Streaming Problems

• Which model iBook? What speed is the processor? How much RAM?

• Which Mac OS are you running? Have you run all the available updates?

• What's your internet connection? Dialup? DSL? Cable? Who's your service provider?

• Which internet browser are you using? Is there a newer version you haven't installed yet? Have you tried a different browser?

• What type of media won't stream? QuickTime? Windows Media? YouTube?

• Does the problem only occur when viewing inside a browser, or when using a stand-alone application?

RAM and CPU speed are likely to be the biggest issues for streaming on an iBook, provided that it's got a decent net connection. This issue has come up here somewhat recently: http://www.applefritter.com/node/21973

it's a powerPC G3 processor, 600 MHz speed, 640 MB ram, 60 GB hard drive, Mac OS 10.4.11 Tiger.

my internet connection is the airport card that came with the ibook. i use firefox, supposedly it works best with streaming media, but makes no difference with the ibook.

NOTHING will stream well, no matter HOW i'm trying to view it. quicktime, windows, youtube, nothing. i've downloaded (or tried to download) several other viewers from the internet; divx, upgrades of quicktime, veoh. veoh says it won't download because i don't have at least quicktime 7, even after i upgraded to 7.4.

i just read the posts from the link from jon about crappy streaming with ibook. looks like its a RAM problem. i could upgrade to leopard, but wouldn't that mean an intel processor and less resistance to viruses? that's why i wanted a mac in the first place.

forgive my ignorance. i'm new to mac.

You wouldn't be getting an Intel processor unless you bought a new machine. Which I guess you'd have to do since an iBook won't run Leopard. ;^)

That old hokum about "Intel processors having less resistance to viruses" that Mac people used to spout was nothing but that, hokum. It's operating systems that get viruses, not CPUs. Viruses are a *Windows* problem, not an Intel problem. There's a nice simple rule to keep in mind when reading Macintosh literature: Everything you read about Intel CPUs written prior to 2006 is basically complete and total rubbish. (No, a 500Mhz G4 is *not* faster then a 3.6Ghz Pentium 4...) ;^b

As to lousy streaming on an iBook, well, you have all the RAM you can have, and more RAM isn't going to help. Your machine is just plain slow. You don't say *which* 600Mhz iBook you have (there are two different models at that speed), but you probably have the one with a RAGE 128 video chipset. (It's more common.) The current version of the Flash player specifically doesn't support hardware scaling with that chip, while most YouTube-ish sites insist on playing videos at a non-native size. (IE, scaling.) You're really going to have to trade up to something faster to be happy.

--Peace

Leopard is not going on your iBook, it needs an 867MHz or faster G4. You basically have the same iBook setup that I do, but with a larger drive. Have you tried using the minimize button that is on most YouTube videos? YouTube scales videos up to a larger size by default, and that eats up your CPU power to do it. Also, the iBook supports CPU speed scaling so check in System Preferences/Energy Saver/Options and check if Processor Performance is set to either Automatic or Highest. On my iBook I have it set for Highest when using the Power Adapter, and Automatic when on Battery. Of course, to get the longest battery life set it for Reduced on Battery power.

I just opened FF 2.0 on my iBook (on A/C power) and it has 6 open tabs (iGoogle, AF, Craigslist, YouTube, two more). I found the goofy video for Soulja Boy Remix: Folger's Boy and played it. It plays ok enough to watch at the defualt YouTube size, but by making it a tad smaller by clicking the shrink button it gets much smoother. It even plays at full screen, though laggy. Your hardware should handle streaming YouTube just fine.

Do note that if you are always shutting down your iBook and booting it up it will always be slower when running apps for the first time from a boot/reboot. I always leave my iBook booted up and just log out to the Login Window and close the screen to put it to sleep. I only shut it down when software upgrades need to do so.

EDIT: Watching WMV videos will be painful on a G3. It's not too fun on my 1.5GHz G4, but it works. Any G3 will spend a lot of CPU power decoding WMV videos and audio. Also, Eudi makes a good point of your video chip. My iBook is a 16VRAM model, which has an ATI Mobility Radeon chip. You can find out about yours in About This Mac... / More info... / Graphics/Displays. It will either have 8 or 16 MB VRAM. 16 MB will be an ATI Mobility Radeon chip. (Mine says the Chipset Model is ATY,RageM6)

thanks so much everyone! you're too kind and it all makes sense now. i will check my processor settings and leave the machine asleep when not in use for optimum performance.

i did notice that streams ran a bit better on smaller screens. kind of a bummer, but at least i have an understanding of what i can reasonably expect. maybe i'll just bite the bullet and sign up for netflix! :oD