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YouTube is slow on the iPad

Slow buffering issue very frustrating!

It's not just YouTube on my iPad. It's Netflix as well and any video. Ever since I got my iPad back in June, this has been happening. I took it to a genius at the Apple store and he said it was my router. Seriously! He also said it had to do with the walls, equipment, and the cabling. Well, I called ATT, gee what a surprise! They sent me a new router for $80. I installed it and guess what? Nothing changed. My speed was a little better, though, but the buffering issue still continues. This really stinks. Hopefully, Apple will get a fix for this. It's really frustrating!
:mad:
 
I am suffering the same problem with Youtube, however, HD videos on Gametrailers.com works better - though not as good as on the Air.

It so typical to blame the router. When I worked as a supporter at a DSL carrier, we always blamed the router even though we suspected other issues. Guess I'm paying for that now.

Anyone solved it with 4.2.1?
 
Last edited:
laksemand said:
I am suffering the same problem with Youtube, however, HD videos on Gametrailers.com works better - though not as good as on the Air.

It so typical to blame the router. When I worked as a supporter at a DSL carrier, we always blamed the router even though we suspected other issues. Guess I'm paying for that now.

Anyone solved it with 4.2.1?
Click to expand...

Upgraded to iOS 4.2 and the problem remains... disappointing...
 
so after putting some thought to it I found I way to mitigate the problem... Start by using youtube's website on Safari or another browser. Once the video starts loading, click on the red "HQ" icon on the bottom right side. The icon will become grey and the videos from now on are going to play in lower resolution. It doesn't look as nice as it does with "HQ" turned on, but it loads much faster. Of course this only applies if you are using Youtube via browser.

I hope this helps!:)
 
I've also tried it, but I just cant justify looking at such pixelated videos - and I don't think I have to. I've tried three different routers, but the problem remains. It's really beginning to annoy me. For me, Youtube is worthless.

Anyone mailed Steve yet? ;)
 
This appears (at least in my case) to be related to the speed of your current Internet connection when using the YouTube app on the iPad. For example:

At Home (3GB down max), videos take forever to buffer, start playing and usually catch up to the buffer within several seconds and pauses to buffer again. Therefore, the iPad YouTube app is completely useless at Home.

At my Office (7GB down max), videos take about 20-30 seconds to buffer, start playing and usually the playback lags slightly behind the buffer cache, occasionally catching the buffer and pausing for about 10 seconds while it buffers, then resumes play. Sometimes it will play the entire video without pausing to buffer further.

At my brother's house (10+ GB down), videos take about 5-6 second to buffer and play without ever pausing to buffer no matter how long the video is, or if it is HQ or not.

These tests were all done with my 32GB WiFi iPad using the iPad YouTube app over the wifi connections at each location. Granted this is far from scientific as each location has a different ISP and different infrastructure hardware (routers, firewalls).


Also, as stated previously, there is no way possible that this issue is related to DNS entries. If you know anything about how name resolution works, you cannot argue this. The fact that some people are having success with this may be related to refreshing the IP stack when you force the DNS server addresses or something else like that.

Of course, I am willing to discuss why changing the DNS entries works if someone has a theory beyond, "It just does". The fact that it does not work for everyone proves that this is not a valid fix and there is clearly something else going on.
 
I notice a real improvement by disabling iPad notifications

Indeed, by disabling iPad notifications in the settings and also by uninstalling some newspaper apps that i do not use anymore, YouTube was just playing as before.

I've saved myself :p , YouTube was unbearable !!! :mad:
 
GuPad said:
Indeed, by disabling iPad notifications in the settings and also by uninstalling some newspaper apps that i do not use anymore, YouTube was just playing as before.

I've saved myself :p , YouTube was unbearable !!! :mad:
Click to expand...


Why no one say if my solution works for him ???
It's incredible, i CAN now see HD trailers without any lags !!!!!!!!:eek:

Hope my experience will help someone... ;)
 
Sweet

Turning off iPad notifications worked. Had bluetooth off before, didn't help.
Thanks GuPad! Already thought youtube is lost on the pad. Awesome.
 
The only thing that works

I've tried all of the above.

The only thing that works(and it works great) is to go to settings and reset factory settings for networks. Then rejoin your wifi network(pain in the arse). It's not ideal but YouTube was driving me crazy it was so slow.

Hope this helps :)
 
If you are using Wi-Fi, you may want to try to "Renew Lease" in Settings > General > Network > choose Wi-Fi connection and click on blue arrow, then click on Renew Lease at bottom of screen.

Best,
Marc
 
Followed the advice on turning off "Notifications" and it worked for me. Thanks. youtube is much faster now.
 
I've really started to experience the same issue, but following a little testing I noticed that YouTube is only slow when viewed using my wireless connection. Using the 3G connection it is fine.

So there is something with the way wireless is working that is the issue. The AP I have is the standard Linksys WAP54g in "G" mode.

Has anyone noticed the same behavior with YouTube performance via 3G = GOOD and via wireless = POOR?
 
I hate to bring this back from the dead but I was able to go into my YouTube playback settings and un-check a box to automatically stream HD content on fullscreen. It seemed to help. High definition YouTube videos aren't important to me so this was a small sacrifice.

My theory is that the iPad is automatically pulling HD content, which may or may not be ideal. High definition clips are monster files and when you try and view them during peak bandwidth times over a wi-fi connection, the videos aren't going to load quickly.

Screenshot2011-02-13at104953AM.png
 
Is there any way, that the YouTube app would default to a setting, I prefer 360p only. Its annoying to always click the setting and point to 360p or lower. Its always set at auto, and it seems 720p on my view and that sucks my internet and makes it slow.
 
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