The New MTV Full Episode Player
4/14 Update: Thank you for the feedback on our new video player. For those who have had trouble watching our video, we appreciate your tremendous patience. We’ve been working hard to tackle all the problems that have been coming up. It can take time to figure out and reproduce an issue sometimes when we don’t get many specifics, and we want to make sure we’ve tested our fixes thoroughly. For many of you who have been able to enjoy the new full episode video player, we have improvements on the way. Your feedback is invaluable, so please continue to let us know what you think.
3/18 Original Post: We’re truly excited to launch our new full episode video player in time for the new episodes of The Hills premiering on March 24. We’ve been working hard to pack this new player with lots of improvements over our old video player. There’s also many more features we have in store for you, and once it’s more proven, we’ll start rolling this player out to other shows.
We’re still working out some kinks and tweaks but check out what’s new below. In the meantime, definitely let us know what you think… what you like, what’s not working, what can be better, and anything else you’d like to see in our new video player. We may not have time to reply as much as we’d like, but rest assured we’re reading and listening to your comments.
Before
After
- Watch larger video with up to 3x improved video quality, color fidelity and resolution than previous video players on mtv.com without downloading additional software.
- The video player will automatic detect and dynamically optimize the streaming content to the highest level bit rate your internet connection can support for optimal viewing experience. Our Flash videos stream from 1.7 Mbps for higher connection speeds to 350 Kbps for modest connection speeds. Also, the player automatically displays 4:3 (full-screen) or 16:9 (widescreen) video in their native aspect ratio. We still give you the ability to change display sizes and optimize the bandwidth settings, but designed the video player to give you the best viewing experience without you having to do much but sit back and enjoy.
- We’ve redesigned the webpage to give the video center stage with minimal clutter, and not in a pop-up. The layout is optimized for 1024 x 768 monitor resolution in mind, so even the large view fits perfectly on your screen. Relevant content like songs from the episode and After Shows, along with access to other episodes of the series, are now one click away.
- Watching our shows online doesn’t just have to be passive. Our audience is part of everything we do and we want to hear what you think about the show via comments and ratings, share your favorite episodes with the community by adding to your profile, and share with your friends by posting or sending them the URL.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
i understand why you put commercials in the middle of episodes now but it is really annoying when you watch it because at the end of the commercial it always freezes “buffering” back to the program… after the first commercial, I have to choose another episode and same thing…
I didn’t have any trouble in the first two seasons and it is a shame since I love the Hills and I travel a lot so it is my only way to catch up with them…
March 24th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
The Hills episodes are not playing at all! It says “Loading” but it never does! There are a few comments on Season 3 Episode 1 from other people having the same problem… Please fix it, I’ve been checking back since early this morning!!
March 24th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
This is the worst player. I can’t even watch the episode. It is horrible, you should just go back to the old one so that everyone can enjoy the show.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Same problem as Sheila.. The Hills wont play at all. I’ve done everything the little “Help” link said to do. The player won’t even let me click on the “Settings” button to adjust things. Please fix it!
March 24th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
I was looking so forward to watching The Hills tonight, but I guess that is a no go. I don’t understand why you would want to test something like a new video on the opening night of The Hills. I uderstand you were trying make things better ,but man this sucks because this is my only means of watching it right now is from online. I always could rely on watching the missed video online now I can’t watch anything . Fix this please like soon.
March 25th, 2008 at 12:14 am
My computer will not even try to run it, the screen is just black on top where The Hills should be playing. The preview ran just fine a few hours ago. What ever changes you made you should perfect them before launching a premier of such a highly watched episode. This is when it counts work on the problems on the down time. Thanks for disappointing my evening!!
March 25th, 2008 at 12:15 am
I have a plain black screen. I’ve even redownloaded Adobe Flash Player…Nothing!!! I was so looking forward to watching the premiere, but I guess I’ll have to wait…
March 25th, 2008 at 12:21 am
The episode wont even play for me, the last seasons I finally got to work during the last episodes but with this new flash player that I have installed 5 times it still says I need to install it please fix it or go back to the old one. thx
March 25th, 2008 at 12:28 am
This new player doesn’t work for me. I can’t comment on the quality because i’m finding it impossible to play.
March 25th, 2008 at 12:51 am
I CANNOT WATCH IT EITHER!
-DOWNLOADED ADOBE (WHICH I DID PRIOR TO THIS)= NOTHING
-REFRESHED THE PAGE= NOTHING
-OPENED A NEW TAB & BROWSER= NOTHING
-NEW PLAYER= NOTHING.
