The birth of “Guerrilla Video” sites such as Peekvid.com, Alluc.org, and Youtube.com have given users instant access to a plethora of free media files. Although video streaming technology offers instant access to video files, zero upload time is not always possible. There are many factors that are attributed to your computer’s ability to start videos immediately. Other factors like choppy PC video playback and slow video streaming also hamper your viewing experience. There are easy solutions to these problems. Sometimes choosing another site for the streaming video source or a lower quality version of the video can give you instant playback. These alternatives are not always available. However, there are a number of tweaks that help speed up video streaming start times, eliminate choppy PC video playback, and stop slow video streaming.
Before we start with the settings to speed up slow video streaming, let’s get a basic understanding of video streaming technology to stop choppy video. Streaming video is a pre-recorded video file that can be distributed as part of a live broadcast “feed.” The video signal is converted to a compressed digital signal and transmitted from a web server. This server can stream the same file to multiple users at the same time. When you click on the video, it partially loads before you can access it. This is known as “buffering”. This helps you to load and play the video instantly. Now let’s take a look at how to reduce buffering time, stop slow video streaming and eliminate choppy PC video playback.
Common Video Streaming Problems
Problem #1: Choppy PC video playback – Choppy video is usually a PC performance related issue. Here are some things you can try to stop choppy playback and improve your computer’s performance.
Solution A. Turn off hardware acceleration: All multimedia applications require different aspects of your computer’s hardware. Depending on the task, the requirements may change. Turning off hardware acceleration allows the app to set the requirements itself and not be forced to use a universal setting. Hardware acceleration is known to cause choppy PC playback, app crashes, and slow video streaming issues.
You can eliminate the problem below:
1.Click “Start”
2.Click on “Control Panel”
3.Select the “Settings” tab and click “Advanced”.
4.Click on the “Troubleshoot” tab.
5.Disable hardware acceleration completely by dragging the slider all the way to the left.
Solution B. Disable Video Acceleration: The reason for this setting is similar to hardware acceleration. This act frees up resources on your media player and not on your hardware. However, you will need to decrease the video acceleration in your chosen player. Some sites like Youtube.com do not offer this option. However, Windows Media Player provides the ability to easily fix this issue, please follow the steps below. Instructions from other players will vary.
1. In Windows Media Player
2. Click on the “Tools” menu tab
3. Click “Options”
4. Select the “Performance” tab.
5. Move the video acceleration slider to “None”
Solution C. Adjust Windows Desktop Visual Effects – Your computer will get a significant boost in
speed. This setting will also free up more resources for your media player and PC performance.
1.Click “Start” and then “Control Panel”.
2.Click “System” and select “Display”.
3. Find the “Advanced” tab and click on
4. Under “Performance”, click “Settings”
5.Under “Visual Effects”, you can choose from a list of options such as “Adjust for best performance” or custom. If you choose Adjust for best performance, all features will be unchecked.
For more performance tips, please refer to “Speed Up PC” to free up more resources and stop PC choppy playback.
Problem #2: Slow and constant buffering – This problem can be attributed to two factors, your internet speed and your media player. You can modify your PC settings in both areas to reduce slow video streaming. Remember that each player has its own buffer settings. Here is how to change buffer settings in Media Player.
Solution A. Adjust the buffer settings: To change the default buffer settings in Windows Media Player, follow the steps below:
1. Launch Windows Media Player
2.Click on the men “View”
3.Click on “Options”
4. In the “Advanced” tab, click “Streaming Media” (Windows Media)
5.Click “Change” to modify the buffer settings.
Remember that the higher you set the buffer, the more of the clip will be loaded. The wait time before you can see or listen to the file will be longer, but there should be fewer interruptions once the clip starts playing.
Solution B. Use a video-specific proxy: A proxy allows popular files to be uploaded to your servers. This eliminates the need for your computer to upload the files. For example, if you use the proxy, YouTubeProxy.org, you won’t have to wait for your computer to download popular content from YouTube.com because it may already be uploaded to the server. This is a great way to stop slow video streaming.
These are just a few tips to eliminate choppy PC video playback and slow video streaming. However, there are more advanced ways to stop this problem. Depending on the site, there may be standalone software specifically developed to speed up slow video streaming. Also, remember that general maintenance is a good way to prevent choppy PC video playback.