i'm sorry you feel that way but i don't think this is fair. we've been trying hard to be about as open as we can with the changes we make and the reasons behind them. that said, we've been telling users that HD on vimeo will be an ongoing experiment from day one. we've made a lot of tweaks over time and continue to spend significant amount of time and dev resources to support this project. we also roll out number of other changes to the live site on daily if not hourly basis. i think it's unfair to expect us to communicate in details about everything.

Hi Ivan, thanks for your Feedback.

I think you will find that we are VERY transparent with our users, especially if you just look around these forums.

I'm sorry you are having trouble watching videos these days, but I can honestly tell you that we have not changed anything on the site that should affect your ability to watch videos.

And since I am the moderator of these forums, I can assure you that we do not delete forum posts to cover up anything secret or anything like that. If you have questions, please just ask them, and we'll try to answer them the best we can.

I finally discovered what what eating my cpu power (and sending its core temp up): my Lacie (Porsche) external harddisk (usb connected). When I switch it off, cpu core temp drops to acceptalbe levels, and more importantly cpu usage drops to under 70 per cent when playing Vimeo HD On, which results in fluent glorious hd video!

Go to LaCie's site and see if there is any updated driver/firmware for your disk. Also, make sure you have the latest XP installed with all the updates (SP3), and you are running an anti-virus and an anti-spyware app regularly.

Been there, done that. Thanks for the suggestion anyhow.
I couldn't have dreamed it would be that simple. Just turn off the external storage - only a button away - and Vimeo is just amazing!

I would compel you to do some research and look around before you make accusations of that nature again. We try very hard to help everyone as best as possible. But to answer your questions...

1) We recently switched back to 25fps for HD because many people complained they were unable to watch HD smoothly.

2) Our flash player detects your settings and will degrade the quality if your computer cannot handle the load... that is not marketing talk.

Can you confirm that vimeo's (re-)encoding process changes from time to time, resulting in poor playback on low spec machines? If you do, then I can at least stop tweaking my system, but consider to upgrade instead.
I thought that perhaps vimeo's poor playback on my pc might be due to a recent flash upgrade.

Our encoding has only changed for HD videos. But now all setting are the same as they were 6 weeks ago. I do not think it has anything to do with the version of flash you have.

>1) We recently switched back to 25fps for HD because
>many people complained they were unable to watch HD
>smoothly.
>2) Our flash player detects your settings and will
>degrade the quality if your computer cannot handle the
>load... that is not marketing talk.

So #2 didn't happen enough for people who couldn't watch 30 fps in HD?

What I wrote there is correct. The new HD clips do not stutter on my PC anymore. They are as fast (or as slow, as it's on the upper line of what my PC can deliver) as they used to be before. If you are having problems with the new videos, please make sure you have the latest version of Flash installed. There was a new version 2 weeks ago. It really helps.

If that really doesn't help still, then you will have to upgrade your laptop or watch Vimeo in a non-HD mode. Truth is, my PC can barely deliver 24p 720p, and your laptop is quite slower than my PC, so your stutters are to be expected. Maybe in the past you were watching Vimeo in the non-HD mode and you don't remember?

My machine is very low spec, I admit. The frustrating thing is that most of the time the first minute or so is fluent, with cpu at 80 per cent or so, and then, it goes to 100 per cent with a dramatic drop in frame rate. I am talking about the streaming vimeo, not about files I download (I never do, because my machine can't play them at all...)

As I said, please install the latest version of Flash and report back.

Has anyone thought about the fact that maybe the internet connection is to blame for this?

I have always had problems playing smooth HD clips, but I know that it is neither Vimeos fault, or my PowerBooks fault.

Your internet connected varies day to day, and even minute to minute depending on how many people are using the internet in area, and just the overall 'splittage' of the line (if you have cable internet).

1) I have the latest version of Flash
2) The problem isn't caused by internet connection, because it occurs even if I first allow the downloading to complete.

