iPlayer

[Ferretfancy]

I have BBC iPlayer on my iMac, and also via the Internet hub on my smart TV, which I use occasionally, the quality is normally very good

In the last few days, although it's still possible to navigate around the site up to the point where the programme should start, some programmes simply do not begin, and an error message " not found" appears.
I checked that all was well on ITV player, and that's fine, so I searched the BBC website, eventually finding iPlayer Help, which told me that they recognised problems currently on some platforms, and were working on it. At a guess, about half the output is affected at the moment, so this is not some small glitch.

[Resurrection Man]

Are we talking about a program or an App? My reason for asking is that I never use such a beast but just use a browser as normal.

The information about 'problems on some platforms' is more likely to mean consistent problems and/or never even working rather than your problem which seems to be occasional? I could be wrong, of course, in my understanding.

Also do you mean both BBC iPlayer AND the Internet Hub have this problem? Are programmes consistent in their inability to 'be found' as it were?

[JimD]

I am having a similar problem with the App on my Samsung Smart TV (though it's not all that smart) trying to watch the Delius programme mentioned on another thread. The TV has a browser but that doesn't work either. It's fine on my laptop and for some programmes on the TV.

[Petrushka]

I am having a similar problem with the App on my Samsung Smart TV (though it's not all that smart) trying to watch the Delius programme mentioned on another thread. The TV has a browser but that doesn't work either. It's fine on my laptop and for some programmes on the TV.

Just tried accessing the Delius programme on my own Samsung Smart TV and it doesn't work on mine either.

[Frances_iom]

R3 iplayer is working on my now somewhat dated Sony bluRay player (havn't tried TV tho as no interest) - most of the TV's etc use Java as the language to implement the decoder etc, recently there has been a major tho somewhat belated update by Oracle (owners of Java) to fix several key security holes (so bad that unless you need Java (not Javascript that is something different) in your browser you are recommended to remove it - Firefox will do this automagically - possibly that update via an update to TV makers programme has clobbered iPlayer

[Ferretfancy]

I am able to use the internet on my Samsung in two ways, firstly by using the Internet hub on my remote, or by using my Blu Ray hard disc / player, normally it works perfectly either way. If I access other applications such as ITV Player, they work with no problems.

What happens when I open iPlayer,is that I can navigate to my chosen item up to the point where the programme should start, but at that point the screen symbol continues to rotate and the item fails to run. Whether or not programmes are available seems to be entirely random. The fault surely has to be at source, since it has only recently appeared, and other internet functions are fine.

It would seem that all I can do is wait patiently for some BBC boffin to spot that something's wrong, since there doesn't seem to be any way to bring it to their attention.

[Resurrection Man]

I am able to use the internet on my Samsung in two ways, firstly by using the Internet hub on my remote, or by using my Blu Ray hard disc / player, normally it works perfectly either way. If I access other applications such as ITV Player, they work with no problems.

What happens when I open iPlayer,is that I can navigate to my chosen item up to the point where the programme should start, but at that point the screen symbol continues to rotate and the item fails to run. Whether or not programmes are available seems to be entirely random. The fault surely has to be at source, since it has only recently appeared, and other internet functions are fine.

It would seem that all I can do is wait patiently for some BBC boffin to spot that something's wrong, since there doesn't seem to be any way to bring it to their attention.

Not necessarily so, as Frances has pointed out. If you have automatic updates enabled, say, in any of your devices then it's quite possible that one of these may have upset things as far as iPlayer is concerned.

[Ferretfancy]

I eventually located iPlayer help, which was very confused in layout, but I was able to email a fault description and received an auto acknowledgment. The info page suggested that the engineers were aware of problems, so please wait. I checked my TV this morning, and all appears to be well.

I would like to see a facility so that what are effectively transmission errors could be flagged up,instead of leaving users in confusion.

[JimD]

Oh dear, I still get the same error message "UnknownMediaSourceError (0)" for the Delius programme on my Samsung. Is that the one which you reported?

[Resurrection Man]

I wonder if these smart TVs have the equivalent of a browser cache that needs clearing? Jim, might be worth you power cycling your TV although these days there are sometimes internal batteries that don't 'help'. Or the equivalent of a factory reset.

[MrGongGong]

might be worth you power cycling your TV .

that's one to add to the list
just "power cycled" my car and at the end of most days I do a personal "power cycle" to reset my cache memory

[amateur51]

I wonder if these smart TVs have the equivalent of a browser cache that needs clearing? Jim, might be worth you power cycling your TV although these days there are sometimes internal batteries that don't 'help'. Or the equivalent of a factory reset.

Does that mean turning it on and off?

[MrGongGong]

Does that mean turning it on and off?

No
it's far more technical than that
It involved going on a special course for 2 years
then, and only then, one locates this button



depresses it with the index finger OF THE RIGHT HAND ONLY

then one locates this device



and switches the switch to the OFF position before removing the plug from the socket

After a suitable interval (2 mugs and a piece of cake being the optimum duration)
one repeats the sequence but in reverse formation

[Resurrection Man]

No
it's far more technical than that
It involved going on a special course for 2 years
then, and only then, one locates this button



depresses it with the index finger OF THE RIGHT HAND ONLY

then one locates this device



and switches the switch to the OFF position before removing the plug from the socket

After a suitable interval (2 mugs and a piece of cake being the optimum duration)
one repeats the sequence but in reverse formation

Yebbut...in the time it's taken you to dig out the images, post your comments and have a good old chuckle...'power-cycling' works for most of us.

At least its not as bad as 'undergrounding' electricity cables (incidentally the forum spell-checker is quite happy with power-cycling but not undergrounding!) or detraining !

[JimD]

I wonder if these smart TVs have the equivalent of a browser cache that needs clearing? Jim, might be worth you power cycling your TV although these days there are sometimes internal batteries that don't 'help'. Or the equivalent of a factory reset.

Thanks for the suggestions Resurrection Man. I will ignore the further helpful responses! I'll try switching it fully off. I am not sure whether I want to chance a factory reset for the sake of one programme--and that about Delius--when most other things are working OK.

However I notice that when trying to use the Channel 4 equivalent of the iPlayer using the TV's browser (i.e. not an App)it invites me to update Flash. I wondered if TVs were able to do that sort of thing or would it be likely to cause further problems. I suppose if they aren't they will quickly become outdated. I guess I'll try asking Samsung, but wondered whether you had any thoughts.