Choppy on-line video using T43: any solutions?!

[LisaKali]

My Thinkpad T43 is choppy when viewing on-line video/movies: the CPU and battery are set to Maximum, I am running a fast internet line, and have max amount of memory this laptop can hold (2 gig).

Movies are choppy, so maybe not enough buffering going in...? Is there anyway to modify specs/etc so I can watch online?

Thanks!!

[dr_st]

Is it only for online streaming? Only for flash?

Sites like Youtube clearly indicate to you the progress of the buffering. It should be sufficiently in front of your position in the video, otherwise the video will stop playing until more buffering takes place.

[LisaKali]

When I stream film, for example, Netflix Anime is fine, but HBOGO film is choppy....

[LisaKali]

... is there any way I can increase buffering speed? Or is 2 gig just too little...?

[Colonel O'Neill]

Best thing you can do is probably to update your Flash Player to the latest 11 beta.

Which browser do you view it through?

[LisaKali]

I use Chrome... So, if I use the flashplayer you indicate, should the system allow me to watch streaming movies OK? ... and thank you so much for the help!!!)

[LisaKali]

I just installed Flash beta 11 and ran on IE... same problem.

Do you know of anyone who has been able to watch streaming movies successfully on a T43...? Maybe the machine is just too weak?

[ajkula66]

What's the 7-character model number of your T43? There's a sticker on the bottom and it should say something like 187x-xxx or 26xx-xxx...

What OS are you running - XP or W7?

[LisaKali]

Type 2686...

[LisaKali]

...M7U!!

[LisaKali]

(P.S. THANK YOU AGAIN!)

PPSS My bro was here last weekend and his MacPower Boo ran HBO fine (... Game of Thrones)

[bugmn]

First of all make sure you're not trying to run 1080p, the CPU in these machines probably can't handle that.

Secondly RAM has very little to do with online streaming. Won't get farther into that but lets just say that 2GB is plenty and has nothing to do with the issue.

[LisaKali]

How would I determine the "P" count that HBO uses?

[LisaKali]

*sigh*... I think I have to buy a new computer... Is this a CPU issue? Will 2.5 ghz do it? More than that?

[BillMorrow]

it would seem to me that IF netflix plays ok and IF HBOgo does not THEN the fault lies with HBOgo more than with your T43..

caveat: i don't watch much more than youtube and my oldest thinkpad is T60 series..

and if you do plan to get a new thinkpad i would look at the used T60 or T61 widescreen series as some really good value for the $$..

[ajkula66]

I have the exact same T43 and while far from providing an astounding cinematic experience, the video is not choppy...

BTW, the fastest CPU these machines will take is Intel SL7VB aka PM 780 which is 2.26Ghz

Is this the driver that you're using (presuming that OS is XP):

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloa ... MIGR-61503

[Neil]

Here are the required tech specs for http://www.hbogo.com/#home/

HBO GO requires the following minimum system requirements: 1) An Adobe Flash Player with version 10.0 or higher. 2) An Internet connection of 3.0Mbps or greater (for HD content). 3) For Windows: An Intel Pentium 4 3GHz processor (or equivalent) with 512MB RAM/128MB of VRAM. 4) For a Mac: An Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz or faster processor, 512MB of RAM/128MB of VRAM. To check if you have the most recent version of Adobe Flash Player, go to http://www.adobe.com.

Hope that helps!

[LisaKali]

Indeed it doe help, shame on me for not looking there to begin with.

Thanks a million!

[ajkula66]

Given those specs, T43 is about borderline...its PM 2.0 is definitely as fast as P4 3.0 and although its physical VRAM is 64MB, with "borrowed" RAM it's 128MB in Windows...

[Thinkpad Lover]

Hello..

One more thing you can check is the mini-pci wifi card in your T43. Sometimes those cards,especially as they get older, will drop connections more often (going online/offline or being sluggish without you noticing- unless you click the wifi icon or have some program to track your wifi speed). I don't think sites such as Youtube allow adequate time for buffering to compensate for a slowed connection. The reason- Youtube caters to hyper teenagers watching skateboarding or wacky music videos LOL who jump from video to video, leaving one half way as soon as they get bored. So (this is just a theory...) I think that Youtube is designed to load videos very quickly and may not allow adequate buffering time, especially for watching a long video straight through. I have played Youtube videos at 480p and even 780p,but just short videos, in testing an SXGA+ T43 with similar specs to yours. I noticed the videos ran pretty smoothly wirelessly using an Intel 2200BG card (is that the card you're using? ) but did get stuck a few times, especially at 720p resolution. When I plugged in to Ethernet,the videos ran very smoothly. When you say "choppy" videos is that what you're referring to? Not buffering sufficiently/getting stuck often?

