Problems with choppy video on Youtube and Vimeo

[TCW]

I have a problem with my video – after uploading it to Youtube or Vimeo, the video becomes choppy, especially when the camera is rotating.


However, the video is much smoother if I stream it from Youtube to VLC player, instead of watching it in a web browser (I tried the latest versions of IE, Chrome and Firefox; the best results gives Chrome, but still not perfect).


Here you can find this video; it’s very short (<2min):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-STmBHxDouU
http://vimeo.com/73616262


I cannot find the source of the problem. I even zero’d my hard drive with DBAN and reinstalled Windows (I found some malware on my computer and I had codec packs installed, which according to some people can cause problems with video editing). But it did not help with video quality.


The video was made with Sony HDR-CX410VE camera (PAL). It is capable of shooting AVCHD Full HD videos, however this particular video was made in MP4 mode (1280x720, mp4, 25fps).


I edited the video with Camtasia Studio 8.1.2.
I put video quality to 100%, but I reduced resolution to 854x480 (no point in uploading in HD – I tried that, too – when video becomes so choppy). I put frame rate to automatic (so 25fps was preserved).


The result after editing was a 243MB mp4 file with bitrate of 17000 kb/s (Plenty! The video quality is just fine when I play it on my computer! Not that it’s exceptionally good, but it is not so choppy. It only sucks after uploading it online.)


I believe it is a web browser issue – that my video is not optimized for viewing it in a browser, but I don’t know how to fix that.


I am totally lost here. Please help

[manono]

Nothing unusual here. It plays smoothly.

[sanlyn]

I agree. The only thing that's jerky in the linked videos is camera movement itself.

[jagabo]

The videos play jerky in a browser here (both Firefox and IE). But playing the downloaded videos locally shows the problem isn't in the videos themselves. Adobe's Falsh Player doesn't play smoothly on some computers. I first noticed this a few weeks ago. Before that I did get smooth playback in a browser.

[TCW]

Thank you for your answers. Just as I thought: apparently it’s a browser issue... more specifically, a shortcoming in Adobe Flash Player, that doesn’t work properly on some computer systems, and for some videos.


Two questions remain unanswered, though:


1) Which computer configurations are affected and which not?


2) Why some videos play smoothy (even on affected systems) and others not?




I wonder if it may even be a driver issue, that – in conjunction with Flash Player – causes the problems for certain videos.


I hope that future versions of Flash Player will fix this bug.




BTW: My laptop is Lenovo G770 (if that helps someone to solve this mystery).

[TCW]

One more thing, for the record: This is the latest Flash Player version information (from http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/)

For Windows:

Internet Explorer (and other browsers that support Internet Explorer ActiveX controls and plug-ins): 11.8.800.94
Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape, Opera (and other plugin-based browsers): 11.8.800.94
Chrome (Pepper-based Flash Player): 11.8.800.97

As you can see Chrome has a different version of Flash Player than Firefox and Internet Explorer. Probably, that is why my video played better in Chrome.


UPDATE: Flash Player version on my Chrome browser was actually 11.8.800.115. (version on IE and Firefox was 11.8.800.94).

[James C March]

PROBLEM SOLVED! I had the same choppy jerky Vimeo video problems until I found this suggestion:

https://vimeo.com/forums/help/topic:112861

As suggested, I turned off my video accelerator in FireFox following the instructions. I have cut and pasted the instructions here, but would suggest you read the original post for a complete explanation.

Let me know if this helped.

** STEPS TO RESOLVE THESE ISSUES **

CHROME WINDOWS USERS
1. Open a new tab and go to "chrome://flags"
2. Find "Disable hardware-accelerated video decode" and click "Enable"
3. Restart Chrome

FIREFOX WINDOWS USERS
1. Click the Firefox button at the top-right of the Menu bar
2. Go to the "Options" menu and then click "Options" again
3. Click the "Advanced" tab at the top, then "General" below that
4. Uncheck "Use hardware acceleration when available"
5. Click OK and restart Firefox

If you are using a different browser or these steps, didn't work please
contact us: vimeo.com/help/contact

Computer Details: HP Mini 210-4150NR, Windows 7 Starter, Intel Atom CPU
N2600@1.6GHz, 2GB RAM, 32-bit Op Sys, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3600
Series w/Driver Version 8.14.8.1065, 305GB HDD, Firefox 26.0 (using QuickTime
Plug-in 7.7.2)

[TreeTops]

Well I have "Use hardware acceleration when available" checked and the videos run just fine. So it must be a graphics card problem in some computers.