Why can't I stream YouTube videos?

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Level 1

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Why can't I stream YouTube videos?

I am having problems streaming YouTube videos. They are very choppy. Is there something I can do to make them stream smoothly? I know it is not my internet connection because I can watch them fine on other computers in the house. I am just having problems with this older machine. It is an iMac PowerPC G4 w/ 800 MHz, 512 MB RAM.

Any help is appreciated. I am going to try and sell it but want to make sure I can get it running as smooth as possible before turning it over to a new owner.

Thank You,

Scott

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11), Processor: 800 MHz G4, Memory: 512

Posted on May 1, 2011 10:02 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

May 2, 2011 1:19 AM in response to scottlarock

Sorry, but an older, slowish G4 with very little ram is no longer able to keep up with the latest Flash videos.

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Answer 2

a brody

Level 10

82,941 points

May 2, 2011 4:41 AM in response to scottlarock

PowerPC Macs can view HTML5 videos with Tenfourfox:

http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/

not sure if it will work well with Youtube, but perhaps disabling Flash in the browser preferences will allow you to try.

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Answer 3

May 2, 2011 5:48 AM in response to scottlarock

There are several factors that affect the viewing of You Tube videos.

1. Your processor speed. A processor speed of 1GHz+ is usually necessary. You have 800MHz.

2. The amount of RAM. Your 512MB is marginal. More RAM would be better.

3. Your video card capabilities. The older design of your card is not compatible with current requirements.

4. Your browser. What browser & version are you using? A more modern browser may help.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

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Answer 4

liam27

Level 1

74 points

May 2, 2011 6:50 AM in response to scottlarock

As others have said, the hardware capabilities of your G4 machine are simply not powerful enough to play Flash videos. I personally would recommend installing the ClickToFlash extension in Safari before selling. That way YouTube and some other videos will load in HTML5, which should work fine on your G4. All other Flash will not load until you click on it.

ClickToFlash, AdBlock, and GentleStatusBar are usually the three extensions I install before selling a machine, especially an older one. :)

Hope that helps!

Liam

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Answer 5

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

May 2, 2011 8:43 AM in response to a brody

I have no problems viewing videos on YouTube on my setup using Safari.

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Answer 6

May 2, 2011 11:21 AM in response to a brody

With my setup, never an issue viewing or uploading YouTube videos using FF, Camino & TenFour.

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Answer 7

May 2, 2011 11:27 AM in response to scottlarock

Download the latest flash player from Adobe. After installing, repair permissions & restart your computer.

Go to YouTube, open any video and press pause (don't do this while video is playing). Click the ctrl key or “right click” the mouse in the middle of the video window. The settings for flash player will pop up.

Select the video settings then select "enable hardware acceleration." Press close. Now RESTART YOUR COMPUTER not just Safari if that is your browser of choice.

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