Browser video sometimes stops working; how can I figure out why?

I leave my Mac (Mini, not laptop) running all the time, only rebooting when something forces me to (like a software update). My uptimes are usually measured in weeks, sometimes months.

Occasionally, browser-based streaming video (Youtube, Google Hangouts) will stop working, in all browsers, though everything else is fine. I can't correlate it to anything. This has happened under my current OS (12.2.1, Monterey), most recently last night, but it also happened under 11.6 (Big Sur) and 10.12 (Sierra -- that one was on different hardware).

When this happens it affects all browsers. It happened today and I checked Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Brave (all up to date except Safari) -- same behavior. Rebooting fixes the problem.

I've already rebooted after today's problem (needed the video), but for next time this happens: what diagnostics might I be able to perform? Or is this a known problem with a known solution?

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Browser video sometimes stops working; how can I figure out why?

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