Help S3 Video Buffering issue

paulwilko10 · Feb 12, 2013

At first, I thought it was just the youtube app, but today has made me realise that the S3 really is struggling with video on all formats.

Watching youtube via the app, watching youtube via the browser, watching video generally through the browser all give me buffering issues.

I am on Virgin and when I do a speed test, i get 20mb !!!

I went round my dads last night and he is on Virgin and had the same issue.

I have not had a chance to try it on a non virgin broadband, but I am guessing it will make no difference at all.

Really is very dissapointing as lately I have found myself wanting to watch more and more online videos and the buffering is making it impossible !

Any ideas please?

I am on standard 4.1.2 rom

Cheers

Paul

SUroot · Feb 12, 2013

Can you try it on 3G / HSPA+?

paulwilko10 · Feb 12, 2013

SUroot said:
Can you try it on 3G / HSPA+?

Just tried a couple of HQ videos on H+ and worked without buffering which sort of points towards Virgin Media :-(

SUroot · Feb 12, 2013

paulwilko10 said:
Just tried a couple of HQ videos on H+ and worked without buffering which sort of points towards Virgin Media :-(

or router. My superhub was pretty crappy to be honest. I had to upgrade to it to get more than 20Mb. My own Linksys was much better, even though it was only 54G. Do you have a Virgin Media Router / hub or just a modem?

Would be worth checking on someone elses wifi if you can.

paulwilko10 · Feb 12, 2013

Ok, I have just put my Virgin Superhub into modem mode and I can stream HD 1080P video straight to my pc wired no issue, the minute i try the same video on the youtube app it cant handle it.

I am right next to the router and speedtest shows 20mb+

Quite simply put, this phone is incapable of decent HD video being streamed via WIFI.

I have no other way to test streamed HD video unless someone can point me in the right direction?

Cheers

Paul

SUroot · Feb 12, 2013

paulwilko10 said:
Ok, I have just put my Virgin Superhub into modem mode and I can stream HD 1080P video straight to my pc wired no issue, the minute i try the same video on the youtube app it cant handle it.

I am right next to the router and speedtest shows 20mb+

Quite simply put, this phone is incapable of decent HD video being streamed via WIFI.

I have no other way to test streamed HD video unless someone can point me in the right direction?

Cheers

Paul

I can stream 1080p .mkv video from my NAS over wireless to my handset with no issues, so to say it cannot stream over WiFi might be somewhat of an overstatement. I did however, have to install a specific player for that though...

Can you give me a youtube link to a 1080 video you're struggling with please

MicroNix · Feb 12, 2013

I know exactly what the OP is talking about. Streaming HD video on the S3 over wifi ends up buffering countless times but if I do that same video over LTE it is flawless. My hardwired PC streams HD fine so I'm left to think its something about the phone and the router over wifi. Running a Cisco (Linksys) E2500 router.

SUroot · Feb 13, 2013

This is why id like an example to test

It's not wifi itself, at least not on my phone. Id like to reproduce it

paulwilko10 · Feb 13, 2013

Just try a number of HD videos on the Youtube App over wifi, I guarantee if I am not right next to the router it will buffer. Even right next to the router will cause issues at times.

This has been tested on my Virgin Superhub, My Linksys Router and on my Dads router which is a dual band Asus thing.

Even watching some videos over the youtube browser which is only HQ is bad at times.

Everytime it happens I do a speedcheck and it is always a minimum of 20mb and decent PING.

As I say, try a few HD videos, doesnt have to be a long one in particular.

Just because they are HD, doesnt mean they are all coded the same.

So I think some vids are coded to a better quality than others even though they all say HD

Cheers

Paul

SUroot · Feb 13, 2013

I've got an 8Mb ADSL test line at work, using a network of access points. I cannot reproduce the issue. I tested 3x 1080p videos from Youtube, up to a maximum of 20 metres from the nearest AP and had no buffering issues.

Obviously the AP I have access to is much better than the consumer crap we all have at home, but at least this shows me the S3 itself, with a reasonably slow connection, works fine with YouTube over WiFi.

My next test will be my 4Mb line at home and my BT Home hub.

paulwilko10 · Feb 13, 2013

SUroot said:
I've got an 8Mb ADSL test line at work, using a network of access points. I cannot reproduce the issue. I tested 3x 1080p videos from Youtube, up to a maximum of 20 metres from the nearest AP and had no buffering issues.

Obviously the AP I have access to is much better than the consumer crap we all have at home, but at least this shows me the S3 itself, with a reasonably slow connection, works fine with YouTube over WiFi.

My next test will be my 4Mb line at home and my BT Home hub.

How do you know they are 1080P? It doesn't say on the S3 as far as I know

SUroot · Feb 13, 2013

paulwilko10 said:
How do you know they are 1080P? It doesn't say on the S3 as far as I know

Due to a lack of examples, I was forced to search YouTube for "hd videos 1080p" and watch videos that had "1080p" in the title. It has a "HD" toggle button in the YouTube app, if it is a HD video.

It's possible that the S3 could only be capable of 720p, but you would also be using 720p in that case, so it's irrelevant really.

Using the share button in the youtube app, I can verify the same video has 1080p on a desktop too.

