Help / Player
Why does the Player stop and start or stutter during playback?
The problem with streaming audio is that bottlenecks may occur anywhere on the network from the BBC's server to your computer.
If the show you are listening to stops and starts, or stutters, one possibility is that a server somewhere on the internet has failed or has reached its maximum capacity and so the traffic that was passing through it is now being routed through smaller and/or slower servers.
We recommend that you check under 'Tools', 'Preferences...' in RealPlayer that the software is set to your correct bandwidth / connection speed. There should be an option to auto-detect this. You should also try increasing the amount of data in seconds which RealPlayer stores in its 'buffer' before playback commences. Here's how to increase the buffer for RealPlayer 10.5:
1. In RealPlayer, click Tools and select Preferences. The Preferences box opens.
2. In the Category panel under General, click Playback Settings.
3. Under the More Options section, change the Buffer up to default from 30 seconds to 90 seconds.
4. Click OK.
5. Try to play the file again.
Alternatively, you can follow the advice on these Real Networks technical support pages:
Optimizing your connection speed with RealPlayer (PC)
Changing the bandwidth settings in RealPlayer (PC)
Changing bandwidth / buffering settings in RealPlayer (Mac)
After you configure RealPlayer this way, it can manage streaming data so rebuffering can be avoided, and the clip can play smoothly and at the highest quality level possible.
If none of the advice above helps, you could also try adjusting RealPlayer's 'network transport' settings, by following the descriptions here.
If this does not answer your question sufficiently you may find more help on the pages linked to from the right hand side.
