[TelstraClear] Boost YouTube Speed Instantly ! - Sorry, too late Telstra put a stop to it.

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [TelstraClear] Boost YouTube Speed Instantly ! - Sorry, too late Telstra put a stop to it.

jamgol

42 posts

Geek

#57768 24-Feb-2010 12:59

If your on Telstra and want a MASSIVE boost to your YouTube download speeds take the HTML5 beta.

All the videos then play using HTML5 rather than flash and the speed is insane. I can now download 1080p video much faster than it will play .... brilliant !

I'm assuming that YouTube must use different servers for the HTML5 content and Telstra hasn't limited downloading on these yet

I'm sure someone at Telstra will now spot this post and I will have ruined it for everybody but it's awesome while it lasts !!

Unfortunately flash based youtube is still absolutely pathetic on Telstra cable. I'm on 25M cable in Christchurch and I can download flash based youtube faster on my Telecom Blackberry setup as a modem than I can on 25M cable (when the XT network is working that is) .... Telstra still says, "There's nothing wrong" .... really REALLY annoys me!.

More information available here:
http://www.youtube.com/html5

Enjoy !

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114 posts

Master Geek

#301827 24-Feb-2010 14:58

Firefox does not support this however. They support HTML5 but not the h.264 Codec which Youtube is using. Their reasoning is that they don't want to be supporting locked down non open codecs.

jamgol

42 posts

Geek

#301834 24-Feb-2010 15:10

Yeah, it's Chrome or nothing really.

I'll certainly never go back to Firefox after using Chrome ... far too slow.

Cheers

Ragnor

8219 posts

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Trusted

#301835 24-Feb-2010 15:11

Google Chrome, Safari or Google Chrome Frame for IE will work.

hellonearthisnnan

5 posts

Wannabe Geek
Inactive user

#301843 24-Feb-2010 15:32

Google and YouTube, don't they have some sort of relationship? Maybe they did this KNOWING that Firefox woulden't support the codec, and thus means they will be stealing many of their users and forcing them to switch over to their browser. How dodgy is that

jamgol

42 posts

Geek

#301850 24-Feb-2010 16:17

I think it's more a case of Google needing to push things along. Flash based video is well past it's used by date, there are far better codecs. HTML5 will make everyones browser experience simpler & faster.
Same with IPv6, someones got to take the plunge and start pushing it, "we support it" isn't enough ... I say good on them.

Why would Google wait for for the open source community to argue over codecs when they can can push it out themselves better and faster ... I know what I would do.

I can certainly see the Chrome OS and browser taking HUGE junks out of the Linux / Firefox user base. It's a shame but these open source communities just can't react fast like the used too. They've become big not for profit corporations, which are just as slow as the profit making ones !

I miss the days when Firefox led the way for speed and functionality, sadly, I can't see them ever returning.

Just my personal opinion of course.

Screeb

698 posts

Ultimate Geek

#301888 24-Feb-2010 18:24

HTML5 YouTube is not a viable alternative even if you're already using Chrome. It's very much still in beta. It's very buggy, doesn't have interpolation, and is not available for many videos and resolutions.

Regardless, I think you're mistaken about it loading HD videos fast. I've yet to find a video that even supports anything other than 320p with HTML5. It allows you to select the HD options, but it just still plays at 320p. Not only that, but the red indicator bar that shows how much of the video you've downloaded doesn't work in HTML5.

Crankshaw

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#301906 24-Feb-2010 19:55

I'm assuming that YouTube must use different servers for the HTML5 content and Telstra hasn't limited downloading on these yet

I'm sure someone at Telstra will now spot this post and I will have ruined it for everybody but it's awesome while it lasts !!

Err, TCL don't ratelimit youtube/google.

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jamgol

42 posts

Geek

#301912 24-Feb-2010 20:33

Regardless, I think you're mistaken about it loading HD videos fast. I've yet to find a video that even supports anything other than 320p with HTML5. It allows you to select the HD options, but it just still plays at 320p. Not only that, but the red indicator bar that shows how much of the video you've downloaded doesn't work in HTML5.

Make sure your on the dev branch of Chrome (5.0.322.2 at time of writing), mines working beautifully, including my own 1080p videos.

Right now I have Chrome and IE both open at a video I have never watched before. (Chrome logged in to enable HMTL5, IE not logged in). I finished watching the video in Chrome (I fast forwarded through most of it) flicked back to IE and it had played the first two seconds and was buffering again .... that's proof enough for me.

Err, TCL don't ratelimit youtube/google.

