Computer Video Question

[Irie]

My computer is running fast and fine...except for videos. When I try to watch videos on YouTube, etc all of the sudden my computer is sooo slow.

I know I have plenty of RAM, my internet connection is super speedy, I have a hardcore antivirus program always on the alert, all updates downloaded, I cleaned my registry, etc etc. I haven't been able to find a good solution online for what to do when everything else runs great EXCEPT video. Any suggestions?

[Ange]

What video card do you have? If everything else works, that's my main suspect.

Is it ANY video or just certain ones. They aren't all created alike. We play a lot of games here at home and we've had to replace the cheapo video card with others because they can't handle the requirements of the games and we've had to always change them.

Have you tried to turn off the antivirus to see if that slowed it down?

[Irie]

All videos are slow, and just started a few days ago--I don't really do anything too high-tech like gaming, just try to watch CSI and Cold Case now and then.

My video card is a Mobile Intel R Series Express Chipset--from what little I know, it should be more than enough to handle some simple online videos. I also manually installed the updates from the manufacturer website, b/c I know Vista is horrible with doing auto-updates correctly....no improvement.

I also just tried turning off the anti-virus, and also no luck.

Any other ideas?

[IBMMuseum]

...my internet connection is super speedy...

Define ¨super speedy¨...

How big of window are you watching your videos in?...

Streaming video is one of the bandwidth-intensive applications for your Internet connection...

[LisaB]

This may be an option....
when we would play videos for exsample on you tube, it would keep pausing and freezing. I couldn't figure it out for the longest time until one day someone pointed to my attention that we have to pause it for a few seconds(maybe minutes depending on what type of connection you get). Once you start the video- pause it and wait for it to load a bit. I know it sounds crazy but I thought something was wrong until I did this and it worked. I'm not sure if the videos just won't play for you or what the problem is but if it is freezing try doing that. I know very little about computers...this is just something that we experinced with our computer. Good Luck!

[Ange]

The reason they didn't' play was because the "play" was faster than the "load" so it had to stop playing and wait for it to load.

I don't think this is her problem though.

Is it a desktop or laptop? How much ram do you have and do you have cable.

[dgman]

im with ibm. it is probably related to the server that the video resides on. maybe there are too many trying to access at one time. check at different times of the day. it could also be the server that your service is hooked up to.

if you want to check to see if its you pc. try a video that has been downloaded and see if there is a speed difference.

[Ange]

i disagree, this wouldn't happen to every single video regardless of the site.

[Irie]

Here are my specs:

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop
4 GB of RAM
Intel Pentium Dual CPU T3400 processor
The video card is a Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
MS Vista Home Premium 64 bit OS

My internet connection it is a Sprint Sierra Wireless Broadband card--it looks like this is the problem b/c when I tested it at Speedtest.com, it says that my download speed is only .23 mb/s (I think this is very basic high speed, not the much faster speeds that I have had over the couple of years I've had this device. I recently got a replacement device when my old one broke, so I plan to call Sprint today to see what's up)

Thanks everyone for responses on this rather boring topic--I'll update once I hear from Sprint.

[IBMMuseum]

...it says that my download speed is only .23 mb/s (I think this is very basic high speed, not the much faster speeds that I have had over the couple of years I've had this device...

Yes, your connection is on par with basic 256Kb (and that is ¨kilobit¨, not ¨kilobyte¨) DSL. Double that (or faster) is recommended for streaming video. I also want to be clear, I didn´t say the server-side connection or server specifics (those are usually geared correctly, even with many people connected), but the bandwidth of her own Internet connection (which it was).