Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with buffer

How do I force Netflix to buffer?

razdrez — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:31:24 -0800

How do I choose a higher streaming rate when I'm using Netflix's "Watch Now" feature? Right now I'm using a 768 connection, and it's fine for everyday life, except that I can't watch netflix watch now movies in a decent quality. I don't mind waiting for my computer to buffer the entire thing before I watch it, but I can't find a way to choose the stream that I want. I've seen the greasemonkey script hack from rorta, but the forum says that this doesn't work anymore. (Also seen on lifehacker)

Are there any other options? I don't want to rip the movie or copy it to another computer, or even play it in another player (although I will do any of those if need be). All I want to do is just choose a higher bitrate.

Is there some kind of cookie variable I can change to start the download in high, and then press the pause button to let it buffer? I've tried looking in the source for the page, and downloading a stream manually in Windows Media Player, but although it downloaded a license, the movie never played.

M-x stop-this-nonsense

ghost of a past number — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:00:53 -0800

How do I stop emacs from messing with my windows? Let's say I have two windows open in emacs, working on two different source files. When calling a command with output from within the first window, like a make or latex pass, output from the command goes to the other window, hiding my existing buffer. To make matters worse, killing or switching the output buffer will not always give me my original file back, depending on the number and visiting times of other open files. This gets annoying pretty fast, especially when working on a large project with several files open at a time.

Is there a way to stop emacs from messing up existing windows? I'd like command output to go to a new window, or stay buried until I look it up.

Please note that I won't consider abandoning the One True Editor over this minor point.

How can I avoid buffer overflows with C?

PuGZ — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 06:05:30 -0800

Robust usage of sscanf and sprintf - how to avoid buffer overflows? I am sure this is embarrassingly simple, but all the tutorials I read always gloss over this aspect of sscanf and sprintf. How do I go about ensuring I don't encounter buffer overflows when using these two functions? I've read links like these that suggest truncating the data, but I don't want to do this. This link suggests using the "a" flag, but also says it's a GNU-only addition.

How do programmes that don't have fixed-length strings operate? Surely our chat clients don't use fixed-length buffers? Help, Mefi!

Big Buffer

iconjack — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 14:51:48 -0800

What CD burners have the largest buffers? The consumer products seem to have 2MB or 4MB buffers. I'm looking for something much larger. In fact I'd like to find one that can buffer a whole disc's worth.

Can anyone help?

Restoring Gel Coat

monsta coty scott — Fri, 06 May 2005 08:42:39 -0800

I am prepping my old 18' catamaran for the summer and I would really like to restore the gelcoat finish on the fiberglass to a bright sheen. Can I use a regular buffing wheel, rubbing compound and wax that I would use on my car? The hulls are your regular fiberglass hulls with an orange gel coat finish. The orange has faded, has dirt and water lines on it and I would like to try and clean it up. Does anyone have a suggestion on working with gelcoat finishes?

Buffer Problems

Juicylicious — Thu, 14 Oct 2004 09:39:25 -0800

Why is it impossible for me to watch/listen to streaming video without the program stopping every few seconds to buffer? I tried to watch this video on both RealPlayer & Windows Media the same thing happened with both.