why does my Mac G4 only play Youtube in stutters

Kevin Ruddell · Post by **Kevin Ruddell** » 14 Oct 2006 2:03 pm

When someone posts a You tube link on the steel forum to a nifty Santo and Johnny or Leonard Zinn video, it seems to be unable to play without stopping continually and reloading rather than just waiting to load and playing all the way through . Is there any way to get around this problem by way of changing computer parameters ?
I have an Apple G4 500 with 512 memory and 1 MB L2 cache.

thanks for any tips

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 14 Oct 2006 3:26 pm

Are you on dialup or broadband? Dialup typically has problems with streaming media.

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bob drawbaugh · Post by **bob drawbaugh** » 14 Oct 2006 4:48 pm

I have an Apple G5 and it has no problems playing you tube videos.

Kevin Ruddell · Post by **Kevin Ruddell** » 14 Oct 2006 5:17 pm

Wiz , i have cable modem at 1.5 Mbps down

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 14 Oct 2006 8:02 pm

During peak hours sometimes I have to click the pause button and wait for the whole video to load.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 15 Oct 2006 7:40 am

The Internet is comprised of a huge number of divigerent technologies that are joined together to form a loosely knit web. Sometimes a signal that you are receiving will be slowed down by bottlenecks in datapipes somewhere along the path those signals are following. The result is stuttering streaming media, or slow downloads. If your modem is properly configured, along with your computer's TCP/IP settings, any slowdowns are beyond your control.

Sometimes, when a computer has been connecting to the 'Net via a dialup modem, then you switch to broadband, there can be slowdowns until the computer has been purged of the dialup settings. If you have any leftover dialup settings that are no longer in use, remove them, reboot and run a modem throughput test.

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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage. Get Firefox Here.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices. My FAQs.

Keith Cordell · Post by **Keith Cordell** » 16 Oct 2006 11:15 am

b0b has it. My cable is not as fast as they advertise (Comcast is a nightmare) so I have to start the video, click pause and wait til it loads.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 16 Oct 2006 3:51 pm

What results did you get from my baudtests? Try them during peak hours as well as off-hours. Cable Internet Service is shared among all of your neighbors who are on the same switched circuit. If everybody on the circuit is online and downloading streaming media, or huge files at the same time, your throughput could drop to almost dialup speeds.

DSL broadband is not affected by other users on the same line and maintains the best available bandwidth all the time, only being affected by data bottlenecks upstream that cannot be controlled.

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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage. Get Firefox Here.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices. My FAQs.[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 16 October 2006 at 04:53 PM.]

Mark Vinbury · Post by **Mark Vinbury** » 17 Oct 2006 5:15 am

I don't know much about the inner workings of computers or the Internet but it has been my experience the a shortage of available RAM memory can slow down the buffering process.

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 17 Oct 2006 9:29 am

I would agree that adding more RAM to your computer would probably make a difference.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 17 Oct 2006 9:38 am

I still remember my first experience with trying to add RAM to a self-contained Mac computer. It was 1996 and my roommate came home with a RAM module that he asked me to install for him. After removing the casing from the CRT I tried for an entire day to open the cage surrounding the motherboard, to no avail! When I called the local Mac Store they wanted $100 labor to install his RAM! He took the RAM back and got a refund and I put the case back together. I never did figure out how to open the darned cage and never tried to work on a Mac again.

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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage. Get Firefox Here.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices. My FAQs.

Bill Llewellyn · Post by **Bill Llewellyn** » 19 Oct 2006 7:31 pm

Wiz,

I bought a reconditioned Mac 512KE in 1987 that started acting flaky. After I figured out that I needed a Torx tool to unscrew the case fasteners, I got the thing open and prowled around the motherboard with a magnifying glass and found a few lifted PCB traces around the memory chips caused by an apparently poorly done rework. I moved them away from each other with an Exacto knife and the flakiness disappeared.

I still have that Mac. It still works.

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Bill, steelin' since '99 | Steel page | MSA U12 | My music | Steelers' birthdays | Over 50?