Tuning the Player

There are a number of variables involved in the delivery of streaming video. Some are outside the control of the either the user or the encoding engineer (Internet heavy load times, local connections, severe bandwidth variations) and others aren’t.

Keep in mind that streaming delivery is a client-server process which performs best when both sides are ‘tuned” for optimal performance. The client (viewer) side can only view videos encoded for their actual bandwidth connection. (Even though a client may be attached to a network with DSL or T1 access, that bandwidth is shared with all the others on that network). Most T1 are “fract’d” out to assign available bandwidth on a per workstation basis.

The easiest way to measure a client’s actual available bandwidth is to view the <Statistics> option from the <View> menu in the Microsoft Media Player.

The Quality of Delivery (QoD) is also affected by the client’s graphics card, monitor and even system memory. Most newer Windows-based systems play decently without tuning. However, there are a number of tools in Media Player that can be used to enhance reception and playback to adjust (compensate) for hardware variations including brightness, contrast, color intensity and caching. Increasing the cache size helps compensate for bandwidth variations by increasing the amount of video buffered before and during playback. The default setting is “5” and can be set to “30”. “30” is recommended if you are having reception problems.

The buffer size can be changed from the Media Player 7.0+ <Tools/Options> menu on the “Performance” Tab. This adjustment is saved and need only be made once.