Attending live video sessions is a core feature of many online programs. Using an older computer, having a slow internet connection or network issues (like packet loss) could negatively affect performance. You may see laggy video feeds, or buffering and jittery playback when you or your instructor present media.
Note: You should always use the Chrome web browser while on nyu.smashcut.com
Here are the best practices for improving your experience in live video meetings:
Get as close to your wifi router as possible. If you can, plug directly into your router with an ethernet cable.
Free up your computer processing power. Smaschut video meetings can demand significant memory and processing power from your computer. Closing other applications will help your video conference run better.
Close out of unneeded open tabs on your Chrome web browser.
Save bandwidth by turning off your camera and microphone when you're not actively participating in the class discussion.
Avoid activities that will steal bandwidth -- this goes for other people on your wifi network as well. Ask your family or roommates to avoid downloading, online gaming, streaming video (netflix, youtube, hulu), etc. while you're on your video conference.
Are you currently having issues?
If your wifi connection is pretty fast, but you're still seeing videos buffering or jittery playback, you might be experiencing packet loss.
Here are some things to try to help solve network packet loss issues.
Check your router connections: Make sure your cables and ports are plugged in correctly.
Restart your router: If you haven’t turned off your router for a while, now is the time. This could give your network the kickstart it needs to cure any glitches or bugs.
Try cable connections instead of Wi-Fi: Since everything is connected by Wi-Fi nowadays, packets are more likely to get lost. Using an Ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi can help move things along.
Update your software: Make sure you computer and Chrome browsers are fully up-to-date. An up-to-date operating system is less likely to have bugs, which inevitably leads to fewer opportunities for packet loss.
At the bottom of the test results page you'll see a link that says "Save this data as simple text." Copy and paste those results into a Help Chat with a Smashcut support person.
