Improve YouTube HD streaming speeds - try this! - Galaxy Tab S Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

This works very well for me, especially with embedded videos:
For Android phone (rooted required), download "AFWall+" from the Store.
Go to Setting > Set Custom Scripts
Enter in these 2 scripts separate by each line.
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -s 206.111.0.0/16 -j REJECT
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -s 173.194.55.0/24 -j REJECT
Press Ok and thats it! Enjoy HD quality videos with no wait time!
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HOW THIS WORKS: http://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/1az6f0/how_to_load_youtube_faster_on_your_phone_or
*Apparently this works by affecting the way your tablet connects to the YouTube servers rather than going through your ISP. It's a direct connection and that is why it is faster. Works very well for me, especially with embedded vidoes in the stock browser. YMMV.

Noticed using the stock or chrome browser to watch www.YouTube.com videos this seems to help a lot. Videos load almost instantly. Even better using dolphin which is terrible at embedded YouTube.

What does it do exactly?

pibach said:
What does it do exactly?
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It is creating a firewall rule that will stop your device from talking to xo communications. IMO this is a bad thing to do as it will break things other then YouTube.

eousphoros said:
It is creating a firewall rule that will stop your device from talking to xo communications. IMO this is a bad thing to do as it will break things other then YouTube.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What other things? I haven't noticed any issues and my YouTube feels faster.

pibach said:
What does it do exactly?
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Click to collapse
Read the linked thread.

mitchellvii said:
What other things? I haven't noticed any issues and my YouTube feels faster.
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Anything that might live in that 65536 IP block.

eousphoros said:
Anything that might live in that 65536 IP block.
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So do I pass on something I benefit from every day just to avoid a mysterious problem I may never experience? Until something important seems broken I'm sticking with this. So far no problems.

And why does it accelerate youtube?
I think before suggesting some hack, it should be understood.

Or get the 1440 update.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...roid-delivers-number-playlist-related-tweaks/

pibach said:
And why does it accelerate youtube?
I think before suggesting some hack, it should be understood.
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That's why I posted the reference link. Did you read it?

DAvid_B said:
Or get the 1440 update.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...roid-delivers-number-playlist-related-tweaks/
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Click to collapse
I don't see any speed tweaks described in that update. As a matter of fact I tried it and videos loaded slower and got buffer lag throughout. Uninstalling.

mitchellvii said:
That's why I posted the reference link. Did you read it?
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Would be good to give a short summary.
"Connecting your YouTube videos straight to Google's servers, instead of getting redirect to cached servers from your Internet Service Providers."
That would mean that the effect should very much depend on your provider.
Also wondering it this is a good ideal at all.
Edit:
here is some better explanation:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/tired-of-buffering-3-ways-to-speed-up-youtube/
"In an effort to preserve bandwidth, some ISPs will throttle bandwidth and download speeds on connections to servers that deliver cached video content, e.g., YouTube. The following command blocks IP addresses on this content delivering network, which forces YouTube to push the actual video straight to you (not the cached version) without any ISP throttling."
That is, the tweak does work only, if your provider does some throttling on youtube videos.

pibach said:
Would be good to give a short summary.
"Connecting your YouTube videos straight to Google's servers, instead of getting redirect to cached servers from your Internet Service Providers."
That would mean that the effect should very much depend on your provider.
Also wondering it this is a good ideal at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That could also be said of flashing any rom. I did this and my YouTube, especially embedded in the stock browser is MUCH faster. Your mileage may vary. If you want to try it try it, if you don't don't. I've been running it for 24 hours now with only positive benefits.

pibach said:
That is, the tweak does work only, if your provider does some throttling on youtube videos.
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There is more to it than that. You also avoid any other overhead involved in getting the cached version from your ISP (which can be significant). In my personal experience, direct is always faster. Just the same as using a Google DNS Nameserver is faster than letting your ISP do that for you.

Probably we could measure download bandwidth and compare?

pibach said:
Probably we could measure download bandwidth and compare?
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Think about it. Which is faster, streaming video content directly from YouTube or streaming content your ISP has downloaded, cached and then streamed to you (with God knows what throttling in place)? Even without throttling that intermediary step will lag the process.
Unless this hack will somehow allow the KGB to take control of your tablet and launch the nukes I don't see how this is a problem.

