How can I improve stream buffering from the command line?

[JimmyRcom]

Whenever I open a video file with VLC from the command line, it starts playing instantly and the frame freezes and skips often. I want it to download like 3mb or download for a few seconds before starting to play. Also it could work if the vid continued to download after clicking pause. I'm trying to stream an MKV from my server using http request.

I've tried the following options below and none of them seem to help. I know they're in milliseconds / kilobytes but even at high values for all I can't get it to wait before playing even for a second.

--sout-ffmpeg-rc-buffer-size= --sout-mux-caching= --mms-caching= --sout-udp-caching= --tcp-caching= --udp-caching=

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

what is your input?

[JimmyRcom]

I can't give you a good example because it seems to happen when the download rate on the video keeps wavering, eg 1minute it's going 200KB/s then 50KB/s back and forth. Is there a setting so I can manually set how much of the video it should load before resuming to maximize uninterrupted playback?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

It's --http-caching

[JimmyRcom]

Thanks!