If you`re having trouble watching some of the programmes on the Vega site, here`s a brief guide that will hopefully make things easier.

If the video does not play this may be due to a number of reasons:

Help with playing Videos?

If you are seeing a "Server Not Found" or similar message when trying to play a flash video or cannot play a real video, this is most likely due to firewall settings somewhere in your network.

For example, you must have the following ports open on outbound connections:

For Flash videos:port 443

For Real videos:ports 554, 7070

You may need to contact your IT Department about this.  Some school IT Departments may need to contact their service provider or the local education authority providing this service.

Why do Youtube videos play and not Vega videos?

Unlike Youtube videos Vega Flash videos stream and are not set up for down-loading.  Some of the Vega Science Trust`s teaching material such as the instructional mini-modules can also be viewed from the Trust`s Youtube Channel but one way of ensuring that you can view the Trust`s videos is to ask for the above ports to be open.

Trouble playing Realplayer encoded videos?  Do you have the Realplayer installed?

The most likely reason for you not being able to view our videos is because either you don`t have realplayer installed or you have an outdated version of realplayer. The latest version of realplayer can be easily downloaded and installed from here
When installed, the program will ask you to register your copy of realplayer, you may either click cancel at this point or register. If you register we would recommend selecting as few `send me information about..` options as possible to minimise unwanted email. Note that the player is provided by Real systems rather than Vega, and we cannot take responsibility for the content of their sites or any emails you may receive via realnetworks.

If you know you have the latest real player installed but it still doesn`t work... Do you have a company firewall?

Some companies use a `firewall` to block unwanted internet access, and sometimes block streamed video. You may be able to work around this by using HTTP streaming, although this may prove more jerky than normal so only use it if you have to. In Real player, Click on `View - Preferences`. Then `Proxy` - select `Use my Web browsers Proxy`, and select `Transport - Use specified Transport` Lastly change the RTSP and PNA settings to `Use HTTP setting only`.

Too many concurrent users:

If your player complains about this then we`re sorry, our system can only broadcast a fixed number of programmes at one time and we`ve reached that limit. Please try again later, maybe avoiding the popular times such as midday GMT and 4-5pm GMT, alternatively try some of our other programmes which may still be accessible.

If the video is too small:

It is possible to persuade the video player to enlarge the image, although it may become fairly blurred. Click on the magnifying glass icon on the bottom left of the player and choose `double size` or `full screen`. In the Real player, click on `view` and change the size there.

If the video is jerky or keeps pausing:

This is normally due to the speed of the Internet connection between Vega and your computer, and unfortunately there is little that can be done about it - possibly try connecting at a different time (try and avoid peak usage times such as UK lunchtime and around 4-5pm GMT). Note that the image will appear slightly blurry due to the high level of compression used; this is an unfortunate necessity of making the files small enough to play on home computers using a modem. If you play them from a faster link (e.g. at a university) the image quality will be better.