# Youtube and getting the video to play. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-getting-the-video-to-play/379690 "2006-11-09T13:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-getting-the-video-to-play/379690/1 "2006-11-09T13:37:10Z")
Does anyone else have to hit the refresh button several times to get a Youtube video to play? Is there a way around this? Sometimes they pop right up and play and sometimes I’ll have to hit the refresh button several times. When the refresh thing _does_ work the video starts immediately, no loading time. In fact, I’ve never had to wait for a video to load, it either starts right away or never starts (unless the refresh thing works). Any tips?? ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-getting-the-video-to-play/379690/2 "2006-11-09T13:39:12Z")
I have that problem only with my laptop at work; on my iMac at home the videos play the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-getting-the-video-to-play/379690/3 "2006-11-09T13:41:43Z")
[QUOTE=McNew] I have that problem only with my laptop at work; on my iMac at home the videos play the first time. [/QUOTE] Maybe it’s a work thing. My computer at home doesn’t seem to have this problem either. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-getting-the-video-to-play/379690/4 "2006-11-09T13:58:42Z")
No problems here unless it’s the occasional connectivity issue. Does the video not play because the connection is timing out or do you get the “document done” status but it still won’t play? You using any flash-blocker plugins or anything? ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-getting-the-video-to-play/379690/5 "2006-11-09T15:06:28Z")
[QUOTE=Mindfield] No problems here unless it’s the occasional connectivity issue. Does the video not play because the connection is timing out or do you get the “document done” status but it still won’t play? You using any flash-blocker plugins or anything? [/QUOTE] It doesn’t time out or anything, it will just sit on the _LOADING_ screen. Everything else come up around the video window (the controls, the other video screen shots, advertising, etc.) and it will just sit on the loading screen forever unless I hit refresh, then sometimes it will play right away (as soon as the page refreshes) and other times I may need to hit refresh a half dozen times or so. I am not aware of any type of flash blocking on the PC. Wouldn’t that prevent the vids from ever playing instead of just sometimes? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-getting-the-video-to-play/379690/6 "2006-11-09T15:20:25Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense] It doesn’t time out or anything, it will just sit on the _LOADING_ screen… [/QUOTE] I get this occasionally on my Mac/Firefox (10.4.8/1.5.0.3), usually after I’ve had the browser running a long time or visited sites that abuse HTML. Restarting the browser fixed it every time. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-getting-the-video-to-play/379690/7 "2006-11-09T15:38:12Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense] Does anyone else have to hit the refresh button several times to get a Youtube video to play? Is there a way around this? Sometimes they pop right up and play and sometimes I’ll have to hit the refresh button several times. When the refresh thing _does_ work the video starts immediately, no loading time. In fact, I’ve never had to wait for a video to load, it either starts right away or never starts (unless the refresh thing works). Any tips?? [/QUOTE] ‘Scripts’ must be enabled for Youtube to work. Enable for those sites visited frequently, temporarily for seldom visited sites, and avoid ‘Global’ enabling to avoid dangerous sites/programs. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-getting-the-video-to-play/379690/8 "2006-11-09T15:52:41Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense] It doesn’t time out or anything, it will just sit on the _LOADING_ screen. Everything else come up around the video window (the controls, the other video screen shots, advertising, etc.) and it will just sit on the loading screen forever unless I hit refresh, then sometimes it will play right away (as soon as the page refreshes) and other times I may need to hit refresh a half dozen times or so. [/QUOTE] Exactly the same for me, except while I get the LOADING screen, the other videos show a red “X”, no screenshots. Once in a blue moon a video will play, but the rest of the time it gets stuck loading. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-getting-the-video-to-play/379690/9 "2006-11-09T17:13:01Z")
[QUOTE=spingears] ‘Scripts’ must be enabled for Youtube to work. Enable for those sites visited frequently, temporarily for seldom visited sites, and avoid ‘Global’ enabling to avoid dangerous sites/programs. [/QUOTE] I have scripting enabled. This only happens sometimes and a couple of refreshes solves the problem, usually.