Welcome to RIBA Online CPD

Technical support

This list of the most common questions on using RIBA Online CPD should help you get the most out of this site.

How do I know which version of Media Player I have?

Open Windows Media Player from your Start menu. Select  Help > About Windows Media Player from the menu bar. A window will pop up showing which version of Windows Media Player you have. Alternatively, right-click on the Media Player once it has loaded in the seminar viewer and select 'About' from the menu that appears.

Note that your embedded version may be different to your installed version, so also check which version is being used by RIBA Online CPD: within one of the presentations right-click on the media player panel and select About.

My copy of Windows Media Player is older than version 9, can I still view online CPD?

Yes and no. You will have limited functionality using older versions of Windows Media Player. In particular it is unlikely you will be able to jump between slides and will only be able to view the presentation from start to finish. We recommend you upgrade to the latest version of Windows Media Player.

Where can I get the latest version of Windows Media Player?

Visit the Microsoft Windows Media Player website and look for the links to download the latest version free of charge.

There is a long delay when I try to skip to a particular slide, what can I do about this?

The speed at which you can jump forward in a presentation depends on three factors: 1) your internet connection speed, 2) How many other users are accessing the presentation at the same time, and 3) how much of the voiceover has been "buffered" so far:

Internet connection speed
The faster your internet connection, the faster the whole voiceover file is downloaded. Whilst a dedicated 512kbps broadband connection will, in most cases, give a worse case delay (jumping from the beginning to the end of a presentation) of around 10 seconds, if you are using a dial-up modem or your internet connection is shared with multiple users this delay can be considerably longer. Try viewing the presentation at times of the day when there will be less demand on your internet connection.

Other users accessing the system
RIBA's internet connection is shared amongst all the users who are currently viewing online CPD presentations. At busy times of the day this can slow down the speed at which presentations are delivered to you. Try accessing the presentation at a different time of the day.

How much voiceover has been "buffered"
As soon as you start to "play" the presentation, the whole voiceover file starts to download into memory ready to be heard (called buffering). Once 100% of the voiceover has been buffered you can jump freely forwards and backwards to any slide. However if you try to jump forwards to a slide that is beyond the point that has been buffered so far, you will need to wait for it to download. The control panel shows what percentage of the file has been buffered so far (see right).

I can see the slides changing and the time ticking but I can't hear the voiceover

Make sure that your computer has a soundcard and that the speakers (or headphones) are connected and switched on. Check that the volume is not turned down or muted (Start > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices). Double-check that you can hear other sounds from your computer by playing an audio file such as .WAV or .MP3 file.

Contact support

If you require further help with using this site or viewing RIBA Online CPD seminars, please send an email to onlinecpd@ribaenterprises.com giving as much detail on the problem as possible.