Thread bump, but I've only just found this beta.

I've got a fairly wobbly Tiscali connection and it plays just fine for me, not perfect on a 40 inch screen on normal quality but watchable.

It did just crash the box a few minutes ago though, I watched QI, then tried to watch HIGNFY but the box just rebooted during the credits. also a lot of the thumbnails in the menus don't match their programmes.

Am I the only one who can't access any BBC One programmes which were broadcast during the last seven days?
When I select Channels>BBC One the display shows "Today (Sun 10)".
Does anyone else get this?

Nope, I'm getting "Sun 17 (Today)"

I am trying to watch this weeks "Click" says latest is sat 16 jan show but when i play its last weekends however on PC iplayer its this weeks strange

Thanks to the helpful hints from Graham et al on these forums..
I took the plunge on Saturday and found an old [Very] Network switch in the Loft..
Cabled it up to the security cameras and 'All Systems GO'!!
MY Bbd sped was in one of it's 'Good day Modes' at about 1500
and so i was able to try the higher definition option..
Very presentable indeed..A few pixellations on the 'DANCE' progs..
but for 'In the Night garden' as good as from the Sat.
Until Saturday.. i never thought i would be interested..
but with visiting grand-daughters i find the CBBS etc most valuable..
Well done the BBC..well perhaps NOT..
I'll start another thread as it may be ruled Political?

Stan

In trying evrything out on Saturday.. my first connection..
I suddenly became aware that the sound on the 'Carmen Opera' programme was strange..
I ran thru' the three simplex sounds variations on the 7 year old Hitachi Plasma
and found that the 'CINEMA' mode produced almost normal sound..
for all the many progs i sampled..
NOT SO the 'Music' and 'Speech' modes
I do have old style 'Graphic Equalisers' and will investigate further using the Panasonic HC system..
but mean while the Wife's SOAPS are building up and with Birthday visits etc..
she is now delighted that we treated ourselves to the Humax as an Anniverary present ..
as the SERIES facility has proved invaluable..
I am a HUMAX Fan NOW!!!

BBC News channel showed last week's Click too!
(On Saturday 11:30)
They showed the correct one on Sunday morning.... so maybe iPlayer just encoded the Saturday show?

The player hangs on connecting if I use manually assigned IP addresses, although it works if I turn on DHCP on the router and set the Foxsat-HDR to receive DHCP. Sadly, I have a very good reason to have DHCP turned off! Anyone else had problems with manual TCP/IP configuration?

Yes, it doesn't seem to work.

Hmmmm, that's a blow. I've started this as a new thread by the way as I quickly realised that it's obviously more a hardware/software issue than an iPlayer issue.

After my extensive dabbling with the iPlayer a few days ago..
I was not unduly concerned to hear from BT ..
who are my ISP and everything else telecomms provider..
as no profit in the Chilterns for Golden Boy RichardB et al..

"We thought you'd like to know that, so far in January,
you've used more than 7GB of your 10GB monthly usage allowance
for your BT Total Broadband Option 1 service.
In accordance with our Fair Usage Policy, if you exceed your usage allowance two months in a row,
you'll be charged £1 for every extra GB you use from the second month onwards.
But don't worry, if you do exceed your allowance,
we'll tell you at the end of the month and let you know the amount of any over usage charges,
which will be added to your next bill."

I have no problems with the charge in principle nor indeed with the amount charged.
However the use of the Term 'Fair Usage' has a nasty taste in the mouth for me
as it implies that in my case there is an unfair practice involved..
but to me i am using a service and paying for it on a differential charge system..
Be that as it may..

In lookingup the very Fair Charging policy..
i came across this [below] which applies to Level1 users like myself
whose speed is so poor relative BT's National average
that it is of no benefit to buy a dearer level service


What is BT's policy on video streaming?
We do not impose any restrictions that affect the viewing quality of services
such as BBC iPlayer or Catch Up on Channel4.com or ITV.com,
as these stream at up to 800Kbps. However,
we do limit the speed of all video streaming to 896Kbps on our BT Total Broadband Option 1 product,
during peak times only, which is between 5pm - midnight every day.

I was not aware of the speed throttle as oftimes
I am below that speed anyway..sometimes for quite long periods of weeks..
NOW..
The iPlayer on the PC tests my line and says words to the effect..
"Forget it for Hi-Defn...but try downloading and playing back afterwards"
All fine and dandy ..But,,
when i was dabbling on the Humax i never say any mention of anything Hi-Defn being available..
I think that i have read others mentioning HD in this context..
Are the BBC are being kind by not rubbing my nose in it?


