Unable to play videos uploaded to Google Classroom assignments by pupils

[BlueSkies]

Hi there,

 

We seem to have a curious problem which has recently started to affect assignments where pupils upload (turn in) videos as part of the assignment.

 

We have two Google Classrooms which set weekly assignments for pupils to upload videos into. Up until the beginning of March this has always worked perfectly. The videos are usually a mix of .mov and .mp4 but for the last two/three weeks, every time anyone tries to play any of the videos, it has a good think about it and then returns an error: "Couldn't preview file. There was a problem playing this video". I get the same error if I try and play the videos from inside the assignments or straight from the Google Drive where they are stored.

 

It is possible to download and play them - but that's a bit of a faff.

 

The odd thing is that if I go back to any assignments in those Classrooms that were from before March this year, all the turned-in videos play with no problem.

 

Has something changed recently with Google Classroom that might be causing this ... or has anyone else come up against the same problem? It's just a bit weird that if I go back to earlier ones, they are all fine.

 

Any advice/suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

Thanks

[AspiringTechNerd]

Hi,

 

I have had a similar issue once, and it was Chrome extensions causing this. Have you tried playing the video using a brand new account with no chrome extensions, you could use a incognito window but some extensions still are used ( that caught me out )

 

Then you may need to remove extensions one by one to figure out which one is causing it. There's also a setting in Google admin to reset user's data, I can't recall the settings so be careful and maybe have a look at the affected user's settings on G Admin.

 

Hopefully this helps, apologies if not!

 

Cheers.

[mavhc]

Press f12, look for errors in console

[BlueSkies]

Hi,

 

I have had a similar issue once, and it was Chrome extensions causing this. Have you tried playing the video using a brand new account with no chrome extensions, you could use a incognito window but some extensions still are used ( that caught me out )

 

Then you may need to remove extensions one by one to figure out which one is causing it. There's also a setting in Google admin to reset user's data, I can't recall the settings so be careful and maybe have a look at the affected user's settings on G Admin.

 

Hopefully this helps, apologies if not!

 

Cheers.

 

 

Ooo thanks for this - I will give it a try.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Press f12, look for errors in console

 

Thanks - I shall take a look. :-)

[jthompson]

I'm assuming that you've left enough time from a video being uploaded before attmepting to play it? Google servers will need to do the requisite transcoding to make a video streamable via its web app(s). Obviously that's only going to be a matter of minutes rather than days.

[BlueSkies]

I'm assuming that you've left enough time from a video being uploaded before attmepting to play it? Google servers will need to do the requisite transcoding to make a video streamable via its web app(s). Obviously that's only going to be a matter of minutes rather than days.

Hi, yep these are assignments from the last three weeks so videos would have been uploaded ages ago.

 

It's just so odd that it's only happening on the ones from the last few weeks ... I can go back to all the others prior to that and play them with no problem. It's melding my head a bit!!

[tylermoss]

Hey guys, I'm having the exact same problem with videos in Google Classroom! I thought it was just something wrong with my computer. I've tried everything: reinstalling the browser, clearing the cache, even reinstalling my OS (just kidding), but nothing works. Maybe Google messed something up with their servers? Or is it some kind of virus outbreak?

[Julian]

Both .mov, and mp4 formats are container formats, that allow multile diffrent encodings of the video data. it may be that a incompatable (with Google) video encoding format was use inside the file.

[PotNoodleTech]

Also worth checking that the files are actually instact, in the google drive classroom folder as we have has people delete stuff before and not realise what effect it will have on the classroom.

[tylermoss]

Hey guys, I'm having the exact same problem with videos in Google Classroom! I thought it was just something wrong with my computer. I've tried everything: reinstalling the browser, clearing the cache, even reinstalling my OS (just kidding), but nothing works. Maybe Google messed something up with their servers? Or is it some kind of virus outbreak?Because of this error: "Couldn't preview file. There was a problem playing this video", I would have failed everything. And my grades are really important to me. As a result, I had to use a special site https://paytowriteresearchpaper.com to complete the assignment. Honestly, I felt a bit uneasy about it, but I couldn’t find any other way out.

I'm curious about your opinion—what would you do?