Pixelization on flash stream load

Report · Oct 11, 2010

I have noticed in the last week or so that on loading a live stream in a flash player, there is some strange pixelization that occurs for the first 1-2 seconds, which then dissapears and teh stream coninues as normal.

An example stream is the BBC Commonwealth Games live stream

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/default.stm

h264 streams seem to have a less pronounced pixelization of the stream, on2 vp6 streams are much more scrambled

I have tried rolling back flash player from 10.1.85.3 to to 10.0.45.2 and the problem is still there, I have also tried on different PCs with the same results

Has anyone else seen this or have any ideas what it may be?

Thanks,

Van

Report · Oct 12, 2010

Hi, you might take a look at this thread:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2952845#2952845

In addition this link has the info on hardware acceleration:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/help01.html

See if that is helpful and if not, post back.

Thanks,

eidnolb

Report · Oct 13, 2010

Hi eidnolb,

Thanks for responding - I have turned off hardware acceleration and the result is the same

In my case, the issue is only present on Live streams and does not appear on any VOD

The distortion / pixelation / artifacts are slightly different depending on the codec

Here are some screenshots:

h264 stream:

VP6 stream:

Here is a screen shot of the issue appearing on the BBC player:

It is happening over various sites, with both Windows and Mac, on different flash player versions (have tried 10.1.85.3, 10.0.45.2 and 9.0.277.0), and only began happening 1-2 weeks ago. This could co-incide with the release and install of 10.1.85.3, but I'm not convinced of that as the issue is still there after uninstalling and trying older versions of flash

It is also happening outside of Flash player in a browser - below is a screenshot of the issue playing a stream with Applian FLV player:

eidnolb - do you see the same distortion / pixelation / artifacts on the BBC live player: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/commonwealth_games/delhi_2010/default.stm

Has anyone else seen this issue lately with live flash streams?

Thanks all,

Van

Report · Oct 14, 2010

Hi Van75, I did try those links and don't appear to have any problem. Now take a look at this thread. Only Post#10, 11 and 12 would apply to your problem. http://forums.adobe.com/message/2970532#2970532

Hope that helps,

Thanks,

eidnolb

Report · Oct 15, 2010

Hi eidnolb,

This did not work - when I turned off "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" in my Global Settings I was no longer to see many streams, eg BBC

When I turned this back on again, I could play the stream but the artifacts/distortion continued

Another thing I have noticed on the artifacts/distortion/pixelation -the video "pixelated / superimposed" on the live feed is the first few frames played at an earlier period. Each time the page is refreshed, the same video is "pixelated / superimposed" on the live feed

Could it be some kind of cache / buffer issue?

Are you able to see the BBC News feed?

You may not be able to if you are not in the UK. Here is the URL of BBC News 24: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10318089

Many thanks for your help and suggestions thus far

Van

Report · Oct 15, 2010

Hi, I think we need to have your Operating system info on the PC. Also what version of browsers you use.

Also is the PC a 64bit system? I think we need to check the Flash files that are Installed. So post that info back. Also, what Anti-Virus program do you use?

I'm in the U.S. so can't view the UK link you gave.

Something is conflicting that is clear.

Now when the hardware acceleration is turned off, it is also recommended to update the graphic and video drivers to the latest versions. Whether that would apply to you I don't know.

On the Global 3rd party settings, many sites require it to be turned on, the BBC sites included.

On the cache, yes clearing the Temp files and cookies through the IE>Internet Options need to be done.

Thanks,

eidnolb

Report · Oct 18, 2010

Hi eidnolb,

I'm quite convinced it is not related to my computer, and quite conviced it is not related to browser

I have tested on Windows XP (several different machines at several sites), Windows 7, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Mac OS X Panther

I have tested on IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari

All have different Antivirus. All 32bit

The issue is identical regardless of the OS / browser / antivirus

I think you will need to actually see it happening yourself, so I will find a link to send you

Thanks,

David

Report · Oct 18, 2010

Here is another site that should not be blocked based on geo location:

http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/

After the advertisement plays there is picture distortion on stream load:

It does not happen every time, but many times. You may need to do a page refresh (and play through the ad again) a few times to see the issue

On my Windows XP 32bit PC I have seen this on IE, Firefox, Chrome, Opera

I have just tested on a different XP PC using IE and it did not do it on the first 4 times, but did on the 5th time

Can you (and any others) give this stream a few plays to see if they see the issue?

Thanks,

Van