Not-smooth playback of online HD video

[mwrr]

I often can't get smooth playback of online HD video (youtube, vimeo). I have a cable internet connection via wifi network. Download speed from speedtest.net is 10-15 Mbps.

Does my hardware speed affect this? Or?

[Baldrick]

Have you enabled hardware acceleration in flash? Right click on a flash video, select settings and enable hardware acceleration.
Have you updated flash? or updated Chrome(it has a built in flash player) to latest version?

The download speed should only cause buffer problems.

[smrpix]

If the video stops and you get a spinning graphic in the middle of the frame it's an internet speed issue. If you're getting skipping and stuttering and the progress line indicates there is more material available to play, it's likely a hardware issue.

Your system appears to be a bit underpowered for HD video. Specifically, you do not list a graphics card.

[mwrr]

Here's the flash setings window. Do you see anything there about hardware acceleration?

Have you enabled hardware acceleration in flash? Right click on a flash video, select settings and enable hardware acceleration.
Have you updated flash? or updated Chrome(it has a built in flash player) to latest version?

The download speed should only cause buffer problems.

[mwrr]

Your system appears to be a bit underpowered for HD video. Specifically, you do not list a graphics card.

It's a Lenovo G530 444625U notebook. I don't see a graphics card anywhere in Control Panel > System. I somehow vaguely remember that graphics are handled on the motherboard. Does that sound right? I also see listings for this same model computer that include "Graphics Card Intel GMA 4500MHD". Would that have been an option that I didn't get?

[Baldrick]

Click on the monitor-play-icon to the left.

[mwrr]

Thanks! Alas, hardware acceleration was already on.

Click on the monitor-play-icon to the left.

[smrpix]

Unfortunately, onboard graphics cards are generally not as good as dedicated NVIDIA or ATI cards. Only you can decide whether its worth trying to upgrade a system that's already so long in the tooth.

See if using Chrome vs Firefox makes any difference, (Chrome let me squeeze a couple more years out of an old laptop) and my guess is you should pretty much write off fullscreen playback.

[Cornucopia]

Quick Google search on your graphics card brought this up as the 1st listing:

The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD (sometimes also called GMA X4500 HD or other combinations) is a DirectX 10 capable onboard graphics adapter in the GM45, GE45 and GS45 chipset of the Centrino 2 platform (Montevina). The chip has no dedicated graphics memory, but takes dynamically an amount from the main memory (up to 384 MB). The graphics card is also called Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family in the Intel drivers.
The 400MHz clocked version of the 4500MHD found in the GL40 and GS40 chipsets, is called GMA 4500M (without the HD) and has a worse performance in 3D games and video decoding
...
The graphics core in the GL40 and GS40 chipset with a lower core speed of 400 MHz is called GMA 4500M (without the HD). Because of the lower clock rate, the 4500M performs a bit worse in games and is not capable of decoding Blu-Ray videos fluently.

So, yes, your hardware is UNDERPOWERED, from c.2008?.
As it's a Laptop, there's not a lot of alternatives to just getting a better laptop.

You could do some tests to see if it was the h.264 decoding or the memory size/transfer being the bottleneck (trying similarly sized HD video using less efficient codec and checking smooth FPS), or just re-encode to lower rez (720p?) but that's about it.

Scott

[mwrr]

Thanks all. I got this computer in June 2009. I think I'm just going to live with it until I'm ready to get a new and improved one (it will be another laptop). Then I'll be here to ask your advice about that.

I've also tried some video editing (video from a stills digital camera) and found it painfully slow. Same reason?

[smrpix]

I've also tried some video editing (video from a stills digital camera) and found it painfully slow. Same reason?

More than likely. However, if you can get your hands on a standard def DV camera it should be nicely responsive.