no i meant the content. However with my quad core desktop system I'll get hulu.com stuttering although not that much with youtube(6 megabit connection here though with HD/HQ turned on). However your issue i bet is flash:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3678
I'll check it out. Thanks.
Adobe is beta testing a new version that might help with flash rendering problems..but again if your inet connection isn't fast enough all of this is moot.
I have a 8MB connection that's stable more often than not. I get a steady 1.0 or 1.1MB/s download on large files on my desktop computer. I don't download many large files at all on my notebook, but next time I do, I'll watch the download speed. If I remember correctly, I get the same download speed as on my desktop.
I also get consistent ping with little or no choke in game servers. I might be mistaken, but I think of online games as the most "sensitive" applications in the context of Internet and local network connections.
In terms of hte wireless do you know how fast the inet connection behind the AP is or how many folks are on it? Also your hdd is 5400rpm and for online media that's fast enough as it's streamed. I don't think you have a hardware issue i bet it's a combo of flash issues(lesser extent) and inet connection congestion(much greater extent).
My bet goes to your wifi connection rather than an HD problem.
I doubt it's congestion or a connection issue as videos buffer and load quickly, but the actual playback stutters.
In other words, when I load up a YouTube video, the bar quickly turns light red from left to right as it buffers, but stutters throughout--even when the entire bar is light red.
On Vista, I only had issues with in-browser video content, but now I've had a few cases of video playback stutter on video files in Windows 7 in the last week or so. So the problem may be more complicated (or caused by a different root issue) than I thought.
EDIT: I also wonder if it may be a codec issue. Any time I format and install a new OS, I grab the latest version of
CCCP (Combinbed Community Codec Pack) available and install it. (I watch a lot of fansubbed anime and the pack simplifies the process of snagging the codecs I need.) Maybe it's a codec issue?
The reason I suspected (and still suspect) my hard drive is because it seems like the hard drive is that large file operations (most recently, the Left 4 Dead 2 decryption) tend to bog down the system.
Is there any definitive way to measure hard drive performance and check it against comparable hardware? Maybe a specific diagnostic would provide some insight.
EDIT: And to clarify the Left 4 Dead 2 decryption issue: I was the last person in the group playing last night to get into the game. I started the decryption at the same time or even before others who were able to finish the decryption and launch the game several minutes before I did. It's possible that it's the difference between notebook (2.5") and desktop (3.5") hard drives, but I can't shake the suspicion that this machine's hardware--whether it be hard drive or otherwise--just isn't performing up to par.
