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Podcast viewing problems


Nick Laurence

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Does anyone else have problems with viewing podcasts from Accordance? For me they always get stuck regardless of what internet connection I have - I travel a lot in different countries and sometimes have very fast connections indeed, but still get the problems. Either everything comes to a halt (it always does this approx. 1-3 seconds into the podcast, and then at repeated intervals throughout) or the video freezes but the sound continues or, more rarely, the sound freezes and the video continues. Each time it's difficult to rectify.

 

It really puts me off watching them, which probably partly explains why I understand Accordance so badly that I'm always asking questions here!

 

Anyone else get this? Any suggestions?

 

Thanks

 

Nick

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I have not had this problem. Have you tried downloading them to your computer then viewing them?

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Interesting. I've not encountered this problem. Have you tried watching the podcasts via Accordance's YouTube channel? Or even through iTunes?

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I, also, have never had this problem. We have a fast connection at home, but I still download the podcasts (I subscribe to them through iTunes). There are many I have watched multiple times. If they're downloaded to your HD, you should not have any problems viewing them.

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  • 1 year later...

I've had Accordance for 5 days and subscribed to the videos from the iTunes store. I started watching the first ones and had no problems at all. However, since I downloaded all the episodes from iTunes, I began to explore the most recent ones. I found that I had the same problems as nicklaurence described. So, I sampled several of them. The ones that were posted as around episode 75 seemed to have a number of issues, though they weren't unwatchable. The ones that were posted as around episodes 90-104 are really unwatchable because of the issues especially stopping for several seconds. I believe that these issues are caused by changes in the small utility programs such as Adobe's Flash. Both the creators of the videos and the viewers have to have compatible versions which get changed frequently because of hackers using such programs as means to get access to our personal or business computers. Unfortunately, as they are upgraded, they have two undesirable consequences. 1) at some point they require the latest and greatest versions of the computer's operating system. What? Your computer isn't THAT old but it won't run the latest OS? Don't count on Flash or other similar programs to see if you are up to date -- they will just refuse to work properly if at all. 2) They give the suppliers, in our example Adobe, the opportunity to incorporate new gee-whiz-bang features. The designers of programs like the new features and put out product that requires a certain version (even though the new feature gives users a total amount of 0 in better information, services, or other reasons why someone is trying to access the material.) The end result is the same -- everybody eventually has to upgrade and those who haven't are left wondering what's wrong with their stuff when everybody else doesn't have a problem. Just wait, they will.

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I've had Accordance for 5 days and subscribed to the videos from the iTunes store. I started watching the first ones and had no problems at all. However, since I downloaded all the episodes from iTunes, I began to explore the most recent ones. I found that I had the same problems as nicklaurence described. So, I sampled several of them. The ones that were posted as around episode 75 seemed to have a number of issues, though they weren't unwatchable. The ones that were posted as around episodes 90-104 are really unwatchable because of the issues especially stopping for several seconds. I believe that these issues are caused by changes in the small utility programs such as Adobe's Flash. Both the creators of the videos and the viewers have to have compatible versions which get changed frequently because of hackers using such programs as means to get access to our personal or business computers. Unfortunately, as they are upgraded, they have two undesirable consequences. 1) at some point they require the latest and greatest versions of the computer's operating system. What? Your computer isn't THAT old but it won't run the latest OS? Don't count on Flash or other similar programs to see if you are up to date -- they will just refuse to work properly if at all. 2) They give the suppliers, in our example Adobe, the opportunity to incorporate new gee-whiz-bang features. The designers of programs like the new features and put out product that requires a certain version (even though the new feature gives users a total amount of 0 in better information, services, or other reasons why someone is trying to access the material.) The end result is the same -- everybody eventually has to upgrade and those who haven't are left wondering what's wrong with their stuff when everybody else doesn't have a problem. Just wait, they will.

My experience on iPad and iTunes is fine. I can watch all of them through the podcast app apple provides for free

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I glad Serpentium is getting them fine. The fact that he indicates he is using an iPad (and others in this topic are using v 10) indicate a newer system. My experience is different. A lot of this computer age has changed. My first computer came in a box about the size of a student's desk dictionary. You took out the parts (a circuitboard, the CPU, a few memory chips, a couple of specialty chips) then it was up to you to find some box to put them all in, build a power supply (out of parts), find a tv you could convert to a monitor - oh, while you were doing all this scrounging, you had to write from scratch the bios to boot the computer and a large chunk of the OS to get YOUR computer to work. All to play PONG.

Today, the computer buying experience is closer to that of buying a pair of sneakers. The downside of that shift is that the hardware is as likely to end up in the trash as an old or not as fashionable as they were last year pair of sneakers. Just as you can't do a good job of surfing the web with that first computer of mine (because the hardware and software demands have changed) getting videos to play on some not that old computer is getting to be harder. And the necessary advances in the stuff that makes it all work together is accelerating as is the speed at which new products are being deprecated and consigned to the garbage heap. If you had bought one of the first iPads that came out, would you have the attitude of keeping it or would you be gazing longingly at the latest version?

The practical consequences of all that is what I was getting at. Thank you for reading my meager offerings to this issue. JAC

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Since you said "itunes" I thought you are using a new iPad (mine is 4th gen).

I actually sold second-hand my 1st gen iPad 1,5 years ago to buy a new one, in order to use some heavy-cpu/ram app that I love for studying.

Sorry, I didnt mean to boast I can access it. I hoped for a solution for you through the podcast app.

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We have made periodic adjustments in the podcasts to upgrade their quality. A number of viewers requested it and it seemed to me that the overall speed of the internet had improved enough to support it. The higher quality gives us finer details, which certainly improves visibility. The downside is that HD takes longer to download. Even now, I only record in "low HD," 1280 x 720 (720p), rather than "full HD," which is 1920x1080 (1080p).

 

I have heard a few reports that our server now seems to stream videos slower than it used to. I haven't had too many issues here, but I also have extremely fast internet service. Try viewing our videos from YouTube, which uses entirely different algorithms and doesn't rely on our serve at all.

 

I do not understand why you are having problems viewing podcasts once you have downloaded them, though. It sounds like you have some other program running that is taking a lot of your processor's power. Open your Activity Monitor (It's in the Applications>Utilities folder.) and see if that is the case.

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