So I did a little testing and found out that changing quality on the MLG player has a strange correlation to the bandwidth consumed.
Take a look at this:
What I conclude from this: - The player basically loads every quality you have switched to - Because the player starts on medium, low quality is useless
The only way to watch Ultra or High without loading medium is to watch in an embedded player (not on the MLG site), after you change the quality and enter your voucher medium is not being loaded, so you have to clear the cache everytime you want to switch streams.
This may not be a big deal for most individuals, because I'm guessing the average viewer has enough bandwidth to watch Ultra + Medium at least twice, but this could be a big waste on MLG's part. Could be trouble for people watching on their phones/tablets as well.
Maybe some tech guru could take a look at this.
Edit: people say this is a Firefox issue and does not happen in Chrome, I cannot confirm this, similar results with latest Firefox and Chrome for me on win flash player 10,3,183,10.
I think you should take this to MLG, and you will have to measure the bandwidth use after clearing the cache/embedded player for high/ultra/low to make it indisputable.
So, me watching ultra on red and blue on two screens and crashing my stream, it has a reason? Nice find indeed, ive been at one screen all day without any problems though ^^
On October 17 2011 02:52 slicknav wrote: I guess this explains the lag I've been having. Is there a way to fix this?
As mentioned, if you have enough bandwidth to watch High (about 2 mbit) but not High + Medium, you have to clear your cache or start private browsing and watch in an embedded player (like on TL), after you switch to High and enter your voucher, only High is loading.
On October 17 2011 02:56 kwaky wrote: Hey I'm curious what program is this?
ye... it's so huge different from twitch.tv for example, I could easily play sc2 with 2 streams up on 720 on twitch, but two mid quality from mlg stream just take most of my internet.
This is scaring me, because I actually have a 200GB/month capped plan, and I'm already at 133GB left with 26 days remaining. Someone should report this to MLG.
Interesting find indeed, as well as that this is only a problem pertaining to Firefox, as I am a Firefox user. Maybe I'll have to dig up that IE and try watching the streams using it
On October 17 2011 03:18 NeThZOR wrote: Interesting find indeed, as well as that this is only a problem pertaining to Firefox, as I am a Firefox user. Maybe I'll have to dig up that IE and try watching the streams using it
I'm not able two get 2 streams on mid quality running without lags and I have 3mbit (not much, but I can open 2 720p streams on twitch just fine). And mid quality is not even equal to the 480 option on other stream sites.
This may not be a big deal for most individuals, because I'm guessing the average viewer has enough bandwidth to watch Ultra + Medium at least twice
Wish this applied to me. I haven't watched this MLG but every previous one I've watched I couldn't even watch one stream on medium without slight buffering. Watching on low was the only way for it to not skip.
Is this why it lags sometimes if I switch qualities but when I refresh the page it doesn't lag any more? It seems different from what you are saying but still it's pretty similar.
MLG needs to do alot of work on their player. The volume function does not even work for me. If the stream starts on 0%, I cannot turn the volume on without setting it to 100% and refreshing the stream. It's really annoying actually after 3 or 4 MLG's this problem has stayed consistent and has not been fixed.
Ontop of that, there's huge problems when I watch MLG on my other computer which uses Adblock. It's the computer which is across my room attached to my TV (Liek a HTPC but old gaming PC) and I have to refresh it every time they play an ad. Like really MLG?
I noticed that too. I got a net meter on my desktop which is what made me recognize it.
Even switching between red and blue stream in ultra quality adds up for me. After 3-4 switches i need to restart the whole page to get rid of that. Bandwith used is up to 1.5 MB/s. Should be around 0.5 MB/s for the ultra stream.
On October 17 2011 04:36 moltenlead wrote: Yeah, my limits are brutal courtesy of Canada's telecom oligopoly, and this doesn't help T_T
More like central & eastern canada. I get a ridiculously good deal from shaw. I have access to 250down. Dont speak for all of Canada. Not our fault you have not put more pressure on your telecomm companies and provincial government to improve their service.
50down 2.7up, $30 a month with 400gb limit from shaw.
I was also going make a post about this, and I have some additional about it.
This problem also happens a lot when you are watching vod and switch vods. So if I pick a vod, switch to ultra, pick another vod, switch to ultra, pick a third vod, switch to ultra, I will no longer be able to watch because it lags to lack of bandwidth.
This doesn't explain the black stream when watching quad view or does it?
I have separate now and no problems but when watching quad view one stream always goes black for a while, which causing me to refresh whole quad view and missing lots of seconds.
I can confirm that this makes sense. I have been wondering all 3 days why in the quad view if I switch a stream back down to medium and another stream up to ultra then the streams freeze and I have to refresh. That the bandwidth isn't going back down is most likely why.
