BBC i-player

Problems/advice relating to your PC/Mac/Phone/Television/ Satellite TV/DVD/Blu ray......

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vyvyan
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BBC i-player

Post by vyvyan »

We have been using BBC i-player for some time now to watch live and catch-up television. For the past few weeks we are able to watch live television but the catch-up service will not load. Has anyone any suggestions please?
kenny
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Post by kenny »

restart your Broadband router
check if there is an updated version of i player
maybe try a different masking vpn package, I use Hola (android app)
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Post by montgolfiere »

the VPN i use is iportal.me it does cost around 50 euros a year but has always been reliable with a good Tech back up service.
vyvyan
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BBC i-player

Post by vyvyan »

Thank you Kenny and Montgolfiere. I don't think I have a problem with my VPN as I have no problem watching through the i-player live. It is only on catch up that I have a problem. Any more thoughts??
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Post by Allan »

IT would help if you said what device you are using, PC, Mac, iPad, Android etc and which VPN or smartdns you are using
vyvyan
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BBC i-player

Post by vyvyan »

Windows PC with open gate VPN Allan
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Post by Allan »

I would try with an alternative VPN or better still a SmartDNS service.

BBC uses a different technology for live broadcasts than it does for catch-up TV.

Technically the live broadcast uses a system called multicast where there are no more than a handful of servers sending out streams on to the internet. Your PC can listen in to one of these streams without any additional strain on the BBC network.

Catch-up TV is very different as you can have lots of users watching the same program starting at different times. The BBC system connects you to one of their delivery partner servers of which there are hundreds.

It could be an internet speed issue, connecting to a live multicast is much less taxing that playing a catch-up program and if your speed is too slow for the catch-up service then often it will just sit there looking silly.

Loads of VPN services offer free trials try UnoTelly and try their SmartDNS before trying the VPN as it is less demanding to set up and in bandwidth required.
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Santiago
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Post by Santiago »

If its the VPN, you will get a message saying "not available in your region" other wise if BBC iplayer isn't working on the PC, I would try downloading the latest version. HAve you tried running it through different browsers? It could be a media player problem.
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Allan
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Post by Allan »

Santiago wrote:If its the VPN, you will get a message saying "not available in your region" other wise if BBC iplayer isn't working on the PC, I would try downloading the latest version. HAve you tried running it through different browsers? It could be a media player problem.
If the VPN is not providing adequate bandwidth then you won't get the not available message. When you use a VPN all traffic goes through the VPN service, if the VPN providers are sensible they will prioritise multicasts.

There are of course many reasons why it might not work but the connection is the most likely candidate.
vyvyan
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BBC i-player

Post by vyvyan »

Allen, your input is very interesting. We are still able to watch the 'iplayer' live and we can also restart a current programme from the beginning. Is this the equivalent of playing ‘Catch up TV’ ?
We have used our present system for several years now and it has been very good. There are no firmware updates available for the livebox.
Thank you all for your input.
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Post by shimself »

Allan wrote:I would try with an alternative VPN or better still a SmartDNS service.

Loads of VPN services offer free trials try UnoTelly and try their SmartDNS before trying the VPN as it is less demanding to set up and in bandwidth required.
I'm new to this forum (been in France for 7 years), so hello.

Having got completely fed up of the execrable "le cube" canalsat box I thought we'd have a go with streaming. So far I have a new dedicated router which plugs into the sfr router, flashed with dd-wrt and set up to use smartYdns (note the Y it is the provider's name). The ssid is TV-RADIO-ONLY and yesterday it all worked on my mobile and my laptop. But today it drops out every few minutes. (I am in town the adsl runs at 8Mbps on a good day)

The support people think SFR might be handicapping it. Does that seem likely? Any suggestions please.

Thanks
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Post by Allan »

shimself wrote:
Allan wrote:I would try with an alternative VPN or better still a SmartDNS service.

Loads of VPN services offer free trials try UnoTelly and try their SmartDNS before trying the VPN as it is less demanding to set up and in bandwidth required.
I'm new to this forum (been in France for 7 years), so hello.

Having got completely fed up of the execrable "le cube" canalsat box I thought we'd have a go with streaming. So far I have a new dedicated router which plugs into the sfr router, flashed with dd-wrt and set up to use smartYdns (note the Y it is the provider's name). The ssid is TV-RADIO-ONLY and yesterday it all worked on my mobile and my laptop. But today it drops out every few minutes. (I am in town the adsl runs at 8Mbps on a good day)

The support people think SFR might be handicapping it. Does that seem likely? Any suggestions please.

Thanks
I very much doubt that SFR. Is handicapping it, as far as I know they don't intercept DNS calls and that really is the only difference in your setup.

Try taking your router out of the equation and change the dns settings on your mobile or laptop to the SmartyDNS settings. If it works like that then the problem is with your router.

If it doesn't work then check the IP address that you get for one of your proxied sites like BBC and confirm that you are getting a different result with your DNS and the SFR DNS
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Post by russell »

An alternative to using a smartDNS and iPlayer is to use Filmon. You can stream all BBC channels for free. Of course you can't access the iPlayer catchup service but with a subscription you can record programs on Filmon's servers.

Russell.
shimself
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Post by shimself »

Allan wrote:
If it doesn't work then check the IP address that you get for one of your proxied sites like BBC and confirm that you are getting a different result with your DNS and the SFR DNS
Thanks very much for the help. I redid all the router settings and i think that's fixed it

I didn't understand how to "check the ip address". ping bbc.com and see what shows up? (212.58.244.22 twice), but surely that would be all or nothing anyway, not dropouts. But it's academic for the moment, thanks again
shimself
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Post by shimself »

russell wrote:An alternative to using a smartDNS and iPlayer is to use Filmon. You can stream all BBC channels for free. Of course you can't access the iPlayer catchup service but with a subscription you can record programs on Filmon's servers.

Russell.
Blimey, thanks
Allan
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Post by Allan »

shimself wrote:
Allan wrote:
If it doesn't work then check the IP address that you get for one of your proxied sites like BBC and confirm that you are getting a different result with your DNS and the SFR DNS
Thanks very much for the help. I redid all the router settings and i think that's fixed it

I didn't understand how to "check the ip address". ping bbc.com and see what shows up? (212.58.244.22 twice), but surely that would be all or nothing anyway, not dropouts. But it's academic for the moment, thanks again
Just basic diagnostics, pinging BBC.com should give you a different address using SmartyDNS than it does using the SFR DNS, if it gives you the same result then your SmartyDNS isn't working.
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