No, caching does not impose lag per se, since content is static. Though it depends on server speed and throttling.

pibach said:
No, caching does not impose lag per se, since content is static. Though it depends on server speed and throttling.
Click to expand...
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Think about it. Your ISP has to go to the YouTube servers and download the content, cache it then upload it to you. During that time you are subject to all the load on their servers, throttling and god knows what else. On the other hand you can go direct to the YouTube servers yourself and grab the content. Why take the long way around?
If it's faster and causes no specific harm anyone has identified, why not?
Anyway, don't care if you use it or not. Is working great for me as my embedded youtubes are loading much faster.

usually a caching strategy does only revert to local servers, if content is already present. Popular YouTube videos might be downloaded and cached already. That would not imply any overhead, quite the opposite. That's what caching its meant for. In this case however, throttling seems to deteriorate the potential benefits.
I highly appreciate your interesting tweak, just curious to know how it works.

Related

[Q] Any luck with torrent apps?

Was hoping to find something like Torrent Fu.
Anyway I installed uView utorrent and FSSI Torrent 7 on a free trial. Couldn't get either to work. Then looked at uController but it needs some .net 4 program on my PC to work.
What the hell is going on. I'm not cheap. I will pay £1.99 for a torrent app that works with isohunt.com. Please help.
What about Torrent Remote and Torrential.
Maybe it's my fault.
In uView settings - Your Torrent host I entered my IP address.
Sorry everyone. Its midnight here in London.
I was running utorrent 2.0.4. Normally it updates itself on startup. But this time it didn't update to 2.2. Got 2.2 now. Everything fine.
BTW what torrent app do you like?
Ogner said:
Sorry everyone. Its midnight here in London.
I was running utorrent 2.0.4. Normally it updates itself on startup. But this time it didn't update to 2.2. Got 2.2 now. Everything fine.
BTW what torrent app do you like?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely uController. The service running on your PC makes it stand out above the others.
The service for uController is there to provide additional information above and beyond what you'd normally get with the uTorrent webUI.
Namely 'live' tile updates that show how many torrents are currently downloading (in the current build); and
A toast notification whenever a new torrent is added. You can restrict this this so it doesn't ding between certain hours (in the development build).
Admittedly being the developer of uController, I'm biased, but I think those two things make installing a small service on your PC an acceptable proposition.
uController doesn't allow the addition of torrents right now, but it's already implemented in development (via RSS feeds).
dgaust said:
The service for uController is there to provide additional information above and beyond what you'd normally get with the uTorrent webUI.
Namely 'live' tile updates that show how many torrents are currently downloading (in the current build); and
A toast notification whenever a new torrent is added. You can restrict this this so it doesn't ding between certain hours (in the development build).
Admittedly being the developer of uController, I'm biased, but I think those two things make installing a small service on your PC an acceptable proposition.
uController doesn't allow the addition of torrents right now, but it's already implemented in development (via RSS feeds).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you just make a Fu Torrent clone? No PC software to install. Stop, remove, and pause of torrents. Search torrents available from Isohunt and TPB within the app. And of course add torrents.
This is all I'm asking for. But I'm willing to pay good money to someone who can deliver.
Ogner said:
Can you just make a Fu Torrent clone? No PC software to install. Stop, remove, and pause of torrents. Search torrents available from Isohunt and TPB within the app. And of course add torrents.
This is all I'm asking for. But I'm willing to pay good money to someone who can deliver.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, i won't be doing it. I built this for my own uses, so I build it to suit my needs.
There are 3 other apps that might suit your needs.
I thought they said the microsoft was going to allow torrent apps in wp7. Only apps allowed would be allowed to view your torrents, but not add new ones.
+1 for uController, the live tile works well and the service running on your main torrent pc isn't a big deal.
Looking forward to the update that will allow the adding of torrents from rss feeds. A question for the developer: does this mean you can view the rss feed and select the torrents you want? Is it the service app or the device app downloading the torrent?
