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Video Playback Sucks, Youtube etc... A Little Tech Help Please?


JohnG

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I am so freaking frustrated...  I'd really like to watch videos on youtube or whatever without the herky-jerky, stop/starting and video/audio syncing problems.  I figure that, no matter what my speeds are I should be able to download videos and watch them with decent quality, but I just can't figure it out.  Didn't always seem to be this crappy...

 

Specs:  from speedtest.net, download 16.36 M and upload 1.04 M

 

Pc is running XP SP3, Pentium 4, 1.8 ghz, with 2 gig ram.

 

Usually browsing with Chrome but same results with Firefox.

 

Tried turning off DASH in Youtube, but didn't help.

 

Suggestions?

 

 

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I am so freaking frustrated...  I'd really like to watch videos on youtube or whatever without the herky-jerky, stop/starting and video/audio syncing problems.  I figure that, no matter what my speeds are I should be able to download videos and watch them with decent quality, but I just can't figure it out.  Didn't always seem to be this crappy...

 

Specs:  from speedtest.net, download 16.36 M and upload 1.04 M

 

Pc is running XP SP3, Pentium 4, 1.8 ghz, with 2 gig ram.

 

Usually browsing with Chrome but same results with Firefox.

 

Tried turning off DASH in Youtube, but didn't help.

 

Suggestions?

I have very similar (old) hardware to you and the exact same problems.  I'm pretty sure it's the hardware's inability to keep up with the video processing.  If I use my work laptop or phone I have no issues.

 

I agree it "didn't always seem to be this crappy," but I have no idea what may have changed with either the quality or compression these days.

 

Of course, IANACN, so if anyone *is* a computer nerd and has a quick fix, that would be great.  I just assume I need to buy something newer.

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On another note, I've been wondering if it would be worthwhile to invest in a new motherboard with a faster processor and more capacity for ram?

 

No, it will cost almost as much as a machine with a supported operating system.  :)

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lol, giving up xp doesn't bother me in the least. I've got win 7 on two other devices, I'm just cheap and don't want to spend the money on a new desktop.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

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I ran a win98 machine till recently. And had no problems with video. Yes I geeked that win98 up to an SP4 level, which isn't widely available. I gave it up when web coding left it behind. Stuff just wouldn't display correctly. It wasn't that bad, there aren't many attacks on win98. And the few that are out there, are easily handled.

 

edit: If booted in diagnostics mode or safe mode, the videos might play ok. Which means applications and services that are running are overpowering the system resources. In English, if the system overruns the available RAM, it starts swapping data on and off the hard drive to compensate. That will seriously degrade performance. Your machine is old enough that some one should be able to just give you some old RAM for free.

Edited by ReconRat
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Waht about updating Win 7 over XP?

 

Thought about that, but my current setup is incompatible with 32 bit Win 7.  I know I really need to upgrade the old desktop, the IDE drives are way outdated.  My wishlist includes Win 7 64 bit, an actual video graphics board, SSD's and enough functionality to run Ubuntu as well.  I just need to bite the bullet and go shopping... 

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Ok, then blow it out and reinstall xp. Nothing has change on internet video to require more horsepower. Your machine is just mucked up. Fastest, best way to fix it.

 

I've done that a couple times in the past year or so...  Such a hassle reloading drivers and ancilliary software.  And it slowly returns to the old issues anyway.

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