can some good computer gurus take a look at a post from a starless DUer?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9011495

reply there if you have any suggestions

You are the nicest person in the world! How kind of you....
I just came here myself and am getting help from an awesome DUer : )

Sweet dreams...and good morning to you~
peace~

Firstly, thanks to Kali for posting for me, and to the kind DUer who gave me a star.

I did some searching on Google and managed to find a few posts about issues like mine. They resolved the problem by installing an older version of Flash - in their case, in the Flash 9 series.

I'd like to try this, but I can't find any installers older than the absolute current version of the Flash Player. I found an archive of older Flash versions on the Adobe site, but it's for developers and doesn't seem to include installers.

Does anyone know where I might get an installer for an older version of the Flash Player? It's worth a shot, particularly since I've noticed that one of my Flash games is also choppy. Thanks so much. :)

No luck on finding an installer. Which makes sense because the Flash site usually performs the install. Did read one post that indicates ver.9 is not secure, and there is no support for it.

You can try uninstalling and reinstalling ver.10. I always recommend using Revo uninstaller (Advanced option) for uninstalls. Make sure you're only running one version.

Also make sure your Direct X is updated. Is that a Vista original box or did you upgrade from another OS? You may also want to look around and adjust the Direct X settings (Start > Run > dxdiag). I've had to resolve sound problems in a game using that method.

Congrats on the new star.

Hi there,

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, while I did manage to find an installer for an older Flash version, it didn't solve the problem. I uninstalled it and went back to the latest version.

I updated Direct X, per your suggestion, but this doesn't seem to have helped. I'm not certain of what I'd adjust within dxdiag, or how (didn't see anywhere that I could adjust things). Re: your question, this box came with Vista when I originally purchased it.

This problem seems to have everyone scratching their heads. I'm lucky that I still have hair. :P

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html ">Flash uninstaller to remove all previous versions of Flash before installing the latest version?

Jay

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to have helped. Things do play when I go to YouTube, but it's more like a series of still images than a fluid video, even if I allow the whole thing to download before playing.

or do other sites do the same? ...MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, etc.,?

Jay

I just tested videos on MSNBC and CNN, and they also have the choppiness.

On the other hand, video from non-internet/Flash sources (such as what plays from a game CD) is perfect. I just tested one and it played through without so much as a twitch. The PC handles Oblivion without a problem, so it doesn't seem to be a matter of being underpowered, at least.

I'm wondering if Cool n' Quiet is enabled and Vista is not adjusting the speed of your processor correctly when watching the video types you're having trouble with. Look in your power settings and select the plan for high performance then check a video.

Jay


CONTENT EDIT

I had actually tried that beforehand, but it doesn't seem to be making a difference.

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/completion/dlm

What version of Flash Player does the page say you have installed? Does the test graphic stutter?

Jay

It says version 10,0,32,18. The test graphic there doesn't stutter, but that's about the only thing I've seen that doesn't! :)

Video in other locations does. YouTube, obviously. I also tend to watch videos at the Funimation website, but those are also choppy. Sometimes even the banner ad at the top of the page. Here's a link for reference, maybe they aren't using Flash: http://www4.funimation.com/video/?page=video&v=2799

if you go here and play the test video clips; do they stutter?

Jay

I assume you've seen this, but won't risk skipping on assumption >

Internet Explorer ActiveX settings

Browser security settings should be chosen by you or by your system administrator. For single users who do not have an administrator, the Medium: Default Level allows you to view Flash content. For any Custom Level, ensure that both the "Download Signed ActiveX controls" and "Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins" options are set to "Prompt".

To change your security level:
Open Internet Explorer.
Choose Tools > Internet Options.
Select the Security tab.
Select Custom Level.
Find the section "ActiveX controls and plug-ins".
Set ' Download Signed ActiveX Controls' to Prompt.
Set 'Run ActiveX Controls And Plug-ins' to Prompt.

****

3rd Party 'Flash Player' Cleaners

In some cases you may have run a non-Adobe 'fix' for Flash Player permission problems. In some cases these tools can actually cause further Flash Player problems. If you have run any type of registry cleaner or other fix tool Adobe suggests you run the /clean uninstaller discussed in "Safe versions security restrictions when installing Flash Player" (TechNote kb402435), then reinstall Flash Player.
Pop-up blockers

A common cause of Flash movies failing to display is the presence of pop-up/ad blocker software that specifically targets Flash content. To find out more about this issue, see "Flash movies do not appear after installing the Flash Player" (TechNote tn_19091).
Internet utilities blocking Flash Player

Some Internet utilities, such as Norton Internet Utilities, perform functions similar to a firewall and may restrict viewing of ActiveX controls, and in some cases specifically blocking Flash content. You need to ensure that your firewall or utility settings are set to allow ActiveX controls and Flash (SWF) content.
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19166.html

This (for which the poster got a lot of kudos) >
http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-66707-how-do-i-download-flash-player-10-on-vista
..which evidently comes from here >
Adobe Flash Player - Downloads

Adobe Flash Player 10 — Debugger Versions (aka debug players or content
debuggers) ... Download the Windows Flash Player 10 ActiveX control content
debugger ...
http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html
-41k

However, I appreciate the suggestion just the same! :)

What versions of IE and FF are you running? I guess Vista only runs IE8?