Oh yeah, and two small cosmetic things; when you run the app the "connecting to xxx.xxx" message at the top is overlapping the uController title (it looks a little untidy), and the app doesn't remember which group of torrents you were looking at last time you ran the app (ie downloading, or seeding, or what have you), it always reverts to All Torrents (which is a bit slow when you have a lot of torrents).
Great so far though, you wouldn't know how often the other torrent apps are going to get updated but this one is on version 1.2 already.
wheresmybeaver said:
+1 for uController, the live tile works well and the service running on your main torrent pc isn't a big deal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the comment
wheresmybeaver said:
Looking forward to the update that will allow the adding of torrents from rss feeds. A question for the developer: does this mean you can view the rss feed and select the torrents you want? Is it the service app or the device app downloading the torrent?
Click to expand...
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You view the RSS feed on the device, but the downloading is done on your PC. Nothing is downloaded on the device (given how small the storage is on some of them, and no background apps, it would be virtaully impossible anyway).
wheresmybeaver said:
Oh yeah, and two small cosmetic things; when you run the app the "connecting to xxx.xxx" message at the top is overlapping the uController title (it looks a little untidy),
Click to expand...
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Yeah, I know. It is designed to mirror other apps that have the loading information across the top of the page, even if it overlaps with other information. Using the light theme it works better as it has a background tint... I might move it centrally like I have done with the RSS feed progress bars.
wheresmybeaver said:
and the app doesn't remember which group of torrents you were looking at last time you ran the app (ie downloading, or seeding, or what have you), it always reverts to All Torrents (which is a bit slow when you have a lot of torrents).
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I haven't really thought about doing that, but I can add it as an option.
Great so far though, you wouldn't know how often the other torrent apps are going to get updated but this one is on version 1.2 already.[/QUOTE]
Thanks.
v1.3 has hit the market place, you should see the update available soon. The major additions are the ability to add torrents and push notifications when a new torrent is added.
I relation to your enhancements.
wheresmybeaver said:
Oh yeah, and two small cosmetic things; when you run the app the "connecting to xxx.xxx" message at the top is overlapping the uController title (it looks a little untidy),
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tidied this up a bit by adding some chrome background to the text. I tried it in the middle of the page, but it looked worse. The chrome helps the untidiness I think.
wheresmybeaver said:
and the app doesn't remember which group of torrents you were looking at last time you ran the app (ie downloading, or seeding, or what have you), it always reverts to All Torrents (which is a bit slow when you have a lot of torrents).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I added this in, however there was some weird behaviour happening. It would work well on the All, Downloading and Paused pivots but would crash out with the stopped and seeding pivots. There is no obvious reason for it, so I had to take it out to do the release.
I'll try to nut it out.
wheresmybeaver said:
Great so far though, you wouldn't know how often the other torrent apps are going to get updated but this one is on version 1.2 already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.4 was submitted this morning, but it's only a minor release that improves tombstoning support.
dgaust said:
v1.3 has hit the market place, you should see the update available soon. The major additions are the ability to add torrents and push notifications when a new torrent is added.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Grabbed the 1.3 update this morning and have been trying it out over lunch. I added some TV Show RSS feeds to the service app this morning before heading out, and I am happy to report that I can see these RSS feeds on my handset and add the torrents that I want from the feed. Works perfectly. I have also been able to set an upload limit for my torrents, great! If I can add one tiny suggestion, that each torrent in the RSS feed might also show the date it was added to the feed? Just in case I end up downloading an episode from a previous week if there was no new episode this week... or would it even be possible to have a * or some other indicator beside a feed that has a new torrent available? thanks
