tech: YouTube problems

Subject: YouTube problems
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:06 AM

I am having problems with YouTube which I never had before.

For example, I cannot get this video Steve Tilston singing The Rambling Comber to load at all.

And many others cut out at around one minute, for example this one of < href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwXXlbPhVrs">Les Paul playing Caravan cuts out at 1.07

I would be surely grateful if somebody else could check out these links and tell me if the videos work OK for them, if they do then presumably it is a problem with my computer.

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:07 AM

oops, link should read Les Paul playing Caravan

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:09 AM

Nope Murray the Steve Tilston won't load for me either
Giok

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:09 AM

Clips on Youtube has been very slow in loading, for me, in the past two days.

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:24 AM

Thanks Giok, obviously there is a fault with the Steve Tilston video.

Anybody tried the Les Paul one yet ? (it's not folk, I know ...)

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:49 AM

Les Paul works for me Murray.
G

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:54 AM

That's weird Giok, I just tried it again and it cut out at exactly 1.07 once more.

Must be something at that point that my computer doesn't like ...

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 06:39 AM

Here's anotner one, cuts out at 2.38 every time, just as Chris Newman starts playing, after far too much talking ! Ghris Newman at Camp Kaufmann

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 06:45 AM

Again, it works for me, have you emptied your cache recently?
G

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 06:45 AM

Steve Tilston loads for me. Chris Newnan gets past 2:38. I haven't bothered trying the other one.

Perhaps your own ISP is a bit bogged down.

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 07:26 AM

Steve Tilston loads now, and I have also mamaged to get Les Paul to play all the way through, but Chris Newman still cuts out, this time at 2.45.and that was directly after deleting temp files and restarting the computer.

I could understand it if every video behaved like this , but some 6 minute clips play perfectly, and others cut out after one or two minutes.

Should I alter my settings to allow a bigger or smaller cache, or what ?

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 07:42 AM

Try it at an off peak time for your ISP, probably between midnight and 7am but I suspect midnight tonight will be busy.

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: Nick
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 09:04 AM

Why don't you just save it to your machine and look at it at your leisure? (And save your bandwidth!)

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: scouse
Date: 25 Dec 06 - 07:10 AM

Works perfect for me.. perhaps it's time to clean your Pc and get rid of all the crud that accumilates...
As Aye,
Phil

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Dec 06 - 09:20 AM

sometimes it's just a matter of 'timeouts' set by the server during peak times.

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: Ebbie
Date: 25 Dec 06 - 12:54 PM

They all load and play perfectly for me. (Newman's is a 4:51 minute clip.) Thanks for the music!

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: terrier
Date: 25 Dec 06 - 03:04 PM

Christmas day 20:00hrs all the clips work ok for me.
I'm running on XP, 1.2gig processor with 256 mb of RAM and the performance monitor is permanently peaking when I run these clips. No spare overhead can cause problems but I think I'm just about getting away with it. Cheers T.

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 06:17 AM

Well, I have tried watching videos at all hours of the day or night, and still they cut out. Each video has its own cut-off point which is always exactly the same every time I try to play it.

for example this tremendous clip cuts out at 2.53 every single time I play it.

I have defragmented and cleaned my hard drive, deleted temp files, nothing seems to work.

I am wondering if I added extra RAM, would that make any difference, but I already have 512meg, and a 3.00 Pentium processor, so it should work all right.

Maybe its the fact that I am on AOL that is the problem, but whenever I run the AOL Broadband Assistant check, it assures me that the line is fine.

It is really most frustrating ...

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: eddie1
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 06:58 AM

Hi Murray

I've had no problems with th earler clips. The one above had a couple of "coughs" in the sound around 3.30 but video kept running and sound returned to normal. Great clip.
Ever get down to The Oak these days? Has it changed much since Sandra and Dorothy moved on? If you do get in there give my best to everyone. I will make it back sometime.
All the best for 2007

Eddie

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 07:45 AM

Mid-day on Boxing day: nae bother with any of the above video clips nor anything else on Youtube, and some great music! My spec's much the same as yours, Murray, except that I've got Pentium 4 processor: also have 512 MB RAM and AOL (Gold - ?1MB), so not sure what the problem is.
Since we're discussing tech, one problem I do have with videos (not on youtube, more likely on AOL or Windows Media Players)is if I try to switch to "full screen", the system crashes: initially I get sound only and a black screen, then the sound hangs up playing the same 3secs over and over again: and I can't get out of it by using ESC. Any ideas on this?
RE: the Oak: I don't go in that often, but it still seems to be thriving. It won the "Folk Pub of the Year" award, which can't be bad, and I believe takings went UP after the smoking ban, rather than down as one of the bar staff had predicted!
Happy Christmas

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 11:07 AM

Murray...it is highly unlikely at this point that defragging or RAM memory has anything to do with it...in other words, the problem will be with some setting...

try this: Start a video playing, then right-click on the video and see if it has a little window for 'settings'...one of which asks "how much information can YouTube store on your computer" It may be that the default is smaller than most videos...If that doesn't help, try AOL 'help desk'...(It just could be that AOL, which is famous for controlling stuff, has some limiter in place.)

