iPad Air Videos Pause Themselves while Watching

[Enthusiast]

Hi All, this problem has to do with 3 sources of videos I'm trying to watch:

*I'm using iPad Air 1, iOS 8.1.3

*I should say that I use a VPN, and I don't know if the VPN is a factor here...

1. A video I bought from the iTunes store. I start to watch it, it just pauses itself after a minute or two. I press the "pause" & "play" buttons, and it plays again, only to pause again after another minute or so. I don't know what to do; can anyone advise me how to get it to play back without pausing like this??

2. Watching Facebook videos with the VPN on. They will often stop streaming; I start watching a 3 minute video, and it freezes (I get the 'looping circle') after 8 seconds or so. If I wait, often the video starts again after maybe a minute, then will freeze again... I just want seamless playback, thanks! It's as if there's too much work on the processor, but can that be possible just trying to watch a Facebook video??

3. I have used a Google service called 'Crackle' to watch videos. Before, using VPN, no problem at all. Now, with the VPN, I can't watch anything on Crackle. If I try, I get a message "Sorry, no content available for your area." I get a hunch this has something to do with my VPN, except the VPN is supposed to bypass censorship, etc. I'll ask them.

Any help/suggestions would be great! Thanks!

 

[dhewson777]

All three sound like buffering due to a slow internet connection. Are you using wifi or cellular data? I would expect a VPN connection to be slower, due to the nature of how a VPN works.

 

[Enthusiast]

Thanks, dhewson777. I'm using wifi. Before, my VPN was using a server based in America; now it's using a European server. I'm going to look into it, and I will post my findings here.

 

[scifan57]

Hi All, this problem has to do with 3 sources of videos I'm trying to watch:

*I'm using iPad Air 1, iOS 8.1.3

*I should say that I use a VPN, and I don't know if the VPN is a factor here...

1. A video I bought from the iTunes store. I start to watch it, it just pauses itself after a minute or two. I press the "pause" & "play" buttons, and it plays again, only to pause again after another minute or so. I don't know what to do; can anyone advise me how to get it to play back without pausing like this??

2. Watching Facebook videos with the VPN on. They will often stop streaming; I start watching a 3 minute video, and it freezes (I get the 'looping circle') after 8 seconds or so. If I wait, often the video starts again after maybe a minute, then will freeze again... I just want seamless playback, thanks! It's as if there's too much work on the processor, but can that be possible just trying to watch a Facebook video??

3. I have used a Google service called 'Crackle' to watch videos. Before, using VPN, no problem at all. Now, with the VPN, I can't watch anything on Crackle. If I try, I get a message "Sorry, no content available for your area." I get a hunch this has something to do with my VPN, except the VPN is supposed to bypass censorship, etc. I'll ask them.

Any help/suggestions would be great! Thanks!

The content from Crackle is geo-locked and if your VPN server is from outside the authorized viewing area you can't watch it. You'll need to get another U.S. VPN server if you want to watch Crackle.

 

[Enthusiast]

I switched to an American-based server. Thank you, scifan57, I can watch Crackle now, and it streams no problem. Facebook videos stream much better, too, but still pause sometimes.

I don't understand: The wifi bars on my iPad are full, indicating a strong (strongest possible?) connection. Why then should Facebook videos pause at all? Dhewson777 mentioned that the pausing may be due to a slow 'Net connection, yet my iPad indicates a strong connection. Contradiction!

I did *not* 'speed test' the individual server I'm using. Am I correct that a strong speed test indicates a high data transfer rate between the server and my iPad? I'll do that, maybe tweak to a server that gets me a better 'speed rate.'

As to the video I bought from iTunes store, it's better but still pauses a lot. I'm mystified because to my knowledge, that video is stored on my iPad. I'll contact iTunes support about it.

 

[scifan57]

I switched to an American-based server. Thank you, scifan57, I can watch Crackle now, and it streams no problem. Facebook videos stream much better, too, but still pause sometimes.

I don't understand: The wifi bars on my iPad are full, indicating a strong (strongest possible?) connection. Why then should Facebook videos pause at all? Dhewson777 mentioned that the pausing may be due to a slow 'Net connection, yet my iPad indicates a strong connection. Contradiction!

I did *not* 'speed test' the individual server I'm using. Am I correct that a strong speed test indicates a high data transfer rate between the server and my iPad? I'll do that, maybe tweak to a server that gets me a better 'speed rate.'

As to the video I bought from iTunes store, it's better but still pauses a lot. I'm mystified because to my knowledge, that video is stored on my iPad. I'll contact iTunes support about it.

The WiFi signal strength indicator on your iPad measures the strength of the connection between your iPad and your WiFi router, not the bandwidth of your internet connection. It's entirely possible to have full bars on your WiFi indicator and have no connection to the Internet.

You might want to run that speed test to check the actual strength of your internet connection. The fact that Facebook videos still sometimes pause during playback indicate a low bandwidth connection.

As to the video you bought from iTunes, when you look at the video in your video app, does it have a cloud symbol next to it? If so, that means it's in your iTunes purchased list but not actually downloaded to your iPad. To make sure, go to Settings>General>Usage>Manage Storage>Videos and see if the video appears in the list. If it's not in the list, it's not on your iPad and you're actually streaming it from the Apple servers. Streaming from the cloud could explain the pauses during playback.

 

[Enthusiast]

Thank you, scifan57, for the clarification re: WiFi signal strength indicator. Yes, speed tests are in order! Also, the server I'm using now is 'UDP' rather than 'TCP,' and I think that also makes a difference...

And you are right on again, about the video I bought from iTunes. I'm streaming it from Apple servers. Your help is appreciated!!

 

[twerppoet]

I like Ookla's Speedtest app. Free, if you don't mind the ads.

 

[scifan57]

I like Ookla's Speedtest app. Free, if you don't mind the ads.

That's the same one I use myself.

 

[Enthusiast]

Thank you again, scifan57. I am downloading Ookla now from the App Store. My VPN has a native speed test, too, so I can compare...

Previously, I chose a server based on the ping time and number of people using it... Time to get a bit more technical, I guess! (y)

 

[scifan57]

Thank you again, scifan57. I am downloading Ookla now from the App Store. My VPN has a native speed test, too, so I can compare...

Previously, I chose a server based on the ping time and number of people using it... Time to get a bit more technical, I guess! (y)

Let us know if it helps.

 

[Enthusiast]

I certainly will!!

 

[Enthusiast]

It seems to break down to the geography. The farther data has to travel, the more it will degrade. I want to watch Crackle videos; as has been said, they're geolocked to The States, so I had to configure a server in that country for Crackle access. No problem there now; it's done.

I'm located far from the U.S., which I believe is why Facebook videos would freeze or pause on me, coming from the U.S. based server. So, I configured a couple of servers close to where I am, and now Facebook videos (and local TV) stream fine.

The video I bought from iTunes still pauses, I haven't followed that up yet, but I just wanted to post this in timely manner.