Drum & Bass Arena streams "Windows Media" format audio and video. This means you need the Windows Media software installed on your PC or Mac. You can get this from www.microsoft.com.
All our content is provided to work through a 56K modem, but to get the best quality streams you will need a broadband connection of at least 300Kbps.
Also remember that Drum & Bass Arena is a streaming site - this means you can't download the tracks, or save them to your hard disc.
Frequently Asked Questions
Check through these common problems below and click on the ones that sound like your player problem.
01 - The audio/video keep stopping and starting.
02 - It doesn't do anything. It doesn't Open, Connect, Buffer or Play.
03 - I'm running a Mac. Nothing works...
04 - There's a lot of hiss and noise.
05 - The audio is really quiet.
06 - The video is dark, or completely black.
07 - The video is frozen, but the audio feed is fine.
08 - I get error code #80040265.
09 - The player starts, says "Opening" then just hangs - it doesn't "Buffer".
10 - I can't download / save any of the content on to my computer.
11 - I've got the latest player, I'm not looking at anything else while I'm listening, I've been through all the other advice, etc...
12 - I'm on a home broadband connection and the streams don't even connect.
Submit A Technical Support Request
If you've checked ALL the possible solutions in the FAQ and it's still not working, then you can contact our Technical Support team using the form below.
Common Solutions
These are the solutions to the FAQ above which cover most of the problems you may have accessing the audio/video streams on Drum & Bass Arena. Please check through these before you submit a Technical Support Request. Thanks!
01 The audio / video keeps stopping and starting.
All our audio and video is "streamed" from our server to your computer while you are watching it. So if the stream gets blocked or hits any Internet congestion between us and you, it will stop playing. Check the following things:
YOUR CONNECTION SPEED - The actual speed of your Internet connection will be a lot less than your Internet Service Provider says it is. Check the table below:
| |
Rated speed |
Actual speed |
| Modem (normal phoneline) |
28k or 56k |
16k or 38k |
| Single ISDN |
64k |
50k |
| Dual ISDN |
128k |
100k |
| ADSL (downstream) / Broadband |
512k |
300-400k |
| T1 / Cable |
1024k |
700-800k |
THE STREAM SPEED - Your Internet connection must be faster than the speed of our streams. This is why all our audio is at 32k so that even slow modem connections can play it.
HOW TO FIND YOUR STREAM SPEED
You can find out how fast a stream is ACTUALLY coming into your computer by moving your mouse pointer over the reception icon, bottom left of the player. This tells you the stream speed in kbps (kilobits per second) and the framerate in fps (frames per second).
If the "kbps" value is significantly less than the speed given on the website (e.g. 32k audio), then the stream is getting congested somewhere between us and you, and it may be interrupted frequently, or will lose video quality.
DON'T DOWNLOAD ANYTHING ELSE AT THE SAME TIME - If you're on a modem, you will probably not be able to use your internet connection for anything else while you are listening to something on Drum & Bass Arena. This means don't download anything and don't surf around web pages at the same time.
CHECK YOUR BUFFER SIZE - Your computer stores a small amount of the stream on your computer before it plays it. This is called "buffering". Make sure your buffer size is at least the value shown in the table below. If it still breaks up a lot, increase the buffer size.
| |
Buffer Size |
| Modem |
5 seconds |
| Single ISDN |
3 seconds |
| Dual ISDN |
3 seconds |
| ADSL / Broadband |
1 second |
| T1 |
1 second |
HOW TO CHANGE YOUR BUFFER SIZE
- Right-click (or option-click in MacOS) on the Windows Media player controls
- Choose "Options" then click on "Advanced"
- Click on "Streaming Media" in the list and then click "Change"
- In the "Buffer" box, put in a number, preferably bigger than what was there before.
- Hit "OK" until you're back at the Window Media player.
NOTE: In practice, a 56k modem plugged into your normal telephone line will NOT give reliable results for any length of time. We provide all our content suitable for 56k modems, but only with considerable loss of image or audio quality. If you have access to a 'broadband' or 'ISDN' connection, then you can see how the quality of our higher bandwidth streams is a lot better.
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02 It doesn't do anything. It doesn't Open, Connect, Buffer or Play.
