If the Play button is not working for you on videos, please report here

If the Play button on videos is not working for you, please go through the following steps and reply here. Apologies if you already did this in another thread but I want to consolidate all of the feedback here. Sorry for the trouble!

-------------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes when debugging problems on the site it can be really hard for us to pin down exactly what is going wrong especially with all the different browsers, operating systems, and extensions out there. You can do us a huge favor by supplying these extra debugging details if possible:

Browser Details

• Operating System (eg. Windows 10, Mac OSX Sierra, Ubuntu, etc.)
• Browser With Version: (eg. Google Chrome Version 56.0.2924.87 (64-bit))
  • To collect this data click Help -> About in most browsers
• Extensions!
  • What extensions are you running (eg. HTTPS Everywhere, AdBlock+, uBlock, Ghostery, etc.)
  • About 50% of the time it's some extension causing the issue you're experiencing. Please try running the site in an incognito window (without extensions) this will solve a lot of issues and let you know it's an extension causing your problems!
  • Some particularly bad offenders:
    • Most adblockers (they like to block scripts and video assets sometimes) Adblock, uBlock, Ghostery, NoScript
    • HTTPS Everywhere. Our sites do not support HTTPS fully just yet (except for the login page) So until we fully support HTTPS (soon!) This extension will cause a lot of problems

Detailed Error Reports

• Please submit the exact error message you're getting, screenshots are even better!
• The exact URL you were on
• What exactly you were trying to do
• What time you were trying to do it
• If at all possible please submit a screenshot or the text from the error console! This is a HUGE help
  • Chrome: Press Ctrl + Shift + J (Windows / Linux) or Cmd + Opt + J (Mac)
  • Firefox: Press Ctrl + Shift + K (Windows / Linux) or Cmd + Opt + K (Mac)
  • Internet Explorer: F12 -> Click 'Console'
  • Safari: Cmd + Opt + C
  • A screenshot like this is super helpful!

    

This and any additional information you can provide would be very helpful!

I'm in the UK using Pihole with Firefox, Chrome, Edge, with Ublock Origin and Privacy Badger. I've had to customise Privacy Badger and Ublock Origin in the past, but disabling them didn't allow the play button to be functional. It seems (this time) like Pihole is blocking "cdn.cookielaw.org", "geolocation.onetrust.com" and others (as it should). If cookielaw.org isn't whitelisted, the play button does nothing. Once cookielaw.org is whitelisted then the privacy options load, and once you've rejected all those then the content loads and the media player works. If you then remove cookielaw.org from the whitelist, the site then loads - I suspect until the next time it checks on the cookie situation. This happened with all three browsers, although I believe Chrome needed the onetrust.com domain whitelisted at least for one load of the page.

OS - Windows 10

Browser - Firefox v 76.0.01 (64-bit)

Extensions - ublock origin

Also have a pihole on my lan

It's been inconsistent, but for example this https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/turn-based-turmoil/2970-20263/free-video works on each try but this https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/lets-minecraft-together-05152020-abbys-perspective/2970-20242 and any of the other minecraft videos do not. No error messages, just no response when clicking the play button.

Time - Started noticing around Friday (5/15) afternoon (EDT)

I had this problem until recently and tracked it down to the "I don't care about cookies" extension I've got running. Excluding this site on that fixed it.

Windows 10, Chrome Version 81.0.4044.138

Also using adblock, Checker Plus for Gmail, lastpass, a zotero plugin, checker plus for google calendar, and Cold Turkey.

@morello said:

Whitelisting cdn.cookielaw.org on my pihole also solves the issue for me.

This worked for me--in Firefox 76, in both Win8.1 and Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/i-dont-care-about-cookies/

I had previously been solving the broken Play button by visiting my desired video page, clicking a different video link in the carousel, then clicking back to the desired video. Or clicking the browser's back button, if the desired video is missing from the carousel. Or switching between different audio/video versions on podcast pages. (I'm pretty sure it was broken on every video page.)

• Operating System (eg. Windows 10, Mac OSX Sierra, Ubuntu, etc.): macOS 10.14.6
• Browser With Version: (eg. Google Chrome Version 56.0.2924.87 (64-bit)): Firefox 75.0 (64-bit)
• Extensions: uBlock, disabled for GB
• URL: https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/635-s-rank-with-your-coffee-dad/2970-20265

As suggested by others, I tried whitelisting cookielaw on my pi hole but that alone didn't do it, I also had to whitelist go-mpulse.net.

