video playing.............

[mercguy]

what are most of you guys using to view online videos and movie clips? Seems every time I try and watch one, they are choppy, grainy and cut in and out occassionally. I am using DSL hi-speed, NVIDIA video card, Microsoft XP, plenty of memory and storage, 2G processor. Is there something better (and not too expensive) that I should be using for better video playing online?

[HRTV]

what are most of you guys using to view online videos and movie clips? Seems every time I try and watch one, they are choppy, grainy and cut in and out occassionally. I am using DSL hi-speed, NVIDIA video card, Microsoft XP, plenty of memory and storage, 2G processor. Is there something better (and not too expensive) that I should be using for better video playing online?

Daren,

Thats odd your PC should be more then capable of viewing standard Flash video from YouTube or any other site with no problem at all. How many programs do you keep open while trying to watch a video ?

[mercguy]

Daren,

Thats odd your PC should be more then capable of viewing standard Flash video from YouTube or any other site with no problem at all. How many programs do you keep open while trying to watch a video ?

that's a good question Dan, I guess I never have tried hard enough to figure out how Windows XP works. I have the old Windows ME figured out pretty good. Now, there is Vista......

[25xs]

It really sounds like the connection is slow...

Daren,
Try downloading the videos to your desktop first... Then play them. If that works, then your DSL connection is slower than advertised. Mine gets bad during rainstorms, then is fine.
Tom

[mercguy]

Daren,
Try downloading the videos to your desktop first... Then play them. If that works, then your DSL connection is slower than advertised. Mine gets bad during rainstorms, then is fine.
Tom

that very well could be true Tom. I will try the download thing next time, thanks. Is there a test you can do to check connection speed?

[kws]

dslreports.com or google speedtests. use one that allows you to choose the destination then you can test to and from a server across the nation from you.

[HRTV]

what are most of you guys using to view online videos and movie clips? Seems every time I try and watch one, they are choppy, grainy and cut in and out occassionally. I am using DSL hi-speed, NVIDIA video card, Microsoft XP, plenty of memory and storage, 2G processor. Is there something better (and not too expensive) that I should be using for better video playing online?

Copied from PC Magazine:

Why Do Computers Slow Down?

If you are like me, you're probably always sitting at your computer running all sorts of programs at work and, in your free time, surfing the web looking for all sorts of information, listening to MP3s, watching a couple of DVD movies, and dedicating some serious time to your favorite games. What remains of the day is dedicated to shut-eye. Even food is mostly consumed in front of the screen.

If you are like me, your computer is slow! Mind you, my machine is not an old antiquarian piece but a two year old Pentium 4 with some fancy bells and whistles that I have added to transform it into the computing equivalent of General Lee of the infamous Dukes of Hazard.

If you are like me, you are at a point where you are thinking that your hardware is not powerful enough to support the more recent games and the latest applications, be they for work or pleasure.

Computers slow down for a variety of reason. However, it doesn't have anything to do with outdated technology except for gaming where graphics cards rule. Even here, however, I believe you can still make some serious changes that will boost the performance of your PC.

Today's programs are power-hungry applications that eat away at your processing power greatly slowing your computer especially if yours is a couple of years old. Large amounts of RAM are required to store all the data from displaying icons and images to streaming music and playing the appropriate sound effects to creating temporary files on your hard drive for recovery to making sure that your internet connection is up and running all the time. Windows constantly switches data from your RAM to your hard drive storing the less important data in the latter and recalling it to the former when it becomes important. This creates more and more delays and bottlenecks and may eventually crash your system. What's worse is that if you don't have some decent firewall, anti-virus and spyware software, your PC is probably infected with background processes that are working away doing harmful or unimportant stuff that further increases the burden on your processor and RAM.

[mercguy]

slow.........

dslreports.com or google speedtests. use one that allows you to choose the destination then you can test to and from a server across the nation from you.

according to speedtest.net my download speed is only 2899 kb/s, when the US average is around 5000 kb/s...........**** Verizon! What is the download speed of some of your guys areas?

[HRTV]

according to speedtest.net my download speed is only 2899 kb/s, when the US average is around 5000 kb/s...........**** Verizon! What is the download speed of some of your guys areas?

Hey Daren,

Your DSL connection no mater how fast or how slow it might be has nothing to due with how video's are played on your machine. Your video's stutter or play slow because of the lack of horse power under the hood to process the content.

You could download your video's and disconnect the PC from the DSL and they will probably still stutter due to the lack of punch your particular PC is not putting out.

Don't feel bad, this is where most people go wrong when buying a PC, most people buy a computer to check email and surf the web forgetting all about having a box that is capable of viewing multimedia content ie. Flash content, Streaming video's etc.

[G Stillwill]

If you want to check you download and up load speed try using this its what I use to check mine.

http://speakeasy.net/speedtest/

[sam]

according to speedtest.net my download speed is only 2899 kb/s, when the US average is around 5000 kb/s...........**** Verizon! What is the download speed of some of your guys areas?

5185 kb/s

And my $800 machine plays just about everything like I'm watching TV; the right machine with the software and the right connection

[aojesus]

2205 and that is with roadrunner.

[David_L6]

Daren, I think Dan is on the right track. It may be time to overhaul your computer. Try one of the Core 2 Duos or quad cores. The computer I'm on now has a QX6700, 8800GTX, 3GB RAM, and XP. It's hard to bog it down.

I just ran Speed Test (link in George's post) and got 3805 kbps.

I don't have any problems playing videos. If it's a large file it's better to download to computer and then play it.

[mercguy]

dang it.........

Daren, I think Dan is on the right track. It may be time to overhaul your computer. Try one of the Core 2 Duos or quad cores. The computer I'm on now has a QX6700, 8800GTX, 3GB RAM, and XP. It's hard to bog it down.

I just ran Speed Test (link in George's post) and got 3805 kbps.

I don't have any problems playing videos. If it's a large file it's better to download to computer and then play it.

you guys might be right.........time for a new computer. I have updated the one I have probably a dozen times the last 10yrs (monitors, CPU's, HD's, RAM, DVD, video card, etc), so probably is time to replace the whole unit, but that will cut into my racing fund!!

SO...................with all the new computers on the market, etc, what would be a good one to buy? I do not play any games, etc. I basically just use the puter for internet surfing, picture storage, business stuff, video playing, DVD, etc..................so..............is that $500 DELL system they advertise worth a ****??

[HRTV]

you guys might be right.........time for a new computer. I have updated the one I have probably a dozen times the last 10yrs (monitors, CPU's, HD's, RAM, DVD, video card, etc), so probably is time to replace the whole unit, but that will cut into my racing fund!!

SO...................with all the new computers on the market, etc, what would be a good one to buy? I do not play any games, etc. I basically just use the puter for internet surfing, picture storage, business stuff, video playing, DVD, etc..................so..............is that $500 DELL system they advertise worth a ****??

Follow the link below :

http://www.apple.com/getamac/

Opps I forgot your Windows box will not play video's even more reason to make the switch If you want to stick with a Bill Gates box step up to the Intel Core 2 Duo ranks and you should be happy Mac or PC