dgaust said:
I relation to your enhancements.
I've tidied this up a bit by adding some chrome background to the text. I tried it in the middle of the page, but it looked worse. The chrome helps the untidiness I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That looks much tidier indeed thanks! and the "loading torrents" dialogue is a great addition (it was tricky in previous releases to know if the app was busy or not)
dgaust said:
I added this in, however there was some weird behaviour happening. It would work well on the All, Downloading and Paused pivots but would crash out with the stopped and seeding pivots. There is no obvious reason for it, so I had to take it out to do the release.
I'll try to nut it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers for giving it a go, but actually this update makes torrents appear much faster at launch, so remembering the previous pivot isn't as much of a big deal IMO?
dgaust said:
1.4 was submitted this morning, but it's only a minor release that improves tombstoning support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.3 was a fantastic update thanks! But the toast notification for new torrents being added: how does this work? Does the RSS feature automatically add new torrents from the RSS feeds you've used previously and then send a notification?
By the way, I've rated the app on the marketplace but it looks like the marketplace reviews are segmented between regions. I'm in Ireland so there are only about a dozen ratings across the entire Marketplace! Bit of a bummer really since it's not possible to see rating and reviews from other regions.
wheresmybeaver said:
If I can add one tiny suggestion, that each torrent in the RSS feed might also show the date it was added to the feed?
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Click to collapse
Shouldn't be a problem to add the date. The feed should contain that information already, it's just a matter of putting it into the UI.
edit: Done.
wheresmybeaver said:
1.3 was a fantastic update thanks! But the toast notification for new torrents being added: how does this work? Does the RSS feature automatically add new torrents from the RSS feeds you've used previously and then send a notification?
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Nice to hear. Basically it just works for any torrent added during the time period. It's mainly designed to capture torrents automatically added via the RSS function built into uTorrent. It doesn't use the feeds you've added into the client.
wheresmybeaver said:
By the way, I've rated the app on the marketplace but it looks like the marketplace reviews are segmented between regions. I'm in Ireland so there are only about a dozen ratings across the entire Marketplace! Bit of a bummer really since it's not possible to see rating and reviews from other regions.
Click to expand...
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Thanks for the rating... there's only been two so far, so if you are lijuen it's shown up,
dgaust said:
Sorry, i won't be doing it. I built this for my own uses, so I build it to suit my needs.
There are 3 other apps that might suit your needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then can you provide clear instructions on how to use it as I can't get it to connect.
Do I configure my WebGUI in utorrent as well or what?
lekki said:
Then can you provide clear instructions on how to use it as I can't get it to connect.
Do I configure my WebGUI in utorrent as well or what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To get started, you really need to know how webUI in uTorrent works.
In essence, if you can get uTorrent and WebUI set up to the extent that you are able to:
(a) Access WebUI from any other computer on your home network
(b) Access WebUI from a computer outside your network via an external IP address. ie from your mobile phone, or a computer at work
...then you will have no trouble setting up uController. Bear in mind that all the uTorrent remote access apps on the marketplace will require that you can configure and setup WebUI. See this for instructions on getting set up.
Once that's done, and you can definitely connect to webUI, follow the instructions pdf for uController here and you'll be grand.
lekki said:
Then can you provide clear instructions on how to use it as I can't get it to connect.
Do I configure my WebGUI in utorrent as well or what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the service connects to the WebUI so it needs to be set up. Instructions are available and linked in the post above.
The pdf needs to be updated to take into account the features added since release, but the setup should be adequately explained. If you're having any specific problems, let me know.
So we have some torrent apps... that says something about Marketplace approval and copywright issues. So where are the emulators?

