YouTube videos buffering more recently?
Discussion
Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this? The video generally works fine once it gets going, but getting it going is becoming a pain at the moment, seems to buffer a fair bit at the start.
- Playing music videos, resolution doesn't seem to matter
- Chromecast via Android YT app
- Chromecast about 6 feet away from Wifi router
- Speed test 15 ms / 65 Mbps down / 19 Mbps up
- Router is a BT Smart Hub
- Using "free" YT with ads rather than Premium
Never seem to have had any problems with it until very recently, so I'm just wondering if it's affected anyone else?
I also have a slight tin-foil hat theory that they're in some ways restricting 'free' users. I may look into the VPN subscription trick, as its cheap and will eliminate the ads on all devices.
- Playing music videos, resolution doesn't seem to matter
- Chromecast via Android YT app
- Chromecast about 6 feet away from Wifi router
- Speed test 15 ms / 65 Mbps down / 19 Mbps up
- Router is a BT Smart Hub
- Using "free" YT with ads rather than Premium
Never seem to have had any problems with it until very recently, so I'm just wondering if it's affected anyone else?
I also have a slight tin-foil hat theory that they're in some ways restricting 'free' users. I may look into the VPN subscription trick, as its cheap and will eliminate the ads on all devices.
No issues here on android phone/tablet or Panasonic TV (either via the built in app or casting from phone to the TV app) My speeds are a wee bit lower than yours at 21ms, 48 down, 9 up. And I use YT Vanced on my phone/tablet so no adverts, but when you're casting to TV/Chromecast then there is ads as they're both just fetchers and not mirroring from phone etc. I really need to get around to setting up a pihole on the cheap RPi2 I bought ages ago!
Edit - sounds like it maybe a Chromecast issue? I've got a gen 1 version somewhere and it was never great until it established the stream - I've been looking for the bugger all week purely to stream Disney+ and can't find it anywhere.
Edit - sounds like it maybe a Chromecast issue? I've got a gen 1 version somewhere and it was never great until it established the stream - I've been looking for the bugger all week purely to stream Disney+ and can't find it anywhere.
Edited by stevoknevo on Saturday 15th August 10:33
Cheers, its weird, nothing else seems to be having a problem. I did read that some gen 1 Chromecast were starting to struggle but mine is a gen 2 so you would think it would be OK.
I also have a Manhattan T3R DVR which has casting support, so I tried that also, and I still noticed it in some videos, although not all.
Very strange.
I also have a Manhattan T3R DVR which has casting support, so I tried that also, and I still noticed it in some videos, although not all.
Very strange.
Maybe try this - https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/1656444?...
"going to chrome://flags/ and setting Experimental QUIC protocol to disabled."
Put it back to default if it does nothing.
"going to chrome://flags/ and setting Experimental QUIC protocol to disabled."
Put it back to default if it does nothing.
I have noticed that Google in general has become laggy at times.
I'll search for something, click on the result and wait.... sometimes up to 5 seconds before it redirects to the target URL.
Initially I thought it was the site I was visiting that was laggy and causing Google to stall - but I've tried going directly to various URLs (after getting them by hovering over the search result) and I've concluded it's definitely Google that's slow.
I have Youtube Premium, and there are times when that buffers before playing the video - and sometimes even during the video.
I'll search for something, click on the result and wait.... sometimes up to 5 seconds before it redirects to the target URL.
Initially I thought it was the site I was visiting that was laggy and causing Google to stall - but I've tried going directly to various URLs (after getting them by hovering over the search result) and I've concluded it's definitely Google that's slow.
I have Youtube Premium, and there are times when that buffers before playing the video - and sometimes even during the video.
I only ever notice it suspiciously on small creators. Say I click mr beast, biggest Youtuber. Plays perfect. Click my friends new guitar videos he uploads and gets about 19 views, but buffers a few times and the qaulity isnt even high. Redirecting server power to popular advertisement driven videos imo.
FourWheelDrift said:
Maybe try this - https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/1656444?...
"going to chrome://flags/ and setting Experimental QUIC protocol to disabled."
Put it back to default if it does nothing.
Would that do anything for a Chromecast though?"going to chrome://flags/ and setting Experimental QUIC protocol to disabled."
Put it back to default if it does nothing.
I'm playing videos on my gaming PC at the moment, and no buffering that I can see at the moment anyway. Lots of adverts though.... definitely time to get Premium via an Indian VPN!
hotchy said:
I only ever notice it suspiciously on small creators. Say I click mr beast, biggest Youtuber. Plays perfect. Click my friends new guitar videos he uploads and gets about 19 views, but buffers a few times and the qaulity isnt even high. Redirecting server power to popular advertisement driven videos imo.
Yeah, I had read that the bigger youtubers get more bandwidth or something like that. Presumably getting more revenue for those videos, so they take priority. Could be an explanation since I'm noticing it more on music videos (old ones!)Will O. Bey jr said:
Most if not all vids I watch take time to buffer in the beginning. It started happening recently. Guessing it's some back-end b
ks.
Yeah I was playing some on the laptop yesterday and indeed it seems to be affecting that at times too so I'm going to lay the blame at youtube on this occasion.ks.
hotchy said:
I only ever notice it suspiciously on small creators. Say I click mr beast, biggest Youtuber. Plays perfect. Click my friends new guitar videos he uploads and gets about 19 views, but buffers a few times and the qaulity isnt even high. Redirecting server power to popular advertisement driven videos imo.
Simple answer - the smaller creators aren't cached worldwide. The storage vs bandwidth tradeoff probably isn't worth it.Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff