Watching catch up

[TheOtherHalf]

Whenever Im trying to watch channel 5 catch up, the programme keeps stopping and starting and therefore an half hour programme takes about an hour to watch. Why does this happen or is it normal for channel 5 ? TIA

[albaqwerty]

This is not going to help, so apologies for that.
I have found that when we watch C5 it 'hiccups' therefore I wonder if these 'hiccups' go over to the catchup

[VHG]

Everything you look at on the internet has to be downloaded to your PC first. This includes text, pictures, sound and of course videos.

Text, pictures and sound are usually quite small so download quickly, but video is huge (in computer terms) so takes a time to download.

Luckily when you start watching a video online it can start playing before it has all downloaded (to allow you to start watching it), however if your broadband is slow then often you are watching it quicker than it can download, hence the stuttering.

The ways round this are:

1) Get a faster broadband.

2) Watch when the interent and the web site are less busy (during the night!)

3) Allow part of the program to download BEFORE you start watching it, then hopefully there is always enough downloaded ahead of you to stop the stuttering.

[Gromit]

I have very good broadband speed about 12Mb. And watch TVCatchup a lot on my iPad. There are about 50 channels to watch, but one or two load a lot slower and stutter than the others. My conclusion of why this happens is that it is nothing to do with my broadband speed (the other channels are fine) but that the stream released by the channel is in a slightly different format than the others. It might be better resolution, a different form of compression, a different codec etc, which causes there to be more digital information for your box or computer to receive.

Or I might be completely wrong.

[VHG]

Gromit, you are right, it could also be down to organization "serving" the video, depending what technology they have chosen.

In fact one option I missed from my list above is to see if you can watch in a lower resolution (I am not sure if all catch up channels have this option).

Obviously the higher the resolution (quality) of the video the larger the file will be and the longer it takes to download. If there is an option to watch in a lower resolution or quality then try that and see if it improves.

Of course some companies may have underestimated how many people wold use their catch up service and just not have enough "power" on their compters to push out that much video, and hence it will slow down at busy times.

I assume a company would recognise this and plan to get faster or bigger computers, but this may take a time to organize so may not be fixed straight away.

[Zacs-Master]

'Everything you look at on the internet has to be downloaded to your PC first'
Completely wrong.

[Zacs-Master]

In streaming video and audio, the traveling information is a stream of data (zeros and ones) from a server. Your PC or Tablet, or phone is a stand-alone player or a plugin that works as part of a Web browser. The server, information stream and decoder work together to let people watch live or prerecorded broadcasts.

[ChuckFickens]

"'Everything you look at on the internet has to be downloaded to your PC first'
Completely Correct, how else do you think it gets to your screen...

[Zacs-Master]

So what is streaming and buffering then and what happens to the 'file' after you watch it. I am subscribed to the Telegraph pictures app and I can view the pictures on a remote server. They, as far as I'm aware, don't get saved to my iPad. Same with sites like flicker. Confused.

[dickythecook]

Whilst all you clever people are on, I recorded Heston, Baker Boys and NCIS on a RW DVD last night but when I tried to watch this am the progs kept freezing and pixellating and the sound was out of synch in some bits. Do I need to use a new disc, or, was it due to a crappy signal. Any advice welcome.

[Gromit]

The other possibility is that channel five stream differently than the others. Most push out the streams inbAbode Flash, others now use HTML 5, while some others use Microsofts Silverlight.

It may be that your computer runs some of the required software better than the others. Abode Flash is notoriously processor hungry, so your computer's CPU may be struggling.

[VHG]

>>>So what is streaming and buffering then and what happens to the 'file' after you watch it.

Streaming is the process of getting data from the server to your computer.

Buffering is where your computer stores or holds information that it has got from the server ready for the user to watch.

After you "watch" or use an internet file it is stored in your browsers "Temporary Internet Files" folder.

You can look at these temporary files on IE as follows (thiese instructions are for IE9 but it may work on other IE browsers)

Open the browser and select "Tools" then "internet Options". The Internet Options window opens.

Select the General tab, and below is an option "Browsing History" and under it a button "Settings" (note the are a number of Settings buttons).

Press the Settings button under Browsing History and the "Temporary Internet Files and History Settings" window shows.

Press the "View Files" button and you see the files in your Temporary Internet Files foler.

There will be all sorts of files - text files (HTML), pictures (gif, png, jpeg), Icons (ico files) and many many more.

These are all the files that have been downloaded to your PC in the last weeks and months while you have been browsing the web.

[TheOtherHalf]

Sorry for not getting back to this sooner but I have just come back from the docs. thanks for all your answers. Im still trying to understand all the technology of them all. It must just be the channel 5 that has problems as I know my OH watches sports on I Player and never seems to have a problem.
Thanks again everyone

[Zacs-Master]

But they Can't be the full files otherwise your hard drive would become full very quickly. I understood that these were just links to the websites server.

[VHG]

>>But they Can't be the full files otherwise your hard drive would become full very quickly

They are the full files, but the browser will "clear out" the Temporary Internet Files after a certain length of time, or if the folder gets larger than a certain size.

(Note that most files you download from the internet are very small. A web page, which may look very complex, is usually makde up of a small text file and some small graphics files - in fact web designers work very hard to make their fles as small as they can. It is really only video that is large).

In fact the user can set how long they want the files kept, or how large they want their Temporary Internet Files folder to get (options in the browser).

In fact you can even set your browser to delete everything from your Temporary Internet files folder every time you close down your browser if you wish.

[ChuckFickens]

I've always found the channel 5 player to be a bit ropey too but I can watch all the other catch up services fine.

[TheOtherHalf]

I always delete all history before I close down. Is that the same as temporary files ?

[VHG]

>>I always delete all history before I close down. Is that the same as temporary files ?

I think it depends on your browser settings.

It may only delete a history of the web sites you have visited in that session and not the actual temporary files themselves.

You need to check the settings for your browser.

[Zacs-Master]

Thanks, but not convinced.

[VHG]

>>>Thanks, but not convinced.

You say you use the Telegraph Picture App to look at pictures, but also say "as far as I'm aware they don't get saved to my iPad"

But if you read the review of the Telegraph Picture App below it says "and with a 14 day archive promised".

So where do you think these pictures are archived, on your iPad of course.

You may THINK you are looking at them on the server (and indeed they are STORED on the server) but to view them on your iPad they are downloaded to your iPad.

In fact you can prove it by disconnecting from the internet, starting up the Telegraph app, and you will find you can still see the pictures you have already viewed.

http://appadvice.com/...ce-telegraph-pictures

[Gromit]

You have an iPad. That is different.

You should follow this link and join for free and then download the free app from the App Store.

You can watch 60 channels streamed (almost) live. It is a fantastic app.

http://www.tvcatchup.com/