Flash Content on the BBC in Safari 5.0.6

Question

Flash Content on the BBC in Safari 5.0.6

This question applies to my G5 2.5 gHz Tower running Safari 5.0.6. and an issue with Flash content on the BBC News website.

I often the BBC News website, and until a few months ago was able to play all of their video content. For some inexplicable reason their website now tells me I do not have the minimum Flash version (10.1.0) for playback. However, I do have the minimum Flash installation (v.10.1.102.64) as confirmed by the Adobe web site, and, seconded by the simple fact that Firefox 3.6.25 on the very same computer does play all the content at the BBC News web site and fails to generate any warnings.

So, Mac gurus and assorted experts who have earned my depest respect... what's going on? I have written to those in charge of the BBC News web site and indications are they probably didn't read my message past the subject line as they proceeded to ask me all the questions they'd have had answers to by reading my message in the first place. In short, they asked me to upgrade to Flash 10.1.0... so that route is not going solve my problem.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks...

Powermac G5 2.5gHz - 2G RAM - ATI X800 XT 256MB, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Feb 13, 2012 12:38 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 13, 2012 2:24 PM in response to Jacques Daviault

I'm neither a guru or an expert but others have had luck with uninstalling the current copy of Flash then reinstalling > Troubleshoot Flash Player | Mac OS

And try deleting Flash cookies > Flush.app – Flash Cookie Removal Tool For OS X | MacHacks.TV

And empty the Safari cache more often. Command + Option + E or from your Safari menu bar click Safari > Empty Cache.

Keep in mind, other browsers may not have a problem with Adobe but Apple (Safari) does > Thoughts on Flash < written by Steve Jobs.

Might be better to use the other browsers for Flash for the BBC content.

edited by: cs

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Answer 2

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Feb 13, 2012 3:23 PM in response to Jacques Daviault

BBC iPlayer relies on Adobe Air. AIR 1.5.3 is the last version of AIR that supports Mac PowerPC and Windows 2000. AIR applications that require AIR 2 or later cannot be installed or used on a Macintosh PowerPC or a computer running the Windows 2000 operating system.

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/853/cpsid_85304.html

I am in the same boat. I cannot watch flash videos on the BBC website or on BBC iPlayer, although all other flash videos (YouTube for example) are fine.

For reasons that passeth all understanding, they work with the PPC version of Firefox, called TenFourFoxG5.app, once you have anabled plug-ins, as it does not natively support Flash.

You can download TenFourFoxG5 from here:

http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/

Now for the intersting bit: TenFourFox, like Firefox, does not support most plug-ins. Unless you are prone to headaches (in which case don't) you can read about that here:

http://code.google.com/p/tenfourfox/wiki/PluginsNoLongerSupported

But there is a workaround!

Open TenFourFox and type in the address bar: about:config (no spaces) and click return. This gives you a warning that it might harm the application. Ignore that and click on 'I'll be careful, I promise' and you get the config file that you can edit - with great care.

Look/search (scroll down) for: tenfourfox.plugins.enabled

Set it to true. (Double click it to toggle it)

Now close TenFourFox, open it again, and Flash will now work, as it now uses the plug-ins that Safari has stored.

I am using Flash 10.1.102.64 in TenFourFox and it works just fine.

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Answer 3

Feb 14, 2012 12:03 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thanks for that Carolyn,

I've uninstalled and reinstalled Flash 10.1.102.64 a few weeks ago in an attempt to solve the problem and it had no effect. I looked for the application you suggested to flush my flash cookies, but it no longer seems to be available. I went in using my Safari cookies panel and removed all of the BBC News web site cookies, and this too had no effect. Emptying Safari's cache is something I do regularly, and so rules that out as a solution. but thanks for taking the time to lend an ear, and a few suggestions. I am grateful.

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Answer 4

Feb 14, 2012 12:13 PM in response to Klaus1

Hello Klaus,

I'm sorry to hear you're in the same situation as I am. It's frustrating - and you hinted at part of my frustration, the same web site including all Flash content works fine in Firefox 3.6.25, so I've not had to try it in TenFourFox5 but have had that browser installed for a while. The mystery, and frustration only deepen when one browser seems to suggest I have no option but to use an Intel-based Mac, and a more recent version of Flash, but another browser on the same 7-year old computer tells me all is fine... who's telling the truth? Although that analogy probably isn't appropriate. You'd think there'd be a simple solution to this, or that Apple and Adobe might have foreseen or encountered this problem and posted a fix or workaround. But no...

And, to lament a bit more, if the kind folks at the BBC had bothered to read my message in its entirety they might have suggested a solution, and I don't fault them for being busy, but their assistance might help out a lot of people by trying to determine the cause of this error message. It's not happening anywhere else for this user.

Thanks for your effort at trying to lend a hand Klaus, and have a great day!

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