Have you been able to watch them?

They either make my browser crash or else when they do eventually load, I only get 3 seconds of footage at a time before it stops-starts - very frustrating and annoying.

I've sent feedback asking if they can go back to using real player instead of embed flash, I've got the latest Java updates, but still can't view them successfully.

Does anyone have any tips, as I really wanted to see Phillip Jackson's Five, and the viewer's vox pops....?

Thanks in advance for any advice. I must say I'm not impressed with the website this year at all.

I can't watch them either. Have tried with both IE and Firefox, and with both they just make it crash. It's very annoying

Another thing to watch out for - if you go to the SCD front page and click a menu item before allowing the video components to install, it stops the page loading properly. On my machine, I have to alt-ctrl-delete to get out of it.

Well, I don't think it's the flash format per se which is much more convenient than horrible messy Real and *much* better than Windows Media videos (after all, Youtube uses flash, unless you're lucky enough to have an iPhone in which case you get nice .h264 versions of the videos), but the videos on the Strictly site do seem to stutter a bit - maybe some kind of bandwidth issue? They played reasonably well for me though!

I think that might be a Winblows "feature"! They load fine on Safari even if you do click on the menu items... ah ctrl-alt-delete, that takes me back a few years to before I moved to Mac

Had to repeatedly do that last night - hence the thread.

Even after waiting for the front page video to load till it reached *play*, the menu items still crashed......but I'll keep trying.....hopefully someone from the BBC will see this, or read their feedback messages and do something. Seeing as the vast majority of people viewing will have PCs, Windows and either IE or Firefox.

Have to agree with most of the above about the website. I have been driven to distraction after going on that site - my PC freezes (CTRL/ALT/DLT), then is on a go slow, then pages won't load, end up closing IE. Then when try to do anything else, PC on go slow. End up having to restart after every visit to Beebs SCD site. Very annoying, try to only go there once a day now.

It's rubbish! It keeps crashing on my computer. Sort it out BBC!

You're right, just tried it on a Mac/Safari and it's fine. You'll be remembering the marvellous days of Windows 95 then?

Well in that case perhaps the BBC could provide us all with Macs and Safari just to view their website then?

You can't go against the tide - we're all stuck with PCs and Windows, as that is what the vast majority of folk use, and the BBC site should be compatible. They have completely cocked up the Strictly online experience this year.

Concur!!

CRASHED again twice tonight, so I've given up!

If I ever see Phillip Jackson's video in full it'll be a bloody miracle!

I know it doesn't really help if you're having problems with your computer to hear that other people can view the site with no problems but...I've just tried viewing the BBC Strictly site on my Windows XP laptop and tried my best to make it crash, as you have described, by clicking menu items before the page loaded, but I couldn't make it crash! I tried on Internet Explorer 6 (haven't got IE7 I'm afraid), Firefox 2.0.0.5 and Safari 3 (which is available, free, for Windows as well as Mac).

So...I'm afraid I disagree! I really like the site this year - I've just watched all the videos (and found they were much better than when I looked at the site earlier today) I was able to jump backwards and forwards in each video by dragging the slider under the video, and navigate between videos easily. They played back flawlessly with no stuttering or skipping this time. I *much* prefer this year's site to the embed-real-video method they used last year, when I could hardly ever watch the videos and had to look at the YouTube copies instead.

If you're having problems (and you don't *have* to be stuck with Windows you know!) I recommend checking that you have the most up-to-date version of the Flash plugin installed on your computer, as I reckon that *might* be causing your problems. I would also strongly recommend using a browser other than Internet Explorer! Good luck!!

Flash comes with Java doesn't it?
I installed the very latest update only yesterday. I'm using IE7 which is probably not as stable as IE6, but I shall give it another go tomorrow on Firefox, though another poster did say above that her PC still crashed using Firefox.

If you can capture could you not upload for us as they're only very short vids? Please, pretty please with sugar on top?

Well, luckily the BBC in their wisdom have tied themselves into a deal with Microsoft to provide all their online video content in future, mainly due to copyright paranoia, so PC users should have no problems. However, Mac users like me, as well as Linux users won't be able to watch any of it. I think I should get a cheaper license fee since it's getting put up to fund all of this!

Haha yeah don't get me started on iPlayer However, apparently the BBC has to provide Mac and Linux versions very soon (I heard there was meant to be a mac version this autumn for instance...) so fingers crossed!
LaRhumba, I'm afraid I don't know how to capture the videos from the Strictly site-sorry! Hopefully Firefox or Safari might work for you if IE doesn't? You can download both for free-just search on Google. Might be worth a try anyway!

That is such good news! I've been feeling very let down by that BBC decision - I hope they can sort out a player for other systems, and then hopefully ITV and Channel 4 can follow suit!

It's not just the video's, everything on that site seems to cease up at different times. Don't use it much. for that reason, can't stand the hassle. Hope these are teething problems & that they get the site sorted soon.

I guess there must be something making your computer not like the Strictly site, but in fairness to the beeb, I think it must be a problem with your particular browser (including installed plugins etc) given that it does seem to work for some people (on Windows as well as Mac). Guess they should try to sort it out though, but in my (limited) experience of web-design work, it's always a hassle making things "compatible" with Internet Explorer which is often decidedly non-standards-compliant!

That's so strange, as it's the most popular browser to use, I'm surprised to hear that.

I really hope the BBC take a look at he problems people are experiencing, as I'm reluctant to go on the site too and don't bother with all the latest news and articles on there, as like China doll says, it's too much blimmin' hassle to have your PC continuously freezing up!

We that are not knowledgeable sometimes think that its a case of the designers do what they want and they people accessing be damned.

That's certainly how it feels trying to watch those darn videos!

I first logged onto the site a few days ago and experienced the same problems as some posters. I gave it another go last night and much to my amazement all ran smoothly for 10 minutes..............and then crash.. I have the latest version of firefox and IE but they both seem to hate this site.

Unhelpfully to you, I haven't had any trouble watching the vids at all - no idea why except that maybe my laptop's quite new and maybe has the latest web stuff by default. Anyhoo, just to let you know that Philip Jackson picked Dominic's strong lines and Lilia's trust in him, Gethin's running zig-zags and intricate step pattern, Willie's footwork and good rise & fall, Kenny's throwaway oversway and body contact, and John's general flexibility and co-ordination shown by the body break move he did with Nicole as his five highlights.