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Buffering – Stop The Chop

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I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it.
OK, that line was stolen from some movie, and I’m not that up in arms. Nevertheless, I was sitting at home today, trying to enjoy a web-only episode (webisode) of Rock Star: Supernova over at MSN Video. Man, does that technology suck the big one (for the record, the show is not much better than the technology).
Every two minutes, I am getting a “buffering” message. That is so 2001. So is it MSN, is it my Windows Media Player, or is it my connection (not likely, I have ultra high-speed)? Where’s the bottleneck?
Point is that if we are looking to video as some kind of salvation or killer app to really tip The Tipping Point of online success, we have to get beyond buffering issues. I’m a fairly easy-going person, who is willing to sit through buffering nonsense… to an extent. There are days (like today) when technology simply frustrates me.
We all want online video to rock (hmmm, be the online Rock Star?). Let’s get the buffering issues resolved. Otherwise, it becomes very challenging for marketers to pitch online video when the experience is riddled with buffering chops and poor quality resolution.
This is nothing new, but the technology works and the pipe is big enough, so let’s get this streaming strolling along, shall we?

5 comments

  1. Mitch,
    once again you amaze me; how often do we read or hear of someone who’s faster than technology can afford?
    Really : sit back and relax, buffering should always come with a nice drink; it tells you to take a break and really think through you want to say or write or see or anything, not just fast consuming…
    take care,
    Monique

  2. Thanks for the comment Monique. I have no issue waiting for the initial video to buffer, it’s when it starts buffering every 40 seconds as the video is rolling that makes me all loco.
    Online video should work. It should load or buffer and then stream smoothly. If it doesn’t, it makes the experience frustrating and unfun.
    Who likes unfun?

  4. Mitch, it’s about a month after my 1st comment on buffering encouraging all to relax and take the time to sip a coffee while a file uploads. Now that my daily routine requires visualizing short media files, I come across the “chop” effect more often and must admit it’s more “unfun”. Congratulations on getting MSN on this. Thoughts make the world evolve. Have a good day.

  5. Hi
    I am so fat-up with the buffering -it is taking so long before things go on again. I hope that you can help me to get rid of the buffering all together, for my nerves are at breaking point.
    Thanks very much.
    Helen Fox.

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