Why cant I watch youtube HD videos.

[magpienja]

Hi guys, been trying to watch some HD videos on youtube and for some reason they are not watchable on my old and by todays std low spec PC,

If I try to watch one of these videos, ie in the 1080 setting my pc does not play them just a pixelated picture, if I try the same video at its lowest setting 360 and the smallest viewing screen it will play but in a jerky fashion,

I am running XP P3 900mhz, 384mb ram, Nvidia Riva TNT mod 64 Graphics card, Internet is from Virgin at 10mb.

I wonder what is my problem is I suspect I may need a more upto date PC,

How important is the Graphics card for viewing the likes of Youtube and footage from a camcorder I wonder.

Nick.

[tony draper]

You need good broadband and a good graphics card and a swift machine I can watch them fine on mine even streaming, bro next door has the same broadband as me but his CPU /graphics/memory ect are just not up to snuff for HD.
I would say a 64 meg of memory on your card is way below spec now,my nvidia card has one gig,
Likewise to watch HD on BBC iplayer
:)

[hellsbrink]

My god, magpienja, is that thing running on steam!!

Basically, you will have to update it. Not just the graphics card (which is very important as it is the part that says what appears on the screen in front of your eyes) but the whole 'puter, as methinks the CPU will struggle with a newer card.

As Herr Drapes says, a decent internet connection is also a must. But the biggest issue is the machine you are using.

[magpienja]

Hi guys I suppose I knew the answer already but did not want to admit to myself that my trusty PC, had it 8 years not a hint of a problem is past its sell by date, I just hate throwing things away,

Just checked my broadband speed with one of those online checkers and it giving a download speed of 5546kbps although its supposed to be a 10mbps service, and an upload of 470kbps, I wonder how much Bering that would have on it.

Nick.

[green granite]

giving a download speed of 5.546kbps

That would be very slow even for a dial up connection. Did you mean Mbs?

If so that should be fast enough to stream hd you tube.

I know how you feel about scraping you trusted m/c but there comes a time that if you wish to progress it has to happen.

[magpienja]

Sorry I put a decimal point were there should not be one, it should read 5546kbps, posting corrected.

Nick.

[tony draper]

Why throw it away? just buy a new motherboard cpu some memory and a new PSU, keep your case strip it out and bung inthe new kit,your existing keyboard and monitor will do fine,I tell you a monkey could build a puter,tiz a doddle.
Cheaper than buying one off the shelf.
:rolleyes:

[Saab Dastard]

Tony, true - unless it is a Compaq or Dell, which are usually impossible to upgrade as you suggest, due to proprietary components and fittings.

I am also loath to part with older kit, and I do tend to run kit of a similar spec. to the above well past its use-by date. But then I accept that a 600MHz cpu, 768MB RAM and AGP2 graphics card with 64MB RAM is fine for PPRuNe, email, WP, etc. but never going to run games and video, which is fine because I don't want to most of the time.

One of my old PCs is running happily as Win2K server, and another is ideal for one of the boys' bedrooms for homework - precisely because it won't run youtube and games. Only problem is they keep coming downstairs to use one of the faster PCs!

SD