To test your system, we have a short recorded web seminar to use for testing. Make sure your volume is adjusted. We encourage you to test your system prior to attending a live event. You can test your system here.

We suggest 384 Kbps constant bit rate.

You may be experiencing bandwidth issues. Our pre-recorded shows buffer while downloading and viewing. The pre-recorded shows are progressive downloads and do not require as much bandwidth. Our live shows do not buffer, they stream at a constant bit rate. The live shows require 384Kbps download speed.

You may be experiencing bandwidth issues.

Make sure you have the latest Windows Media Player installed. You may be experiencing bandwidth issues .

If Windows Media Player is set to use User Datagram Protocol (UDP), you may encounter problems when you try to stream video over a broadband connection. This is because some cable or DSL modems that use Network Address Translation (NAT) don't forward UDP packets properly. To resolve this problem, open Windows Media Player 11 and right-click the toolbar at the top of the window. Select "Tools" and "Options." Click the "Network" tab. Clear the check mark beside "RTSP/UDP." Ensure that there is a check mark beside "RTSP/TCP" and "HTTP" and click "OK." This will allow Windows Media Player 11 to stream video using Real Time Streaming Protocol and Transmission Control Protocol, or to stream the video over the Web using Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

Some DSL connections may also be too slow to stream video properly in Windows Media Player 11. If the picture freezes while playing streaming video, re-open the "Options" menu and click the "Performance" button. Under "Network buffering," select "Buffer." Type a number between 60 and 120 in the field marked "seconds of content." Click "OK." If the video still seems choppy, and you wish to watch streaming video content often, consider upgrading to a faster Internet service.

If streaming video won't play at all, your firewall may be blocking it. If you use Windows Firewall, you can automatically configure it to allow Windows Media Player by enabling Media Sharing. To do this, click the arrow beneath the "Library" tab and select "Media Sharing..." Select "Find media that others are sharing" and "Share my media to." Select the icons that appear within the window if you wish to share media with those users. Click "Allow," then click "OK."

If you're using another firewall, you must enable the ports that Windows Media Player 11 uses. Re-open the "Media Sharing" dialogue box, click "How does sharing change firewall settings?" and "What are the network and firewall requirements" to see the ports that must be open for media sharing to function in Windows Media Player. Also, you may need to enable these ports in your router's firewall. You may also experience problems if your firewall is blocking incoming Internet traffic to Windows Media Player 11. To solve these problems, enable an exception for Windows Media Player in your firewall program.

For additional troubleshooting information about Windows Media Player 11, visit the Windows Media Player site or search the Microsoft Help and Support knowledge base.

We update the schedules 1 day prior to the live event in order to prepare for our live shows. We may also remove the show if all of the seats are filled. We have limited seats available, so if the topic is popular and the seats fill quickly we will re-schedule the same topic for another date.

Our AutomationTalk shows are meant to market our products and show customers capabilities and resources. AutomationDirect offers Free online training videos at: learn.automationdirect.com. Interconnecting Automation also offers chargeable online training videos and school courses.

We typically have one every other week if our schedules allow. It takes a handful of people to create and host a live event so it is not an easy task. We take great pride in our content for our customers and only want to generate events that will give our customers the information they are looking for.

Yes, we love to hear from our customers and we value their input. We created these information and training sites for our customers, so we really want to hear what our customers want to see and hear.

If you have a comment or question about AutomationTalk or Learn.Automationdirect.com, please feel free to email Shane Crider the host of AutomationTalk at live@automationdirect.com. If you need sales or support for one of AutomationDirects products, please call or email our sales team or our award winning tech support team. You can find more info on how to contact AutomationDirect here.

Make sure you have the latest Windows Media Player installed on your computer. You can find it here or do a search for "windows media player".

Make sure you have all other applications closed while viewing our presentation. We are streaming video which takes up memory and bandwidth, so for the best viewing experience you will need to allow your computer to run as fast as possible.

In the past our webinars were both information on the product as well as how to use the products. With our new systems, we tried to move our “training” to learn.automationdirect.com and host many recorded videos that will show you how to use the products. Here at AutomationTalk we are now focusing more on informing our customers of new and useful products that they may not know about.

Make sure you have turned off any blocking software and pop-up blockers.

You are required to use Windows Internet Explorer in order to watch the shows.