The VideoLAN Forums

Hi! i can't watch video over wlan because sometimes vlc drop fragments for 3-5 seconds of video stream.

I try to conigure vlc by disabling framedropping and framedalays but no success, can i still use vlc for watch video over slow/busy networks?

Let's say you want to watch a video that is 3Mb/s of bandwidth, your wifi provides 5Mb/s on average, but sometimes only 2Mb/s.
In that case you will get what you describe which is not good.

As a workaround you can set VLC to use more cache memory.

For example, if accessing files over SMB file share (the Microsoft network file sharing protocol), then do the following:
open the preferences panel:
Settings menu/Preferences

click on + Input/Codecs to expand it
click on + Access modules to expand it
Click on SMB

Then at the bottom-right, select "Advanced options".
change caching value in ms from 600 to 6000.

What this does is it will start by filling 6 seconds of video before starting to play. And then playout will be smooth even if nework is not too reliable.
Because you say it drops videos for several seconds, you may need to tune that value up, maybe up to 20000

You can set this value for other protocols too. For example, I use it on the DVD when I am in a train and my laptops is not too stable, so it needs to read data several times to get it right.

thx you! better for vlc do not skip frames, that look buggly