VIDEO CHAT

[stewart911]

trying to load chat room but get message either server is down or firewall

[RodEnuf]

The following has been posted before.

Measurection Video Chat requires that the latest version of Flash Video Player be available.

If you are using a Windows based PC or a Mac OS X system or a Linux based system: You should be able to determine if you have the latest version on your system by going to http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ where you will find your current version number displayed in a box and a table showing the current version numbers for each type of system.

If your version is not current, go to https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ to download and install the required version. Note that this page displays three panels. On the left it will display your system type and the version about to be downloaded. On the right you will find the Install Now button. But before you click the button, check the center panel. It sometimes contains an Optional Promotion for some other software. If it does, there will be a check box where you can allow or disallow the download of the other software. If the box is pre-checked, click it to turn off the "X" in the box to avoid downloading unwanted software.

If you are running an Android tablet or phone or an iPad or iPhone: There is no Flash Player download available for you. Apple does not allow Flash to be installed on an iPad or iPhone. Adobe decided some years ago to stop support for Android versions of Flash Player. On these systems the only way I am aware of to use a web page that requires Flash Player is to use the Puffin browser, which is available as a free download from the regular App sources for Android and iOS systems.

The way the Puffin browser gets around the problem is that the browser actually runs in the cloud on a web browser server. The App just uses your device as a display and input device, so Flash Player never has to be on your device. The Puffin browser does support the Flash Player dialog box to allow you to Enable and Disable the use of your camera and mic during Flash Video based chat sessions.

Note:  If you have the latest version of Flash Video, there can still be a Settings issue in Flash Video.  When you first enter Video Chat and you get the Flash Video pop-up, before clicking either Allow or Deny, switch to the Webcam tab in the Flash dialog (pic of an old spherical web cam) and be sure your camera choice is a real working camera and not accidentally a scanner or a disconnected camera.

Good luck.

Alan G -- Measurection Administrator

PS: I believe that access to video in the chatroom uses peer-to-peer communication.  If you're behind a Virtual Private Network (VPN) in order to hide your real IP Address, the remote VPN Server may not support peer-to-peer communication.