Bad ad sites make this site look bad

ad4.netshelter.net
Takes forever to load, and no XDA content loads while waiting.
This is poor web design.
Please revise XDA so that site content loads BEFORE advertiser content.
MintJulep said:
ad4.netshelter.net
Takes forever to load, and no XDA content loads while waiting.
This is poor web design.
Please revise XDA so that site content loads BEFORE advertiser content.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are there any ads in particular that are taking a particularly long time to load? Please provide a screenshot if so. We hate ads that slow down the site too!
Theres a lot more flash that usual. Small price to pay, I figure. Im not exactly on the top donations list. Quality versus quantity is the point, I think.
No specific ads
The XDA page header loads.
Then beige nothingness for about 30 seconds or so while "connecting to ad4.netshelter.net".
I assume something eventually times out, and the rest of the page loads.
MintJulep said:
The XDA page header loads.
Then beige nothingness for about 30 seconds or so while "connecting to ad4.netshelter.net".
I assume something eventually times out, and the rest of the page loads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thirty seconds is very long! Where are you located? Also, please benchmark your bandwidth at speedtest.net and paste the graphic result here.
I'm also experiencing this! I'm located in the Netherlands with Ziggo as provider. Sometimes about 30 seconds is correct. I'm also getting this a lot with media.xda-developers.com and pubads.g.doubleclick.net.
This is not always the case btw. Also it's not my internet connection because every other site loads just fine. Also the connection is 120/10 Mbit.
I'm using an Android tablet to access the forums and the Best Buy adds are making the site extremely annoying to use. I have to click on the add since I don't have flash automatically loading them, then I have to click on the "x" to close the add. It didn't use to be this bad but now it is happening on almost every page.
Yeah, Im getting tired of the ads all over the site. I am REEEEEAAALLLYY tired of the ones that are popping up from the bottom and block the forum until I click on the X to close. Now some dont even have that close option.
Right now its that stupid best buy buy back program ad.
As a donator I think they really need to go XDA.
You can disable the shockwave flash object in your internet settings, but then you still have this stupid box with a red X that floats around the middle of the page because it cant load.
If the mods need it, here is the (shortened) link for that ad....http://dcom.me/cD9wm
We hear you guys and are working on getting the annoying Best Buy ads disabled. It's a constant battle between paying the bills and not annoying users. We do our best to err on the side of not annoying the users, but sometimes we make mistakes. Thanks for understanding.
I don't mind ads, but the best buy ad at the bottom of the page is horrible. It actually keeps the area at the bottom of the screen from being "clickable", even when you close the ad.
skullvet said:
I don't mind ads, but the best buy ad at the bottom of the page is horrible. It actually keeps the area at the bottom of the screen from being "clickable", even when you close the ad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
I understand the ads, and I'll click on them every once and awhile to help out, but that best buy one is very aggravating.
i agree with this! i feel as if we could make the ads on this site load alot more conveniently.
I notice that the Best Buy ad at the bottom is gone, thank you!
I don't mind the ads but that Best Buy ad was seriously driving me insane! lol Thank you!
Best Buy ad should be officially removed. Let me know if it anyone sees it.
Thx!
svetius said:
Best Buy ad should be officially removed. Let me know if it anyone sees it.
Thx!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much. I understand the adds, you have to make money. That add at the bottom made it to hard to use the site, and i actually installed an adblocker just for it today. Now i have disabled it.
svetius said:
Best Buy ad should be officially removed. Let me know if it anyone sees it.
Thx!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much! All is well again.
A prime example of the damage that one bad ad and/or one slow ad delivery server can cause. I wonder how many people downloaded AdFree or AdBlock Plus or added a line into their hosts file tonight all because of a lousy Best Buy ad and a slow server halting progress on the page.
Is there any procedure in place for vetting new ads before they are served to this site? I get that the idea of an ad server is to exist in the background so that publishers can focus on the content, but is there any way to specify formats, types, and other parameters of the ads served here? If NetShelter was serving that Best Buy ad to all its tech publishers, there were probably a lot of pissed off users tonight across the network.
ZachPA said:
A prime example of the damage that one bad ad and/or one slow ad delivery server can cause. I wonder how many people downloaded AdFree or AdBlock Plus or added a line into their hosts file tonight all because of a lousy Best Buy ad and a slow server halting progress on the page.
Is there any procedure in place for vetting new ads before they are served to this site? I get that the idea of an ad server is to exist in the background so that publishers can focus on the content, but is there any way to specify formats, types, and other parameters of the ads served here? If NetShelter was serving that Best Buy ad to all its tech publishers, there were probably a lot of pissed off users tonight across the network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Often it's hard to control the adverts you see on a site.
I use ad blockers on a number of sites, but more for giving me a "stripped down" experience on slow loading sites...
There is usually little control over what adverts you show, since it is the ad agency that does the placement of the adverts, and you use code that "includes" whatever advert they choose.
When it comes down to it, if needed, the code can simply be removed, which is what I believe was done in this case.
I have only worked with ad solutions that give me fixed control over the parameters and appearance of the adverts, so I don't know how this one worked.
I use AdBlock Plus and ad blocker add on for Firefox. They work great and block 99% of pop ups.

