Youtube and Video buffering

[Guth]

try this www.youtube.com/html5

doesn't work on al vids, but i had the issues you are reporting and this helped.

[Azusa]

Is it just YouTube you have playback probs? How bout Vevo, or... forgive me... YouPorn? Couldn't think of anything else, sorry.

well as i have almost the same issue im also going to answer this and the only other video site i visit is NicoNico which is based in Japan and i can stream from there without issue i let some videos load (as they don't play the second the page loads) but some i can hit play from the get go and they play fine. It's just youtube also as for speed test sites i have heard they give priority to traffic to those sites.

[Bizkit]

well as i have almost the same issue im also going to answer this and the only other video site i visit is NicoNico which is based in Japan and i can stream from there without issue i let some videos load (as they don't play the second the page loads) but some i can hit play from the get go and they play fine. It's just youtube also as for speed test sites i have heard they give priority to traffic to those sites.

If they give priority to speed test sites, don't you think its possible to give less priority to Youtube?

Part of me thinks it could be Google is having a hard time with all the bandwidth that Youtube brings in. BUT then part of me is like, its GOOGLE. If they can't have the servers for Youtube, then we are all doomed.

[LaP]

i have near constant issue with youtube either taking a long time to buffer or only partially buffering and never loading the rest of the video, i have had that problem for nearly a year now. on multiple computers. i figured it was just their site.

Dunno youtube is working perfectly fine for me. Even the HD video. In fact all streaming web sites work perfectly. imdb works perfectly. Canal D works perfectly and the HD image quality for Mayday sodes is awesome. Watched Continuum this weeked and worked perfectly on Showcase web site. Same when i watched The Walking Dead webisodes on AMC web site and Blood and Chrome on youtube in 1080p. Blood and Chrome image quality in 1080p was really good on youtube.

I have a rather slow ADSL connection so i don't think it's a matter of bandwidth. My max download speed is around 800-900KB/s. To stream a 4GB 720p movie of 1:30 hour you need to be able to sustain 776KB/s. About every connection can do that.

[Xoligy]

Consider: https://spoi.com/software/yto/

I just download them directly when it's not working to my satisfaction >.<

Sorry i only just saw this...

I actually normal have this installed to remove all the crap, instant 720p, bigger video and pause the video until im ready to watch it, i admit i like this extension just have not got around to installing it im also in two mids on re-installing everything computer is feeling sluggish so might wait for abit but yes it is a good extension!

As for downloading, my download folder has enough rubbish lol i dont want to download something im probably only going to watch once. :/

[articuno1au]

Sorry i only just saw this...

I actually normal have this installed to remove all the crap, instant 720p, bigger video and pause the video until im ready to watch it, i admit i like this extension just have not got around to installing it im also in two mids on re-installing everything computer is feeling sluggish so might wait for abit but yes it is a good extension!

As for downloading, my download folder has enough rubbish lol i dont want to download something im probably only going to watch once. :/

It's a great addon indeed :)

Might be worth testing with it to see if it improves the situation prior to trying my download idea :p

Also, you could try turning on the HTML beta in YouTube, that might help out :o

[Xoligy]

It's a great addon indeed :)

Might be worth testing with it to see if it improves the situation prior to trying my download idea :p

Also, you could try turning on the HTML beta in YouTube, that might help out :o

Yes Guth has suggested the HTML5 beta, dont think the addon will help with the stutter buffering and re buffering though. But thanks for the reminder of the extension.

[Guest]

I've had the buffering issue with a 10 and 30Mb Virgin connection. They apparently have some sort of cache just for YouTube which seems to be doing the opposite of what its intended to do. TBH though it's been a lot better since late December for me.

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Up-to-60Mb-Speed/Video-Services-Buffering-pt2/m-p/1556642#U1556642

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/13/virgin_media_blames_third_party_peering_network_for_buffering_woes/

[Xoligy]

SK[' timestamp=1358508276' post='595461758]

I've had the buffering issue with a 10 and 30Mb Virgin connection. They apparently have some sort of cache just for YouTube which seems to be doing the opposite of what its intended to do. TBH though it's been a lot better since late December for me.

http://community.vir...556642#U1556642

http://www.theregist...buffering_woes/

thanks for that, will admit on my media streamer i have had issues with bbci player but i thought that they might be software related. Videos would start playing then either stop and restart or just stop completely and then id have to attept to find where it stopped (it wouldnt remember like it normally does.)

[+BudMan MVC]

I would be curious on how they are pointing their users to the cache? Do they have you use a proxy? is there a transparent proxy you go through? Is it via dns queries?

Not sure what they expect to accomplish with such a thing other than more work on their end to save what some extra traffic off their network? I would hope that using https, different dns then isps should be able to bypass their cache box. Or try a vpn.

If isp is doing this - might be time to find a new ISP ;)

I have never had any issues with buffering to any youtube video, that was not explained by issues on my local machine or network. For example if I fill up my pipe doing other things then yeah youtube can be a bit slow..

[Haggis Veteran]

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Up-to-60Mb-Speed/Video-Services-Buffering-pt2/m-p/1556642#U1556642

[Pupik]

Might not be your ISP. Google is weird with YouTube's optimization.

Still have this happen to me, even after switching ISP: http://www.neowin.ne...riminating-360p (please don't bump the thread)

[remixedcat]

I would be curious on how they are pointing their users to the cache? Do they have you use a proxy? is there a transparent proxy you go through? Is it via dns queries?

