Video breaks up, freezes, etc. while watching YouTube fullscreen -- How to Fix?

[lauren]

This suggestion may seem counterintuitive -- and is not guaranteed to work -- but often will help drastically if you have problems with fullscreen video playback on YouTube (the actual issue is related to the Flash plugin). The description below is for Windows users, but a similar process may be similarly useful on other platforms.

Get a YouTube video up on your screen (normal window, not fullscreen). Stop the playback for now. Right-click on the video area itself, then left-click on Settings.

Make sure that the left-most icon (lower-left of the settings box) is selected -- left-click it if necessary to select.

You should see an option labeled "Enable hardware acceleration" -- if it is currently checked, left-click the box to un-check it. If the option is already un-checked, this "solution" won't work for you!

Odd as it may seem, fullscreen playback problems on YouTube seem to frequently be reduced or completely cured through this procedure of disabling hardware acceleration.

Surprise!

--Lauren--