-----Original Message (clipped) -----
Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 20:08:40 -0400
From: Hulda Robertson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: All my Media Players keep going on and off
>> Hi.I have an HP AMD Athlon 3300+ Processor with 160 GB HD and I just
upgr=
aded my memory from 512 to 1 GB. I have only used about 16.2 GB of the HD=
space. I like the Computer a lot. I have a satellite connection. Lately =
as I try to view video and audio streaming, the players keep going off an=
d on and buffering so that I can hardly keep listening, because I have to=
keep clicking them on all night long. I go to Church Sites a lot and li=
sten to the music and preaching. I live in the boondocks and like some co=
mpany at night therefore I do like to use the Players. <<
>> When I use the Bandwidth =
Speed test sites, it usually tells me I am online with 512 MB and sometim=
es in the upper 400's. <<
>> I have no problems at all with doing the Website surfing and the
Websites=
come up quickly, using either IE7, Foxfire or Opera. It is only the Play=
ers that are giving me a problem. They all act the same way too!=20 <<
------------------------------
I have a satellite connection also and one of the first things I found out
about it is that even though it is a lot faster that dial-up, it won't do
streaming video very well. The signal from the satellite is sent in "chunks"
or bursts of data. It kind of works the same well cell phone towers transmit
text/voice messages. They will load up on data then send out a burst or
pulse of signals. Engineering-wise it makes more sense (plus there are other
considerations) but the short story is that you will get the video clip sent
to you in several chunks of various size. I get a "connection" speed of
anywhere from 700Kbps down to 100Kbps depending upon the time of day. During
peak usage hours (when "everybody" is surfing the web) the connection is
slow. Early in the AM it is a lot faster. I am providing a link that will
test your connection speed and also provides a little chart that shows how
the data is being transmitted. You should see a line on the graph that
swings way up and down. A cable or fiber connection would be more level.
http://myspeed.visualware.com/index.html
What you might try is looking for settings in each of the players that allow
you to buffer the entire clip before opening up to play. That way all you
are really doing is downloading the video and then playing it. If that is
not possible, see if there is an option in the player to adjust for your
type of internet connection and choose "dial-up". that will either compress
the video (lower quality) or shrink the picture size which might overcome
the bandwidth limitations of the satellite connection.
Also, satellite services "restrict" bandwidth usage (usually at over 200Mb
per day, per user for a "home" package) to discourage unnecessary large file
transfers (like peer to peer file sharing or online gaming) because of the
limitations of the service and technology. It is rather new, but a real
pleasure to have if you are in a rural area and have no other choice.
One way to tell how many Megabytes of info you have downloaded is to open up
Task Manager" (Ctrl-Alt-Del), click on the networking tab, and then click on
"View", "Select columns" and make sure that you place a checkmark beside
"Bytes sent" and "Bytes received". If you want to see how the data is being
sent, also check "Bytes sent/interval" and Bytes received/interval). You
will also see a graph that will represent how the data is being sent. You
will notice that it will rise and fall frequently.
HTH and answers some of your concerns.
Chris Ryan
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