Watching YouTube videos...

[329s]

Why is it when I go to watch a YouTube video that it stops for about 10 seconds, then goes for 10 seconds, then stops, then goes....

It takes about twice as long to see it.

Anyone know how to remedy this computer problem?

Thanks.

Pluck

[GregLast]

It's not a problem, it's normal behavior for a lot of systems.

It sounds like what you are experiencing is something called "buffering". The video loads a little bit, a buffer, so it can play smoothly. If your video is playing faster than the computer is loading the video, it catches up to the end of the buffer and has to pause.

It's the hare waiting for the tortoise sometimes.

[Jack '29 Sport Coupe]

Greg is right.

Jack

[Mike V. Florida]

Slow computer and/or slow internet connection.

[Ford46]

Usually a slow internet connection (Dial-Up or DSL)......LouB.

[shall]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Sometimes if the video is acting sluggish, I'll pause it (which allows it to continue to download but not play) then play it.

[MrTube]

Go to this URL and run a test. I usually pick a location close to me, but sometimes I'll pick the furthest one just to see whats what.

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

Please post the results here and we can better help you.
For example I came up with :

Download Speed: 52953 kbps (6619.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 10733 kbps (1341.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

[Marco Tahtaras]

Originally Posted by MrTube

Go to this URL and run a test. I usually pick a location close to me, but sometimes I'll pick the furthest one just to see whats what.

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

Please post the results here and we can better help you.
For example I came up with :

Download Speed: 52953 kbps (6619.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 10733 kbps (1341.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

Is that a dial-up connection?

I use http://speedtest.net/ which is similar. It pings all the servers in my area and uses the fastest responder. I use it periodically to test both my broadband connections as well as my home network. It confirmed the need to replace my router last year.

Main computer connected to router:

Download - 36.07 Mbps
Upload - 7.18 Mbps

Laptop - Wireless to router:

Download - 30.34 Mbps
Upload - 6.53 Mbps

Laptop - Speakeasy.net

Download - 27.12 Mbps
Upload - 6.74 Mbps

It's important to note results will vary with each retest so we are looking at averages or general performance.

[MrTube]

Originally Posted by Marco Tahtaras

Is that a dial-up connection?

I use http://speedtest.net/ which is similar. It pings all the servers in my area and uses the fastest responder. I use it periodically to test both my broadband connections as well as my home network. It confirmed the need to replace my router last year.

Main computer connected to router:

Download - 36.07 Mbps
Upload - 7.18 Mbps

Laptop - Wireless to router:

Download - 30.34 Mbps
Upload - 6.53 Mbps

Laptop - Speakeasy.net

Download - 27.12 Mbps
Upload - 6.74 Mbps

It's important to note results will vary with each retest so we are looking at averages or general performance.

Dialup? Cute... I switched to a cable modem in 1998.

Download Speed: 52953 kbps (6619.1 KB/sec transfer rate) = almost 53Mbps. Notice its 6619KB a second down.

Upload Speed: 10733 kbps (1341.6 KB/sec transfer rate) = just under 11Mbps.

[Marco Tahtaras]

Originally Posted by MrTube

Dialup? Cute... I switched to a cable modem in 1998.

Download Speed: 52953 kbps (6619.1 KB/sec transfer rate) = almost 53Mbps. Notice its 6619KB a second down.

Upload Speed: 10733 kbps (1341.6 KB/sec transfer rate) = just under 11Mbps.

Yea, in a rush to get to something and forgot to add !!! We were the second market outside Silicon Valley to get fiber optic lines in place to carry the bandwidth over cable back in the 90's. We upgraded at that time and never looked back. I'd love to have 50 Mbps service but it would be a $50-month upgrade and I'm too cheap.

[Benson]

Sometimes many people (1000's or more) request a certain video at the same time and the servers are overwelmed with too many requests to download that certain video so your browser has to buffer to keep up.

Or if too many people are downloading 1000's of different videos from Utube at the same time and again the servers can not keep up. If you try back later it might load faster if not as many are trying.

Pausing as mentioned above to allow all or most of the video to load before playing works in most cases.

I remember in late 70's when we went from 300 bits per sec to 1200 bps ... we thought we were in hog heaven!! Even with CRC correction codes that slowed speeds down, the data rate was un-believeable!

The 1200 modems were $650 each ... we have come along way!

Before that it was 115 bits per second for a long time.


.

Originally Posted by 329s

Why is it when I go to watch a YouTube video that it stops for about 10 seconds, then goes for 10 seconds, then stops, then goes....

It takes about twice as long to see it.

Anyone know how to remedy this computer problem?

Thanks.

Pluck