When you click on a link to start playing something, the player window should say Opening then Connecting (or Connecting to server) then Buffering and finally Playing. If it doesn't do any of this, reinstall the Windows Media Player software.
REINSTALL WINDOWS MEDIA - WINDOWS USERS
1. Click Start, then Settings, then Control Panel then open Add/Remove Programs
2 . On the Install/Uninstall tab, in the list of installed programs, click Microsoft Windows Media Player, and then click Add/Remove.
3 . When you are prompted to confirm the removal, click Yes
4 . Restart your computer (YOU MUST DO THIS BEFORE RE-INSTALLING!)
5 . Download Windows Media Player from this link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/
6 . Run the installer and try viewing the content again.
REINSTALL WINDOWS MEDIA - MAC OS USERS
Run the Windows Media Player Installer again.
IMPORTANT: Make sure you use the latest version. Beware of software that is called a "release candidate" - this software has NOT been fully tested.
OPENING - If it doesn't get beyond this stage then it is likely you are connected through a firewall. See answer 09.
CONNECTING or Connecting To Server - If it gets stuck at this stage then you may have a "Protocol" problem. See answer 11. If all protocols are enable, there may be a problem on our server. Try again a bit later. If it still doesn't work tell us about it, using the form below.
BUFFERING - If this takes ages to finish (it should count up to 100% then start playing straight away), your connection isn't fast enough or there is a lot of congestion, or the server is too busy. Try a lower speed stream if there's one available. Alternatively, the Internet might be very congested between us and you. So try again later or at off-peak times.
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03 I'm running Mac OS. Nothing works...
There are a lot of "issues" with Windows Media on Mac OS systems. However, if the embedded player (the one actually built into the webpage) doesn't work, click on the button for "Popup Player". This will launch your default Windows Media player software. If this doesn't work then try this:
REINSTALL YOUR SOFTWARE - just download the Windows Media Player software again and reinstall it. See the answer to question 02 for instructions. Make sure you use the latest version of the software. Beware of software that is called a "release candidate" - this software has NOT been fully tested.
MANUALLY LAUNCH THE STREAM - if the popup player doesn't work and you've tried reinstalling the software, do this...
HOW TO LAUNCH A STREAM MANUALLY
(Windows Media version 7.1 and above)
1. Start playing a video by clicking the link on the page.
2. Option-Click (hold down Option key and click your mouse button) on the video player window.
3. EITHER
Choose "Save as..." and save the file on to your computer. The file will be called something like simple[1].asx.
Close the browser windows and then double-click on simple[1].asx.
OR
If there's no "Save as...", choose "Properties" and copy the URL from the "Show" tab. The URL will be something like http://www.breakbeat.co.uk/player/simple[1].asx?ID=XXXX.
Open Windows Media Player and choose "open URL..." from the File Menu. Paste this URL and open it.
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04 There's a lot of hiss and noise.
When we stream audio/video, we have to "compress" the original recording and "encode" it. This compression and encoding unavoidably causes a loss in picture and sound quality. The more it is compressed, the more hiss and noise appears.
To ensure that all of our users can listen to the tracks, we specifically encode all our audio for modem users. But we also provide streams at higher qualities for people with faster connections.
In particular, high frequency sounds like snares and hi-hats become very "hissy". In video programs, the image breaks up into square blocks and the framerate will drop.
Also if you're using a popup player, make sure the player in the webpage isn't playing at the same time!!
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05 The audio is really quiet.
All our audio is compressed and normalised to the same standard, however variations over the course of a long recording are unavoidable. Make sure you check the following:
CHECK YOUR VOLUME CONTROLS in your player software AND in the Master Volume controls on your computer.
CHECK YOUR SPEAKERS - check the cables are connected and that the speakers are turned on and turned up.
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06 The video is dark, or completely black.
VENUE IS REALLY DARK - At some venues, lighting levels can be too low to provide a consistently well-lit image and consequently the videos can appear dark. As a reference, check out any of the sets from The Republic nightclub in Sheffield.
CHECK THE WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER BRIGHTNESS AND CONTRAST SETTINGS - In version 7.1 of the player, you can show the image controls by looking in the View menu --> Now Playing Tools --> Video Settings and then the controls will appear on the video windows.
