Poor video performance

[Mike245]

I would like to know if what I am experiencing has a solution through the Ipad setup. I have read all of the comments regarding watching videos on the Ipad but I cannot seem to get most videos (Youtube, Itunes, etc.) to run without stopping, jerking, etc. I can't even get video to spool normally so I can watch more than a minute or so. I have looked at settings, read everything I can on the forum and finally, I'm swallowing my pride and asking for help.

My wifi has an average 1.2M download and .3M upload connection speed through DSL on ATT, 64G-3G Ipad and plenty of space remaining. I know my speed is pitiful but it's what I have to live with. It seems good enough on the PC, just not on the Ipad on wifi. I would like to enjoy video on this device.

Before I go off and bang my head against the wall, is there something I am missing about video streaming on the Ipad or am I the only one this happens too?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[wrecklass]

Video downloaded to the iPad plays slow too? Or just streaming. What router do you use? I watch Netflix daily on the iPad without issue.

 

[Mike245]

Video downloaded to the iPad plays slow too? Or just streaming. What router do you use? I watch Netflix daily on the iPad without issue.

I'm downloading a TV show right now to answer the 1st question (was always hesitant due to Youtube videos, etc.) and definately streaming is too slow. I have a 3Wire ATT DSL model. What speed is normal for most? Maybe I'm just too slow for practical streaming.

 

[HUNTER1]

Before I change router I could not even play you tube without stopping very, frustrating and I was using old router. Now I changed router to net gear wndr 3700 and up my Internet speed to 25 Mbps and the videos of any kind opens almost instantly without interruption. I pay a little more but it's worth it. On top of that downloading any file and the speed on all our computers is so fast, browsing the internet is much more enjoyable.
I think it's about the speed with the correct router.

 

[Mike245]

Well, the downloaded video plays just fine. The router may or may not make a difference, but it appears my problem is simply pitiful speed from ATT (1.3Mps and .3Mps). When you say 25Mps it makes me cringe. I can't believe how inadequate ATT is in the non-major metro areas.

I guess I'll have to live with it until I can get faster speeds. Thanks for the replies.

 

[peled]

1.2M on download is can hardly be considered as proper Internet any more.
It used to be fine for text and low res Pictures.

Any way it is not only your Internet speed. I found out, that some times, a movie that runs smoothly on my Lap-Top, is jerking on the iPAD. and I recall others on the forum had the same experience .

 

[Mike245]

I agree about the speed...really gets me! However; you would think that I would be able to spool better on a 64G unit. I can't really even spool a Youtube video many times, it just sits there. With that much available space (what 50 or so gigs?) at any given time I should be able to stay ahead, but it normally won't. It does a great job on the movie I downloaded though, even if it took 50+ min to download!

 

[accordlayingkit]

ive havent checked out youtube yet, but i have wifi only and at home with ipad running off my wireless linksys wrt54g dsl through verizon, and im not very impressed with the pic quality like with the abc app, and its keeps stopping to buffer, what causes the buffer and how can you stop it or make it better

 

[freebirdforever]

Theres really nothing you can do guys. If your internet is shit, your internet is shit. Sorry if I offended anyone, but thats just the nature of the beast. Especially if you use Verizons mifi or mobile web services. (3G or 4G)

 

[accordlayingkit]

well damn......

 

[freebirdforever]

Have you tried using your ipad other places and noticed the same thing? If so, then Im wrong. But if its just at home, its your internet.

Mobile internet or internet through a phone company via their hot spot or mifi are not really ready for the big time yet. They are great ideas, BUT imo, they should have stayed just that, ideas, for awhile longer. The speeds are almost dial up speeds if you use them regularly. Its almost faster to tether internet from a phone like an Droid 2 than get mifi or a hotspot from a company like that

 

[Mike245]

ive havent checked out youtube yet, but i have wifi only and at home with ipad running off my wireless linksys wrt54g dsl through verizon, and im not very impressed with the pic quality like with the abc app, and its keeps stopping to buffer, what causes the buffer and how can you stop it or make it better

Good question

Actually I can't believe that a device with this much flash memory (probably about 45-50 Gigs available) can't buffer a reasonable amount of a video (at least enough to get through a small video). Isn't there some way to direct this thing to spool a video completely to memory before viewing, similar to a download? The video I just downloaded plays fine and it was 500 Megs so, theoretically you have room to spool a bunch before playing. Is the issue that you can't save these files on the IPad, or something like that? And if so, is there a work around (without jail braking)?

Now that I think of it, my wifi speed should really have nothing to do with what I can spool or buffer, only how long it will take to do it before being able to smoothly play it back. Can any of the resident experts in this stuff really explain it?

 

[wrecklass]

Now that I think of it, my wifi speed should really have nothing to do with what I can spool or buffer, only how long it will take to do it before being able to smoothly play it back. Can any of the resident experts in this stuff really explain it?

There are a couple of reasons this doesn't work as well as you might expect. First as far as buffering to the iPad storage I don't think most Apps even attempt to do that. They just use the iPad's RAM which is very limited. However, for a fast connection a small buffer pool is more than adequate. They can spool a couple of minutes of video, and with a fast connection the buffer doesn't run out. If they spooled a great deal more than that it is really not streaming. I mean if your system download speed cannot keep up with the full speed play back, the only way to avoid pauses would be to download the entire movie before starting and I'm pretty sure they don't allow that in order to avoid piracy. And who would want to wait four hours to "stream" a 90 minute video?

Buffering algorithms are a bit tricky, but they rely on the assumption that the system can download fast enough on average to play without the buffer. The buffer is there to keep video playing if there are short intervals where the speed drops below playback speed. Which is common given the way the Internet is designed.

 

[Mike245]

There are a couple of reasons this doesn't work as well as you might expect. First as far as buffering to the iPad storage I don't think most Apps even attempt to do that. They just use the iPad's RAM which is very limited. However, for a fast connection a small buffer pool is more than adequate. They can spool a couple of minutes of video, and with a fast connection the buffer doesn't run out. If they spooled a great deal more than that it is really not streaming. I mean if your system download speed cannot keep up with the full speed play back, the only way to avoid pauses would be to download the entire movie before starting and I'm pretty sure they don't allow that in order to avoid piracy. And who would want to wait four hours to "stream" a 90 minute video?

Buffering algorithms are a bit tricky, but they rely on the assumption that the system can download fast enough on average to play without the buffer. The buffer is there to keep video playing if there are short intervals where the speed drops below playback speed. Which is common given the way the Internet is designed.

Good answer, thanks

 

[FunN4Lo]

How do you explain video playback without hiccups on 2 different laptops, 1 desktop and 2 Droid phones on the same home network that iPad plays videos as painful as watching paint dry?