We are so attached to video streaming that we could watch all our programs and news on a streaming channel instead of the traditional television channels. It’s always best to watch and stream movies on your laptop so you can skip the commercials. Unfortunately, streaming services depend on internet quality, hardware acceleration, and other technical laptop factors.
Sometimes the streaming services might get sluggish, leading to undesirable streaming issues, but do you know how to improve video streaming on your laptop? These video-streaming-improvement steps might help overcome the slow and unpleasant streaming.
The 6 Steps of Optimization
1. Disable Windows Video Hardware Acceleration
If your computer has Windows installed, it will have hardware acceleration, which controls programs such as video cards and integrated chips to perform tasks faster.
You can watch your movies on high acceleration with disabled hardware acceleration, and it could improve gaming and the use of advanced graphics programs. However, if your computer slows down and movie streaming becomes an issue, you should consider disabling accelerating the software.
Disabling Windows video hardware might lead to an improvement in the quality of streaming. You can disable Windows acceleration on Windows 10 by deactivating the graphic effects of Windows, which improves video streaming.
You should right-click the start menu on Windows 10, which is at the bottom left on the item system, choose system information, opt for advanced system settings, and tap on the visual effects.
Finally, adjust to the best performance, which gives the minimum outlines of the characters and Windows. Disabling the Windows video hardware acceleration will use the acceleration to the minimum and leaves the graphic resources to the program, which will need to operate adequately.
2. Create a Line Of Sight
Creating a line of sight is choosing the best broadband deal for your internet connection, and it has advantages for video streaming. The line of sight provides an over-the-air internet connection if you live in a building with a clear line of sight of the dedicated mast. You will not need underground cables to achieve the line of sight internet and would be installed quickly.
The internet is highly reliable and is best for online video streaming. The internet uses electromagnetic radio waves and is unlikely to be affected by external forces, is easy to maintain, and gives greater connection. The low latency achieved through a target line ensures the waves travel over a shorter distance, reducing the internet connection’s hops.
3. Disable Your Other Internet Connections
Disabling other internet connections improves your connection when streaming videos online. However, the other devices would be competing for the internet leading to buffering and low-quality video streaming.
The devices would strain the bandwidth, and if the devices are low-powered with little network overhead, it adds additional strain on your network. In addition, unexpected devices from intruders might significantly lower the quality of your bandwidth, leading to a sluggish streaming experience.
4. Stream during Low Activity Times
You can stream during the low activity times if other household members share your internet. However, during busy times the other devices in your home would be affecting your streaming experience as they eat into the bandwidth.
Therefore, the limiting factor to video streaming is mostly internet speed, which is greatly affected by multiple devices sharing the internet simultaneously.
5. Check Your Internet Speeds
When installing home internet, you would be paying a given amount for a given connection speed. Faster internet speeds will cost more than slow, and the speed would affect the video streaming efficiency.
Slow internet speeds might lead to standard video definition. If many family members were using the internet simultaneously, it would be wise to go for a faster internet connection.
You can check the internet speed by yourself at home using different web apps, and you should go for the ones provided by the internet service providers. Your test should take about 30 secs to a minute and uses about 40MB of data.
If you are using a data-based plan through the ISP, you should consider the data used to test the speeds. If you check internet speed using a phone, you need to download apps that can log your speed and track the upload and download speeds.
You can increase your speed by moving your device near the router or access points. However, the further your devices are from the access points, the slower their speeds would be. You may also need to restart the router if the speeds do not improve when moving the device closer to the access point.
For example, you could move your router to the central point in your home where the walls and floors will not obstruct the signal. Finally, you should contact the IPS service providers if you cannot resolve the internet speed issues by yourself.
6. Update Windows
Updating your devices’ Windows might prevent downtime experienced during video streaming. You could temporarily turn off the antivirus and firewall as sometimes having these programs running at the same time would impact the quality of the streaming service.
However, after resolving the issue, you need to turn back the programs to prevent hacking. If the temporary shut-off does not help, you may need to run hardware and device troubleshooting. You can run hardware troubleshooting and updates on the control panel.
Finally, you can update the display players as an outdated and corrupt display might cause issues with the video streaming.
First, you would start your computer on the safe mode, uninstall the current display adapter, and check the drivers. The safe mode starts the computer with limited files, and the Windows would work well; and on the settings button, you would click the update and security tap, which resets the Windows.
Your streaming might be affected by competing devices that use your Wi-Fi bandwidth, and if you are sharing the internet with other family members, one solution would be to use it when others are not online. However, suppose the internet is not an issue for the sluggish video.
In that case, you should consider lowering your streaming resolution, updating your Windows, creating a line of sight, and disabling the Windows video hardware acceleration. Good luck improving the speed of video streaming on your laptop.
