topic Re: Mac advice in Electronics

Mac advice

glb613 — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 01:07:36 GMT

I am unable to watch online videos (This Old House) on my iMac without it being a choppy video. If I watch the same video on my Macbook Pro, it plays fine. Same internet, different results. Anyone know what could be the problem?

Re: Mac advice

EmmaBunting — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 01:20:45 GMT

You may need to update Adobe Flash Player.......give it a try. Good luck!

Re: Mac advice

glb613 — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 01:21:36 GMT

I did and it didn't fix the problem.

Re: Mac advice

EmmaBunting — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 01:23:25 GMT

Then I'm out of ideas.

Re: Mac advice

dooBdoo — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 01:57:17 GMT

That was a great suggestion, EmmaBunting!

I don't know the answer, glb613. How are you accessing the videos?

Re: Mac advice

gidgetgh — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 02:48:54 GMT

I asked my nephew for you. I don't know if this will help, but here's what he said: "Hmm, not sure what might cause that. If the iMac is using Wi-Fi instead of Ethernet for its network connection, it's possible that it has poorer signal strength than the MacBook Pro, which could cause the problem, but if that's not the case it's not clear what's causing this."

Re: Mac advice

Lynnj — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 03:14:32 GMT

Where is your router located in relation to the iMac? Are you closer to the router when you are on the MacBook?

Re: Mac advice

glb613 — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 12:51:33 GMT

The iMac is connected to the internet via cat5 cable, the router is in the same room as both computers and I access the videos through the This Old House site.

For some unknown reason, my DVR didn't record 2 episodes and I wanted to catch up. Why they play on one computer and not another is a mystery.

Re: Mac advice

dooBdoo — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 13:42:27 GMT

In doing some reading on the Apple Community, I'm thinking this might be a Mavericks issue. Does it look the same no matter which browser you use, or which add-ons are enabled?

Re: Mac advice

glb613 — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 14:08:19 GMT

On 2/23/2014 dooBdoo said:
In doing some reading on the Apple Community, I'm thinking this might be a Mavericks issue. Does it look the same no matter which browser you use, or which add-ons are enabled?

I tried watching on Safari and Firefox and both work. This is not the first time it's happened and may remain a mystery.

Re: Mac advice

gardenman — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 15:57:22 GMT

If I was guessing, I'd guess that there was an issue with the cat 5 cable/jacks. A hardwired connection like you have with the iMac should give you the best performance and instead you're getting the worst performance from it. I'd try unplugging the cable from the router and iMac and then making sure it was in contact with and around as few other cables/cords as possible and reconnect and see if that makes a difference. The cable could be picking up interference since cat 5 cables aren't especially well shielded. If you still get the same performance, try using a different output jack on the router and/or switching cat 5 cables. You're pretty much stuck using the cat 5 port on the motherboard, but if none of that works then borrowing a USB wi-fi dongle to see if that helps might be a good option for you to go wireless on the iMac.

Re: Mac advice

glb613 — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 16:33:18 GMT

My iMac has built-in Wifi which I have disabled. The reason, the hard wired connection is faster. Next time it happens, I'll switch to Wifi and see if the jerky video continues or not. Thanks everyone.