Virgin Media 100mb speed and YouTube problems ...

[willywayne]

I have replied to a previous thread but thought I'd create my own :)

Hi there,

Just joined the site and am looking for some help please

We were on the 10mb connection with Virgin Media for a few years, but as I upload a fair few videos to YouTube we were getting capped on the upload usage, also my videos were pixelated when uploaded to YouTube, I thought this may be due to slow upload speeds so upgraded to the 100mb connection along with the so called "Super Hub" ... well ever since then the highest speed we have managed is 45mb download using Speedtest.net ... and my videos I upload to YouTube are still pixelated

We have phoned Virgin 7 times now in the past week, twice they have took remote control of the laptop and tried changing settings and even one guy was loading random pages and saying "seems fast to me" then proceeded to do a speedtest only for it to be 10mb download on speedtest.net

I have uploaded the same video to Vimeo.com and there was no pixelation at all, I have used a proxy server and uploaded to YouTube and there was no pixelation at all again, obviously this is a Virgin problem, either with the line or the Super Hub, but I just don't know what to do about it

We're thinking of cancelling and going with BT, or Sky but in the hope someone might have a solution here I'm willing to hold out for a bit.

Thanks in advance

willy

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2012/02/62.png

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2012/02/63.png

[General Maximus]

you dont need to make duplicate posts. That being said, I am glad you posted your power levels because your upstream is itching on being too low. It hasnt got anything to do with your pixely videos though. All your videos are uploaded through tcp so if you had any connection issues and were dropping packets they would be resent to correct the problem. Buuuuuuuuuuut, i am pretty sure streaming is done via udp so if you lose any packets it is tough poo which is why videos might be pixely/jumpy as it misses bits out and skips to the next bit it has got,

[qasdfdsaq]

Youtube streaming (and just about all internet streaming these days) is done via TCP.

[General Maximus]

interesting, i didnt know that. I thought the bandwidth it would use for tcp would be phenominal

[qasdfdsaq]

It's only 2% higher than UDP.

[General Maximus]

oh, i feel like a right spaz now. What about all the headers and fields on the tcp packets and the acknowledgements going back and forth. I had more around 20% in my head for that.

[qasdfdsaq]

UDP packets have headers too, so not much difference there. But there'd be so much loss and retransmissions on higher levels that you'd negate any benefit within seconds. TCP ACK's only use 2% more bandwidth, and with selective ACKs and ACK suppression a lot less than that.

[General Maximus]

good to know

[willywayne]

Thanks for the replies ...

With regard to uploading to YouTube, I have a friend who I sent the same video file to and he uploaded it on his channel and it came out fine, no pixelation whatsoever, also I have uploaded the same video to the site Vimeo, and used a proxy I got online to upload to YouTube and both times the video turned out fine, no jerkyness, no pixelation, no nothing, HD quality video, so ...

any suggestions?

[qasdfdsaq]

Your account/channel settings.

[willywayne]

Thanks qasdfdsaq

Unfortunately there are no channel settings to tweak in YouTube. I just sent the same file to my friend in the US and he uploaded it to my channel using the normal http uploader and there was no pixelation.

Here is the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbqT002-T4c


Also this file is from a direct capture device, it has not been tampered with or transcoded in any form. Here is the output from mediaInfo



General
Complete name : C:\Videos\MS1 opening sequence.MP4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 1
Codec ID : mp41
File size : 102 MiB
Duration : 1mn 30s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 9 399 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2012-02-03 18:19:29
Tagged date : UTC 2012-02-03 18:19:29

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=31
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1mn 30s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 9 223 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 16.8 Mbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.334
Stream size : 99.7 MiB (98%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2012-02-03 18:19:29
Tagged date : UTC 2012-02-03 18:19:29

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 1mn 30s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 2.05 MiB (2%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2012-02-03 18:19:29
Tagged date : UTC 2012-02-03 18:19:29



Also conducted these additional tests to rule out "user error" as much as possible.

1) Connected the PC directly to Superhub in Modem only mode

Same result

2) Used https uploader

Flaky/unreliable results. Maybe worked 1/10 times for a very small file but would not work for anything over 50mb or so.

3) Used proxy along with Free Youtube uploader app

Terribly slow due to free proxy but somewhat worked. Not satisfactory. Moreover this same file will take > 30 mins to upload.

4) Used another PC in the home network

Same pixelation

5) UseNet test

Downloads at a paltry 3.75 MB/s eventhough I have 100mbit connection as indicated in the title and can be seen from the modem config.

6) Tried alternate video sites

Works but do not want to use those.


So not only is my YT video upload not working, but speeds are nowhere near what I am paying for. Still open for suggestions. Thanks in advance.

[Andrewcrawford23]

get your upstream power level reported it is pretty low borderline faulty abd with yoru problem it oculd easily be that

although saying that the fact it works with outher video sites suggest a problem with youtube and your connection but i say get the upstream power levle sorted ie for it to be higher

[craigj2k12]

youtube uploader could be getting caught up in the protocol management?

[qasdfdsaq]

Protocol management has zero effect on the data being sent.

[AdamD]

Video looks fine to me, in 720p

But by default, it plays it at 360p for me, I always have to manually click 720 or 1080

[General Maximus]

that is the default. Youtube arent going to make HD a default resolution for videos which will suck up twice as much bandwidth for them and which some people won't even be able to stream fast enough. 360 is the better option for everyone all round and then you can choose if you want hi-res. That way the extra juice is only being used when neccessary.

[crazyronnie]

Video looks fine to me, in 720p

But by default, it plays it at 360p for me, I always have to manually click 720 or 1080

If you have a youtube account you can set it to play HD when available. But this will only happen when you put the video in full screen mode.

[Synthetic]

If you're using chrome you can use auto HD to play everything in HD automatically

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/koiaokdomkpjdgniimnkhgbilbjgpeak

[craigj2k12]

Protocol management has zero effect on the data being sent.

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Announcements/Upstream-P2P-Traffic-Management-Peak-Time-Trial-2nd-March/td-p/371275

[qasdfdsaq]

Protocol management has zero effect on the data being sent.
http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Announcements/Upstream-P2P-Traffic-Management-Peak-Time-Trial-2nd-March/td-p/371275
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/35381363-post14.html

[craigj2k12]

care to explain?

[General Maximus]

easily, we are talking about traffic shaping based on protocol and not traffic management with regards to volume of traffic and hitting the stm threshold. VM have clearly stated that you can use youtube, play games and watch BBC iplayer without the traffic being shaped and their policies only affect p2p traffic such as torents and usenet.

So basically qas is saying VM don't manage youtube traffic.

[craigj2k12]

yeah like the same way they said they dont traffic manage playstation and xbox games, they also denied they were traffic managing youtube downloads when infact they were and admitted it on the VM forum a week or 2 later

as seph has explained nicely here (http://bit.ly/zRno5I), the upstream is harder to manage

It's not possible for the Allot appliance to police the upstream with the same precision as downstream because there's no way of having visibility of the amount of capacity being used

[qasdfdsaq]

So basically qas is saying VM don't manage youtube traffic.
No, I'm saying protocol shaping has no effect on the data you sent. Management does not change your data.

[craigj2k12]

No, I'm saying protocol shaping has no effect on the data you sent. Management does not change your data.

no but if its getting caught up in the throttling youtube will lower the quality to match upload speed

[qasdfdsaq]

Impossible if you're doing a standard upload.