Buffering "uncached" YouTube videos

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dfnt

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#310601 4-Nov-2023 21:44

I normally don't make these kind of posts as my network is solid, and has been unchanged for a couple of years now.

However, I noticed lately on our Apple TV 4K, plugged into ethernet, has been buffering new YouTube content in 4K and its doing it enough now to annoy me

As mentioned, the Apple TV is wired into ethernet into a gbit port on a 48 port switch, router is an EdgeRouter 4, using Spark DNS.

An example of a buffering video stats:

That particular video seemed to be served from rr2.sn-ntq7yned.googlevideo.com, traceroute:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms router.lan [192.168.1.1]
2 1 ms <1 ms 1 ms 125-236-192-9.adsl.xtra.co.nz [125.236.192.9]
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 11 ms 10 ms 10 ms 122.56.119.216
5 35 ms 35 ms 34 ms et5-0-2.sgbr3.global-gateway.net.nz [122.56.119.26]
6 34 ms 34 ms 34 ms 72.14.202.230
7 33 ms 33 ms 34 ms 72.14.239.13
8 35 ms 34 ms 34 ms 209.85.247.157
9 33 ms 33 ms 33 ms syd09s16-in-f7.1e100.net [173.194.28.39]

Now that I've played the video multiple times, it seems to be served from rr6---sn-uo1-53as.googlevideo.com (Spark's YouTube cache?), so now there's no buffering issues:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms router.lan [192.168.1.1]
2 2 ms 1 ms 1 ms 125-236-192-9.adsl.xtra.co.nz [125.236.192.9]
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms cache.google.com [219.88.188.17]

An example of the same video coming from the cache:

When I tried to replicate the issue on my laptop, plugged into ethernet, the video was already coming from the cache so I couldn't.

I don't know of a comparble speedtest server to test against in Australia, to mirror where that youtube content might be coming from, but to Telstra Sydney seems a bit terrible:

So I'm not sure if that's somehow related.. if I pick other Sydney servers speeds are fine to those

Running Speedtest on the Apple TV to Spark servers yields 940/500 results so I don't think the problem is with the Apple TV

Thoughts?

Talkiet

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#3156019 4-Nov-2023 22:10

It looks like the Youtube GGC nodes are doing what they should be doing and once a video becomes popular enough it's cached locally... However that speedtest from Telstra in Sydney looks awful and I see similar results here on my Spark connection.

However on Optus Sydney I see 935/127, on Exetel Sydney I see 918/140, Superloop Sydney gives 935 down and a failure upstream (I suspect server config for that one), however a couple of others also show horrible performance.

I can't see any links that I have direct visibility of that are anywhere near congestion, so I expect there might be a localised issue beyond the borders of our network in Sydney. It woul dbe useful to know if the behaviour clears up after peak hours have passed.

And yes, the 219.88.188.17 is one of our many local Google cache servers.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

dfnt

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#3156023 4-Nov-2023 22:15

Thanks, that's what I'm also seeing re sepedtests

I'll let you know outside of peak time, it's obviously a bit hard to replicate as I'm fighting against how Google works when it decides to cache videos locally

Talkiet

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#3156024 4-Nov-2023 22:17

Yep - I tried the video you watched and it loaded and played near instantly from a Spark located cache (now you've fed the algorithm and made it stay on the cache for at least a while :-)

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

dfnt

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#3156027 4-Nov-2023 22:29

I'm starting to wonder if its the Apple TV, if I use my laptop and search for something like mountain biking and filter to 4k, upload date, this week https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mountain+biking&sp=CAISCAgDEAEYA3AB

I'm able to pick any video and it basically starts on 4k with no buffering, however they all appear to be coming out of Singapore I'm guessing e.g. rr2.sn-npoe7nds.googlevideo.com / sin10s63-in-f7.1e100.net [173.194.22.167]? Though managed to get one out of Australia and no issues either..

Edit: Maybe its some weird iOS/tvOS YouTube app thing happening as I've managed to get buffering from new videos on both iPhone and Apple TV but they're coming from the local cache e.g. rr1---sn-uo1-53as.googlevideo.com, but I've no idea why its only new videos..

dfnt

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#3156103 5-Nov-2023 10:41

Still happening in non peak time I guess?

Only on iPhone and Apple TV, it’s like the connection speed gets capped:

Even though the video is being served from Spark cache, though they’re videos with low view count. Guessing it could be a bug then :|