Need expert pc help to improve poor video streaming

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rrr111qq

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May 26, 2017
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I'm trying to watch Amazon Prime videos but the videos often 'pause' (spinning circle) because of my slow dsl connection (typically 1Mb/s). I know this is a very slow connection for streaming, but it's the fastest connection I can get. Web searches show this is a common problem, but I don't see any solutions, other than 'get a faster connection'. I have a win10 pc, hardwired to my dsl modem. I'm watching the videos with the Chrome browser. I have the video settings set to the lowest resolution in the browser, but it still pauses badly.

So I thought the experts here might have some ideas. Somebody must know how this works in the hardware on the pc :)

My limited computer hardware knowledge tells me that video is typically buffered in ram or disk swap space in these situations to help smooth the viewing. I thought that slower incoming streams would just require more up-front buffering for smooth viewing. I'm trying to find a way to increase the 'buffer size' in the hardware using a larger swap space, or something like this to make an improvement. Perhaps more ram would help? I've been told in the past that when one pauses video, then the buffer continues to fill. When resumed, the video then plays smoothly from the buffered video rather than directly from the dsl stream. But I don't see this happening with the Amazon video stream. Maybe it is happening, but I don't see it.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
 
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D

dontlistentome

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Sep 5, 2016
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You didn't bother to mention anything about your computer except that it has Win 10 and Chrome. CPU, amount of ram, resolution you're running?

How does another video stream like Youtube do? Can you stream HD video off Youtube? How about something more basic like 480p? Have you tried another browser? What about using another device to access your video stream, like your cellphone, does that work?

Sometimes your speed is not the issue. If the quality of the connection isn't good you can have lag.

Anyways, try to rule out it being an Amazon specific issue, a Chrome issue, or a computer issue by testing those things I mentioned.
 
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R

rrr111qq

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May 26, 2017
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Thanks for the questions.
The CPU is an Intel i5 750 @2.67GHz. The display resolution on the pc is set at 1900x1080. There is 8GB of ram installed. The hard drive is 584GB, with 60% free space.

I see the same problem viewing a Youtube HD video set at 1080p resolution. When I decrease the resolution with the Youtube video to 720p, it gets better, but lots of spinning/pausing still happens. If I decrease the resolution to 480p, it is much better with few spinning/pauses. At 360p I rarely see spinning/pausing (It's nice that Youtube allows me to change the resolution, but other providers [like Amazon video] don't give me that option).

I tried streaming video with the MS Edge browser, but it just spins/pauses all the time. I also tried using Mozilla, but it wants me to install Silverlight. I'd rather not go there (yet).

I tried viewing an Amazon video on my Kindle Fire HD, but it spins/pauses badly too.

So it looks like it's not specific to the browser (Chrome, Edge), the provider (Amazon or Youtube), or to the computer (my pc or Kindle Fire).
So it sounds like it's simply a slow/poor connection. Do you agree?

To compensate for this slow/poor connection, is there a way to increase the amount of "buffering" on the pc, then 'force' the pc to play from this larger buffer? Are there swap-space controls in the operating system somewhere to make this happen? Would increasing the amount of ram help with this? Is this a video card issue? Is there a way for me to view in the task manager somewhere to show me what is happening to see if buffering is happening, or???

thanks again!


 
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R

rrr111qq

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Bump
 
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FnaticMeister

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Aug 9, 2016
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So you're basically trying to see if there is any other solution to get faster streaming other than to increase your internet speed. No, I don't believe so, since it's all basically downloading packets of data from said sender. Your computer is 100% fine for streaming and such, and you're probably getting max capacity out of it.
 
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rrr111qq

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May 26, 2017
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"So you're basically trying to see if there is any other solution to get faster streaming other than to increase your internet speed. No, I don't believe so, since it's all basically downloading packets of data from said sender. Your computer is 100% fine for streaming and such, and you're probably getting max capacity out of it."

Yes, this is my question. To overcome my slow connection, one thought is to simply stream the entire video onto my hard drive, then play it back later without pauses. Rather than stream it directly to the display, it would be streamed to the drive. There is no way to force this to happen? Thanks for the thoughts.
 
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FnaticMeister

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"Streaming it directly to your hard drive", that is suggesting downloading the movie files from said so website. Not sure if Amazon offers downloading, but I'm pretty sure that downloading it would also take a long time, maybe you can leave your computer on overnight?
 
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rrr111qq

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Amazon does offer downloading on some videos, but not in the case I'm Interested in.
I guess I'm really just trying to force a download somehow in cases when Amazon does not offer the option. Sounds like this is not possible from the replies. Thanks to everyone for their comments.
 
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FnaticMeister

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Yes, it is not available from Amazon or from yourself to force it into your hard drive for a faster buffer. I would recommend getting a faster internet, good luck!
 
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FnaticMeister

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Yes, it is not available from Amazon or from yourself to force it into your hard drive for a faster buffer. I would recommend getting a faster internet, good luck!
 
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