Weird Download Hours After Getting the OTA

So, I just OTAed to 4.2 and, a short while later, I noticed a small spike in my traffic graphs at home. Looking at this further, my GN just slowly downloaded a ~280MB file from Google. What this is, I don’t know, but I’ll try to have a look at my logcat in a bit. Anyone else seeing this strangeness? Here’s proof from my NetFlow collector at home (GN address has been obfuscated using an RFC 5737 address and, yes, I’m a geek):
Code:
Top 20 flows ordered by bytes:
Date flow start Duration Proto Src IP Addr:Port Dst IP Addr:Port Packets Bytes Flows
2012-11-20 23:32:18.285 1258.000 TCP 173.194.55.175:80 -> 192.0.2.1:54697 187760 279.9 M 1
BinkXDA said:
So, I just OTAed to 4.2 and, a short while later, I noticed a small spike in my traffic graphs at home. Looking at this further, my GN just slowly downloaded a ~280MB file from Google. What this is, I don’t know, but I’ll try to have a look at my logcat in a bit. Anyone else seeing this strangeness? Here’s proof from my NetFlow collector at home (GN address has been obfuscated using an RFC 5737 address and, yes, I’m a geek):
Code:
Top 20 flows ordered by bytes:
Date flow start Duration Proto Src IP Addr:Port Dst IP Addr:Port Packets Bytes Flows
2012-11-20 23:32:18.285 1258.000 TCP 173.194.55.175:80 -> 192.0.2.1:54697 187760 279.9 M 1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was it thru wifi? Or 3g?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
negrobembon said:
Was it thru wifi? Or 3g?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was via Wi-Fi. I reviewed my logcat and couldn't find anything related to this. If someone could give me a hint as to where or what to look for further, I'd gladly do so.
BinkXDA said:
It was via Wi-Fi. I reviewed my logcat and couldn't find anything related to this. If someone could give me a hint as to where or what to look for further, I'd gladly do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and did your phone rebooted after that? could it be that google is pushing fixes and testing them with us takju users?
moisesgl said:
and did your phone rebooted after that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope.
moisesgl said:
could it be that google is pushing fixes and testing them with us takju users?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps, but I see no sign of this.
YouTube subscribed feeds?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Soldier 2.0 said:
YouTube subscribed feeds?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hrm. I think you have hit this one on the head. Looking at the storage of my phone, it does show YouTube using 280MB. That said, my Preloading settings for YouTube do not have subscriptions checked, but watch later is—and, while I’ve never knowingly added anything to watch later, it appears there were a few videos in there from long ago. I’ve since emptied my watch later queue—and I’ll see if this reduces the amount of space YouTube uses. So I think this might be the culprit—and I’ll report back—but it is a bit curious that this only happened after the 4.2 update (perhaps this storage is purged on OS updates?).

[Q] FireTV Stick: No Internet, No Anything?

My DSL is down, now I have nothing on my Home screen; is this expected? I thought I would still be able to access "local" apps like Plex, but I have nothing.
Indeed - you do.
(I'm not supporting any Plex related requests. People who depend on Plex, for me are lost. Someone else point him/her to how to use a second launcher in parallel.)
I already understand Plex, and I have played around with other launchers on the Stick I just happen to like the stock launcher. Kind of disappointing that stock use of the stick is dead without internet access.
Thanks for the feedback.
If no one else is stepping up, I guess I have to. Not because of the (very slight) passive aggressive note in your response.
"Already understanding Plex" is just another way of saying "I dont even want to learn something different".
Complaining about Amazons design decisions, especially those that are supporting their business model (the value of "always on" to them) is entirely futile. Much more so when you are complaining in here (not many PR guys at the dance).
And the solution for your problem would be to use FIrestarter (just one sub forum away).
Just dont use Plex if you can avoid it. They have made political decisions based on catering to the lowest common denominator of user expertise, which dont make sense from any other standpoint. And they catered to content provider interests in providing them a way to impose platform specific rights management. They are the flag bearers of a world we are trying to avoid. Where perceived convenience wins by default. Every time. Regardless. And they are exploiting Kodis open source base to be able to do it.
Also, their only claim to fame was to be able to circumvent a rights management issue on Apple devices, by throwing computational cycles (transcode your entire library!) at it. Thats a faulty business model that only can exist, because people are making uninformed buying decision, and then start caring later.
Wow, ok, so you hate Plex. Forget about Plex for a minute, his complaint is still valid. No internet = no home screen = no access to anything. Substitute "local games" or XBMC or any of several other apps that don't require internet access for Plex. Call it a design flaw or intended behavior, it doesn't do us any good. He also wasn't originally complaining, just asking if that's the way it works.
On a positive note, I didn't know there were replacement launchers that didn't require root (I haven't been following those kinds of things), but since you mentioned it I had to check. I may look into it and give it a try when I have more time.
Firestarter works. I tried it the day I read your question, setting up a blocking rule for the Fire TV on my router. You should be satisfied - when you get to testing it out.
Also, if I get people to show a little initiative - like you posting, that this is indeed a solution for non rooted devices and not waiting until someone explains the solutions to you, its worth it.
Also, as far as Plex is concerned, this is an opportunity for me to stress, why people shouldnt be using it, and that there are conditions which Plex was willing to satisfy to get listed in the Amazon store, that are harmful to consumer rights. Part of the price for me to get involved, is to get some of you in touch with a little bit of the ideology behind those projects.
To complain that amazon is doing certain things is not the end of evolution, when you could (and maybe should) also understand, why they are doing certain things.
Have fun.
h.
Ideology (and going way off topic) aside, Plex generally works well. I prefer XBMC for the most part, but Plex does have some advantages and can do things XBMC or others can't. Plex can be installed right from the store, XBMC has to be side-loaded. Plex runs on Roku, XBMC just doesn't (blocked by Roku, not a technical issue). Nothing gets transcoded by my Plex server for local playback, but if I want remote access to my media where streaming speed or device limitations require transcoding it just works. I also share my videos with a friend as well as watch videos he has. You can hate the hows and whys of what Plex does, but depending on your needs Plex is still a good product.
All that said, let me be completely honest. Other than not allowing gray area or blatant piracy type add-ons, I'm not aware of any harmful consumer rights practices. What else are they doing that I should be concerned about?
Is it still possible to use the fire TV without internet connection?
Zeepolar said:
Is it still possible to use the fire TV without internet connection?
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Click to collapse
Of course !
Zeepolar said:
Is it still possible to use the fire TV without internet connection?
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Click to collapse
Just have AppStarter installed. And use it to access apps offline.