Stan

Well, it does say they only introduce it if it's two months in a row, you could just take it easy for the last week of this month or take it easy next month, assuming you didn't go over last month. Obviously, if you're going to go over consistently then you might need to rethink your pay strategy or, just be a bit careful every other month.

Ta..
Indeed no mention of quantifyable amounts either..
so another 10Gs OK for a month then trim..
Would they then say.."That's unfair" I wonder?
My next step up would be a doubling of the amount that i pay anyway so
I'm happy to leave as is for the moment..
I also have Freeview on the PanEX75 so no problems recording progs from Air..

Can't believe they throttle it to 800kbps though: I get just under 2.5mbps through a VPN account (as to whether I'm in the UK you'll have to use your imagination ). If that's common practise for UK ISPs, the Foxsat people are going to have to think about some pretty hefty buffers in future models!

I don't think BT can call it unfair if it doesn't match up with what they've already put in black and white, but even if it is, if the next package is double the price then you'll have to be clocking up a fair number of excess GBs to make the next package up worthwhile at £1 per extra GB.

Oh I've got the Foxsat up and running with iPlayer by the way, had to be a bit imaginative with my DHCP in conjunction with the VPN router.

Actually, really pretty impressed how the Freesat iPlayer is working. I've watched an episode of Click and Survivors in HQ with no problems at all. You only really notice the compression during explosions and the like. Splendid!

It was plug and play for me on my new router.

The interface works nicely too.


One immediate annoying gripe:

Do we really need that small bright BBC logo in that annoying position top left-ish while watching?

You start on a BBC channel, you have to enter BBCi, select BBC iPlayer, choose BBC One, and then select the programme.

If anyone at this point doesn't know they're watching the BBC, they must be brain dead. They don't need to remind us throughout the programme.

Remember: this special streaming version can't be recorded, can't be downloaded, can't be moved to another box, and can't be shared on the internet - the only way to watch it is via this route.

So there's no justification for the bright and ill positioned logo. There's no justification for any logo at all while the content is playing.

Cheers,
David.

Yea same here, it's better than i thought it would be.

The picture is great and so far not had any problems of any kind.

Good for me too using homeplugs and higher quality. Agree about the logo/dog - not necessary.

J

It's in the eye of the beholder. Just read these posts & couldn't even remember seeing a dog. Put it on to check & there it was. I take no notice of something which is part of the furniture on all channels these days.

He said HQ rather than HD. I think they say 2mbps for HQ, but perhaps they give themselves a little bit of breathing room in that figure given that it works for him.
Last edited by Denarius : 28-01-2010 at 19:53

It's not on any of the channels that I watch (Except BBC HD sometimes).

I think it's true that some people develop a blind spot to these things - while other people are annoyed by anything that's not a pristine clear picture.

If you ever get the chance, try to catch some Arabic station - they started with these logos long before any UK channel - as people accept and ignore them, they've not progressed to filling over half the screen with text unrelated to the current programme!



btw, on Freesat iPlayer, I'm very impressed that the HQ version is offering proper 50fps smooth motion (at least where it was present in the original programme!), rather than the horrible 25fps blurry stutter that you get on all the PC versions.

The HQ version is streaming without problems here - I would love to have an HD version to see if it would (hopefully!) work!

Cheers,
David.

Been playing with it for the last 2 days and am pretty impressed. Very simply interface making it easy to find things to watch.

I am on a 3mbs connection and can watch things in HQ and surf the web on my laptop at the same time. Am used to streaming the web to my TV, so can say that PQ is very good.

Only annoyance so far has been the onscreen prompts asking you if you want to stay on the underlying BBC1 or cancel one of the recordings (if 2 recordings are scheduled). Happended 3 times during me watching Hustle via the service.

Personally I thought the DOG very unobtrusive.

I guess it does "need" the underlying BBC One.

That's one of the "weaknesses" of the service - it requires both an internet and a satellite connection - all the information is already there on the net, but by design it looks for that information in the satellite stream, and won't work without it.

Cheers,
David.

Has anyone found a way to initiate a controlled "fast forward" in iPlayer? Clicking on the Right arrow brings up the scroll indicator with its marker, but further clicking produces random jumps.

I have tried pushing every button on the Remote, and some do initiate a forward jump, but how far it jumps seems to be completely random. I am looking for the equivalent to dragging the marker using the left mouse button on the PC version of iPlayer - which works like a dream.:sleep:

I have an 8Meg broadband connection and enjoy much better iPlayer pics on the 40inch TV than I get on the PC. My only niggle is with fast forward.

Hmmm...hadnt thought of that. Bit pants really. As you say, there is no real need for the satellite connection to be involved once you enter the Iplayer section as the whole could be downloaded via the BB. That needs sorting me thinks!

Personally I think VoD is the way to go...for me its actually more of a selling point than HD!