Edit > Speedtest tells me its actually a 20Mb line.

paulwilko10 · Feb 13, 2013

SUroot said:
Due to a lack of examples, I was forced to search YouTube for "hd videos 1080p" and watch videos that had "1080p" in the title. It has a "HD" toggle button in the YouTube app, if it is a HD video.

It's possible that the S3 could only be capable of 720p, but you would also be using 720p in that case, so it's irrelevant really.

Using the share button in the youtube app, I can verify the same video has 1080p on a desktop too.

Edit > Speedtest tells me its actually a 20Mb line.

Fair enough

Youtube on my pc at home wired is fine. I must try my laptop wirelessly and test that at peak times.

SUroot · Feb 13, 2013

3.68 Mb ADSL from speed test. I'm on the first floor, back wall of the house. Router is ground floor, front wall of the house. Its hard to estimate distances diagonally tbh. All I can say, I'm the furthest away from the router I can be in a 3 bed semi of an average size for a victorian house.

The wifi strength flips between strong and very strong with an irrelevant 72 Mb connection speed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v2L2UGZJAM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Using one of the same videos from earlier, I still can't reproduce an issue. I can see the buffer bar only ever-so-slightly infront of the seek bar (almost invisible due to overlap sometimes) but despite this, its still working flawlessly :/

Edit... here's what I mean about the buffer / seek bar...

The buffer is so minutely in front, its not even distinguishable from the seek. This presents no issues though

paulwilko10 · Feb 14, 2013

SUroot said:
3.68 Mb ADSL from speed test. I'm on the first floor, back wall of the house. Router is ground floor, front wall of the house. Its hard to estimate distances diagonally tbh. All I can say, I'm the furthest away from the router I can be in a 3 bed semi of an average size for a victorian house.

The wifi strength flips between strong and very strong with an irrelevant 72 Mb connection speed

► Planet Earth: Amazing nature scenery (1080p HD) - YouTube

Using one of the same videos from earlier, I still can't reproduce an issue. I can see the buffer bar only ever-so-slightly infront of the seek bar (almost invisible due to overlap sometimes) but despite this, its still working flawlessly :/

Edit... here's what I mean about the buffer / seek bar...

The buffer is so minutely in front, its not even distinguishable from the seek. This presents no issues though

Thanks for testing this.

Something I have noticed, is video playback is alot better on Chrome than default browser.
That does not help my youtube issue, but is something I can work with.

I also think that Virgin have something to do with my issue.

I really need to test on someones adsl line. Would be nice if i had wireless at work ffs !

SUroot · Feb 14, 2013

I had odd latency issues when I was on VM. Somethings seemed slow, even when I had the 100Mb service, So I would think it is partially involved.

No problems for the testing. Give's me something to do

paulwilko10 · Feb 26, 2013

Okay, after all this time, we now have wireless at work.
I am literally right next to the router and according speedtest is a 7mb line.

I tried to watch a youtube called Aqua Illumination Color adjustment demo by datagr1ff1n and buffered. its 5.06 minutes and buffered within 10 seconds

Absolutely useless phone for youtube in my oppinion !

SUroot · Feb 26, 2013

paulwilko10 said:
Okay, after all this time, we now have wireless at work.
I am literally right next to the router and according speedtest is a 7mb line.

I tried to watch a youtube called Aqua Illumination Color adjustment demo by datagr1ff1n and buffered. its 5.06 minutes and buffered within 10 seconds

Absolutely useless phone for youtube in my oppinion !

Have you tried a factory reset yet?

It appears this issue only really exists on your phone.

I can watch the same video easily. better than others in fact.

As you can see, by 30 seconds in, I have 1 minute + already buffered

paulwilko10 · Feb 26, 2013

Well I don't know what is going on here.

It takes for ever to even start loading that video and then buffers.

Just went downstairs and a guy ha sthe S3 mini and his took ages to start but was only HQ but didnt buffer.

I have uninstalled all updates so it is the basic app but no difference.

This type of thing is the same on BT ADSL 7mb, Virgin 50mb and virgin 30mb, so it is defo the phone !!

I dont really want to do a factory reset if i can avoid it.

My wifes is the same and hers is the S3.

I cant understand how some peoples work and some dont !

SUroot · Feb 26, 2013

Difference in software? Perhaps carrier branded releases etc?

It is definitely the phone I agree, but yeah not everyone's phone

MicroNix · Feb 26, 2013

SUroot said:
Difference in software? Perhaps carrier branded releases etc?

It is definitely the phone I agree, but yeah not everyone's phone

Mine is US Verizon. But again, on 4G, YouTube HD videos work like a champ. On wifi it is horrible. Odd indeed.

SUroot · Feb 27, 2013

It is odd. By home broadband is slower than my HSPA+ but works just as well.

funkylogik · Feb 27, 2013

My s3 streams 1080p youtube video just fine over 3g (H/H+) thats sometimes as slow as 1-2mb/s but also streams fine when using another phone as wireless hotspot (on 3g).... (have u tried that op? To see if its your phones wifi radio or virgin thats the problem)

SUroot · Feb 27, 2013

He's ruled out virgin by using BT

funkylogik · Feb 27, 2013

Oops. Missed that

Help S3 Video Buffering issue

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