Sound is fine, but video freezes on Flash Player
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Thread: Sound is fine, but video freezes on Flash Player

  1. #1
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    Sound is fine, but video freezes on Flash Player

    Hi, I have macromedia flash player 9 installed on XP, IE 6. The sound is fine and plays through all the way. But the video freezes on and off? I thought it might be the website, but other people have said that it is playing fine for them? Plus the flash player site says it is installed properly, but from I am reading at the forum there, it tells everyone that? I also have DSL and it is downloading at 329. Not real fast, but I think fast enough for the video to play through. I even rewired my phone wires at the outside box!!!
    Thanks in advance....
    Kathy

  2. #2
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    Hi, As you say it doesn't sound like a bandwidth issue. First thing I'd try is to just reinstall the Flash player. Also temporarily try turning off some other programs you aren't using while you watch the vids to make sure that other things running on the PC aren't hogging the resources of your computer eg- MSword or Outlook or any other thing you may not be using at the moment.
    Don't believe everything you think.

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  3. #3
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    Thank you for replying Flink. I just tried all of those suggestions and the video is still stalling. Actually uninstalled and reinstalled it a few days ago.
    I hate to ask but could you check out the website and see what happens for you? Sorry if you don't like Chris Isaak? On the first page that little video plays fine. The video links to the right are the ones that do not play well. Pick any of the 4. (sorry there isn't a address for those videos..)

    http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/fa...hris_isaak_swf

    I would appreciate it so much. Once again sorry if you don't like the performer.....
    Kathy

  4. #4
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    (I do like Chris Isaak )

    Those vids work fine for me. I monitored the bandwidth required for them and it showed that the download lasted for about half the song and was 130KB/second, comfortably below my 3Mbit connection speed (~320KBytes/sec). the fact that it lasted only until the middle of the song shows me, in a rudimetnary and non-scientific way, that I'd have gotten an uninterrupted video down to somewhere just below half my available speed. Slower than that it would probably stop intermittently to cache some more data.

    When you say yours is 329 do you mean Mbits or Kbytes/sec or something else? If you don't mean KB/sec then perhaps I was wrong when I suggested it wasn't a bandwidth issue... it might be... freezing on and off could be the result of that.

    Try a speed test here..

    http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

    Just for the heck of it and tell us what you get from 2 or 3 of the cities shown.
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  5. #5
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    Thank you again Fink for your help!!! I tried that test at 3 different locations and I am downloading at 321-329 Kbps? I should be able to view the videos, right? They stop pretty quick and then start again etc. Like they are buffering, but the sound is perfect all the way through! Very frustrating!!!

    Kathy

  6. #6
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    I should be able to view the videos, right?
    Should.. certainly with your available bandwidth. What happens when you play one of them all the way through and then immediately play it again?

    Now, I'm not sure if those SWF files are invoking WMplayer or not because there's little documentation regarding that, the only clue in the html coding of the page is mplayer... so one thing that may be worth experimenting with is to open an instance of whichever WMPlayer you have installed (9, 10 or 11) and click tools>options>performance and adjust the buffering settings if default is selected pick the manual option and change it to something higher like 20 seconds. That will allow the player to buffer 20 seconds worth of data before it starts playing and maybe see if that lets the clips play all the way through... or at least see if it changes the behaviour as a further clue to what the problem is.
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  7. #7
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    Same thing happens. Would static on the lines make any difference? Wouldn't that be reflected in the download speed?

  8. #8
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    Static would have an effect only if it's affecting the download speed. The first video on the first page is both smaller (frame size and length) and is recorded with a lower bitrate (quality) than the 4 other videos so that could well be why you can watch that one with no problem because it doesn't require as much bandwidth... it doesn't need as much.

    Dowload speeds can be pretty inconsistent from one site to the next. I got you to do the speed test to see what kind of connection you have but it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll get that max speed from every site you visit.

    I'm pretty convinced that this is what the problem is... but the question is how to improve it. It's possible you might not be able to but there are some tweeks that are done to increase download speeds by a few percent up to 10 percent on average.

    tcpoptimizer is a tool that I use..

    http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

    It will change a few settings to try and get better speeds. It may not make any difference but you may want to try it. Do read all the instructions first and make sure you allow it to make a backup before you change any settings.

    Either let it choose it's own default optimal settings or use the ones in the screenshot I've attached.
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by fink
    Should.. certainly with your available bandwidth. What happens when you play one of them all the way through and then immediately play it again?

    Now, I'm not sure if those SWF files are invoking WMplayer or not because there's little documentation regarding that, the only clue in the html coding of the page is mplayer... so one thing that may be worth experimenting with is to open an instance of whichever WMPlayer you have installed (9, 10 or 11) and click tools>options>performance and adjust the buffering settings if default is selected pick the manual option and change it to something higher like 20 seconds. That will allow the player to buffer 20 seconds worth of data before it starts playing and maybe see if that lets the clips play all the way through... or at least see if it changes the behaviour as a further clue to what the problem is.
    Before I try the optimizer, I am a bit confused with your WMplayer comment above? How would I get the videos to play there? Or are you saying that just the settings there might be making a difference? Sorry

  10. #10
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    Oh my gosh!!! When I changed the settings in wmp it made a difference. I changed it to 30 seconds and it buffered 3 times during "wicked game" but the sound and video stayed together? Progress right Fink?

  11. #11
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    yes and it shows that bandwidth is the cause of the problem since changing the buffering settings makes a difference. That SWF file invokes wmp to play the videos but it uses it's own skin with almost no controls to adjust so opening wmp manually and changing the settings is what needed to be done. Now you may want to try the optimizer program to see if that makes a difference but it often doesn't increase it enough to make a big diff like I said. Still, worth a try.
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  12. #12
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    I am going to try the optimizer today. I am just a little afraid.... So, the verdict is that I am not downloading fast enough to view the videos? I guess I still don't understand why everyone else can see them and I can't without that buffering adjustment which still takes a long time waiting for the 30sec intervals.... I am wondering now if I even have highspeed internet, maybe I should have stuck with dial-up?

  13. #13
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    The optimizer didn't change my readings at all. I let the program choose the settings. Is there anyway to save those videos so that I don't have to wait for the buffering?

  14. #14
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    Dialup would be much much much worse/slower. Sometimes the connection between two points on the net just are slower than others. I've got hispeed but there are a couple of major movie servers that are always slow for me no matter what.

    As far as saving the movies there are a few programs that can do it..

    http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-...F-8&q=swf+save

    some are free but perhaps someone else here will have a preference to suggest. I've never used any of them. Although this freebie looks interesting

    http://www.unhsolutions.net/Flash-Sa...gin/flash.html
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  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by fink

    As far as saving the movies there are a few programs that can do it..

    http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-...F-8&q=swf+save

    some are free but perhaps someone else here will have a preference to suggest. I've never used any of them. Although this freebie looks interesting

    http://www.unhsolutions.net/Flash-Sa...gin/flash.html
    I am going to try that last one you mentioned. It looks easy! I tried the videos again and they even start breaking up before they start the 3 long buffering sessions... I hate it!! But it is better than it was!!!
    Thank you so much, I am learning alot!! I will be back tomorrow with the verdict on the flash-saver.....

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