In order to view the exclusive live streaming video webcast, a fairly fast computer is crucial. The video codecs that allow our video to work over the internet are quite demanding of a computer and require lots processor power and memory to function properly.
We recommend a minimum of a Pentium 3 (or PowerMac G4) and a bare minimum of 256MB memory. Windows XP and Mac OS X will give you the best results. If you have a fast computer and are having problems, try restarting or closing extra programs (to free up memory for the webcast).
Some users have been able to view the webcast on computers that were short of the recommended minimums, but we can't guarantee that it will work for you if your computer is slower than we recommend.
If you can see the webcast but you want to see it better, here's a Windows Media Player 9 tip that can be applied to other situations as well. Click on the "View Menu" and pull it down to "Video Size." Then change the % from 100% to 200% (Ctrl+2 does the same thing on a Windows Machine). This is called pixel doubling and it fools the eye pretty well: You get a much larger picture that still looks quite good. Try it out for yourself and see how you like it. Please let us know in the forums what you think of it.
It's important to be running the latest version of Windows Media Player; since we're using the Windows Media 9 codec, anyone using an older version of Windows Media Player will have a suboptimal webcast viewing experience. Note that we haven't upgraded to the Windows Media 10 codec yet. If you don't have Windows Media Player 9, you can download it immedately below.
Finally, the speed of your connection is absolutely critical. You will have the best webcasting experience if you have a 512kbps connection or faster. 256kbps or faster should be fine, but less than 256kbps probably won't work very well. In the US, almost any DSL or Cable connection (or any other form of Broadband Internet) are 256kbps or faster. In many other countries you'll find much faster connections than in the United States.
It is quite normal to have a hiccup or two during the webcast - especially if you watch for several hours. This is most often due to network congestion and the best cure is to wait a few minutes. Many viewers report that in times of jerky pictures and so on, that quitting the player and restarting the stream gives them a faster return to a good picture.
Please see our FAQ if you have further questions. We also have a form you can send us if you're having further problems.
Thanks from the Webcasting team!
Last revised September 2004