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07 The video is frozen, however the audio is fine. The video works briefly when I move the window around the screen.
The connection isn't fast enough to stream this video. Make sure you are watching a stream that is suitable for your connection speed - i.e. if you have a modem, don't watch the broadband streams.
Also check the solutions given in question 01 above, about your connection speed.
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08 I get error code #80040265.
It's likely that some of the Windows Media Player files are missing or damaged. Remove Windows Media Player and re-install it, as in the instructions in question 02.
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09 The player starts, says "Opening" then just hangs - it doesn't buffer anything.
This is probably caused by a 'firewall' preventing the download.
A firewall (or 'proxy server') is a computer or a piece of software that limits the kind of things you can upload or download from the Internet. It is useful in preventing hackers getting access to your system, however it often means you can't download Windows Media.
Usually a firewall is configured to only allow transactions that use HTTP - the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. This is basically just used for web pages. Windows Media uses a different protocol called MMS (Microsoft Media Server). It is possible to reconfigure a firewall to allow these kind of transactions through as well as HTTP. But if you're reading this you'll probably need to ask your network administrator to sort this out for you. Read the bit in Q11 about Protocols too.
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10 I can't download any of the content on to my computer.
That's the idea. Most of the content on Drum & Bass Arena is streaming content. This means you can only hear it or watch it 'live' off our servers while you are connected to the Internet. You can't save it on to your computer to listen to later, and it would be illegal to do so.
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11 I've tried everything, I've got the latest version of media player, I'm not looking at anything else while I'm listening etc.etc.
If you've checked all the other solutions given above, then there's still a few tweaks and optimisations that can be done...
Now if you have the version 7.1 player and are not behind a firewall and things still aren't happening we need to examine your buffers and connection settings. Start the player (if it isn’t already) click on Tools --> Options. Make sure "Enable automatic codec download" is checked on the PLAYER tab, which is usually the first tab you should see.
Next click on the NETWORK tab. Examine closely the Protocols and Proxy settings. You must have the 'Multicast, TCP, UDP and HTTP' options all ticked. Make sure the 'HTTP Proxy' says 'BROWSER'. To change Proxy settings double click on the protocol name or hit the configure button. No proxy should be selected for the MMS protocol. It is important that the Proxies are configured correctly: HTTP = Browser. MMS = NONE
Next click on the PERFORMANCE tab. In here we are checking out Network Speed and Buffering. The Network Speed should at least match your modem speed, i.e. If your modem is 56K, the maximum you should set this to is 56K. If you experience constant dropouts (rebuffering) reduce this setting to one level lower. In general, you will find the most reliable streaming will happen if you set the Network Speed to about half your modem capacity - i.e. 28k for a 56k modem.
Next we need to look at the NETWORK BUFFERING settings, just below where you changed the Connection Speed settings. On your first attempt select the default option. If the player still doesn’t connect select the second tab (buffer) and type at least 5 in the dialog box. This will force the player to capture at least 5 seconds of data before it plays. It slows things down a little but generally forces a stream to work a bit better. Try increasing this value if it still doesn't work well.
Finally click on the FORMATS tab and make sure ALL of the Windows File types are selected. After doing ALL of the above hit the Apply button and then OK. Now go back to the website and click on the link to the video or audio stream again.
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12 I'm on a home broadband connection and the streams don't even connect.
We have received a lot of reports that certain broadband providers do not work with content on Drum & Bass Arena. This is for a number of reasons, including protocol availability.
You should also reset your router periodically - either switch it off from the main power supply for 30 seconds, or else press the small reset button (it may look like a small hole) in the router box.
PROTOCOLS - Some ISPs do not allow streaming on UDP which often means low speed streams are very unstable. To check whether UDP is available on your connection, check out the answer to 11 above.
ROUTER IDLE - If a router is idle for a period of time it will disconnect from the server. When you come back to it, it can take a long time to reconnect and usually Windows Media streaming is one of the last things that will come back. To avoid this, increase the idle timeout in your router settings, or make sure there is always a computer plugged into the router, or try unplugging your computer and then reset the router.
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Submit A Technical Support Request
Did the FAQ not cover your problem? Or was the solution not successful? Then contact our technical team by filling in the form below...