Internet trouble

[meinc3]

I want to know why do some streaming media files are slow to plat to watch. it is a quicktime file. Thanks.

 

[nixgeek]

It might depend on the speed of your connection and how that file is being streamed. Usually if it's a file sitting on a server, then the file is buffered locally onto your computer and then played. If your connection isn't fast enough to buffer and your playback reaches the end of the buffer, it will pause until the computer buffers more of the video file onto the computer, at which point it will start playing again. Usually this happens when trying to play the higher-rate media on a slower connection, which is why they usually provide a lower-rate media file for people with slower connections.

Some servers actually stream the video in real-time, and this is also possible with QuickTime. However, to keep that real-time stream going without interruption you would have to have a really fast connection so you don't encounter any dropped packets.

This happens not just with QuickTime video, but any type of video as well.