THIS IS MY ONLY MEANS OF WATCHING AS WELL… THE OLD PLAYER WAS MORE RELIABLE THAN THIS IS NOW. I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU GUYS ARE TRYING TO PROVIDE CLARITY IN THE VIEWING EXPERIENCE AND MORE SETTINGS, BUT CAN YOU PLAN ACCORDINGLY B4 PUTTING A DISFUNCTIONAL PLAYER UP, ON OPENING NIGHT?!!
PLEASE CHANGE IT BACK ASAP OR FIX THE PROBLEM!
March 25th, 2008 at 1:35 am
i totally agree with everyone…
better quality would be great….
but actualy seeing the show would be better…i much rather have worse quality but easy and fast loading
March 25th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Bring back the old player!! the old one actually worked….. this one just buffers every 10 seconds, and ive tried everything from redownloading abode flash player, changing my speed settings and the size of the video and nothing works which is making it near impossible to watch the video with out pulling all of my hair out. i hope you either fix the problem or revert back to the old player!! I WANT TO WATCH THE HILLS!!!
March 25th, 2008 at 2:26 am
This sucks!! i Can only see a black screen saying that it is loading ! ok yea watever it aint loading for Krap! the old one was way better CHANGE IT OR FIX IT!
March 25th, 2008 at 3:33 am
I understand that when there id a lot of traffic on the website the videos wont load for everyone. But if there is anyways to make a moving icon that says loading instad of a non moving one, it would be helpful so that we know if its actually loading or it timed out.
March 25th, 2008 at 5:57 am
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March 25th, 2008 at 7:33 am
hello
i’m from austria and we only get ‘the hills’ ages later and in german and i prefer the original so i always watch it online. (: but the new player doesn’t seem to work which really sucks. so please bring back the old one!!!
March 25th, 2008 at 7:44 am
hello
i’m from austria and i absolutely love ‘the hills’. in Austria we only get the show ages later and in german and i really prefer the original version so i always watch it online. but this new player doesn’t seem to work. so pleeease bring back the old one!!
LG
March 25th, 2008 at 8:34 am
This sucks! The video wont play at all and I’ve done everything the help link suggested! Please fix it!
March 25th, 2008 at 9:32 am
FIX the darn player!! I was soo excited to watch it this morning and now I can’t!
March 25th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Have options for both players. I watch early in the morning at work and I do not have access to download a new player so I won’t be able to watch my shows anymore!
March 25th, 2008 at 10:12 am
I wish you guys would put in closed captioning online if possible.. Not only would it help the hearing impaired but its also good for people watching at work or people that done have volume on their computer. Just a thought..
March 25th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
the new season 3 hills premiere will not load. It just keeps saying “buffering” I watch a TON of shows on Mtv.com and I never have this problem. is there something wrong? I cant WAIT to watch the premiere. Thanks!!!
March 25th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Absolutely horrible. I’ve altered all of the settings as suggested. I’m attempting to view the video on an unshared high speed internet connection and still nothing. I’ve updated all of the players and programs, still nothing. HORRIBLE!
March 25th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
This one sucks!!!
I can’t even play it!!!!
it just sits there…. i like the old one better because i can actually see the video!!!!
March 25th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Works fine for me in Firefox. Tried all the different sizes fine
March 25th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
WHY IS THIS NOT WORKING
March 25th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
For everyone who is having problems with the loading/buffering thing u have to change the settings of it sometimes. change it to 768kps or 512kps…its annoying i know but it worked for me.
Does anyone know when they will put the hills aftershow on this new player because i want to watch it on this.
March 25th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Hi! This player looks amazing. I like the direction video is heading online!
Some features I’d like to see are space to pause, and double click to toogle fullscreen mode. I’ve seen it implemented before here, so I’m sure it’s not that hard.
Keep up the good work!
skid, the kid.
March 25th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
This new player is the worst! I couldnt even watch the episode. Havent you heard of “if it aint broke, dont fix it”?! The old player was just fine…so much for watching anymore online episodes.
March 25th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I cant watch it either I have tried everything and it still wont load. I can watch the after show and any other mtv show because they’re on the old player. BRING BACK THE OLD PLAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 25th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
It wont play on my computer either (but on my husband’s laptop it does). I had the same problem on CWTV.com and Fox.com. It’s a new player software called MOVE NETWORKS of course it is from Microsoft: Customer service sucks and cant help and the software is full of bugs and released to early.
