I can receive BBC iPlayer catch-up and Live TV on my Windows 7 desktop PC without a problem using Firefox 20.0. My Laptop and Notebook also run in Widows 7 and appear to be set up much the same as my PC. However, I cannot get BBC Live TV using Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer 10. I get the message "The content doesn't seem to be working". My download speed is not the problem. What else is going wrong on my Laptop and Notebook?

I am not sure what your problem is so I cannot help directly.

However, have you tried going to www.tvcatchup.com which transmits virtually all the freeview channels live.

The name tvcatchup is a bit of a misnomer as it is a live service not a replay service.

I have just tried tvcatchup.com but cannot connect to play any live TV on any of my computers. I managed to register but that is all.

http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/778485

does this help?

Apologies for just dropping in on this thread but I was wondering whether anyone has been having trouble with downloading iPlayer content to the desktop iPlayer?

I've never had a problem with iPlayer until recently. I had downloaded the first 6 episodes of "Bluestone 42" but when I came to watch the first couple yesterday an error message popped up saying the content was unavailable or something to that effect.
I checked the file location for the iPlayer downloads and all 6 episodes were stored there. I closed iPlayer completely, opened it up again and found the content had disappeared from the "Available" list.
I uninstalled and reinstalled iPlayer and Adobe Air downloaded an episode of "B 42" but while it was stored in the repository folder it didn't appear in iPlayer. I tried several times and went through the BBC Help section but still couldn't get it to download and work properly.

So to cut what's becoming a long story short, after several attempts of uninstall/reinstall and downloading I've given up on desktop iPlayer. I have found downloading the programmes for Windows Media Player works perfectly well.

What's going on with iPlayer?

Forgot to add. A couple of times on the reinstall the Adobe Air changed from 3.5 to 3.7 back to 3.5.

Thanks clubfoot fc. I've tried that link before and of course it refers to a much earlier version of Firefox and Windows XP. I'm using the latest version - Firefox 20.0. I tried clearing the caches and cookies again but I still cannot play Live BBC TV on my notebook or my wife's laptop, whereas my PC works everytime without any special preparation.

Does anyone else have any ideas?

Well I've tried just about everything now and I still cannot stream live BBC on my Windows 7 Notebook or my wife’s Laptop. The only difference I can see between the computers is that the Desktop PC has a faster processor and more RAM but why should that matter? All settings appear to be the same and they all have the same software.

Can any body help me please?

Hmmm, it does indeed seem to be an interesting problem. I have some questions for you but I apologize if some seem dumb, but I gotta ask.

1) I am presuming you are living within the UK?
2) Have you tried the same connection to the internet with the laptop as the PC (i.e. both via ethernet cable?)
3) Does iPlayer work for catch-up on the problem laptop? (i.e. is it only Live?)
4) Do the UK channels on www.FilmOn.com work on the infected laptop?

Thanks for your response ovbg. I am in the UK. I use an Ethernet cable on the Notebook and it plays catch-up BBC programmes but not live TV. It also plays UK channels on FilmOn.

It really is a difficult one this... what about the iPlayer desktop app, that also offers live streams from the BBC, does that work?

Same problem - live radio but no live TV.

It sounds like the message you get when you've downloaded programmes but failed to watch them within the specified period. I haven't done this for quite a while now, but don't you only get 7 or 8 days to watch them before they become unavailable?

The iPlayer allows up to 30 days after download - or used to at least.

7 days to download (usually) and up to 30 days to watch after downloading. Then after you first watch the programme you have 6 days to watch it again before it's deleted. However I was still within the 30 window so I don't know what happened. Luckily the BBC kept the series on iplayer for more than the standard 7 days and I was able to catch up directly.

Many days later and I still cannot find the reason why streaming live BBC on iPlayer does not work on my laptop or my notebook. My desktop PC is too far away from my sitting room TV for plugging in which is why I would like to use my notebook.

I think I am about to conclude that the speed of the CPU is preventing the laptop and notebook from streaming BBC unless someone else has any ideas.

I have just checked Channel 4 website. My Notebook plays live TV without a problem, so the processor speed is not the problem with BBC live TV. Any other ideas folks?

A shot in the dark here, try your laptop with a different router, a friend or neighbours. This may not sound logical but you have run out of logical explanations. I recently had a streaming problem, things worked on one device but not another, after weeks of getting nowhere i did a factory reset on the router, it seemed illogical but it worked.

