The challenge of streaming video is to find the right balance between bitrate and resolution as it relates to an end user’s connection speed and system ability. There are far too many variables that could interrupt playback for us to account for them all, at least as of the time of this writing. Here is a short list of potential stream killing variables:
- Device and Screen size
- Internet Service Provider Connection Speed or Cap
- Bandwidth available through the wireless router due to distance or usage
- Network traffic to and from the sever hosting the video
- The CPU and GPU abilities on the playing device
- Browser brand and version
- Available plugins such as Flash and Silverlight
- Other programs running in the background.