Can you please help resolve daily VideoPress buffering issues?
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Hello, I am writing because I am seeing recurring (daily) issues with performance on VideoPress. I am seeing the same behavior on my WordPress hosted site (dreamoutloud.ws) and my self hosted site (pk-images.com).
The behavior that I am seeing is that during the majority of the day, the service works fine (excellent, in fact). But between the hours of 18:00 – 21:00 Pacific Standard Time, VideoPress videos play for about the first 10 – 20 seconds and then begin buffering, displaying the dot-circle icon in the middle of the screen, and never really recover. It displays the same behavior across all my browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Safari) and while VideoPress videos do not play, other video hosting services do not display the same behavior.
I have noticed this problem for months, but hoped that it was just something to do with traffic for my ISP or connection or whatever. But last week, a client from the other side of Los Angeles notified me of the same behavior during the same time frame. This is not good. Please advise what steps we can take to resolve this. Thanks. -PK -
It seems your videos are of a higher 720p quality, which means it generally takes more bandwidth to load these. Depending on your Internet connection it might take some buffering before you can watch the video without interruptions.
It sounds like the Internet connection is the real bottleneck here, and it’s possible that your client encountered the same issue.
I’d suggest you give it a try from a different geographical location/Internet connection to see if you encounter a similar issue. Let me know how that goes.
Otherwise try to disable the ‘Default quality setting’ setting at
https://pkthesublime.wordpress.com/wp-admin/options-media.phpSorry for the inconvenience.
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Hi Kardotim,
Thanks for the reply, but I have to wonder if you read my whole post. The videos load perfectly (and I am testing the same 720p videos) most of the time, it is this one part of the day they do not load.
I have the same videos loaded on different services, which, at the time of day that your service is not working, work properly. It does not appear that the connection, or bandwidth, is the problem. This is specific to my VideoPress videos.
There must be some type of diagnostic for your service or something more we can do than try to pass it off to internet traffic or downgrade the quality of my video which I am not willing to do.
What next?
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It’s possible that a certain time of the day is a peak in the connection. This could be the ISP, or any server points in the US. We’ve registered your report and we’ll look into it. Currently there’s nothing that stands out on this end at the moment.
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No not really. Are you still encountering the same issue, around the same time a day? How about your visitors? Do you get any complaints (other than the client you mentioned before)?
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I just tried and the same problem is occurring, same time frame. This behavior displays remarkable consistency. Can we move this along? Is there a way I can help, perhaps a trap on my browser or something?
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Do you also encounter this issue from a different computer using the same Internet connection?
You could also try to reset your browser profile: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/reset-firefox-easily-fix-most-problems
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Yes, my laptop displays the same behavior. I’ll try my phone later today. Thanks for the browser reset; unfortunately, this behavior is present on every browser I’ve tried (Firefox, Chrome, Safari).
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Okay, I just tried the same video on 3 different browsers: Same behavior (9:25 PM Pacific). So I tried on my AT&T iPhone: Same behavior. It gets about 10-15 seconds in and buffers.
What next? Have you guys tried viewing my videos at the time that I am having this problem?
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I took a look and everything is working properly from our end. I even tried testing from a slow 3G connection and it worked great. The issue is high likely related to your ISP. You could try to contact your ISP and see if they can detect any outstanding issues in your modem/router/connection.
Otherwise feel free to use one of the video services mentioned at http://en.support.wordpress.com/videos instead.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
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Hey,
Thanks for the reply, but you did not answer my question. I am seeing the problem at a specific time of day: 6:00 – 10:00 PM Pacific time. Did you test during this period?
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Kardotim, I opened this ticket on 21 May. Since that day (and the months before I opened the ticket), there are four hours of every day that my VideoPress videos are not streaming properly. There are twenty four hours in a day. That means that the service that I am paying for is not working properly almost twenty percent of the time. This is not good.
With all due respect, you have been trying to punt this to the ISP since your first reply. I have no problem going to my ISP with this, but as a tech support person you should know that when I go to them I am going to have to demonstrate to them why it is their problem and not yours. Specifically, they are going to ask me the questions that I have been asking you:
-Why is it only a specific time of day that your service does not stream properly?
-If it is high traffic or latency on the ISP side why do the same videos stream properly on different services (Vimeo, YouTube) at the same time that your service does not stream properly?
-Why do I see the same problem at the same time of day on my iPhone, which runs on AT&T’s network?
The consistency of the problem is what is worrisome. Traffic levels and latency on the ISP side do not generally display this consistency. If every now and then the videos do not stream, that is behavior that I expect, that is normal. This is not.
I have been very patient, but now we need to escalate this problem to a more senior engineer or VideoPress specialist who has more experience and can help diagnose this. I am completely willing to help troubleshoot by providing any client side info or running any diagnostics that you may have.
Advising me to use a different video service is not a solution. Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t believe that your management thinks that advising a paying customer to leave for a competitor is a good business plan. Besides, I have already paid for VideoPress.
Please escalate this urgently and have the next level of support contact me as soon as possible.
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-Why is it only a specific time of day that your service does not stream properly? – Why do I see the same problem at the same time of day on my iPhone, which runs on AT&T’s network?
I honestly don’t know. We’ve tested from different locations at the times you specified. Even from a 3G connection I was able to view multiple videos at a time without any issues. It’s possible that streaming from your iPhone is a bit slower and it has no relation with the issue you’re experiencing on the computer.
If it is high traffic or latency on the ISP side why do the same videos stream properly on different services (Vimeo, YouTube) at the same time that your service does not stream properly?
It’s hard to compare with them, really. They use different datacenters and the connection is moving through a different route.
If you are running any protection software (virus/malware scanner), try turning that off and see if it speeds up the connection. Otherwise use your laptop on a different geographical location and test if that makes any difference. I really hope it helps.
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Other than one Sunday night where I did not see the problem, this problem has persisted everywhere that I have tested it.
I am going to leave your service and not renew my Premium package. But I want WordPress to know that the reason I no longer want to use VideoPress is not really because of this technical problem, or Kardotim’s support of it. I no longer want to give money to an organization that is incapable of providing (and completely indifferent to the concept of) a professional level of support. It is not just this incident, it’s almost every interaction I have had with WP or VideoPress support. You can close this ticket if you like.
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