Why is RTSP now being blocked on my Mac?

Question

Why is RTSP now being blocked on my Mac?

I was trying to play a streaming video from CSPAN and all of a sudden it stopped working. I can no longer play streaming videos either with a plugin or directly using either Real Player or Quicktime. Well, I can play videos as long as they use an http address or URL, but RTSP no longer works. Is my firewall suddenly blocking it? Can't play them using Safari either.

Here's the address I was attempting to connect to:

rtsp://video1.c-span.org/archive/arc btv/arc_btv0621084.rm

I just get a message that there's a network problem. I'm using an Airport Extreme base station, but until today everything was working fine and there was no problem with this protocol. Has something been reset?

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.3)

Posted on Jun 25, 2008 6:50 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 25, 2008 6:56 PM in response to Scott Talkington

What kind of network problem? Does it specify?

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Answer 2

Jun 26, 2008 8:21 AM in response to Community User

Doesn't specify. I just get a message that says: "Connection to server could not be established. You may be experiencing network problems." I've tried to connect using Real Player directly, as well as QuickTime. Nothing works, which is why I figure it must be a firewall in my system somewhere, but I don't know enough about this system to check that or how to fix it.

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Answer 3

Jun 28, 2008 3:48 PM in response to Community User

Well, thanks for all the crack help, anyway.

I can't connect using my XP-Pro box either, so the problem is clearly in the Airport Extreme setup. If no one on this forum can help me with that setup, I'd appreciate someone directing me to a forum that can help. I know how to modify a conventional router, but I have no idea how to deal with Airport Extreme Base Station. It seems a little quirky in this regard.

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Answer 4

Rex Carr

Level 1

9 points

Jul 24, 2008 3:09 PM in response to Scott Talkington

This exact same thing has happened to me. I don't think it's a firewall issue because it happened without me making any changes to the firewall. It's incredibly frustrating, so if you come across a solution PLEASE post it. Thanks and good luck.

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Answer 5

Jul 26, 2008 8:14 PM in response to Scott Talkington

The same problem cropped up with me a few days ago.
RTSP from C-Span had been working fine (using RealPlayer 10) and then it stopped.
I always get an error that the connection to the server could not be made.
I tried installing RealPlayer 11, but no dice.
I'm back to RealPlayer 10.
I've tried playing the streams from Safari, IE 5.0 and Navigator. RealPlayer launches with no problem, but never connects.
I'm sitting with a wired ethernet connection to a University network, so I don't imagine it's an Airport problem.

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Answer 6

Sep 1, 2008 7:24 AM in response to Scott Talkington

Ok here's what finally worked for me with getting rtsp streams to play directed from C-Span. (The only site I am aware of that this didn't just automatically work.)

This is all first assuming one is using Airport Extreme, and running Leopard 10.5.4, (though I imagine it would work on 10.5.3)

Make sure Safari or your Browser is not running. Quit it if it is.
If you are not using Airport, try skipping to step two.

_Step One: Reconfigure your Airport Extreme._
Go to your Utilities folder, (Applications/Utilities), and open: *Airport Utility*.
Double click your base station name in the left column.
This will open up the configuration you have for your base station.
Make sure you are on, "Airport," on the top tab of the configuration page.
This will open up four tabs below it, click on: "Wireless," the third tab from the left.

Here I had pre selected: *802.11n (802.11b/g compatible)*
I changed this to: *+802.11n Only (2.4 Ghz)+*
Then I clicked on: Update.

This takes a minute or two.

_Step Two: Change Real Player Preferences_
Open Real Player, open Preferences, (through the Real Player menu or by holding down: "Apple Comma")
Click on the: "Transport," tab on the top of the preferences window.
Check: *Use manually configured RTSP and PNA transport settings*
Click on: Configure.
In pop-up window click: *Use HTTP Only*.
Click: OK
Close preferences, and just to be sure, quit real player.

Re-start Safari, or your Browser, navigate to C-Span, and try one of those rtsp links.
If you are like me, you are in for a pleasant surprise.
After months of not being able to watch C-Span, rtsp streamed archives, it now works!

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Answer 7

GeoA

Level 1

7 points

Oct 8, 2008 6:35 AM in response to richisgame

I tried the suggestions from this post of 6/14/06 and get the "cannot connect thru HTTP" message. All of my software is updated. I can view Live Tv on cspan but cannot view "Latest Videos"

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