On another note MLG needs to increase the amount of outgoing bandwidth for the quad viewer. I know that my internet has more bandwidth than they require for 2 Ultra streams (speedtest.net says I have 100Mb/s) but I cannot actually load two ultra streams (which they say requires 6Mb/s.)
Load viewer, defaults to medium resolution. Switch to ultra. In windows Resource Monitor, TCP Connections, I found two chrome processes both talking to the same remote address. One taking ~370kbps, one taking ~150kpbs(? - didn't write this down so from memory). Opened windows firewall and created a custom rule to block the medium resolution stream by the local port that it was connected to.
This worked, but I haven't reloaded the browser. I fear the local ports used will be randomish, so you would have to remake these rules every time you switch around.
ETA: Is there a network GUI for windows that you can look at the TCP connections like in Resource Monitor, and block connections just by clicking them?
never ever gonna buy again gold or silver membership. Cannot watch a single stream on High or Ultra quality. when trying to switch quality it just keeps loading FOREVER with all browsers and with 7mbit DL. no more mlg memberships for me. they even ignored my last nights support question. Unprofessionals on that section ( as we can remember from the first mlg ) as always.
On October 17 2011 05:37 StavrosHL wrote: never ever gonna buy again gold or silver membership. Cannot watch a single stream on High or Ultra quality. when trying to switch quality it just keeps loading FOREVER with all browsers and with 7mbit DL. no more mlg memberships for me. they even ignored my last nights support question. Unprofessionals on that section ( as we can remember from the first mlg ) as always.
use the quad view. Press refresh every time. Works great for me, sorry your internet sucks.
I think i speak on behalf of all my fellow australians when i say this is a bullshit situation and needs to be looked at asafp.
for any who dont know, australian internet is capped to a certain limit every month, meaning that u pay x amount of dollars a month for x amount of GB data. once x amount of bandwidth is consumed, internet speed is shaped down (to around 64 kbps) until the next month when it is refreshed again.
so to top that off with the fact that an aussie who wants to watch mlg live has to be awake between 12am and 8am to watch. Id say we have an issue at hand
I've been unable to watch MLG entirely. I opened the stream (default medium), it lagged. Switched to low, still lagged. Turned it off. This happened on at least 2 occasions. This would explain it I suppose.
MLG's streams consumes way too much bandwidth in general. I can watch the NASL at 1080p lag free. But if I load up ULTRA on just one stream, it lags for the MLG.
Yeah I noticed this too, changing stream quality still sends the previous quality and the new quality which is especially problematic on quad view where I want to watch one in high quality and the other less important streams on medium.
On October 17 2011 06:51 echO [W] wrote: MLG's streams consumes way too much bandwidth in general. I can watch the NASL at 1080p lag free. But if I load up ULTRA on just one stream, it lags for the MLG.
Yeah I think the streams take bandwidth even when paused so I can only watch ultra with only one tab open without lag.
Interesting, I guess that's why my Firefox has consumed 11GB of bandwidth since 3pm today then? Although, having the stream on Ultra for 8hours straight was probably not the best idea
I msged MLG_Lee about this yesterday and got a response, they are aware of it.
Basically their stream has a really high bitrate but they are using a spatial soften that is destroying the image quality on the RED and BLUE streams. It is not set as high / Not present on the white and black streams if you look at them in ultra.
And as far as the wasted bandwidth goes. I think when you open the player and it defaults to medium quality, then change it to a different settings the player keeps buffering the medium quality as if you were watching a vod. You'll notice this happen if you rewind as well.
On October 17 2011 04:28 Phayze wrote: MLG needs to do alot of work on their player. The volume function does not even work for me. If the stream starts on 0%, I cannot turn the volume on without setting it to 100% and refreshing the stream.
It happens to me from time to time as well. What I do is select a volume in between 0-100% and the sound returns. I don't have the need to refresh the page.
On October 17 2011 07:30 jalstar wrote: Quad view in Firefox with all four on medium doesn't lag much, any other setup lags every few seconds.
Don't get it at all.
Quad view all Ultra in Chrome doesn't lag at all. Fix your internet/setup? It seems whoever has problems is pretty arbitrary.
5 Mbps internet. It does seem pretty arbitrary though.
Yeah I have 5.5mbps down. I know it's relatively slow, but that's all I can get. I can normally watch 2-3 720p JTV streams. I know it all depends on bitrate, but given the quality and the lag I get. IMHO there is room for improvement.
EPT![[image loading]](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/831/mlgbandwidth.jpg/)
Nice find indeed, ive been at one screen all day without any problems though ^^
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/4HANA.png)
![[image loading]](http://speedtest.net/result/1538699975.png)
