Slow video streaming can frustrate and spoil your online viewing experience. If the streaming is being used for business purposes, slow video streaming can directly affect your bottom dollar as customers become frustrated and switch off. Ideally slow streaming should not happen as most videos will load and play simultaneously under the streaming technology currently in use. Sometimes however, due to differing factors, it may be the end user’s computer that is preventing full enjoyment of video streaming technology.
Under the usual set-up, the technology is designed for the user to avoid long waiting times and to go straight to watching the video. This involves the streaming media to be sent as a continuous stream and played immediately as it arrives at the user’s end. The video has been compressed to allow for playing the audio and video simultaneously as it arrives. Depending on the type of media player used and the compression rate, the time it takes for the media to stream will vary. The common set-up is that the file or video is hosted on the server and has the ability to multi-cast, which means the file can be served to multiple users at the same time. So the moment a user clicks on the file, the file is partially loaded before the user starts to check it out. Known as buffering for many users, this is actually the main reason why users experience slow video streaming. Here are simple steps on how one can address slow buffering.
There are two major reasons why buffering is slow. Firstly, the problem may lie with the ability of the computer to play the file. Secondly it may be the ability of the computer to receive the file. One troubleshooting technique is to create more resources within the PC to receive more files. Just click on ‘Start’, ‘Control Panel’ and look for ‘Internet Options’. Find the ‘General tab’ and ‘Delete Files’ located under ‘Temporary Internet Files’. On the ‘Delete Files dialog box’ just select ‘Delete all offline content’ box and click ‘OK’.
Another tip is to reduce long load times and buffering. There are some media players that allow users to tweak the buffer settings. If you are using Windows Media Player, start the player and click ‘View’. Select ‘Options’ and using the ‘Advanced Tab’ look for ‘Streaming Media’. Just click on ‘Change’ to edit buffer settings. Both these steps should initially address slow video streaming. A long term solution is to work with companies that help small businesses adopt the technology of video streaming quickly and seamlessly. Streaming Video Systems (SVS) can be counted on for this. They can guide you on properly using and experiencing video streaming to its fullest potential.