Monday, April 23, 2007

Monday Rant: Video Play Delay

Every. Frickin'. Time. I click "watch the video", or I follow a link to YouTube, or to GoogleVideo, or any other video clip on the 'net, and it delays a bit before playing. That delay is NOT what this rant is about - this rant is about that delay should be LONGER.

What's wrong with Martin, today? Well, skimming the list we find the video thing that recursively started this thing. Huh? Meh, I'm probably undercaffeinated today so this may not make much sense. I blame lack of sleep.

Videos are typically big files, often several megabytes in size. Even with a nice, fast, connection, my computer cannot load the video in zero seconds. Yet the player seems to assume that since loading speeds are usually higher than playback speeds, the video can begin playing as soon as the first second or two has been loaded and buffered. WRONG. Without fail, the video pauses, sometimes for only a fraction of a second, sometimes for several seconds or even up to a minute, when the playback reaches the end of the section that's been loaded. Urgh. Why not wait, say, three full seconds before beginning playback, with a little note saying "loading" so you know your computer hasn't hung?

2 comments:

Carlo said...

Umm... that's a rather strange rant. However, I suppose that I agree with the principle. I frequently find myself viewing videos that claim to be fully buffered, but stutter continuously.

I've always thought that the goons who develop web pages are going a little too far with the flash/video/animated content stuff. Many sites are now actually obnoxious to visit and make stupid flash pop-ups appear constantly.

Stupid intarweb.

TheBrummell said...

Umm... that's a rather strange rant.

This is what happens when my caffeine metabolism experiences a supply problem. I feel better now.

I've been sitting on this rant for a bit, waiting to build up a suitable non-porn sample size.

Stupid intarweb.

Well, yeah, but if that was my rant that would pretty much cover half of what I have ranted about in the past and am likely to rant about in future. Baby steps.