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 11:21 AM

Well, as you say, your computer shouldn't be a problem.

That last clip is amazing!

Subject: RE: YouTube problems
From: GUEST,sorefingers
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 12:59 PM

Problems with streaming data divide into 2 kinds.

Local, your browser and or media drivers are not correct or out of date. Try installing Firefox or I-Explorer V 7. Update your Media Player to the latest version. The other possibility is that you have been hacked and 'taken' probably for some email scam.

Remote, you are connecting to a low or constrained bandwidth device. Sometimes these conditions result from network congestion, which is not unexpected at this time of year.

Final but unlikely, the wires connecting your devices are not connecting properly.

Here is some slightly unconventional picking off of YouTube
Michalis Tzouganakis

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: Ebbie
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 02:55 PM

Wow, Murray. That's a wonderful clip, well worth your trying to figure out the problem. It ends at 5:27 in a tremendous fusillade of picking- at one point, a couple of men with guitars in the dim background are dancing with each other.

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 06:53 PM

Murray...if you continue to have problems, there is always the option of downloading them and playing them at your leisure...Just in case anyone does NOT know yet how to save and/or play them, here are a couple of options.

YouRipper will save them as .flv (flash) files to your computer. It is a very easy to use & reliable piece of software.

Then you need to either have a program which will play .flv, or convert them to .mpg or something. So far, I have just kept them in the format I got them.

My favorite (at the moment) player is GomPlayer, a wonderful program which will play and display almost any kind of media ...images, sound (even midis), videos (including these .flvs). It is free and wonderful.

For just .flv files, there is this FLVPlayer. It works fine if all you want is to play the YouTube stuff.

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 10:33 PM

I am so grateful to everybody who has taken the trouble to write in with suggestions. I have tried an amalgam of everybody's suggestions.

It is one of these situations where sometimes I feel "Wow, I've cracked it" , and then a minute later I try to download a video and the bloody thing stops playing after 57 seconds.

I ran a www.trendmicro.com housecall on my machine ( took for ever) and it detected and cleaned up god knows how many infections.

I also have increased the storage space, as per Bill D's suggestion, and for a while I thought I had solved the problem, ( the previously mentioned videos played OK ) , then I tried to download a very short video and it stopped playing after 50 secs !

btw must give you the URL for that video, it's Martin Simpson at his incredible best Shepard's Delight. Short clip but absolutely mesmerizing for devotees of the fingerpicked acoustic ...

So , I am still working with the change of browser suggestion, maybe I will download Mozilla and see how that works.

Happy Boxing Day everybody ...

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 10:38 PM

Bill, I will follow up your suggestions in the post above, but the thing is that I really need to be able to view the videos on a one -off basis in order to be able to manage the Permathread.

Downloading each one to disk would just be too, too, time consuming.

But for outstanding performances, very valuable resources , for which much thanks ...

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 10:43 PM

just played the Martin Simpson video again and it played faultlessly.

the whole thing has got me beat, maybe I need either a new ISP or a new computer ..

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 12:20 AM

Well not a new computer but considering what you have, said you might want to look at a clean install followed up with decent protection.

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: GUEST,Cold Turkey
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 06:24 AM

Hey Murray. Dem four lads can play their guitars - wow The problem is RAM if ya aint got the RAM ya can't Ram-a-lam-a-ding-dong!!!

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 07:41 AM

Well as I said above,I've got both AOL and 512k of RAM and no problems playing youtube clips, so maybe not?

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 09:05 AM

Maybe PC as I hinted above, TB. If he's got his PC in that state, there could still be things that use resources.

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 07:36 AM

Aha!

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 02:56 PM

just to report that YouTube videos now play faultlessly, doesn't matter whether I use AOL, IE7 or Firefox.

I assume it was just a problem with my newly enabled broadband line following recent move. AOL did say it would take ten days to settle down (hey , I don't understand why either ...)

thanks to everybody for their suggestions, Tattie Bogle I will no doubt see you again at the first Tuesday at Balerno soon

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: GUEST,IrogSinta
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 11:06 PM

Shucks! I was hoping there was a solution here to this problem. Seems like it affects only some people. I tried googling for a solution and so far I've only found forums with others who have this same problem but no one with a solution. Probably because it doesn't affect everyone.

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: Nick
Date: 09 Jan 07 - 06:13 AM

I was recommended the following recently for viewing video and downloading and all sorts of things - it's about a 19mb download but does seem so far to be rather good -

It's called Get Democracy and seems to all sorts of stuff rather well!

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jan 07 - 06:33 AM

I assume you are on a variable rate broadband service like IPStream Max. It can take a few days to find the best speed your line supports consistantly. It could reconnect when conditions are good but maybe another time of day with a bit more noise on the line, you might loose the connection at that speed. ... I think.

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 13 Jan 07 - 05:07 PM

Hi Murray,
Not seen you in Balerno for a while. Maybe February? That'll be the 6th, I think!
TB

Subject: RE: tech: YouTube problems
From: GUEST,Fidjit
Date: 14 Jan 07 - 06:25 AM

Stops and starts all the time, but if you stop it yourself and restart, then it ges all the way through. Nice man Steve. What a shit guitar player. I mean that in the very nicest sence of course.

Chas