Hello there
I had similar problems with iplayer not downloading, or not playing previously downloaded programmes. Having consulted both Digital Spy and the iplayer FAQs Firefox proved to be my issue. For bbciplayer only I have reverted to using Internet Explorer to download and all is now fine. By the way I am using Windows 8.

It's worth noting that I had also tried all the bbciplayer FAQs advice given re. Adobe Air - uninstalling and re-installing - including ensuring I had both 32 bit and 64 bit versions - but this hadn't solved the playback or downloading issues, til I stopped using Firefox.

In the meantime I'd posted this downloading problem on the bbciplayer 'issues' page. To their credit I had a swift response from Audience Services and here is some of their advice:
We are currently experiencing two key problems with BBC iPlayer Desktop:
1. Upgrades to Adobe Air are corrupting or ‘removing' the directory where programmes are stored, resulting in previously downloaded programmes not playing, and future downloads failing to play.
2. Compatibility problems with Adobe Air and recent releases of Google Chrome result in some users being unable to install iPlayer Desktop or download new programmes.
We are working hard on a complete overhaul of BBC iPlayer Desktop.
We have also made a number of revisions to our FAQs and support pages.
http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.u...air_re-install

Hope this info helps!
Last edited by Addingham_FJ : 05-05-2013 at 15:04

Forgot to mention that when I use the iplayer desktop app and click either the Live TV or the Live Radio link both cut out after 8 seconds, and the audio drops.

I've found the most reliable method is to access the bbc webpage using Internet Explorer, and then use the relevant live links from the iplayer page. Both TV and Radio have then streamed as normal.

Thank you ffawkes.

I have tried a different router and that makes no difference. It's odd that I can stream live Channel 4 programmes but not live BBC. It seems like there is a problem with the BBC website for my Notebook and Laptop and yet my Desktop PC streams well.

Maybe the difference in graphics cards is the root of the problem and yet live Channel 4 works well on the Notebook and Laptop.

New version of abode air installed today and seems to have finally fixed my issue with using iplayer to download via chrome (finally)

Hope you don't mind me dropping in but I'm about tearing my hair out!
My problems seem to recur every time Adobe Air has an update but if I don't allow the update to go ahead, my downloaded programmes disappear anyway!

One of two things happens:
EITHER
The downloaded programmes show 'licence pending' and when I try to play them, I get the message there was a problem downloading even though they were there previously
OR
Every time I click to download a programme, I am asked to install IPlayer even though it is (supposedly) already in my list of programs on the computer and then I get a msg that the same version is already installed!

I have done several clean installations of both Adobe Air and Desktop but still it persists and I got an automated response from 'contact us' directing me here.

Anyone have any ideas . . . ?

I have Windows 7 with Internet Explorer 11. When I go to Iplayer from Internet Explorer I get a black screen although he sound comes the through. But if I go to iplayer from Gookle or Vivaldi browsers iplayer works. I have reset Internet Explorer but it did not help. Any suggestions.

One possibility is that video card/display is set to a resolution BBC Iplayer cannot handle. Try setting default display to 1024x768(or760) as virtually all apps will work at that setting.

Other than that, It is rather difficult to immediately see what you problem is, and you might have to do a process of elimination. You could try following:

1) do a complete backup of PC to external ub drive (good idea anyway regardless of your problems) using Macrium Reflect Free or similar. This in case everthing goes down the pan and you can recover back to current state.

2) reinstall windows 7 from scratch (using installation disks or OEM recovery partition). Make sure all latest system updates are also installed

3) only install BBC Iplayer and whatever is needed e.g. adobe air.

4) make sure this PC is only device connected to router via cable or ethernet. That way you don't need to worry about installing virus checkers etc, yet as only thing this step is doing is to check if BBC Iplayer works with nothing else installed.

5) If BBC iplayer does not work in this case, there is something wrong that may not fixable without software/driver updates.

6) If it works, this suggest issue is an incompatibility issue with other software. Then next install virus checker/firewall, check app, if ok, install other apps one by one (note versions of each app), testing iplayer as you go each time. If all apps are installed an it still works, problem solved. If one of apps causes it to fail, then you have identified the issue.