I think you can consider your wifi card a possible suspect. If you have a 2200BG card in there it's a pretty decent card, but may begin to drop connections more often as it ages. So replacing your card with another 2200BG may solve your problem. Just make sure it holds a good, strong connection. One note of caution/wisdom: When looking to purchase a used wifi card from a site such as Ebay, you may find one at a great price which is listed as fully tested and working. The problem with that description of a wifi card is that it is a subjective experience and the wifi card,when you install it, will probably connect and get you online, so the seller's item is technically "as described." However, it's only when you begin testing a wifi card more intensely by downloading a huge file, doing Windows updates for hours, or streaming videos from the Internet as you are attempting that you'll know if you've got a winner or not. I've found some 2200BG cards that work well in that respect and some that will get me online, but I sure wouldn't do major downloading or video streaming on a prolonged basis with it because of sluggish connectivity. I have a T61 widescreen which I sometimes watch/stream videos on. As Mr. Bill Morrow mentions above, a T6o or T61 would be a good candidate if you are considering upgrading. The price on those has gone down tremendously and you should have no trouble streaming videos to your heart's content on those

Hope this helps,
Daniel,
the little YP in NYC,
"We had pizza in the Lion's den."

[Thinkpad Lover]

One additional option, assuming your desire is to stream videos wirelessly, and not having to remain tethered by an Ethernet cable, is an external wifi card. The reason? No matter how good an internal wifi card you have on those machines, the wifi connection will still be limited by the design of the T43 wireless antennas and the way they were originally connected and shielded inside the LCD housing. I have a trusty "Buffalo Air Station" Wireless G external wifi card that gives me an excellent wifi connection when I am setting up a T43. Once I download the driver for the internal wifi card and start using/testing it, (I sell laptops), I notice that the connection using the external wireless card is always stronger than the Internal card in a T43. As a matter of fact this particular external wifi card is even slightly better than the internal 3945ABG Intel card on a T60 I have. The Buffalo card uses a Broadcom chipset which seems to work well. You can find a good, brand new external wireless card for $10-$25. Once again, you have to shop very wisely and make sure it has good reviews for holding a strong/stable connection.

So you can consider an external PCMCIA wireless card or USB wireless adapter, and the bigger it is, and more it sticks out, the better a signal you will (actually, usually) get. Some of the USB wifi adapters also have an antennae or a "base station." One that has served me well is a Rosewill RNX-N180UBE, (purchased on sale for $19.99 from Newegg.com), which is wireless-N compliant. So if you have a Wireless-N capable router, that would give you a very fast connection.

Hey, I just checked: Newegg has that Rosewill wireless-N adapter on sale again for $19.99 shipped. Get it while it's hot: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833166056

Daniel.

[LisaKali]

Hey, Daniel,

Thanks for all the great suggestions: I am, however, running on 100 mbps ethernet cable, so wifi not likely the problem. My speed is fine, despite the HBOGO specs, as the Mac PowerBook ran flawlessly on my cable last week, so...

Frankly I would get the Mac if I could, but my clients all run Windows and I don't want to deal with the hassle of running Windows on the Mac, so...

I will take a look at the 60 (altho I do want a screen at least as big as the T43).

Thanks again!

[LisaKali]

... OK, looking at Lenovo B560 Notebook DC P6100 and ThinkPad T61p Notebook.. The B560 is 1366x768: is this high enough resolution?

Lisa

[lukee]

I can play 720p videos from YouTube without chopping and with a very good movie experience on this configuration:

- Pentium M 770 (2.13GHz)
- 2GB of RAM (running in dual channel)
- ATI FireGL V3200 (using Windows Vista driver)
- OS is Windows 7 Professional / Aero turned on

[mnowell69]

I had the same problem with my t43 1.8 ghz, but this was because i had the original graphics drivers. Can we assume you have the updated graphics drivers on your t43? Or maybe try re-installing them?

[RealBlackStuff]

I am running on 100 mbps ethernet cable, so wifi not likely the problem. My speed is fine, despite the HBOGO specs, as the Mac PowerBook ran flawlessly on my cable last week, so...

Please note that this 100 Mbps is the possible, maximum speed your router provides, NOT the speed of your internet!
This 100 Mbps is what your laptop's internet connection reports.
Your T43 even has a 1'000 Mbps (1 Gigabit) ethernet port! Which is the possible, maximum speed your laptop can receive info at, again, NOT the speed of your internet!
However, the speed from your ISP is quite different! Probably 1, 3 or 5 Mbps, check it out!

[LisaKali]

Per the graphics drivers, I have no idea, I will check this!

[LisaKali]

Driver not the answer...

I'm going to get a T61p, but don't know if processor speed (i.e. 2.2ghz versus 2.6 ghz) or core duo versus core duo 2 is more important for performance and speed. Any opinions?

[ajkula66]

Due yourself a HUGE favour and skip the T61p.

The failure rate of nVidia GPUs that these machines came with is *very* high. There are hundreds of pages - and thousands of posts - addressing this issue all over the web.

Get a T400 with switchable graphics or a T500 and call it a day. Any of these won't set you back much more than a T61p would.

[LisaKali]

Wow, thanks! I was about to buy one!!