Need help watching you tube videos

jackie_w

Hello,

Im having a problem watching some videos on you tube. Some are fine, others are a nightmare because it takes too long for them to load up, ie the buffering.

Ive checked my internet provider, (sky), they say everything is fine, and my speed is fine too (apparently) :- download speed 3.95mp/s, upload speed 0.34 mp/s (I dont know if these are good or not, I have absolutely no clue when it comes to computers).

Does anyone know why this is happening, and is there anything I can do to sort this?


Jackie

P.S If someone does have any knowledge as to how to sort this, and is willing to help me please please please make it easy for me to follow, dealing with computers is like a science to me lol.

bat999

Hi
Lots of people, including me, have difficulties watching YouTube videos. They keep stopping and starting, it's very stressful.
Maybe it's because YouTube's connection is very busy, lots of people trying to watch at the same time.

Sometimes it's easiest to download the video onto your computer.
Then watch it with a media player.
Then delete it if you've finished with it.

There are several different methods to download those videos. I use Firefox browser with UnPlug addon.
Maybe other people will suggest other ways too.
:cool:

KingL

Have you tested your speed yourself - or is that what they have told you? It will probably vary depending on the time/day. Give it a test for yourself. Anything over 1Mb/s should be plenty fine for youtube.

jackie_w

KingL wrote: »

Have you tested your speed yourself - or is that what they have told you? It will probably vary depending on the time/day. Give it a test for yourself. Anything over 1Mb/s should be plenty fine for youtube.

Hi yes, I tested it myself too, by using speedtest.net, and the speeds ive stated are the ones that came up.

Its so bliming annoying that it takes so long to upload.

Jackie xx

KingL

And do you see a grey/red bar moving to the right underneath the Youtube video as you play it ?

jackie_w

KingL wrote: »

And do you see a grey/red bar moving to the right underneath the Youtube video as you play it ?

yes, there is a grey/red bar underneath the video. Usually when the video you see the buffering line which is a lighter red colour going across the bar, but, thats not there, as if its not buffering IYSWIM

Jackie

[Deleted User]

Have a read of the following:

http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=74662
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=143007
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=74663

KingL

IYSWIM

Yes I do

So the downloading data's not reaching your machine in time (rather than it being some other problem like your your machine not being able to handle the data quick enough). If your own network speed is fine at the time, then the problem is probably congestion at YouTube's end, like wot bat999 said.

jackie_w

Do you think if I downloaded Windows Media Player 11 that that would solve the problem?


Jackie

bat999

jackie_w wrote: »

Do you think if I downloaded Windows Media Player 11 that that would solve the problem?

No, that won't solve it.

Do you use 'Internet Explorer' to browse the internet?

KingL

Do you think if I downloaded Windows Media Player 11 that that would solve the problem?

No.

If you are going to download the files and play them later (as per post #2), you'll need a player that plays .flv files. Videolan/vlc will do this and is free, but changing player won't make the data reach your machine faster, which appears to be the problem.

Easiest 'fix' would be to start playing the video, then press the pause button, wait for the file to fully buffer (light red line has gone fully to the right) and then unpause the video.


.