The VideoLAN Forums

Problem:

Modern laptop hard drives lock down read access when sensing motion. With the read buffer for playback from local files defaulting to .3 seconds, these momentary lockdowns result in interrupted playback. Increasing this buffer solves that problem handily, but creates a new one. The buffer must be filled before playback can begin, so anytime playback begins there is an annoying delay (I've been using a 2-second buffer). This isn't so bad when starting a long file for continuous playback, like a movie, but is very disruptive when jumping forward or backward within a video. Jumping back 5 seconds to replay a catch in a football game results in a 2-second freeze while buffering. I pretty much just have to choose whether I want to jump around within video, or put up with occasional playback hiccups due to a tiny buffer. I've chosen to put up with the hiccups for now.

Proposed Solution:

An optional "quick-start" option near the buffer settings. Playback will start immediately but the buffer will try to fill as well. For any pipe with more-than-adequate yet not-entirely-reliable bandwidth this setting will be the best of both worlds. Fast playback but a hefty buffer for problems.

Perhaps a better way to implement this would be as minimum and maximum buffer settings. The first sets how much of a buffer must be built up before playback begins (this is just the current functionality) and the second sets how much VLC will attempt to build up in the background.