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  1. #1

    Speeding Up Downloads?

    I run a video streaming site, and my videos don't seem to be streaming that quickly. They usually need to buffer a few times.

    Now I've checked my site against YouTube, and even YouTube's llnwd.net servers. I get the same ping response from all of them (60ms or so)

    The problem is, YouTube videos are downloaded in an instant! I don't get 1 buffer from them!

    DreamHost takes a few buffers, and I feel that it's turning off my users.

    My site is www.bestwrestlingvideos.com

    Can anyone figure out why it gets slow when it comes to buffering, and what I can do to speed it up?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
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    Newport Beach, CA
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    First let's understand that ping and speed are not related in what you're describing. Ping is the amount of time it takes a packet to get somewhere. Speed, in what you're referring too, is bandwidth. how MUCH data can be downloaded at one time.

    There are two things to consider first in my eyes. One is your connection/port. Do you have a 10Mbit NIC? if so that's going to be a definite choke point on a streaming site. with the super fast connections ISPs give now it could get used up with 7 or 8 people watching.

    So the NIC is important. that's what determines how much bandwidth you can feed to people at one time. If a lot of people get online and use up all the available bandwidth it will start buffering. What's really happening is the packets are being forced to wait in line to get sent because it's used up.

    100MB Nics obviously give you 10 times the bandwidth (ping will not change). Then you can get 1000GB nic AKA GigE. That is 10 times more than the 100mb NIC.

    That might give you something to look at initially.

    After that you'd consider things like routes.
    Last edited by fastnoc; 11-11-2006 at 12:14 AM.
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    85
    Actually the videos loaded suprisingly fast for me. Where are you located? I'm in California, which is near Dreamhosts servers, so that might make a difference. See if your traceroute to the site shows any hiccups/bottlenecks.

    On a side note...be careful with the copyrighted content. It looks like there's a lot of content that could be DMCA'd if the owners became aware of it.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
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    Same here. they load great for me
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  5. #5
    Thanks for both the responses.

    e-places
    Any idea of a host that will allow for faster download speeds? I'd love for the videos to buffer quicker for anyone at least in the United States.


    generic007
    I'm glad the video loaded quickly for you. I am aware of the content on my site, and while I appreciate your concern, I know what I can and can't have on my site. When I say "can't", I'm talking about who's going to do something and who isn't. I'm confident knowing that I won't get in any legal trouble, being that I've seen this content for years and years.

  6. #6
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    That's debatable on who has more. I men in theory I'd assume big places that cluster servers would have lots more direct availability for virtual customers but I don't know that from experience, just assuming. Then again they also might shape their bandwidth which would make it worse. You'd start out downloading fast but it would level off and get consistently slower till you restarted.

    What you could do is use some traffic stats. You'll be able to see your peaks and valleys. The peaks might tell you if you're saturating your bandwidth because they will show plateaus. But if you aren't saturating it you'll see the peaks are fine. If that's the case you're fine until you grow some.
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
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    Also, remember, your download hiccups could be because of your route. You may want to just play with my traceroute utility. no cost, and I don't log anything so no worries.

    http://www.e-dedicated.net/trace.html

    just put your server in. See if you see any bad lagging. if so that could be part of the problem.
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  8. #8
    Alright, I'm getting 14 hops, with 3 losses of packets of 10,10, and 20 percent. Bad?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    East Coast // NYC
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    1,698
    You have to stop looking at pings and tracerts -- what you need to do is start getting speed/bandwidth tests from servers. Any normal server should be giving you at least 400kb/sec which would be more than enough for your videos.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
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    Newport Beach, CA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Twan
    Alright, I'm getting 14 hops, with 3 losses of packets of 10,10, and 20 percent. Bad?
    Doesn't matter what the hops are. all that matters is you don't see any BIG delays. That's why i said the other questions would tell you first. I highly doubt the route is the issue. especially since I can download it at fine speeds without trouble.
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  11. #11
    Yea, there are some slight delays in the traceroute. I don't know what I'm doing! Ah!

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