Most of the time I have no problem when I click on a youtube link. But sometimes, the video plays for around 5-10 seconds and stops. Then it starts for another 5-10 seconds and stops again etc., etc.

It happened when I clicked on 3/6 from this Richter performance:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Documentary+of+sviatoslav+richter&search_type=&aq=f

Can someone help tell me why this happens?

Thanks.

Do you have any sort of broadband internet connection? If you are on good ol' 56k dial-up, youtube videos cannot load fast enough to stay ahead of playback.

Now that I have broadband I watch too many youtubes just because I can.

I have a Verizon wireless internet connection(if that answers your question?). I unfortunately have no idea about "56k dial up".

I guess maybe I should call verizon and ask them>

I have broadband, but with limited download. When I exceed my limit for the month, it all slows down to dial-up speed (=slow!). To watch a video you then have to make sure the video isn't set to play, then go away and do something else for 10-15 minutes while it loads before you come back and play it. i don't imagine that's your problem, but you still should wait until the red line is a fair way ahead before you start playing (in other words, give it some time to load a bit first).

also, did you have many internet windows open while tring to watch the video? sometimes the internet gets so overwhelmed by the amoun t your trying to do that it just goes so slow...

Zac

I believe (someone correct be if I'm wrong) that the Verizon is what might be called "broadband", so I am not sure what your difficulty with youtube videos is.

Try going to www.speedtest.net and check your download speed. Let us know what you get. I'm on a cable modem connection, and I get around 6 mbps, which is pretty fast. I generally have no problem with Youtube videos. I know that the DSL connection speeds vary greatly depending on what you pay. They sell bargain basement connections that aren't fast at all by today's standards. They are fine for general surfing, but really slow for video or downloading.

This site is completely safe, by the way. I use it frequently, and I've never discerned a problem.

Also it depends on the quality of the video.

A high quality video means its bigger in size and thus needs a longer time to process that much size given a limited amount of processing power (in this case, your internet connection)

What currawong says: let the whole video or most of it load before playing it. I have a fast broadband connection that should handle anything YouTube throws at it, but this herky-jerky thing still happens at times. I think there are lots of variables that could cause it, but the only reliable solution I know is to simply allow the thing to load before playing. But of course, if you have a zillion other things open on your system at the same time, you may be out of luck until you tidy up.

Thanks for everyone's replies. I think the problem was that I sometimes had too many other sites open at the same time. I tried the same link this morning with only one other site open(the name in the bar at the bottom of the screen??)and the video played perfectly!

Sometimes a slow internet connection may be the result of spyware or trojans on your computers (bad stuff) and may eat up your bandwidth (the thing that determines how fast you can go, which is limited to a certain speed depending on what you pay for). If this is the case, run anti-spyware and anti-virus programs on your computer.

Also do you share your internet connection with anybody? This may also be another possible reason for slow loads on Youtube.

There are alot of things which may cause this and sometimes in the end it could just be you're having a bad day with the internet

Thanks for the link. I tried it and got a download speed of 765 kb/s. Is this the same as 7.65mbps?

i used to have cable and just switched to verizon DSL because it's cheaper and stable. while the cable connection was faster, around 6 mbps, it doesn't seem to be fast a lot of times, since its speed fluctuated a lot (depending on the usage in the neighborhood). the only fastest Verizon DSL i can get is about 1.5 mbps, but it's mainly a constant and steady speed with little change. so far i'm happy with it. but i noticed some buffering delay over some Youbube videos, although many are still played ok.

no, it's 0.765 mbps, which means that you got the slowest Verizon DSL (that $15/month deal perhaps). you could upgrade to their faster DSL (max 1.5 mbps one), about $30/month. in some regions, Verizon has the fastest fiber optical service (FOIS?), which is even faster than cable's.

What you have discovered is that it takes a considerable amount of processing power to convert the signal into video. If your computer is underpowered, has low memory, or is doing too many other things, the video will stop while the computer catches up.

765 kb/s is the same as 0.765 mbps. That is a decently fast DSL speed. Higher speeds are available (usually at extra cost.)

[deleted]

Will a 10 minute video usually take longer to download(or be less likely to play all the way through)than a 5 minute video?

Yes, a 10er it will take longer than a 5er, but all other factors being equal, playback characteristics should be the same no matter how long the video is.

Haha internet in the USA is so much cheaper than over here in Australia...

I'm paying $70 for 1.5mb speeds and a download limit of 40gb.