Why is YouTube mysteriously breaking?
July 14, 2010 9:18 AM
I've been working on promoting a video on YouTube, and we've been getting reports from a handful of people (probably 15-20 complaints total out of 28K+ views) that they're unable to watch the video on YouTube or embedded anywhere else. The player loads and it seems to buffer, but the video/audio simply won't play. Even more bizarre, everybody reporting this problem has been able to watch other videos on YouTube (only ours refuses to play). Has anybody else encountered a problem like this, and were you able to resolve it?
We've been completely unable to reproduce this on our end. I have no idea how many people this is affecting, but I think it's very small (1%? 0.1%?) - unfortunately at least some of those people are involved in funding for this organization and it has become an issue that they're unable to watch it. Searching on Google and looking through the YouTube community support forms has not come up with anything.
We've been completely unable to reproduce this on our end. I have no idea how many people this is affecting, but I think it's very small (1%? 0.1%?) - unfortunately at least some of those people are involved in funding for this organization and it has become an issue that they're unable to watch it. Searching on Google and looking through the YouTube community support forms has not come up with anything.
Can you upload an alternate version on a site like Vimeo?
posted by bcwinters at 9:44 AM on July 14, 2010
posted by bcwinters at 9:44 AM on July 14, 2010
bcwinters: Yes, and we have - this is good for sharing as an alternative, but this video is also being embedded in a lot of other sites and we don't want to segment our audience if at all possible (for view counts, comments, etc).
posted by OverlappingElvis at 9:49 AM on July 14, 2010
posted by OverlappingElvis at 9:49 AM on July 14, 2010
Youtube has dropped embed support for IE6. I've received similar reports from IE6 users about embedded videos, usually they can view it on the Youtube site though.
posted by dripdripdrop at 9:53 AM on July 14, 2010
posted by dripdripdrop at 9:53 AM on July 14, 2010
This is complicated by the fact that for any given video there can be a huge matrix of possibilities along the [resolution]x[codec]x[container] dimensions. Depending on the user's connection speed, account settings, chosen resolution, and flash version, they could be watching 240p-h.263-flv, 360p-VP6-flv, 360p-h264-flv, 480p-h264-mp4, and on and on. There are just so many variables. It sounds like one of the versions of the video that Youtube transcoded from your original upload is malfunctioning with some particular software combination. It might not be apparent to others because of differences in Flash version. For example Flash 9.0r115 and later can play h.264 so if you have that installed youtube will detect that and send you h.264 content, but if you have Flash 9.0r47 then it will try to send you only VP6 or h.263 versions of content.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:25 AM on July 14, 2010
posted by Rhomboid at 10:25 AM on July 14, 2010
I cannot say why but I can add more anecdotal evidence. Just today I have noticed random server errors from youtube. I'm using Chrome on a Mac FWIW. Usually a reload seems to fix the problem.
posted by cftarnas at 10:56 AM on July 14, 2010
posted by cftarnas at 10:56 AM on July 14, 2010
Given the extremely small number, it's more likely that it's their own computer or network than anything specific about your video. YouTube isn't even 100% on a single computer.
I would try to collect the following information about these people's computers:
- Can they watch any other video?
- What browser they are using?
- What version of Flash they are using?
posted by meowzilla at 11:05 AM on July 14, 2010
I would try to collect the following information about these people's computers:
- Can they watch any other video?
- What browser they are using?
- What version of Flash they are using?
posted by meowzilla at 11:05 AM on July 14, 2010
I'll second the youtube problems for today...it's been terrible, full of server errors and poor audio/video sync...
posted by HuronBob at 11:07 AM on July 14, 2010
posted by HuronBob at 11:07 AM on July 14, 2010
thirding youtube problems today, I haven't gotten a single video to load since this morning. I've had youtube problems before (only effecting some videos, not all of them, and usually only when embedded) from times to time the past fortnight.
posted by dabitch at 11:36 AM on July 14, 2010
posted by dabitch at 11:36 AM on July 14, 2010
OK -- couple things [I'm an engineer at YouTube who works on these kinds of issues ]
We are having a few network issues today. So it may just be that, and we're obviously working on it. Also, Wednesday afternoons can be flaky sometimes because that's when we usually update the site.