It occurs on IE and Firefox, so it is browser independent. When not running vimeo player, I have below 8 per cent cpu use. When running vimeo player, it shoots up to 70 per cent in standard def, andto 100 in hd.

Do you have enough cache set up in Flash and your browsers?

How much memory is on your system, what cpu, OS. and video card?

My system: Amd sempron 3000+, 512mb ram, nvidia Gforce fx 5200 Go (64mb dedicated), Flash 9.2.

How do you set up cash in Flash and Firefox?

Right click in a flash window.
Select SETTINGS
click on the FOLDER

"Local Storage.. How much information can bitcast.vimeo.com store on your computer?"

Mine is on 100 kb. Try increasing that.

I tried it, but to no positive effect.

Look at this users videos in this thread:

vimeo.com/forums/topic:5445

does the video he complain about look good to you, and the video that he says is good look bad?

Because he can't use it?

Actually its more like 15%.

OH.... Ooops again...LOL... I was able to get mine in HD. Off of the tutorial that Eugenia has. Could it be that they are not uploading them right?? Maybe.....

Well i better just shut up.... i really dont know much anyway... i really like vimeo so far thou !!!!!

When you make a video in 30 fps and vimeo converts it to 24 fps, it makes its best guess and drops out frames.


it looks like your HD train was encoded by vimeo at 30 fps.

Create a new upload for it, and watch it how 24 fps will butcher it.

Bill, what country are you from? I'm Belgian, and I don't beat about the bush. I think this is a nice example of what misunderstandings can rise because the Vimeo draws an international public. I've re-read my first post, and I truly find nothing offensive in it. Yes, there is a rhetorical question in it, which draws the attention. I still think my complaint is justified content-wise. A forum like this is open for communication, and I have a very strong feeling that you are far more 'judgemental' than I am. In fact, you have contributed nothing a all to the topic of this thread, I now realise.

He's just giving his opinion too. Like you said, this is an open forum.

But I don't think you being from Belgium has anything to do with your tone. Frankly I agree that your comments were accusatory and largely unfounded. If you have questions, you should ask. We are always here to help.
And so are most of the other users you will find on this site. We have a friendly community here that is supportive and appreciative, and they understand that as we work hard to improve the site, there may be hiccups along the road. That is why we are so transparent and open about the process.

"I have a pretty strong feeling they aren't telling the whole story"

Great way to start things off...

Like time, technology moves on, for a computer than slow i'd be surprised to see it run HD at all. Cant expect miricals from so little. Your best bet is to upgrade in general.

Your computer since its old, may also degrade. Thats along with so many other things on your end (computer) that change, updates, bla bla bla... Things that you dont know of.

Lots of pointing fingers and stuff vs what (imo) seems to me is little lacking with proper trouble shooting. Your not perfect so you could of did or missed something. Hell even codec packs and changes make a huge differance (along with their compatibility)

"Like time, technology moves on, for a computer than slow i'd be surprised to see it run HD at all. Cant expect miricals from so little. Your best bet is to upgrade in general."

Yes, but it´s like a market dictatorship. This so called "evolution" or "progress" forces me to buy a new computer from time to time.

I wish I could keep my old, favorite computer and still access vimeo and other sites. Of course, this is impossible and it´s not vimeo´s fault.

This rant was stimulated by the new player, which runs slow on my system. :-(

I agree, everything in time moves forward. Its a shame that some people rather point fingers though then take a few things into consideration. As the OP did imo. Too many variables on the users end. Which if they knew what they were doing or asked questions first rather than making bold statements about vimeo "I have a pretty strong feeling they aren't telling the whole story". he calls this blunt, i call it ignorant. Lack of knowing himself, with no grounds to base this on.

Alot of people that know some things about computers would know that any number of things they have done or was done on the computers side (without their knowledge) that could easily of done something like this.

Some things have to be changed to some what keep with the times. Yes, it feels like we are forced to do this if we like to still see-do-hear whatever we are used to.

