Streaming Video

When watching streaming video (sports mostly) the picture is very fuzzy
when in full screen, A lot better when viewing in a smaller window.

Things I have tried:
- 2Gg video card
- Video accelerator programs

Dell Optioplex 990 MT, I7 3.4, 16Gg ram, 750Gg HDD, Dell 2909FWP widescreen
monitor.

Artreid wrote:
> When watching streaming video (sports mostly) the picture is very fuzzy
> when in full screen, A lot better when viewing in a smaller window.
>
> Things I have tried:
> - 2Gg video card
> - Video accelerator programs
>
> Dell Optioplex 990 MT, I7 3.4, 16Gg ram, 750Gg HDD, Dell 2909FWP
> widescreen monitor.
>

Whats the resolution of the video? Flash 320?
Can't make it better if it is not there to begin with.

Artreid wrote:

> When watching streaming video (sports mostly) the picture is very fuzzy
> when in full screen, A lot better when viewing in a smaller window.
>
> Things I have tried:
> - 2Gg video card
> - Video accelerator programs
>
> Dell Optioplex 990 MT, I7 3.4, 16Gg ram, 750Gg HDD, Dell 2909FWP widescreen
> monitor.

Depends on the resolution for the video which you did not mention. What
is the URL to the web page with the streamed video (so others can see
what you are asking about)? Does it offer multiple resolutions? If so,
did you try the highest resolution, and what is that?

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/...pn3/id/480440/

Above is one website.

On Thu, 7 Jun 2012 20:54:15 -0400, Artreid wrote:

> http://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/...pn3/id/480440/
>
> Above is one website.

Try picking one that doesn't require signing in or a specific ISP.

Artreid wrote:
> When watching streaming video (sports mostly) the picture is very fuzzy
> when in full screen, A lot better when viewing in a smaller window.
>
> Things I have tried:
> - 2Gg video card
> - Video accelerator programs
>
> Dell Optioplex 990 MT, I7 3.4, 16Gg ram, 750Gg HDD, Dell 2909FWP
> widescreen monitor.
>
>

"Why am I experiencing blurring of video and/or a loss in sound?

At times, viewers may witness a temporary loss in sound or blurring
of video on espnnetworks.com. The blurring/muting is required to
honor the digital rights ESPN has been granted for the content
which - in rare cases - differs from those rights granted for
traditional television usage. If this problem persists, please
contact ESPN Customer Care at 888-549-ESPN."

"What are the system requirements to run WatchESPN on the desktop?

Recommended Connection Speed: 2 Mbps or greater"

That speed suggests a pretty heavily compressed image. So it's either
a constant degradation due to the compression being used, or it's
that digital rights crap they refer to (temporary blurring).

Paul

On Fri, 08 Jun 2012 02:05:50 -0400, Paul wrote:

> Artreid wrote:
>> When watching streaming video (sports mostly) the picture is very fuzzy
>> when in full screen, A lot better when viewing in a smaller window.
>>
>> Things I have tried:
>> - 2Gg video card
>> - Video accelerator programs
>>
>> Dell Optioplex 990 MT, I7 3.4, 16Gg ram, 750Gg HDD, Dell 2909FWP
>> widescreen monitor.
>>
>>
>
> "Why am I experiencing blurring of video and/or a loss in sound?
>
> At times, viewers may witness a temporary loss in sound or blurring
> of video on espnnetworks.com. The blurring/muting is required to
> honor the digital rights ESPN has been granted for the content
> which - in rare cases - differs from those rights granted for
> traditional television usage. If this problem persists, please
> contact ESPN Customer Care at 888-549-ESPN."
>
> "What are the system requirements to run WatchESPN on the desktop?
>
> Recommended Connection Speed: 2 Mbps or greater"
>
> That speed suggests a pretty heavily compressed image. So it's either
> a constant degradation due to the compression being used, or it's
> that digital rights crap they refer to (temporary blurring).
>
> Paul

Copyright cops at work.
They don't have a truly legal right to air the video, so they think they
can circumvent the infringement laws by blurring it.
However, "Fair Use" states that the item can be used for "news" and other
items without infringing. While many claim that you can only use short
clips to evade the infringing, there really is nothing in the "Fair Use"
law that says how much is infringing.

All thanks to WMG getting pissed at losing a case against megaupload.
WMG=Warner Music Group.

Artreid wrote:

> http://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/...pn3/id/480440/
>
> Above is one website.

That Flash content adjusts the resolution automatically based on the
available bandwidth. That's not just your bandwidth with your ISP
(which will fluctuate depending on how much your family and neighbors
flood that segment of your ISP's network) but also depends on the
throughput of each node in the route between your host and theirs. The
Flash Player apparently can change the resolution to match the bandwidth
its sees for the delivered content. Hover your mouse cursor over the
video quality slider and notice what the popup message tells you.

When I played that video, the "Video Quality" slider is not something I
can alter. There is no resolution option to pick lower or higher
quality display. It's automatic. That means if you were on dial-up or
slow broadband or your broadband connection or route to their server was
conjested that Flash Player will reduce resolution. There are multiple
streams for that "video". Some play at 1-bar quality, some played at
3-bar quality, and the game played at 2-bar quality although sometimes
it went to 3-bar quality.

That is to ensure the video continues to play without interruptions
(jerkiness, pauses, long halts, hangs). By automatically adjusting the
resolution based on available bandwidth, they eliminate the problems
noted at:

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/...sh-player.html

Other streaming media players do the same thing so Adobe is just
catching up witn "convenience" features available in other players. For
example, read:

http://flowplayer.org/plugins/streaming/bwcheck.html

You can use the 4-arrow toolbar button to zoom the video to fullscreen
but that won't affect the resolution. I was at the 2-bar video quality
setting (they won't tell me what is the resolution) and it stayed there
when I zoomed the video to fullscreen.

The higher your current *effective* bandwidth the higher the video
quality that the player will detect and tell the server to deliver.