Not sure what they expect to accomplish with such a thing other than more work on their end to save what some extra traffic off their network? I would hope that using https, different dns then isps should be able to bypass their cache box. Or try a vpn.

If isp is doing this - might be time to find a new ISP ;)

I have never had any issues with buffering to any youtube video, that was not explained by issues on my local machine or network. For example if I fill up my pipe doing other things then yeah youtube can be a bit slow..

Budman, they are using something like a CDN to pull this off, only it's the ISP's CDN and not a normal CDN from the likes of Edgecast, Akamai, Cloudflare, etc...

[+BudMan MVC]

And how do they point user to this ISP CDN vs the one that youtube uses?

Are they changing dns? Forcing uses through a proxy? Pointing users to a proxy that says oh you want youtube - Im going to connect you to my copy vs the actual copy.

All is BS that the ISP has no business doing - the ISP is there to provide me a connection to the "PUBLIC" internet, not cache info off the public internet and give me that info vs the actual data and location the hoster of said data put it, etc.

If youtube video X is housed on akamai - then I should be connecting to akamai when I want to access said video, not some ISP copy of it.

Did the user opt into this solution? If not then they sure and the hell should not be doing it, or atleast have a way for the user to opt out of such nonsense. if not then find a ISP that provides what they they should be providing -- and thats a "connection" to the public internet, nothing more. I don't want you filtering any of my traffic, I don't want you tinkering with any of the protocols, I don't want you pointing me to your copy of anything when I request a connection to domain XYZ.

[remixedcat]

And how do they point user to this ISP CDN vs the one that youtube uses?

Youtube has an invisible mirror system and they use GEOIP location to determine the ISP cache store to direct the user to. If you are using ISP1 in columbus,oh you get the ISP1.columbus.youtubestreampathurl.com stream, . If you are using ISP1 in chicago,IL you get the ISP1.chicago.youtubestreampathurl.com stream. I think youtube does this with most of the major ISPs. If you are connected with a smaller one or using another DNS then you might get a direct one or one through a normal CDN.

Google is providing a distributed cache for their content. This available to larger ISPs and allows them to serve Google content directly at the edge of their networks, thus reducing traffic on the ISP's backbone network

[LUTZIFER]

Youtube has an invisible mirror system and they use GEOIP location to determine the ISP cache store to direct the user to. If you are using ISP1 in columbus,oh you get the ISP1.columbus.youtubestreampathurl.com stream, . If you are using ISP1 in chicago,IL you get the ISP1.chicago.youtubestreampathurl.com stream. I think youtube does this with most of the major ISPs. If you are connected with a smaller one or using another DNS then you might get a direct one or one through a normal CDN.

So if someone were to use an alternate DNS server, that would help em out?

I'm not having any probs, but just curious.

[Xoligy]

I believe virgin use a transparent proxys Budman, well i know they use to but dont know it this has changed.

As for changing ISP's, Virgin are the fastest with there fiberoptic cabling offering speeds of upto 120mb all the others are still around the 24mb mark i believe but i could be wrong i dont check them out nor watch the tv its rather ****.

[remixedcat]

So if someone were to use an alternate DNS server, that would help em out?

I'm not having any probs, but just curious.

possibly... I haven't tried it for myself yet.....

[ashpowell]

I believe virgin use a transparent proxys Budman, well i know they use to but dont know it this has changed.

As for changing ISP's, Virgin are the fastest with there fiberoptic cabling offering speeds of upto 120mb all the others are still around the 24mb mark i believe but i could be wrong i dont check them out nor watch the tv its rather ****.

BT Infinity is now up 160mb - It's great

[Xoligy]

BT Infinity is now up 160mb - It's great

Nice i didnt know others had got that high yet well unless it was a business line or something, thanks for the heads up Ash!

[ashpowell]

Truly unlimited downloads too I believe, and don't cap your speeds (only on p2p)

[Xoligy]

I mostly download at night when im not around anyway, during the day its just tv streaming shows i enjoy to watch as i refuse to pay a monthly fee for mostly repeats (tv license) but thanks ash does soundbetter than it use to be!

[+BudMan MVC]

Well I would assume that how they point you to a specific cache would be via dns based up geoip info of where your dns query came from, or a database that says hey isp X ip range uses the cache with gave them.

So if you used a different dns that was off your isp nework, then you shouldn't get pointed to that ISP cache. I would suggest you use a dns in your region of the world other than your ISP and see if that corrects the buffering issue. I doubt an ISP would share their cache with non isp users, so if your dns query from some other IP in the area should point you to whatever other youtube CDN in the region would be used.

If they are going about it some other way, like website itself is pointing you to the isp cache because your IP is in the the isp netblock - then use of a vpn or proxy would be another way to not use your isp cache.. If in fact that is what is causing the issue..

You should be able to check to see where you pulling the content from - it would end up being something.c.youtube.com would it not -- where the something should give you some idea of what CDN your hitting. Being it a akamai one or one housed by your isp because they made a deal with youtube.

I would also suggest that any video your having an issue with that your right click on it and report problem. What does the speedtest and video info you show for these videos? Again available from right click on the video.

And exact example video your having issues along with your speed info from rightclicking would help other users here on neowin be able to report if they are showing issues with that video with their isp or their region of the world, etc.

[Elliot B.]

I haven't read anything but the first few posts but fully downloading a clip, then clicking half-way through will cause a re-buffer. It's by design. I don't know why.