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Video Problem

10 years ago

I've got a problem watching videos, mostly from YouTube, on my laptop, that's started in the last 6 months or so.

Laptop is a refurb Dell Latitude D830, OS is Windows XP. I've had for about 3 years. I use it only for surfing and watching videos, don't store anything, have close to 90% free space.

Firefox is my browser.

Internet is DSL from my dialtone provider, a local co-op.

When I access a video, I switch to full screen, watch the progress bar and don't start watching until enough content is downloaded so I can watch without buffering. If a short video, less than 20 minutes, usually no problem. But if longer, at roughly the 20 minute mark, the picture will hang, and the audio will get garbled. If I stop the video and go back a minute or 2, all goes well for a while but inevitably the video gets jerky, the voice gets out of sync, so I go back to small mode which works fine. If I go back to full screen at the 35 or 40 minute mark a repeat. This also happens listening to music, which has virtually no video, only audio. I sometimes watch live streaming news, and other than a crappy picture because of crappy internet, no problems.

Is it my computer, internet, YouTube, anyone know?

Ken

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Comments (8)

zep516
10 years ago
Lets look at the internet speed,

Go to http://www.speedtest.net/ and click on Begin Test

When the Test finishes click on Share This Result and then select Forum then Copy then move to a reply and Ctrl + v
Elmer J Fudd
10 years ago
Because it starts out fine and degrades with time, I'm going to guess the problem is the PC.

This is a low end PC and it's old. Info from a Google search suggests that many D830s had slow microprocessors and an inadequate amount of RAM for the modern world.

To to Control Panel, System, and report back the Processor specs and amount of RAM.
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kentrees12
Original Author
10 years ago
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU

T 7500 @ 220 GHz

789 MHz 2.00 GH of RAM.
Elmer J Fudd
10 years ago
Okay, that's 2 GB (gigabytes) not GH (gigahertz) of RAM, and I think that's the problem - not enough RAM.

Many PCs (whose users who don't pay attention to such things) accumulate unnecessary memory resident agents/apps that load on boot-up that reduce that amount of RAM available for user initiated tasks. For PCs having an adequate amount of RAM it doesn't matter but on a machine with a small amount, any unneeded use by these items does make a difference. Examining and eliminating the unnecessary ones is easy and may allow slight improvement. If you'd like to be guided through doing that, post back.

Otherwise, your experience is what it is until you get an new PC. I wouldn't recommend putting more RAM into such an old machine.
kentrees12
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks. I'm considering cutting the cord and going to all internet. I'm in the boonies, and since TV went digital I'm on satellite. Too far for an antenna, signal was passable with analog. My ISP is doing major upgrades in advance of offering TV service over their land lines. Hopefully their internet will become more reliable also. I've been figuring it was time to upgrade on my side. Thanks again.
zep516
10 years ago
Hopefully there internet will become more reliable

Good luck with that.

What's the Internet speed now?, since there doing up grades and you said this problem has surfaced only in the last 6 months that may be part of the problem too.
Elmer J Fudd
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
zep has a good comment, an erratic internet signal could be another culprit.

I have a netbook PC (very small) I use for traveling (it's great for that) that has similar specs to your PC, though it has Win 8. It can get bogged down with video signals, even at home with my >100 MB internet service.
kentrees12
Original Author
10 years ago
That thought had entered my mind. They've been upgrading by sections,and got to my area late winter. Since they were replacing both equipment and cable, I figured there might be problems, but no, not while they were here. After they moved on is when the buggy video started.

If I call the office, I get horrible info. If I call the IT dept, they say there are no problems in my area and to replace the router. I'll probably go that route, there's no cost involved. I know from talking to others miles from me that the internet can be "erratic". I'm going to talk to my neighbors on my road and see what they have to say, see if I can talk to the one and only engineer who works for my provider, I've spoken with him in the past, a real nice guy, and take it slow before I dump Dish. Thanks.

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