Rebuffering Streams....A Real Pain

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Level 2

269 points

Rebuffering Streams....A Real Pain

When listening to some streams, even high bit-rate ones, the sound keeps cutting out and the stream rebuffers. This occurs every 10 or 15 seconds, making the the stream in question effectively unlistenable.
Why would this be happening.....what causes a stream to repeatedly rebuffer?
For what its worth, I've got a high speed internet connection.

17" Powerbook - 1.5GHz - 1.5GB RAM -, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Jan 18, 2007 9:07 AM

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Answer 1

varjak paw

Level 10

182,668 points

Jan 18, 2007 9:10 AM in response to AnonyMouse

Why would this be happening.....what causes a stream to repeatedly rebuffer?

It could be problems with the streaming server(s) hosting those streams. Apple doesn't run those, they're all independent, and some are more reliable than others. You can try increasing the streaming buffer size (iTunes preferences -> Advanced -> General tab) and see if that helps.

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Answer 2

macitect

Level 2

480 points

Jan 18, 2007 9:57 AM in response to AnonyMouse

Don't mean to insult your intelligence, but sometimes we overlook the simple stuff...

How many other apps are using your bandwidth? (If you are surfing the net and downloading from a p2p client or something you might be causing a bottle neck.)

Sometimes it is a question of your own ISP. What is your connection speed? You can go to sites like DSL reports to see what your actual speeds are.

If you are sure it is not your system/connection, then you can assume it is the server at the other end.

cheers

Quicksilver/ G4 15" Laptop/ iMac Duo, 24" Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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