• os: window 10
• browser: chrome Version 81.0.4044.138 (Official Build) (64-bit)
• extensions: ublock origin (disabled), foxit pdf creator, google docs offline, docs, sheets, slides
• error: Play button wont work. Occasionally if I refresh the page a dozen plus times it will play.
• URL: Every video does it. But for the sake of this post 11:00 pm Atlantic 20/5/2020 https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/dragons-dogma-05202020/2970-20270

This is from a previous video.

Been happening for about a month now iirc.

@crusader8463: Let me tag in @wcarle for this last one. Does the same thing happen for you on GameSpot? Also is this happening in Firefox or Edge for you?

@rorie: I dont have an account on gamespot. But I just went and clicked a few videos and they all auto played. Tried giant bomb on edge and same problem happened. Play button won't work.

@thisismadness Whitelisting cdn.cookielaw.org worked for me too. Good looking out:

@crusader8463 That's really puzzling, the error you posted is from a third party script, not related to the video player. My guess is that it's related to the above mentioned cookielaw.org script. Unfortunately there's no getting around that because it's a legal thing we have to have on the page for privacy reasons. One thing that could help me debug is a HAR file from your chrome browser. Similar to the screenshot of the console in the developer tools. If you could send me a HAR file from the video page I could see if there are any blocked requests to files that are required for the player to load. Here are some instructions on how to generate the HAR file: https://confluence.atlassian.com/kb/generating-har-files-and-analyzing-web-requests-720420612.html

If you could send that to me via google drive or dropbox that would help me debug.

That's not a good answer, especially since we can download the video with no issue.

I can confirm it's cdn.cookielaw.org (in my case Pi-hole using steven blacks master list).

Mine is failing in the file otSDKStub.js in the OneTrustStub function otFetch

@wcarle:

Ya, it gets even weirder now. So here's the steps I take.

Open giant bomb.Find a video I want to watch on the landing page, or I open the video section and look for one I had been planning to watch.I then middle mouse to open it in a new tab.The play button won't work.The new thing happening just now, is that if I refresh and wait like 5-10 seconds for the page to load the play button seems to work every time. Before it never would. Unless I'm not understanding the directions you linked to create a .har file, it requires a refresh to catch the data. I did it anyway in hopes it tells you something, but as of this post it seems to work now if I refresh the video page. Will update if anything changes. Let me know if there's any other troubleshooting I could do to help.

Here is the .har file you requested .

Edit: nearly as soon as I posted the above, it seems to be working now on first load after waiting a few seconds. Previously no matter how long I waited it wouldn't work. So ya. Idk. Lol

Oh, when I went to check the Chrome version last time it appeared to update to 83.0.4103.61. So maybe that's what fixed it?

Im not really here to report on this issue although I have been experiencing it, I did find that if I click on another video in the carousel beneath the video and then click back to the video it makes the video work. Ive been experiencing it for about a few weeks now.

@daltimond: I've found that just clicking on the video you're currently on in the carousel does the same, no need to switch to another video. You can see that it's worked when the thumbnail behind the play button changes opacity.

Thank you for the carousel trick. I am on an ios device using safari and for at least a week or more I have been having to refresh each video several times before the video is actually playable.

Chiming in to say the carousel trick works for me too.

Here's the log from when the play button didn't work:

• OS: Windows 10
• Browser Microsoft Edge Version 83.0.478.37 (Official build) (64-bit)
• Extensions: none using InPrivate mode, Tracking Prevention disabled.
• Error: Play button wont work. It will play if I click the video in the carousel. Tested in Edge and Firefox, same thing.
• URL: https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/2-fallout-2-furious-episode-05/2970-20288/
• Time: 3:45pm EST 2020-05-25

Hope that helps!

Have this problem on iOS constantly—nearly every video. Usually refreshing two or three times gets it to work. What I see when it doesn’t work is the background behind the play button is very dark, almost completely black. When it works the background becomes lighter.

I’ve had this problem for a few weeks.

Currently Using Safari on iPhone iOS 13.5.

I get the white play button with ‘LOADING VIDEO. . .’ behind but it doesn’t start.

No big deal, I just click on the download dropdown menu instead to view the video. This works fine.

I have three Macs that all have the same symptom, and I'd say ongoing for a few weeks. I'll detail just this machine, as they are pretty similar and the behavior is identical. One machine is ahead an OS update, one behind.

Symptom: Play button doesn't work. Artwork is missing too, like it didn't load in the background. Every time: reloading the page twice causes the video to appear to load (artwork shows up), then the play button works. No errors, just reloading.

No plug ins for me.

OSX 10.13.6; Safari 13.1 (13609.1.20.111.8)

When looking at the console, I get this message when the video fails to load. I get different messages when I reload and the video loads properly:

Good Luck, love the site.