I’ve been talking to them for weeks now; they stopped responding because they dont know how to fix it. They kept asking me the same questions over and over even though I already answered them.
(about firewall and browser etc)
RIDICULOUS.
Great going MTV, you jumped on the loser train also.
LOL
March 25th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
If the video won’t play for you, try turning off any ad blocker software that prevents access to doubleclick. i tried this and the video started playing perfectly
March 25th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
The Hills episodes are not playing at all! Nothing is coming on on my display! Please fix it, I’ve been checking back since a couple hours!!
March 25th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
UGGGGHHH!!!! I am getting a black screen….why is the show not loading???? HELP
I too have done all the install crapola!
Rats!!!
March 25th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
ALL YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT BLACK LOADING SCREEN - TRY REMOVING ANY AD-BLOCKER SOFTWARE FROM YOUR COMPUTER. that worked for me!
March 25th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Hi,
Thanks for trying to improve things, eventually everything will be awesome. I’m unable to load the video too. For about 30minutes now, there’s only black screen and some tiny text saying: “loading”… Not sure if it actually is loading though.
My suggestion is to add additional tips on how to change computer settings (since there’s a bunch of us who don’t know much about computer settings) would be great.
Layout looks great and some of the new features look cool.
thanks!
March 25th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Are you going to post an answer or response to all of these complaints? I just would like to know if its worth my time trying to actually watch the hills this season. I have the same problem as everyone else…black screen and it says “loading.” I downloaded the program again and I have never had a problem with the old video player. Thank you.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
ugh, is there a reason why MTV decided to make it difficult for the viewers to catch up on the episodes that they missed??? mtv.com itself is already a pain to navigate and search for things. I don’t have a slow computer, in fact it’s fast enough to do animation work, but mtv.com continuously load up like i am on a modem… nonetheless i still come to this forsaken site to watch the hills… and now instead of improving it, you guys have manage to make it worst???? thanks a lot…
March 26th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Please Fix The Hills! The Commercials Play Just Fine, But Then The Player Just Says Connecting The Whole Time, I Left It On For Hours, And Still Nothing!!! I NEED To Watch The Hills, Please Fix This Issue Immediatly!
March 26th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
why cant i watch the HILLS new episode ‘Paris Changes Everything’?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
March 26th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I can’t get the episode to even play. I’ve been trying for two days. This sucks.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
WOW! What can I say! This video thing sucks! I cant even watch the show! Which I have been wanting to watch since like for ever! The old player was fine! Now I cant even watch the show…at all! This is dumb. Pleaseeee try to fix it SOOON. I have to watch this episode! Everyone is talking about it and I cant say anything about it, because I havent been able to watch it!
Ps. Nothing I do will fix it. soo please do something about it. thankss
March 26th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I have been trying to watch the new episode since Monday night. I still have not been able to. I am about to die! It says loading.. and never does anything. I do have a slow internet connection (ALL I CAN GET WHERE I LIVE) but I can’t even click on settings to change it. Please fix this. I REALLY need to watch it.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
omg! this thing does not work! it stops and says buffering every 30 sec.
i hated it! and i really wanted 2 watch the hills!~
March 27th, 2008 at 10:55 am
WAY too much buffering. And I’m on a REALLY fast connection. Unlike other high quality video episode sites I’ve seem lately, like abc.com. This is not worth watching…
March 28th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
this does not work. Have been trying for days and in about 4 different browsers and nothing. Stuck on the black ‘loading’ screen. Terrible user experience MTV, considering all the other shows except the PREMIER work. Please fix this asap.
March 29th, 2008 at 5:04 am
The player does not seem to work at all. Just hung up on loading. Old player used to work perfectly on the same computers.
Please fix!!!!
March 29th, 2008 at 6:49 am
I dont like this new player either! bring back the old one.
I can’t stand watching something that keeps stopping to buffer all the time it is so freakin annoying!
at least with the old player you could pause it and still see that it was buffering and then when it had gotten far enough watch without much interuption. but this new player is so stupid it doesnt do that.
I don;t live in USA so my only way of watching half the mtv shows is online.
please dont ruin this for us!!!!!
March 31st, 2008 at 6:36 am
hello,
thank you very much for fixing the new player! i’m glad all the glitches have been taken care of, and it was definately worth the wait to be able to watch the hills with minimal buffering.
and thanks mtv for putting these shows online, i live in new zealand and it’s awesome to be up to date with what’s happening on the hills, heh, love this show.
awesome job guys, keep up the good work.
shayne.