Quicktime tries to play movies before they're really loaded

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Does this happen to anyone else? There must be some algorithm to estimate how quickly the movie is being downloaded, and it starts playing when it thinks it has downloaded enough of it. The problem is that the algorithm often overestimates how quickly it's being downloaded, and so it has to pause while it's playing in order to catch up with the downloading.



It's to the point where the Frontrow movie trailers module is totally unusable.



Is there a solution to this?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    System Preferences->Quicktime->Streaming->Short Delay



    If the slider is too far to the left, there will be less video in the buffer and that can cause it to skip or stutter at the end.



    On a side note, why does Quicktime allow up to a 4GB disk Cache? Are large videos in Quicktime's future or perhaps, oh, DVD quality something-rathers from ITMS?



    Yea, I know. Someone out there in internet land is rolling their eyes at me.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BRussell

    Does this happen to anyone else? There must be some algorithm to estimate how quickly the movie is being downloaded, and it starts playing when it thinks it has downloaded enough of it. The problem is that the algorithm often overestimates how quickly it's being downloaded, and so it has to pause while it's playing in order to catch up with the downloading.



    It's to the point where the Frontrow movie trailers module is totally unusable.



    Is there a solution to this?




    You have 5801 posts on this forum and only now noticed this? Just to be clear, what you describe is normal and expected behavior. You can always stop the video and back it up to its starting point.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mr. Me

    You have 5801 posts on this forum and only now noticed this?



    I never knew posts in a forum were written using QuickTime trailers.



    You learn something new every day.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby

    System Preferences->Quicktime->Streaming->Short Delay



    If the slider is too far to the left, there will be less video in the buffer and that can cause it to skip or stutter at the end.




    Ah yes, thank you! I'll give it a try and see if that helps.



    [edit] I may have overestimated the speed of my internet, so I set that down a few clicks too.
  • Reply 5 of 10
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mr. Me

    You have 5801 posts on this forum and only now noticed this? Just to be clear, what you describe is normal and expected behavior. You can always stop the video and back it up to its starting point.



    I don't recall saying I just noticed it.



    It's normal and expected behavior? Bullshit. Pausing and stuttering is not normal and expected, especially with Frontrow movie trailers, which are basically unplayable. It should be able to judge how quickly it's coming in, and then delay the start until it's pretty sure to come in fully.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BRussell

    I don't recall saying I just noticed it.



    It's normal and expected behavior? Bullshit. Pausing and stuttering is not normal and expected, especially with Frontrow movie trailers, which are basically unplayable. It should be able to judge how quickly it's coming in, and then delay the start until it's pretty sure to come in fully.




    I didn't say that I liked it. I said that it is "normal and expected." It has been so since people first started putting AV files on the Internet. The introduction of Frontrow didn't suddenly change the fundamental nature of the Internet or reduce the demand for bandwidth by competing datastreams.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby

    System Preferences->Quicktime->Streaming->Short Delay



    If the slider is too far to the left, there will be less video in the buffer and that can cause it to skip or stutter at the end.



    On a side note, why does Quicktime allow up to a 4GB disk Cache? Are large videos in Quicktime's future or perhaps, oh, DVD quality something-rathers from ITMS?



    Yea, I know. Someone out there in internet land is rolling their eyes at me.




    I just noticed the giant cache the other day. I had mine set to 4gb (or is it defaulted to 4GB) and the entire thing was maxed out. Anyway, I emptied the cache, Safari crashed and now I have an extra 4GB on my hard drive.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mr. Me

    I didn't say that I liked it. I said that it is "normal and expected." It has been so since people first started putting AV files on the Internet. The introduction of Frontrow didn't suddenly change the fundamental nature of the Internet or reduce the demand for bandwidth by competing datastreams.



    To say it's normal and expected sounds pretty accepting of it. In any case, there's a difference between "the internet is slow" and "Quicktime is bad at determining just how slow it is." No matter how slow the internet, Quicktime should be able to gauge how slow it is more accurately than it does.



    Hopefully a few adjustments to the streaming preferences will help.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BRussell

    To say it's normal and expected sounds pretty accepting of it. ...



    That is what it means to be a grown-up.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mr. Me

    That is what it means to be a grown-up.



    No, that's what it means to be an Apple suck-up.
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