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Geek Culture / Youtube videos are only buffering thirty seconds in advance?

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Happy Cheesecake
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Posted: 12th Jan 2013 22:40 Edited at: 12th Jan 2013 22:42
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Sometimes my internet isn't too wonderful on some days so I'll pause a video and let it buffer so I can watch without having to stop and let it load every few seconds. This was all working fine and dandy up until around a week ago when Youtube videos refused to buffer anything more than thirty seconds from the point that I paused it at. The problem seems to be persistent across every web browser that I've tried, including Chrome and Firefox, two of the seemingly more stable browsers out there. I've googled the problem a few times, but never found a conclusive answer. I've tried the videos on different resolutions and the problem remains true throughout. The white bar that signifies how much the video has loaded only goes thirty seconds past the paused point in the video.

Anybody have any suggestions or could tell me why this is happening? I have the most updated version of Flash, so I'm not sure if that's a problem or not. Any help is appreciated.
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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 12th Jan 2013 23:49
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I have this too, I think YouTube is doing it so save bandwidth on their end.

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The Zoq2
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Posted: 13th Jan 2013 00:04
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My guess is that it does this to conserve RAM. Because storing a big video file is not easy
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Indicium
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Posted: 13th Jan 2013 00:19
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Quote: "My guess is that it does this to conserve RAM. Because storing a big video file is not easy"


Come on, seriously.

Yep, it looks like they're cutting down on bandwidth usage, which is a shame because now I won't be able to watch anything in 1080p.


They see me coding, they hating. http://indi-indicium.blogspot.co.uk/
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That Guy John
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Posted: 13th Jan 2013 00:22
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Maybe it depends on your connection and your hardware. I've got 16G of RAM and my connection is "so so"... Normally a 720 or most of the time 1080 video will finish buffering before I am half way through a video.
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MrValentine
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Posted: 13th Jan 2013 01:26
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1080p fully buffers for me, try clearing your temporary storage and increasing your virtual disk space...

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Indicium
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Posted: 13th Jan 2013 03:52
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Quote: " increasing your virtual disk space..."


Erm, what's he supposed to be increasing here? AFAIK virtual disk space is in a VM.


They see me coding, they hating. http://indi-indicium.blogspot.co.uk/
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MrValentine
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Posted: 13th Jan 2013 03:59
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Quote: "Erm, what's he supposed to be increasing here? AFAIK virtual disk space is in a VM."


Computer> Properties> Advanced system settings> advanced tab> Performance> settings> advanced> change>

That...

Page file if you prefer...

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Indicium
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Posted: 13th Jan 2013 04:22
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Quote: "Page file if you prefer...
"

Ah, apologies. That's what I know it as. I don't see how the page file would be affecting it. It seems to be limited to 30s at sub-HD resolutions.


They see me coding, they hating. http://indi-indicium.blogspot.co.uk/
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MrValentine
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Posted: 13th Jan 2013 05:11
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Was just an area of thought... any news on clearing up browser and temp files? Disk Cleanup is handy too, and maybe a defrag if the system says so [Unless it is an old SSD or something do not do it lol]

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That Guy John
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Posted: 13th Jan 2013 05:47
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Well when you have enough physical memory, there is no need to add more VM.
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MrValentine
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Posted: 13th Jan 2013 06:10
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I know that, but what if he did not see his memory filling up... and his Vm may be incorrectly setup for whatever reason ^^

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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 14th Jan 2013 05:06
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I would say it's unlikely to be hardware conversations, definitely a bandwidth thing.

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MrValentine
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Posted: 14th Jan 2013 05:12
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in that case... turn router off... wait a minute... turn it back on...

or request updated router access data sometimes they change backup DNS server ips...

and If no router... Look in the mirror and chant... Coffee... Coffee... Coffee... or if you prefer Tea... Tea... Tea...
Where is the OP?

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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 14th Jan 2013 05:17
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Well not a client side bandwidth, more just Youtube programming the player to only buffer 30 seconds in advance to save bandwidth on their end.

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MrValentine
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Posted: 14th Jan 2013 08:53
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I did havd this issue about a year ago... will try it again on a longer video later... asI only gested a 2minute video and that loaded completely... in HD... test test test

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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 14th Jan 2013 09:48
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One thing I know that can fix this issue is switching the video quality after loading the page, then back to the original one if you don't prefer the one you switched to. Seems to be some odd bug that gets you around YouTube's bandwidth saving strategy. >=D

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TheComet
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Posted: 14th Jan 2013 13:07
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What has all of this VM talk got to do with anything? The problem is clearly server-side.

Youtube seems to calculate the minimum required transfer rate for the video you're watching, buffers 30 seconds, and then sticks to that limit.

I wonder why Google would be in need of saving bandwidth?

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MrValentine
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Posted: 14th Jan 2013 14:35
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Quote: " I wonder why Google would be in need of saving bandwidth?"


Hmm... yeah...

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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 15th Jan 2013 01:12
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Saved bandwidth=saved money. Of course, Google doesn't seem to be greedy enough to do such a thing... On the other hand, most casual YT users are completely unaffected and it saves Google money, so why not?

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Happy Cheesecake
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Posted: 16th Jan 2013 01:39 Edited at: 16th Jan 2013 01:40
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Ahaha, I had nearly forgotten I created this thread!

@Valentine
Hmm, I checked up on the thing you were talking about, and from what I can tell, it has 3 gigs allocated out of the 4 on this machine. I don't believe that would be a problem, would it? I haven't messed with that, so I don't believe so.

@DBDude
I haven't tried that little trick yet, but I'll be sure to give it a go. At the moment, YouTube becomes unusable for me if I can't buffer a 360p video real time. Waiting for a higher quality like 480p to buffer on an already bad connection simply takes much more time than it's worth, so I just have to leave YouTube alone on my connection's slower days.

This is really effecting my day considering YouTube for me is like TV is to most other people. Rather than cuddling up at night and watching a soap or something to fall asleep to, I simply lay my lappy on my bed and turn on a playlist. Imagine how quiet it is whenever I'm not able to do that.
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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 16th Jan 2013 01:43
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Quote: "YouTube becomes unusable for me if I can't buffer a 360p video real time. Waiting for a higher quality like 480p to buffer on an already bad connection simply takes much more time than it's worth,"
Ah! Simply switch back to 360 when you switch to 480, I guess it's just the switching that does the trick.

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mr Handy
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Posted: 16th Jan 2013 08:55
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I have buffered 2 hours of video clip.

*** Merry Chuckmas! ***
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MrValentine
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Posted: 16th Jan 2013 09:21
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Happy Cheesecake - Wi-Fi?

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Jeku
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Posted: 18th Jan 2013 03:27
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Of course Google tries every avenue to save bandwidth.. who doesn't? I read an article a while ago about how they remove the single-quotes around their fields in their HTML for their main search to save bytes here and there; after billions of served pages it adds up to quite a lot! Google would be foolish to allow you to buffer an entire video of say, 2 hours in 1080p, when they've probably done the metrics on how many people actually watch the entire movie (probably a low number).


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