All this summed up is a bunch of accusations with little or no technical knowledge. Even if the new player is at fault (at vimeo). There isnt much one can do about it. Its hard to be fair to all the market even though their lucky to do that with such an old computer. There is always a safety range, and as long as technology and things move forward, that range will always stay the same, but move along with technologies progression. Everybody faces this, its just a matter if you rather be at the top of technology or in that range. If we all stayed in the same spot, the range would eventualy move past us, leaving us behind. Just like Ivan. Simple logic to be honest...

Slightly off topic....
I try to stay in the middle of the range. I beat the ridiculous prices, these items now have been on the market at least enough to have solid user/pro reviews (all qwerks would have been found). I allows me to make a better decision since its tried, tested & true... This also means i never seem to have the newest thing on the block, but then a again... Its worth it to me. I get better value and use for my hard earned cash. The cost i could get left behind quite fast too since its only a day on the market and its already out-of-date.

Allow me to quote from Vimeo's official Help section, on hd playback: "Your computer is a sleeping HD beast, Vimeo will rouse it from its slumber."
Somewhere else there is a statement that any recent computer, less than 3 years old, should be able to play video just fine. This, of course, is contrasting with Mark's opinion: "Like time, technology moves on, for a computer that slow i'd be surprised to see it run HD at all. Can't expect miricals from so little. Your best bet is to upgrade in general."

If you don't have flash 9, our player prompts users to upgrade.

And by the way, no one is forcing you to use our service.

>I can find NO posts that protested the use of 30p.

That's because Vimeo DELETED the thread that had over 35 comments in it when they reverted back to 24p.

>And, with dropping every 6 frames -- it will never look smooth.

24p looks SMOOTHER than 30p on MOST people's machines. You don't live alone in the world, you know. Flash is simply not optimized for fast 720/30p playback, so drop it. If you have a problem with it, email Adobe to get their act together. Vimeo can't do anything about it.

If you don't like Vimeo, go to Blip.TV which also has HD. Let's see how you would like their 15fps policy there.

1. I told you above but you are NOT listening. Flash is NOT AS FREAKING FAST as Quicktime or Windows Media Player. Flash does NOT use full acceleration from a graphics card and their codecs are not optimized. Therefore, the same resolution/framerate in Flash REQUIRES more CPU power than other players/codecs. There is no way around it. It is not Vimeo's fault, it's Adobe's. So stop giving us headaches over here and head towards Adobe's forums.

2. Yeah, but not many people would know about this trick. It's not something that you can market easily and people understand what the heck is about. The concept is simply not easy to follow for most people.

3. YES, DROPPED. Because, they can't render fast enough in Flash. It is BETTER to DROP frames and give people an 75% smooth result at 24p, that to re-encode 720p in 30p and give the average of people a 25% smooth result. I have to tell you again: you are not alone in this world. The average of the users is what matters, not you alone and your super-fast machine.

Haha, this is a great troll.
Stole several minutes of my time, just because you commented here.

PS. Linux is the BEST! (mybe this works too ;) )

Good to see you Ojo! Where have you been?

Nothing is really free. We are just the guinea pigs, testing vimeo's player for free, so they can eliminate the bugs. Once that 's done, Vimeo will force us to pay for a premium account, just to get what is now for free...
Also, Vimeo is heavily sponsored by hardware manufacturers like Canon (and now toyota). Already, they are forcing us to upgrade computer hardware, camera's etc.
And last, but not least, Vimeo is based in New York City and is an operating business of IAC and Connected Ventures. So, basically, it's all about money, really. The real difference is the Vimeo community, and with that I mean YOU and ME. Compared to YouTube and the like, the vimeo community is kind and respectful. Second, the staff are approachable. I mean, have you ever gotten a reply from YouTube staff?
Despite me squirting vinegar here - my apologies, but this is a literal translation of a Dutch proverb - I love Vimeo, I love the Vimeo staff, and I love the vimeo community.

We will not force you to do anything of the sort, please stop assuming things.

We (the staff) are just as much apart of this community as anyone else, please remember that.