(side complaint - on desktop, I loose the side/side arrows to scroll the ribbon of latest videos. Works on mobile, not on desktop safari. I have to click 'see all' to get to older than the last 5-6 videos).

It didn't work for me. Mainly for running Ad-block (I used it to block the manage cookies button), but since I'm a premium subscriber I guess I could tolerate the cookies button in exchange for actually watching the videos!

* Using Chrome

* Adblock

* Watched through giantbombs player instead of YouTube's.

Cannot press play on YouTube hosted videos, but when I open in incognito, I can. Weird.

@wcarle: got a .har file with the error. Here.

In addition to Edge and Chrome, I am also having issues on my iPhone (Safari). Anyone else having issues with Safari?

This is frustrating. I want to watch some Premium content :)

Have been having same problem as reported as well, all standard setup but can play on Incognito mode. It is getting very frustrating. can we get a reply at least to what the problem is.

When I click videos from the home page they never play. I have to click the same video below the player from the carousel. It could just be a coincidence, but the URL from the home page always has ?autoplay=1 appended, and doesn't work, whereas when I remove that it works. Also when this change is made the thumbnail becomes more vivid and less dark so something is loading differently even before the video plays.

Worth noting that autoplay never works anyway, it always buffers infinitely when a video ends.

Windows 10. Latest Chrome. Version 83.0.4103.61 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Ublock Origin is installed but disabled.

Been getting this issue too.

Playing from the carousel seems to work fine, although this video doesn't seem to be in any carousel so can't be played at all: https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/11-the-four-balls-the-three-arrows/2970-20300/premium-video

macOS 10.15.5

Safari 13.1.1

All extensions disabled

Just chiming in with another case that whitelisting 'cdn.cookielaw.org' on my pi-hole solved the issue for me (was getting no background art and play button that does nothing).That was the only domain I had to whitelist, after which videos worked normal again.

I'll add that I was also able to solve this issue by whitelisting 'cdn.cookielaw.org' on my pi-hole.

This just started for me a couple days ago, only premium videos that didn't have a free version. If i flipped from free to premium i believe it started. Checked my pihole logs and found

Edit - 'cdn.cookielaw.org' was also being blocked but i did not whitelist it.

I've tried both of these suggestions, but no luck. With no extensions on chrome I still can't get it to play. Can't get the current premium live show to load either.

The Play Button has always been wonky ever since they switched to the new player, my fix for it was to refresh the page and hit play before it fully loaded, now (05-06-2020) however the livestream player is just stuck on loading video. It worked fine for me yesterday on Alex's drumstream.

Update: I found a solution though it doesn't seem ideal.

@wcarle

@rorie

I'm in the UK and have a "manage cookies" button in the bottom left of the window. I have always had them all turned off but after experimenting, "Analystics & Performance" cookies enable completely solves the issue. None of the other options affect ability to play the video.

As to what these cookies are particularly, I don't know. Maybe Will can elaborate. This doesn't make it apparent why clicking links from the home page never work but clicking through the carousel does. Maybe this can be fixed so I don't have to enable those cookies?

These are the scripts listed under it.

Another user had this solution last night:

Sorry for the issues; we'll look into what's going on here.

I just posted in a different thread ongoing before seeing this one. Slightly related but the /chat video player gets stuck at the "loading video..." throbbing message until I enable "Analytic & Performance" cookies via the Manage Cookies settings in the lower left.

Chrome 83, Win 10.0.18363

No extension enabled.

So an un-ideal temporary fix for anyone that finds themselves here until @wcarle finds a proper fix is to enable "Analytic & Performance" cookies via the Manage Cookies settings in the lower left.

@hero_swe: @alistercat: @lanerobertlane:

Apologies guys, we didn't intend to have the video player not load when analytic & performance scripts were disabled. They actually aren't required but the player was waiting for them to load. I've added a fix that will allow you to disable those scripts and still watch videos. Thanks for your patience.

@wcarle: Thanks. The /chat player and site videos seem to be working again for me. I appreciate it.

@wcarle: You're great <3

@wcarle: Awesome! Thanks Will!

My video player is still not working. I am using Chrome and have allowed all cookies... What am I missing here?

Have you tried another browser? Disabling addons? Do they work on a mobile device that's attached to your wifi?

Thanks @rorie! After checking it on Edge and Explorer, I figured out that Kaspersky was blocking data collection. This was preventing the videos from playing. As long as I allow data collection, the videos will play.

Hmm I'm not sure if that is preferred behavior or not but a lot of addons can affect things like that. Sorry for the trouble!

For users with an AmpliFi HD router or perhaps other AmpliFi brand routers, this issue can be caused by (and therefore resolved by removing) the DNS-based ad blocker in the web settings.