SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

OK For the last week I have been unable to get Iplayer videos to work from the website. This was after months of it working fine. It started to only play sound instead of video.

There have been many threads on the topic, with some saying it still works for them on some things, some saying it has never worked, and others still saying they thought PR1.2 broke it.

My thoughts were that it was the BBC that had done something to their content.

After much fiddling around with settings etc nothing worked.

Then after listening to a radio replay last night I thought I'd try something else. The radio program played in a 'console' and the web address had console attached to it too, so this morniing, after some experimentation I fihured out how to get any video to play......

You do indeed need to add /console/ to the web address like I figured, but you also need to chop off the /episode/ part as well as the /program_name/ part, so for example:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...and!_The_Band/

becomes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00snk78/

The program then opens up in a consol which you can then pop out etc just like you used to be able to when it worked like normal:)

PS please don't xomment on my choise of profram I picked it at random from the first page on iplayer, so there:p

Hope this works for everyone else who is having difficulties. I have reproduced it working on a few programs now and it works great.

It is still uzzling why it worked for months and has now stopped though. (I still blame the BBC)

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

I'm not sure if you've managed to pick a program that has more chances of working there. I still find programs that don't work using this method.
One example is Pirates of the Caribbean. I still get a blank screen with sound only.
Can you try that using your method? Check if it is just me or my device!!!

Well done for digging about and experimenting though. If it helps get anyone that bit further with programs they couldn't play before, then that is a plus.

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

Thanks for that!

Good to have another solution to viewing iplayer - now I can add bookmarks and desktop shortcuts that lead directly to content.

Otherwise, I find using the previously-covered method of first selecting 'use lower bandwith version' and then selecting the 'pop-out' still works fine for me - been watching Dr Who that way this morning! (I know, I know...)

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

just tried the link but all i am getting is the audio....it goes to the bbciplayer beta player when selected.

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

pop out player is disabled and selecting full screen just gives audio.

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

Thanks Kyller for highlighting this again, for those in UK who haven't seen it, a similiar technique here:-

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...hlight=iplayer

and a great guide with pics from Jaymontana:-

http://mynokiablog.com/2010/04/02/ho...-old-solution/

Dan

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

found that if you go to the classic old page and not the beta page the popout player is enabled and it does work...yeeesssss!!!!!

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

oh am i happy now....bbciplayer works and tvcatchup now works.....yeeehaaaa

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

tried pirates and that is giving me black screen too. first one Imve found using this method.

To get rid of beta you need to clear cookies. I experimented with that too

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

oh and yes dancairo, that method no longer works, it only works with me now if I go in ans type console etc.

PS i also believe I may have been first to find that way back in January, and had posted it in a couple of threads back then

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

set www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ as a bookmark....selct the show you wanna watch again...use the pop out player (middle button of the three at the bottom right corner) and bobs your uncle.

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

That is what is not working now for 90% of people now neotalk. It used to work for me, not now. It ONLY works if I go in to the program, then alter the address to include console etc.

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

thing is it never worked for me under this method....the beta player has the blocked out pop out and that will not work....but since going back to the classic bbciplayer the problem has now gone away and i can watch any programmes i missed.

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

Hmm, well, i and a few others that i know of are still using that method with no problems, in fact just tried it and it works perfectly, but hey, whatever works for you! I believe the aim is to help people get iplayer working so if there is more than one way to try, all the better yes?...

p.s congratulations. ;-)

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

this is all good news....the bbciplayer and tvcatchup issues were driving me insane....and now i can access both....wonderful news and adds a massive amount of use to my phone now.....highly delighted and well chuffed....so F to you Nokia and your delayed flash 10.1....heeheeheee

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

I've made sure I'm not using the beta version - have had a bookmark to the original page for a while. The Pirates popout is enabled and I still get the blank screen and audio.
Following the method above about changing the url gives the same outcome for me. So unless I have other issues, I've not seen any change.

Majority of programs work fine for me using the old method, but it definitely looks to be the larger bitrate videos that don't play. Low bandwidth also does the same for me.

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

just had another check and it's only some bbc shows that play...still some is better than none.....slowly bit by bit though i think we are getting more access to the bbc???

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

Thank you. what I have been concerned about is if I coulld play it for months then one day it suddenly stops, for no discernible reason, then it could happen to anyone else too, so yes the more methods there are that get it to play, the better it s for everyone.

I've had so many people telling me 'use the popout, use the popout' when I keep saying in the beginning that I used to get it to work using the pop out(Used to not need the popout at all but it did make it better). It gets frustrating having to answer that everytime, when I remember going round telling people about the pop out method ages ago.

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

I have never had any joy getting iplayer streaming with any of the work arounds to date. On the other hand, the alternative method works great for me. It has the added advantage of being able to replay while being off-line! The only downside is having to download the entire file before you can start watching.

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...hlight=iplayer

I'll try the above workaround though, and post back.

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

Could it have anything to do with what sort of connection you have when you first enable the cookie on iplayer?

e.g clear cookies, connect using 3g(or2.5g if you can) and start as many applications as you can, then go to the iplayer site, it will start a new cookie. now HERE is where it MIGHT set up, in the cookie, the information which tells iplayer what bitrate or type of stream your device can handle. SO, everytime you go there from then on it uses that information, no matter what type of connection you have at present, and no matter what else you have running in the background. If you first enabled the cookie when you had a clean system then the iplayer will think 'this device can handle a higher bitrate' and remember that and try and throw video at the n900 which, when it starts, becomes more than can actually be handled.

If you have loads running on a poor connection it will think 'right, this user needs low bitrate stuff' and use that type of stream everytime.

Alternatively, it might say this user can't handle certain streams, so it wont bother trying to play it at all (hence the blank screen/sound only) and what you actually need to do is get the cookie when you have just rebooted and are 'clean' and using little resources.

I'm just off to try and experiment with this it right now.

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

WOW. It worked. Connected using a 2g connection, after clearing cookies and starting tons of apps. Phone was creaking under the strain and going VERY slowly. took a minute for iplayer page to load, then selected a video. That took forever to load, but I figured the cookie must be on there and set up by noe, so I started closing apps. Video was still trying to load, so switched to 3g and restarted browser too. Went straight to iplayer on this 3g connection, chose a video and then clicked on use low bandwidth(forgot to do that before now) and after 20-30 seconds it played. WITHOUT having to click the pop out or anthing. Was a little jumpy as you'd expect, but once you maximise it then it worked fine, almost perfect, and this is on a 1 to 2 bar 3g signal, so still not a great connection. Will try it through wifi tomorrow, as I'm in bed now and need some sleep:) BUT looks like it works now same as it used to for me before last weekend.

I guess I must have cleared cookies or something back then, don't really remember, or perhaps the bbc updating sent a new cookie, who knows. But anyway, try that method if you haven't got it working and see what happens.

Re: SUCCESS-HowTo make BBCIplayer work
 

It works. Also from Finland via right proxy. Select from the bottom of the page classic version. Formula 1 was good to see there.