Speed Up Video Streaming Up to Five Times
Video is the latest “buzz” in online media delivery. Although as you and I both know it is not without problems. Video from YouTube can be slow, prone to jitter and buffering issues. Today I have found a great free application that may help solve some of those problems.
SpeedBit Video Accelerator for YouTube claims to reduce video “freezes” and buffering issues. In addition to accelerating embedded videos on blogs and other sites. I have always been skeptical of such claims. You have a pipe - nothing you do can make that pipe bigger or YouTube deliver it faster than their pipe! However, it might be worth a try if you are an avid YouTuber.
The way that this software works, or at least how they claim it works is by redirecting your browsers connection to the streaming video through the Video Accelerator Daemon. This daemon uses “patented” technology to substitute a single connection to a multiple one through a “sophisticated multi-connection algorithm”. The result being a connection that is reportedly 5 times faster. It is the “patented” bit and the “sophisticated algorithm” statements that always accompanies this type of software that can be misleading. This implies that it will work for everyone.
If you are using all of your available bandwidth, you can not increase it. The download speed is maxed out - you have saturated your bandwidth. However, given the above principle and you have spare bandwidth (at least 5 times more than you currently use when downloading video) then it is possible that this is very effective. Just remember that YouTube can deliver video pretty fast. This application will probably suit those with fast connection, 1.5 MB + (even then minimal on 1.5). You guys on slower connections won’t see any improvement as YouTube would successfully saturate your bandwidth without help, nothing “spare” to use for the “multiple connections”.
The application also enables you to search for videos from your desktop and bookmark videos you have previously “accelerated”. I did notice that it does wack a couple of icons in the system tray, that means that it more than likely loads at start-up. To me this is not ideal, this is an option that you have available in the application itself no doubt the default is load at start-up. There are also a few other options to tinker with.
There is also another version of the software in beta called SpeedBit Video Accelerator 2.0 Beta. This version of the software is the latest offering that supports multiple sites: YouTube, Daily Motion, metacafe, grouper and iTunes (that last one is interesting…). But as always this software is in beta and should be treated as such.
SpeedBit Video Accelerator for YouTube is free and works with most browsers. Vista support is coming.
Dave
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May 14th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Hmm, I have a 3-5 Megabit connection so I don’t think this piece of software will benefit me at all. I don’t really have any problems with viewing YouTube videos, it’s the fact that I can’t rewind the YouTube videos to a specific spot that urks me.
June 14th, 2007 at 10:25 am
I Downloaded It Recently But It Doesn’t Work With Youtube!
Can U Suggest What Should I Do To Make It Work?
June 14th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
I would suggest that you make contact with the distributor of the software.
They will have a far better idea of what the problem might be. In addition to that these types of applications are quite complex and can be a bit of a bugger to get right. To that end we don’t generally provide tech support on a personal basis.
Hope that helps.
August 18th, 2007 at 3:05 am
how come it dont work with youtube aint there any ova’s
October 21st, 2007 at 8:58 am
I’ve read everywhere that this is for slow connections, so I didnt bother downloading it… I’m on a 5Mb connection, but the videos on YouTube and MySpace get stuck a lot, discovered this post looking for a solution
Anyway, I tried it, and you’re right! I hardly *ever* get the maximum speed I bought, which really pisses me off I must admit, and this actually works, and really makes a difference. I do recommend the new beta they put out, so far it seems stable, and supports all major (50!) video sites. Thanks for the tip guys
November 13th, 2007 at 12:47 am
for anyone having problems with youtube videos, you should donwload the new speedbit video accelerator 2.2 Beta which seems to work with youtube videos again. The new version also accelerates videos from 50+ sites like veoh, metacafe, facebook, myspace, espn, cnn and many many more.
you can download it from http://www.speedbit.com/video_accelerator/beta.asp
I love this software - all the videso i watch run faster and play smoother - enjoy!
November 21st, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Thanks for letting me know about the new version.
Best thing is they now support over 60 video sites including YouTube - once again, which is fantastic to hear. I just tried video accalereator with youtube and it works like a dream.
February 27th, 2008 at 4:59 am
anyone got a solution for streaming Veoh problems?? Veoh used to be great but since they did that 5 min thing on their site trying to watch downloaded videos freezes up my entire system. And I have a brand new PC. With DIVX shutting down in three days I guess I’ll go through another video withdrawal.
YouTube works fine with the connection I have (DSL) most of the time. If it’s slow I let it load then watch.
March 24th, 2008 at 9:11 am
why doesnt it work with firefox
on my computerit only works with internet explorer and it says that it works with both can u suggest something plzzzz
dean
March 24th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
@dean sorry mate I don’t have any suggestions for you. This post is pretty old now and I have not looked at the app for ages.