Have you tried disabling the hardware acceleration ON the video? R click > Setting > uncheck?
While you've got settings open, see how much space you are allowing for local storage.

I feel like I'm playing 20 questions. x(

Hi there,

Sorry, I know this is frustrating. :( It would be much easier if people could actually see what it's doing!

The only thing I haven't done from that list is the debugger. I'm not sure of which one to download, or what to do with them, to be honest. Bit of a computer dunce.

On the video settings, I had already disabled the Hardware Acceleration. It was allowing 100kb at the time, and using 2kb. I moved it up to Unlimited and that didn't change anything.

I'm using Firefox 3.5.2 (latest version) as my primary browser. Vista runs it fine. I also have IE8 and Google Chrome v2.0.172.43. I pretty much never use the latter two browsers, but they do have the same stuttering.

of debugger this link lists (Vista/Flash 10)
http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-66707-how-do-i-download-flash-player-10-on-vista

It is direct to the download, so you just need to save it to a folder and then execute it. The problem isn't the same as the thread. But it sure won't hurt to try.

I can imagine what it's doing. But, yes, I do find myself wishing I could get my hands on it! lol

Bless your heart. Confined to bed and no youtube! eeeeek

You don't sound like a computer dunce. Not to miss anything, I guess you've closed the browsers and cleared the cache (history/cookies/temp files) from the Control Panel.

I think charlie mentions this. Do you have the addblock firefox extension? His solutions are apt for Firefox, but don't know if they would carry over to the other two browsers.

You can always post at one of the Adobe forums?

and it gets worse with every new iteration. I'm one who thinks the problem is largely with Flash itself. It's prone to memory leaks. Its customizability compounds the problem of performance -- its feature set and GUI for videos can be manipulated by website developers and some are better at it than others. YouTube is good at Flash optimization (it's Google, they're great at that sort of thing), compared to the likes of Vimeo, Break, 5minute, etc.

Unfortunately, I can't help with fixing intrinsic Flash video problems, but there are 3 things that have made my Firefox experience immeasurably better.

First, if you're using extensions, find out if any of them conflict with video performance. You can do this a couple of ways. One is to use the Add-ons menu under Tools to disable all extensions, then restart Firefox. The other is to create a new profile: Close Firefox, then... Start --> Run --> Cmd --> Enter "firefox.exe -profilemanager" (without the quotes). Use the prompts to make another profile and start that. Either way, use Firefox sans extensions for a good while, visiting a lot of video sites, and see if there is improvement. If there is, re-enable (or reinstall) extensions one by one with video testing inbetween, beginning with the ones you think you need the most. If any of them affect performance, they're the ones to dump.

Second, you can increase the size of Firefox's video cache.

Type "about:config" in the URL bar. Click through the warning. Right-click anywhere on the page that comes up and from the submenu, click "New", then "Integer". Type "browser.cache.memory.capacity" (no quotes) in the dialog that pops up and click OK. Enter a number in KBs in the next dialog. 80000 is often suggested as sufficient. I use 100000. Close and restart Firefox. Again, surf for a while and see if it made a difference.

Third. With this one, you'll have to make a choice to lose something to gain something. It is, however, the modification that had the largest effect for me.

Firefox comes with a crash recovery feature. To do this, it polls all open webpages every 10 seconds. So if it crashes, the state of the pages it restores are as close as possible to the ones you had open. It's good, but it can also get CPU intensive. Have enough pages open or surf long enough for Firefox's memory usage to bloom, and it'll start to interfere with Flash video playback. If the stuttering you see happens with metronomic regularity, this is probably the big culprit.

You can set Firefox to poll less frequently. The trade-off is, of course, that if it crashes, the restored session can be much older than 10 seconds before it went blooey.

Type "about:config" in the URL bar. Click the warning. Type "browser.sessionstore.interval" in the filter box to find and isolate the line you need to change. The line will have a default value of 10000. Right-click the line and select Modify. Change it to something longer, in milliseconds. I use 300000, which is 5 minutes. Close Firefox and restart.

Bonus tip: Consider using a Flash blocker, such as NoScript or FlashBlock. Cutting the number of instances of Flash running concurrently goes a way toward taking a load off your CPU.

Hi guys,

I really appreciate all of the help you've offered. Thanks to user jayfish, who was able to direct connect to my PC, we managed to resolve the problem today.

It seems that Vista tried to update my audio drivers at some point, and did a poor job of it. This led to, among other things, the stuttering with Flash videos. It also caused a loss of sound when we tried to update the drivers again! I'm now running on the vanilla Vista drivers, and all's well. YouTube is playing beautifully and sounding great.

I'm sure jayfish will explain things in more technical terms if he cares to. Having said that, he went above and beyond for me with hours of work, and (given my situation) I'm really grateful. Awesome DUer!

your original post indicated you updated your VIDEO drivers, but it was the audio drivers!

Thanks for checking back in. :hi:

I did update my video drivers. Where along the line Vista did my audio drivers, I have no idea!

what I said?

Thought you had the impression that I'd mistakenly said video, but meant audio. :)

I can see how that happened.

I love it that Jay helped via remote desktop. Very cool.