As Telstra refuses to provide any credible explanation why their youtube performance is pathetic compared to other ISP's there is no other explanation.

I feel sure the problems are related to their caching systems, but from the end user point of view this is irrelevant, the fact is, youtube downloads are restricted ... whether by bug or enforced limit.
They claim there are no ratelimits either directly or on the caching systems, so how else do you explain this situation ?

My Telecom XT mobile as a modem can download faster from youtube than my 25M cable connection and your telling me there are no limits or restrictions at Telstra ?.

I did not post this information to start any arguments about what Telstra does or doesn't have. All I know is that for the last 24 hours I have enjoyed incredibly fast youtube videos ..... even fast forward and slow motion works perfectly with no buffering.

I'm happy as, and really enjoying it, so if it helps other do the same .... great.

Thanks

freitasm

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Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#301928 24-Feb-2010 22:14

Crankshaw:
I'm assuming that YouTube must use different servers for the HTML5 content and Telstra hasn't limited downloading on these yet

I'm sure someone at Telstra will now spot this post and I will have ruined it for everybody but it's awesome while it lasts !!

Err, TCL don't ratelimit youtube/google.

They don't provide a good service either. YouTube on TelstraClear is broken - has been since September 2009. Read more here and and the logic behind it here.

Screeb

698 posts

Ultimate Geek

#301938 24-Feb-2010 22:35

jamgol:
Make sure your on the dev branch of Chrome (5.0.322.2 at time of writing), mines working beautifully, including my own 1080p videos.

Right now I have Chrome and IE both open at a video I have never watched before. (Chrome logged in to enable HMTL5, IE not logged in). I finished watching the video in Chrome (I fast forwarded through most of it) flicked back to IE and it had played the first two seconds and was buffering again .... that's proof enough for me.

Fair enough, but you can't really expect people to be on the latest dev branches. You should also mention that in your original post. But a workaround's a workaround I suppose. I'm on 4.0.249.89. I don't use Chrome as my main browser though. I'll try out the dev branch you mentioned and I'll see how it goes. Right now I'm using a hosts file modification, so YouTube is ok for the most part anyway.

Anyway, I suspect the HTML5 videos are just on different servers for whatever reason, and they haven't bothered rate limiting those yet for the ISPs that don't have Google/YouTube caches. But who knows, they could do so at any moment - it's not a permanent solution that's for sure.

jamgol

42 posts

Geek

#301943 24-Feb-2010 22:43

What's the hosts file mod Screeb ?

Sorry, I know I should search for it but topics on this are massive .... wow, there are a lot of really pissed off people !

I am seeing a slow down in download speed at the moment (1080p needs buffering time), either someone at Telstra has spotted this thread or it's just the time of night. I'll check again early am and see.

Cheers

Screeb

698 posts

Ultimate Geek

#301959 25-Feb-2010 01:46

jamgol: What's the hosts file mod Screeb ?

Sorry, I know I should search for it but topics on this are massive .... wow, there are a lot of really pissed off people !

I am seeing a slow down in download speed at the moment (1080p needs buffering time), either someone at Telstra has spotted this thread or it's just the time of night. I'll check again early am and see.

Cheers

It's explained in this post. Add those entries to your hosts file and it should make YouTube better.

lchiu7

6476 posts

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#302010 25-Feb-2010 11:25

It didn't work at all for me on the current Chrome build and I didn't have time to go find a dev branch build. But as noted it's just a workaround that might not last too long and anyway, let's focus on getting TCL to try to fix this.

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jamgol

42 posts

Geek

#302036 25-Feb-2010 12:18

Yes, I can confirm that as well. As of this morning HTML5 / H.264 video has now been cut to the same speed as flash based video.

I think we can safely assume that someone at Telstra has spotted this post and has updated all the new servers.

Wish I never posted anything now, that will teach me !

However, all is not lost, I now know that it is more than possible to watch YouTube 1080p video on Telstra cable with no buffering .... they have no excuse.

I'm using a London based proxy server this morning and am getting much better youtube speed .... it's just utter madness !

If your looking for a youtube 1080p video to test with, here is one of mine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64CgIgEUWJs

All my personal and RCBash videos are available in youtube 1080p:
http://www.youtube.com/user/RCBashNet

Cheers

eXDee

4032 posts

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#302039 25-Feb-2010 12:30

I too am close to putting on a tinfoil hat. If this was working fine before, and now its slow then it sounds very odd.

It does actually make sense to rate limit youtube if they cant cache it - youtube makes up a HUGE chunk of international bandwidth, which they can save if they slow it down.

Not quite there yet, but the hosts file edit so far is preventing buffering.

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