Help! My course loads, but the videos won't play! All I see is a gray or white box!

If your course loads, but you can't play any videos, or the videos will not load, you are most likely on a device, browser, or network whose settings are blocking access to Vimeo.com, the site which hosts our secure video content.  You may also be experiencing permissions issues from your network, browser, or stale login.

Is your issue a Vimeo issue?

First, head to https://vimeo.com/watch and see if you can watch videos.

If videos are loading on Vimeo, but not on our site, it is likely security/permissions related: whether a stale login, browser security settings issue, or VPN issue.

Otherwise, Vimeo videos are being blocked at a network, browser, or device level.

If it's not a Vimeo issue:

If Vimeo.com loads videos, first try logging out and logging in again. Sometimes a "stale" login from a different IP address (when you were on a different WiFi network or LTE network upon login, though are trying to use the course on a new network now) will fail to authenticate your permissions unless you login again. You must login on the course and view the course from the same IP address.

Occasionally, browser settings can restrict access to Vimeo. Additionally, browser security/privacy settings may interfere with our software's attempt to verify your credentials before allowing videos to play. Try a different browser and see if this solves your issue. You can also default privacy settings to standard on your browser(s) to see if this solves the problem.

If you're using a VPN, see VPN section below.

If Vimeo is blocked, you'll need to find the source of the block.

A good way to see if this is a network based issue is to try your device on a different network or LTE instead of WiFi to see if the videos load. If they load on another network, the filter is at the network level. If not, the filter may be on a browser or machine software level.

To see if your issue is specific to your device, try logging on using a different device on the same network.

Why is Vimeo blocked?

Oftentimes, school networks, school computer settings, libraries, family "safety" filtering software (from companies such as Circle, Smoothwall, McAfee, or Avast), foreign countries or foreign ISPs (in places like China or Iran), airline WiFi networks, or local filtering software (AKA firewalls) will ban or block content from Vimeo.com.

Solving the issue:

To see video content, you must allow videos from Vimeo.com or at least embedded Vimeo videos that appear on our app at Courses.supertutortv.com. 

Your school or library may use filtering software to limit access to Vimeo. Contact your IT administrator at your library or school to see if you can override this issue or create an exception. Sometimes these blocks are at a network level (i.e. on your WiFi network) and other times they are on your machine or browser. There are several possible methods to do so depending on your filtering software's available options:

Option 1: Unblock all Vimeo Embedded Videos

To allow students to video embedded videos without allowing general Vimeo.com access or general video from searches for Vimeo.com content in your  content filtering software:

1. Unblock vimeocdn.com, vimeo.com/api, player.vimeo.com
2. Add vimeocdn.com, vimeo.com/api, player.vimeo.com as Allowed Referrers
3. Ensure your web filter allows secure (encrypted) requests from vimeo.com
4. Clear the browser cache (in chrome, safari etc.)

Please note that the above steps will still block students from accessing vimeo.com directly

 

Option 2: White-list SupertutorTV's site and all of its embedded content:

You also may be able to "white list" our sites:

• supertutortv.com
• video.supertutortv.com
• courses.supertutortv.com
• supertutortv-courses.web.app

and select or check "allow embedded videos" or "allow embedded content" on your filtering software after adding these sites to the white list. This solution would prevent videos from Vimeo on any sites besides SupertutorTV.

 

Option 3: Allow all Vimeo video content

Reduce the level of video blocking security or white list "Vimeo.com" and all websites listed above.

Note: this will not block access to content at Vimeo.com directly.

 

Option 4: VPNs

Another possible solution is to use a VPN. If you are on a device or network that is blocking Vimeo, you may be able to use a VPN to access our site and override the restrictions. 

 

Those who experience this issue may also be using a VPN improperly. If you have logged onto the course without a VPN, turned on a VPN, and then tried to access course content without a fresh login, no videos will load. In this case, our site is blocking your access of video content because your IP address from the VPN doesn't match your login IP address. To solve this issue, first log out of the course, then login to your VPN and then re-login to the course while on the VPN. Please note some VPNs may not successfully "Unblock" Vimeo content. In this case you may need to use a different VPN. 

Early Generation iPad Issues:

Finally, some iPad users on 9th generation iPad iOS software (go to settings->general to see your software, it should be a number such as 9.1.2 or 11.2.1) may experience a bug that occurs because the software is outdated. To solve this issue, update your OS to the latest available iOS software for your device. 

If none of these solutions work for you, please open a ticket at the upper right of this page!