they most certainly are player related. I can easily avoid every problem the parent has described on a low quality DSL connection by downloading the video directly and watching the partial download in a native video player.
The state of video players on the internet is just flat out terrible. Given how restrictive the policies and philosophies are around downloading the videos and watching them directly, browser players arn't actually competing with native players. I don't think normal people realize just how terrible they are. I can't imagine this situation ever getting better.
Not that I disagree, but the argument that it's not bandwidth-related isn't refuted by saying you don't have issues by downloading the video and then playing it with another player.
But you said you partially downloaded the video, and then played it? Perhaps I'm missing something, but it sounds like the equivalent of pausing the Flash player and waiting for it to buffer.
Except it never discards the buffer (they do this all the time), I can seek with impunity (I do this all the time), it doesn't consume huge amounts of CPU (they do this all the time), it goes full screen reliably and quickly (on linux they fail frequently), If there are problems with the connection then I won't lose everything I've downloaded (online video players are so terrible about this), I can run it at any speed I want (I do this all the time), I can supplement it with third party subtitles (I do this all the time) ect. ect. ect.
further, no bizarre bandwidth saving gets involved. If the connection is very bad, I can just let it download. It won't stop after 10 seconds and wait for me to play, and I get to decide when it starts playing. I can resume failed downloads, I can respond to bad connections, I can use web technologies that have existed for decades that are specifically there to deal with bad connections to route around poor network conditions.
Video players on the web are just death by a thousand cuts. They're all different unique little snowflakes, and all worse then windows media player from 2001. We are literally swimming in methodologies to deal with poor network connections, and the inter
The state of video players on the internet is just flat out terrible. Given how restrictive the policies and philosophies are around downloading the videos and watching them directly, browser players arn't actually competing with native players. I don't think normal people realize just how terrible they are. I can't imagine this situation ever getting better.