Nexus 5x Chrome Lag ProTip

Here's a tip that I discovered recently to combat some pretty lame browser lag in Chrome and Chromer. Enter Chrome --> Settings --> Site Settings --> Change Javascript to "blocked".
I've yet to notice missing features on any web sites and everything now scrolls like butter.
Good luck!
Good luck browsing anything that uses Javascript. Java sucks in general, and JS will always be slow-ish, especially when mobile browsing but it's a pretty big part of the web and blocking it will, at some point, cause things to not behave or display correctly. A lot of websites use JS, Kendo (JS-based w/ HTML5), etc to display content on web pages now instead of strictly relying on CSS (kind of a nightmare when it comes to cross-browser compatibility).
Alcolawl said:
Good luck browsing anything that uses Javascript. Java sucks in general, and JS will always be slow-ish, especially when mobile browsing but it's a pretty big part of the web and blocking it will, at some point, cause things to not behave or display correctly. A lot of websites use JS, Kendo (JS-based w/ HTML5), etc to display content on web pages now instead of strictly relying on CSS (kind of a nightmare when it comes to cross-browser compatibility).
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what major websites still use JS to a significant extent to cause issues in your experience?
2x4 said:
what major websites still use JS to a significant extent to cause issues in your experience?
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Facebook stands out as an immediate one.
Alcolawl said:
Facebook stands out as an immediate one.
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well, since i use FB on my browser to avoid using the app, that's a huge one for me and I definitely can't disable JS. Thanks!
Only been doing this for a few days but here's what I've found. I'd say about 5% of websites have been affected thus far, and it takes about 3 clicks to put them as "exceptions" in the Java settings and you never have to worry about them again. YouTube links don't play in browser but the YouTube app draws over, which is a better user experience anyway. Willing to tinker with it for smooth scrolling the rest of the time.
I don't know about lag fix, but disabling Java definitely improved Chrome's battery use...significantly.
Big ZD said:
I don't know about lag fix, but disabling Java definitely improved Chrome's battery use...significantly.
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I've found the same. Alcolawl is right that there are some sites that don't function without it, and I've been adding them to the exceptions list so Java will automatically work when I browse to those. The overall smoothness has improved a ton, however.
Moonboots said:
I've found the same. Alcolawl is right that there are some sites that don't function without it, and I've been adding them to the exceptions list so Java will automatically work when I browse to those. The overall smoothness has improved a ton, however.
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what are some of the sites you've been adding to exceptions?
2x4 said:
what are some of the sites you've been adding to exceptions?
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Thus far, I've found that Forbes won't let you get past their splash page without JS enabled. A few local news station sites were having trouble. The sports blog SB Nation. Stub Hub. That's all I've found so far and everything else has been working smoothly with it turned off.
2x4 said:
what are some of the sites you've been adding to exceptions?
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Most any shopping site (target, best buy, home depot, etc.)
Also, disquss utilizes Java.

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