Trouble Playing a Video?

Trouble Playing a Video? Let's Troubleshoot!

Are you having problems playing an ACP Decisions video? We are here to help. Here is a quick list of questions and answers that we often ask when trying to diagnose the reason why your video viewing experience might not be ideal.

What internet browser are you using?

Browser issues are the most common source of problems for web-based tasks. We prefer these browsers in the following order of priority:

  1. Google Chrome
  2. Safari
  3. Firefox
  4. Microsoft Edge

Does your organization use other video streaming or content services?

If there are other successful video based implementations at your organization, ACP Decisions may be able to piggyback off of those experiences. We'd like to hear more about the policies and settings your team may have previously implemented to support those streaming services as this can serve as a template for our supporting our services.

Who is the best technical point of contact?

We have found that this process runs much more smoothly if we are able to speak to a team member that can "talk tech" and adjust settings on workstations or browsers. This person is often a member of your IT/IS department. This open communication is key to enabling our services and optimizing the video viewing experience for patients and families.

Who do you coordinate with when there is a technology issue like this?

IS/IT teams may block video streaming services like YouTube or Vimeo for a variety of reasons. We have similar technologies to stream our videos that could also be affected by these policy decisions. Ensuring that ACP Decisions' content remains unblocked and streams reliably can involve a combination of security and technology policy decisions. It helps greatly if we can speak to an IT contact who can interpret and address your needs while still respecting internal policies. 

Streaming Issues

Do you have a network that meets our minimum streaming requirements?

Streaming videos use a lot of bandwidth. Your organization must meet these minimum requirements to help ensure a good video viewing experience. Even if minimum requirements are met, there still might be other factors (blocked services from IT, high latency of the connection, etc.) that can cause a poor playback experience.

How long on average does it take to start streaming a video from our website or web app?

Some delay at the beginning of any video is expected behavior. Diagnosing if this is within a tolerable threshold is important. 1-5 seconds is an average, but by no means the rule. This can vary based on the length of the video and the settings within your organization's network.

What is an average speed of your connection?

The best way to learn about your internet connection is to use an internet speed test. If the number is higher than 1.5 Mbps for your download speed, videos will stream reasonably well. If your IT team can provide additional specifics (differences in networks, limits on services, etc.) that is even better!

An example of a very fast connection that easily supports video streaming. Speedtest by Ookla.

An example of an average connection that easily supports video streaming. Speedtest by Ookla.

An example of an extremely slow connection that would struggle at video streaming or downloads. Speedtest by Ookla.

Are you using our mobile apps (iOS or Android)?

Our mobile apps support downloading of content and can supplement poor streaming performance. The mobile app is an ideal solution for individuals who are experiencing streaming issues within a network. The mobile app may also be significantly faster than web streaming depending on how your organization's network is set up. The only way to verify this is to test it in a real-world situation.

Use the ACP Tools App for iOS and Android to download content.

Do you experience [this issue] at some or all of your locations?

Network conditions and browsers and even mobile devices may vary from location to location. Consistency is most often enforced by the IT/IS teams so it is important to manage this experience using a technical point of contact. IS/IT teams have tools available to update settings remotely across a wide range of devices which can help the streaming and downloading experience for ACP Decisions content.

Guidance for Limited Bandwidth Situations

Can I adjust the quality of videos to improve streaming?

Yes! When using the web app, the quality (e.g. High Definition, Standard Definition) is automatically adjusted based on the available internet connectivity. While this works well most of the time, some connections may be so unreliable that the video may get stuck buffering.

You can override this automatic behavior by choosing a lower quality version of the video:

  1. Begin playing any video using the web app.
  2. Choose the Gear Icon on the bottom right-hand side of the player window.
  3. Choose Quality to expand the menu.
  4. Select 224p for the lowest quality version of the video (the higher the number, the higher the quality of the video).
  5. After pausing for a few seconds the video should begin playing again.

What are the bandwidth savings when choosing a lower quality version of a video?

Streaming a 224p version of a video may use up to 16x less data than the 1080p version. With savings like these, it might be tempting to do this with every video! We recommend using this only when absolutely necessary, as the streaming technology does a good job choosing the right video version for the connection.

What is the best way to avoid buffering? 

Using ACP Tools allows you to quickly download content into the iOS and Android app. Downloaded content minimizes your bandwidth usage and saves users from frustration!

Offline Experience for Desktops

Will the My ACP Decisions web application offer downloads in the future?

While it would be incredibly useful, we unfortunately don’t have any immediate or short-term plans to add downloading and offline features for the web app. Technical limitations with this approach prevent us from delivering a complete My ACP Decisions experience for viewing content and tracking utilization.

Do you plan on offering a desktop application with offline functionality?

We have explored building desktop apps that can take content offline but found that the mobile experience for iOS and Android has been the most important item to keep focusing on first. By prioritizing mobile devices, we are able to put more solutions in more of our customers' hands while providing a consistent experience. When we can deliver an equal or better experience than the mobile apps for Mac and PC, we will definitely pursue it. Until then, we'll be working hard on delivering the best possible mobile experience for you!