But some general useful steps if there are issues --
First, assuming the Flash player is loading, have them (and anyone else having issues) right click and use the "Report problems" link on the player. This gives us useful data on these kinds of issues. [If you think you're having speed issues, you can also try the "Speed Test" link and look at your streaming information].
Second --- if you can, get some info from them. This also goes for anyone here having problems. Feel free to memail me or post it here.
* Does this happen for all videos or just a specific video or videos?
* Video id! [the v= part in the URL, or just give me the whole URL] Very important, as sometimes these can be video specific.
* Browser and browser version (usually typing about:version works on non-IE browsers, on IE you can usually do help->About to get version).
* Operating system and version
* Flash version -- easy way is to hit this page and tell me what it says (should be like: "WIN 10,1,53,64")
If these reports are from this morning, my guess is they'll resolve themselves.
posted by wildcrdj at 11:38 AM on July 14, 2010
We are having a few network issues today. So it may just be that, and we're obviously working on it. Also, Wednesday afternoons can be flaky sometimes because that's when we usually update the site.
But some general useful steps if there are issues --
First, assuming the Flash player is loading, have them (and anyone else having issues) right click and use the "Report problems" link on the player. This gives us useful data on these kinds of issues. [If you think you're having speed issues, you can also try the "Speed Test" link and look at your streaming information].
Second --- if you can, get some info from them. This also goes for anyone here having problems. Feel free to memail me or post it here.
* Does this happen for all videos or just a specific video or videos?
* Video id! [the v= part in the URL, or just give me the whole URL] Very important, as sometimes these can be video specific.
* Browser and browser version (usually typing about:version works on non-IE browsers, on IE you can usually do help->About to get version).
* Operating system and version
* Flash version -- easy way is to hit this page and tell me what it says (should be like: "WIN 10,1,53,64")
If these reports are from this morning, my guess is they'll resolve themselves.
posted by wildcrdj at 11:38 AM on July 14, 2010
as you said that the viewers can watch other youtube vids, the problem seems specific to the video.
i ran into a similar situation posting a video where one of the source clips was in an odd resolution and at 15fps. converting that clip first, before editing it into the production did seem to correct the issue (not enough people had the problem for us to really test)
our viewers with problems included a few on dial-up, for what that's worth.
posted by kimyo at 11:56 AM on July 14, 2010
i ran into a similar situation posting a video where one of the source clips was in an odd resolution and at 15fps. converting that clip first, before editing it into the production did seem to correct the issue (not enough people had the problem for us to really test)
our viewers with problems included a few on dial-up, for what that's worth.
posted by kimyo at 11:56 AM on July 14, 2010
as you said that the viewers can watch other youtube vids, the problem seems specific to the video.
Keep in mind that videos are served from different locations and servers. If 2 people watch the same video, they may be getting it from 2 different parts of the world. If one person watches 2 videos, those 2 may come from different parts of the world.
So a network problem fits as well, and if most users can see the video fine then it's probably either the network, their local computer, or possibly an issue with an edge video format as Rhomboid implied. I think the first two possibilities are the most likely.
posted by wildcrdj at 12:04 PM on July 14, 2010
Keep in mind that videos are served from different locations and servers. If 2 people watch the same video, they may be getting it from 2 different parts of the world. If one person watches 2 videos, those 2 may come from different parts of the world.
So a network problem fits as well, and if most users can see the video fine then it's probably either the network, their local computer, or possibly an issue with an edge video format as Rhomboid implied. I think the first two possibilities are the most likely.
posted by wildcrdj at 12:04 PM on July 14, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by HuronBob at 9:24 AM on July 14, 2010