|
Changing the buffer settings in Windows Media Player allows you to get the best possible performance from the feeds!.
Choose Options from the Menu toolbar. Then click on the Properties tab, and set the number of seconds buffered to 30.
There is a free version of Real Player, you wont need to pay for the full version the free one will work just fine.
Setting the buffer in Real player:
As above this will allow you to get the best possible performance.
Choose Preferences from the Tools tab. Then go on the left to General -> Playback settings. On the bottom right side of the screen set the number of seconds to 30.
Winamp
This is an excellent piece of software that you can get even more free TV stations other than what is offered to you below. It is very useful and user friendly.
http://www.winamp.com/player/free.php
NEW!:
Coolstreaming - A network for live media streaming. The core operations are very simple: every node periodically exchanges data availability information with a set of partners, and retrieves unavailable data from one or more partners, or supplies available data to partners. 800,000 members and a number of great streams.
http://www.coolstreaming.org/
Performance Issues
All media players such as Real Player and Windows Media Player buffer segments of a live stream prior to actually showing them. This means clips are downloaded in segments and these segments will only play once they are fully buffered or downloaded. While the buffer plays the next segment automatically starts. With slower connections there will be pauses between each segment as the data is streamed. On other occasions performance can be reduced due to bandwidth overload with the server that is hosting the stream. The server that functions as the stream's source becomes overloaded with customers asking for segments (particularly for example with very popular football matches), and may not be able to satisfy this demand at a high enough rate. Your media players will have to stop showing the streams in order to finish buffering the missing segments, resulting in a broken stream. |