While streaming video, can VLC load video while paused?

[mikemcg]

I've found that my connection can be so bad that even maxing out the amount of time that VLC pre-caches isn't enough to avoid constant buffering. Is there a way to configure VLC so I can start the stream, pause the video, and continue to load video?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

No and that would be pretty pointless. You might as well download the video to the hard drive at that point.

[mikemcg]

Not really, no. If VLC handled buffering like most media players, I could start to watch the streaming media before I would be able to if I downloaded the video directly. Plus there's the instance that a service would only offer streaming video and no convenient download option.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

That does not add up. There is no way for the software to know that the bandwidth is too low for live playback, as bandwidth is not necessarily stable. So you end up having to pause the playback until the video is fully downloaded. So you migth as well download it.

And any HTTP video that VLC can play can be downloaded, if only with VLC itself.

Nevertheless, precaching in memory could be implemented. For HTTP (and FTP), it is not even hard. Really the only missing bit is a sponsor to motivate a developer.

[mhamoud]

this feature is not pointless it is very important to help people around the world that their connections to internet are slow

and all of us saw this feature at youtube site for the same reason

so i hope the programmers of vlc respond to add this feature that a lot of people need it

and if the programmers don't believe that this feature is commonly wanted

please make a Poll at vlc site and the forum and you will see the result

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

You totally missed the points.

First, you can pre-download the file if you want. In the case of YouTube, some applications even are entirely dedicated. Adding the feature to VLC is purely about making it easiser to use, but the feature is already available.

And a user poll is stupid. You'll rarely get users to say that they are not interested in something. If you think this is so useful, please provide a patch or hire a developer to do it on your behalf.

[tittbit]

I think this feature is available in vlc already.

this is the most common feature and i dont know nowadays any smallest from small software doesnt have this feature.

[jlin0821]

it's still not working.

on my xp a1240n dell