Broadband forum: Ugh! YouTube video playback always stuttering and stopping, please help

Right click on a video and select "settings." Move the space indicator to "Unlimited" to change amount of onboard storage the flash player utilizes. I think you'll notice some improvement.

Hi Thanks for this piece of info i didnt know this, if you change it to unlimited it does work

thanks again for the info

I had always issues with flash through Safari. But I tried to changed it to unlimited at you suggested, and wouldn't you know. Now I can actually watch flash videos in Safari. Thanks a bunch for the tip!

I have had this problem for some time, in fact many years, and I just thought that it was a problem with my system. I have changed my "settings" limit to "unlimited" and so far (fingers crossed) is much better. I will keep hoping
Chris

You didn't say what browser you use, but I am wondering if your browser is the cause of your problems. Almost everyone uses Internet Explorer, so I am making the assumption that you are too.

I don't. I use Firefox, and that browser has a neat add-on that lets me download Flash videos from YouTube and elsewhere. The add-on is called "Download Helper". Moyea also has a free FLV downloader. When I download a video, I watch the video on the YouTube page, and that also stops and starts. But when I check the video after downloading it, it runs as smoothly as a regular TV video

And I do it while using a simple, humble 56-K dial-up connection!

Given that I experience what you do, the start-and-stop may just go with the territory of streaming video. But I have found that downloading the video to a file takes care of that. Plus, you have the file available to watch whenever you want to watch it -- provided that you save it!

There is software available that lets one convert his flash videos and create a DVD for watching on the TV. But that is another book to be written another day.

You would really benefit from adding another 2 GB of memory. You would also benefit by upgrading to Windows 7 since Vista gobbles up resources and fails to release them. The days of 2GB memory and video are over. A better video card might help but top of the line video cards with their own memory run hot and then you would need a new fan, so either upgrade your memory or go to Windows 7 and upgrade your memory.

It's a pain, but if you reboot before you watch the video it would release more memory but probably not enough.

Remember: memory, memory, memory.
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I would suggest trying to update your graphics drivers or re-install Adobe Flash. Uninstall it and then reinstall that. If Flash isn't the reason, try installing the newest graphics drivers. I assume you have integrated drivers.

If you are running wireless internet, try using a wired connection to see if it's the network speed. Some older Wireless G routers/cards are very slow on high def video.

If these things don't help, try putting a new graphics card in the machine. That should solve the problem.

I have been seeing this on SO many computers and it's buggering me.

I got curious. I have a brand new DELL E6410 ATG, Core i7, 4 gig of ram.

I installed XP.

Studdering Videos from Tampa airport Wifi. Home (DSL), friends FIos, Star Bucks.

I install Linux. Studdering.

I installed Vista. HORRABLE studdering,

Windows 7, studder.

Other machines are studdering. Bandwidth test are all fine. pings are fine. I did the Goggle video test and it fails on most of the request. Tried to reinstall flash player.

I tried QOS settings. I'm thinking that some how broad band providers have changed settings to lower priority for youtube to allow more bandwidth for other services. Just a guess, or maybe Youtube has gotten to big for it's britches. At least netflix still works well when you

If you can watch the video at all then it's unlikely to be an issue with your Adobe Flash Player version

I don't know what plan you have with time-warner roadrunner cable internet, but if it is the lowest plan, it is possible that your connection can't keep up - though I am not familiar with their plans and do not know what amount of bandwidth you are supposed to get.

If it is not a problem in the local network speeds, it could very well be congestion at youtube, or some router in the middle that is slowing things down. I find I have videos load in seconds at some times of day, and in several minutes at others.

In either case there is a simple solution. Start the video, then pause it and wait for it to finish streaming before you watch it. I use this technique on all the streaming video I watch because there is nothing worse than having it get stuck buffering when you want to see something through.

I am on a Vista computer and am experiencing the same problem - I was pointed to my ISP and they told me that the only way I could see videos such as Youtube was the get increased speed by upgrading my package from circa $40 a month to nearly $80 - a real pain but I cannot afford it so bye bye Youtube and similar facilities like Austar programmes on-line.

Hi Wolfgang, this is a very common problem, and I believe is more related to your Internet Service Provider's upload and download speeds, than to your system (Which, by your description, is more than adequate.) There are several useful (And Free!) utilities that can test your broadband speed, you can go to the following website (http://www.speedtest.net/) and follow the instructions to gauge your connection speed, or download the "SurfSpeed 2" utility from the PC Mag website, and it will load and bring up a window every time you reboot your computer, or you can click on the icon in the task bar at any time to bring up the interface window (Just be on the 'standard tests' tab at the top , then click on 'start tests' at the bottom right of the window.), the utility will then test download speeds from 10 very commonly used websites, including Google.com , this will give you a good general idea of your average internet speed. This is all fine and dandy but unless your Internet Service Provider offers several broadband DSL packages (Some do, but you will pay more for the faster speed packages.) Though I see you're on TimeWarner Cable...I'm not wild about the cable internet services I've seen....they can be very susceptible to high traffic demand---the number of users at any one time---because they are supplying signal for both for TV and the internet. That being said....there are a couple of things (That I know of.) that you can do to improve your viewing experience; #1 you can pause the video until it has downloaded or "Buffered" for at least half or three quarters of it's length....It's easy to know how much is buffered when watching on YouTube....just watch the pink progress bar at the bottom of the video window...there are 2 shades of pink (Along the same bar.), the lighter pink bar shows how much video is available, while the dark pink bar represents your real time progress into the video...as long as you have the light pink bar out ahead of the darker pink bar you should be OK. (If you have a slow speed you can see the darker pink "catching up" to the lighter pink, and as soon as they merge into one, that's when you start to experience the interruptions. So pausing the video (Do something else for a few minutes....or hours!...It depends on the length of the video) then come back, hit play, and usually you can watch without interruption! The other thing you can do is download a "Video Accelerator" , like "SpeedBit Video Accelerator". It is a free utility, and it is available at CNET downloads. What it does is open up multiple 'pipes', so instead of using one incoming pipe it opens multiple pipes into your computer, thereby increasing speed and bandwidth. I have found the free version works well with standard definition content, as much as doubling the "buffering" speed, but you will need to purchase the full version for it to work on HD content. I believe it requires a yearly subscription of $20.00, or so, and I can't comment on it's effectiveness, never having used the paid version before. I hope this was helpful Wolfgang, I'm sure you'll get many helpful hints from this wonderful CNET community, good luck to you!!.....Kevin


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I have speedbit on my pc,and now i have no more trouble watching You Tube videos

in windowns xp i (also in windows vista) go to C:\Documents and Settings\(user name that you use to login)\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files and delete them or download ccleaner to clean your computer.

Download "video downloader," from speedbit.com.What this does is keeps the video packets constant throughout the video presentation.Break up on you tube is normally due to too many people tuning in at once.