GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 505463
Gstreamer streaming buffer too small for large videos
Last modified: 2009-02-08 17:05:28 UTC
Please describe the problem: Gstreamer should have more accurate heuristics on how much to buffer when streaming video. The current setup works extremely poorly for large videos. Steps to reproduce: 1. Go to http://www.apple.com/trailers/ 2. Pick a trailer available in HD. (For example, WALL-E). 3. Select the highest size available (1080p) 4. Watch video Actual results: Every 5-20 seconds, play stops to fill the buffer again. This is annoying and makes the video more-or-less unwatchable. Expected results: After buffering some initial amount, the video plays with little or no stops for further buffering. Does this happen every time? Yes. Other information: (I have the totem-mozilla plugin, as packaged by Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon. I assume that is needed to get the video to launch nicely.) Perhaps gstreamer should take into account the current average download speed (a moving average?) and how much data is needed for one second of playback, and use that to calculate the needed buffer size.
The behavior you observe is indicative of not having enough download bandwidth for the stream. HD video such as this trailer is encoded at up to 10 Mbit/sec, which is too much for all but the fastest home high-speed links. Are you certain you have that kind of download speed?
playbin2 with queue2 has what you describe but it's not yet hooked up. For these streams you practically have to buffer to a file (instead of memory) and then measure download speed to playback duration to figure out when you can start playback with little interruptions.
Closing this bug report as no further information has been provided. Please feel free to reopen this bug if you can provide the information asked for. Thanks!