Video playback quality on surface 2

[Imran]

Greetings from Kenya!

I've just had my surface 2 for a couple of days now and still trying to get myself familiar with windows 8.1. So far I am loving the device.

My only gripe is that some videos on YouTube seem to look clearer on my blackberry z10 phone than on my surface! I thought that this device was supposed to have one of the best screen resolutions out there?? Or is it a setting that I need to play with? Another thing is that while playing a YouTube video via the website instead of the app, there seem to be glitches coming up if I try to scroll though the video. This causes the video to hang and sometimes crash. Could this be a website issue that I have been reading about on this forum?

Sorry for the "noob" questions but I'm not that tech savvy! I'm just concerned because my Z10 doesn't seem to have any of these issues.

Cheers!

Imran

 

[ctitanic]

Video quality depends on many things including perception. The same frame with bad quality in your Surface if it's shown in your phone it will look a lot better because of the smaller size of your phone screen. So comparing two different screen sizes showing the same picture from the same source is not a good example. YouTube reduces the quality according to the internet bandwidth used to access the site. Try a different test, download any application from the Windows Store that allows you to download the videos from youtube and get one the trailers in HD resolution. Once it's in your Surface play it. You will see how good is your Surface playing videos.

If you want to see good video quality, use Netflix or Hulu.

 

[ctitanic]

Here is a screenshot taken from Standard Resolution



And here are some at 1080p





And believe me the real life view is a lot better than these screenshots.

 

[Imran]

ctitanic,

Thanks for the input. I suspected it was the issue with screen size and quality of the source of the video. I then watched a couple of HD clips on you tube and they look fine.

One other thing, if one does not completely close an app (i.e. holding it down at the bottom of the screen until the thumbnail flips over) does the app keep running in the background? And if so, is there a way of closing all open apps simultaneously?

Many thanks,

Imran

 

[ctitanic]

Yes, that close it. And no, I have not found a way to close all at once but I never have asked neither search for that option.

 

[beman39]

The only way to close all the apps is to go into the task manager and close all running apps that are running...

 

[Hstakz]

Greetings from Kenya!

I've just had my surface 2 for a couple of days now and still trying to get myself familiar with windows 8.1. So far I am loving the device.

My only gripe is that some videos on YouTube seem to look clearer on my blackberry z10 phone than on my surface! I thought that this device was supposed to have one of the best screen resolutions out there?? Or is it a setting that I need to play with? Another thing is that while playing a YouTube video via the website instead of the app, there seem to be glitches coming up if I try to scroll though the video. This causes the video to hang and sometimes crash. Could this be a website issue that I have been reading about on this forum?

Sorry for the "noob" questions but I'm not that tech savvy! I'm just concerned because my Z10 doesn't seem to have any of these issues.

Cheers!

Imran

Exact same with me buddy. There is another thread active with people with the same problem. My guess is it's google under going maintenance after the new comment update for YouTube. It's incredibly frustrating but for a temporary fix, I reset IE.

It doesn't wipe your favourites or anything but only cached websites.

1. Top right corner hit the settings icon under the 'X'
2. Internet options
3. Advanced tab
4. Down at the bottom is reset

It helps a little, im now able to watch a least a couple of videos before it doesn't respond. Anyway good luck with that!