Watching this thread, because lately YouTube playback has stunk at my house with DSL as well.
Try the Chrome browser, it’s free and Flash is built right in to the browser.
Is your computer plugged in?
They are moving away from Flash. But, now, so many vids are HD and even while compressed carry so much more information than they did 7 years ago. The files are huge. Do you know your average download speed? You can check it with this link. That will help pinpoint the problem:
1. run a speedtest
2. When you discover ATT is providing you with about 1/9 the speed you are paying them for call them and tell them that you have a problem with your line.
3. When they suggest you upgrade to U-verse, throw a fit and ask why you would upgrade when they’re not even providing the expensive service you’re already paying for, and say your next call is to Xfinity.
4. They will fix your speed within three minutes.
This might sound odd but upgrade your video driver.
Right click in video.
Go to settings.
Set storage to unlimited.
That made some improvement on my machine.
I also have an MSI motherboard that came with something called “Network Genie”, I can set the network card in it for “streaming” which massively helps me.
However, I still get the buffering events at times.
Seems to be Youtube.
Type of processor, amount of RAM, internet speed, on board graphics or video card, processes running the background can effect your video.
It hardly seems worth discussing a Windows XP installation, but.... how much RAM do you have? It is probably an older machine so the available memory could be a real issue. Hard drive capacity vs available space is something else to check. Defrag. Check to see if your swap file is system managed. Make sure you don’t have multiple security software programs installed. Turn off system restore and turn it back on after you apply.
Install Disconnect to your browser and you can block out the thirty or more firms that spy on you when you watch YouTube. I did this and it improved the video quite a lot.
You have “drag” on your line because you’re watching the video...and NSA is watching you watch your video.
get youtube downloader, download the video then watch the video. It is a PIA but at least you can get through a video without pauses.
I’ve been having the same problem.
Firefox and Flash seem to be getting along worse and worse every release. Meanwhile they’re both kind of pigs in the first place. Reduce the pig count use something other Firefox to watch Flash, and pray for the day HTML5 kills Flash.
What you didn’t say is what screen resolution you are running.
Too high a resolution and the videos will either studder,lag or cause and error.
I know because my old XP machine did the same thing when I went higher that 1024 x 768 resolution.
And I had 2 gig of ram at the time.
Still lagged.
Hi ZC - the one thing I haven’t seen mentioned (so I’ll mention it myself) is what version of flash you have installed. I’ve seen several instances of “stuttering video” - including one on a freshly imaged computer. What I found was an existing install of ver. 11 (something) and a partial install of ver. 12 (something).
I would uninstall whatever you currently have and then reinstall to get the latest version.
I thought it was an issue with the new 'puter. It happens with Youtube vids in particular. PITA.
Have you tried changing the “Hardware acceleration” setting in Flash?
NSA spying ...
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