which offline playback may work, but there are also many situations – e.g. around streaming, scripting or using Flash – in which it doesn’t work. For offline playback, I’d recommend using another player like Quicktime, Windows Media Player or VLC.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

Ultimately, the <video> tag will take care of it.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

?

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

My point is that as browser support of the HTML5 <video> tag matures, sites won't need a "player" script at all. If you're not trying to support Flash, don't need things like a playlist, don't need to feed ads, and so on, a script like JW Player won't be needed.

No one needs a third-party product to display JPG's on a web page, and we're quickly getting to the point at which you won't need one to display MP4's, either. We're not there yet, but it's clearly coming.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

I understand your point.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

So this means, when i am using analytics in my PRO jw-player version and your server is down, my player fails loading?

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

Like Jeroen said, we are going to fix this.

Up Down

JW Player

User  
0 rated :

Thanks.

Up Down

Ethan Feldman

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

Np.

This question has received the maximum number of answers.