TalkTalk/Tiscali iPlayer issues Blu-ray

[PeterJ101]

I've a BDP S570 and a EX732 and iplayer has worked ok until last few days. Its great when it works! But over the last few days it now runs out of memory loading the home page and goes into a loop of re-trying until I press HOME to break out of it. Very frustrating. I've been scanning the message boards and lots of folks have been having problems but not seen any mention of this one. Is there a fix or is it just another BBC problem?

Message was edited by: Catmambo

Message was edited by: Catmambo

[PeterJ101]

I suspect the reset routine will on only work for a while before you get the problem again. But very happy to be proved wrong. I'm abit fed up with Sony on this - they sell the boxes with "iplayer" on the side and it clearly doesn't work for a lot of people. Unless we all take the things back? This has been going on for ages and we haven't even had an explanation of what is happening and any sort of "official" workaround. I've said this before, come on Sony, give us a bit more and put a bit more effort into this! I've bought Sony kit for the last 30 years but the BD570 I think may be my last Sony purchase!

[paulgrecothompson]

We could take the players back, but there doesn't seem to be THAT many of us which is why we've already seen a response along the lines of, "It's just a few of you so we'll take our time if you don't mind."

For at least three people now, the reset process has worked.  So it's probably not a coincidence.  Also, when it comes back on its own, it seems to be when Tiscali has been down for a little while. We also know that in almost every case, it works the first time we set up.  The problem is not just to do with Iplayer requests, it's also to do with the cache - storing personal info like what you "last played".  Sadly, resetting that alone doesn't seem to work.  You need to reset your router COMPLETELY - that means factory resetting, not just on-and-offing.  And you need to reset your Sony including the internet content - making sure you have no internet service icons (Iplayer / Lovefilm etc) on your screen.

The whole process takes ten minutes tops, so as Fagan said, I'm reviewing the situation.  Mine worked for two months without probs. If I have to do a reset taking ten minutes every two months while Sony and BBC get their a**es into gear, I'll accept that.. as I love my bluray in all honesty.  But they are sailing close to the wind.  Take it back, and they'll test it instore - connected to their internet, it will be fine, and they'll blame your internet provider.  And the BBC.  Which it is, partly, though Sony should be providing software that works with ALL providers or warning consumers at point of purchase.  It's a very grey area - good luck if you want to make a return.  Tell us how it went.  If you're successful, it may encourage more to return, and from our point of view, that has to be a good thing... and it may stop people at Sony denying there is an issue which is VERY annoying.

[paulgrecothompson]

And going through a proxy would play hell with my streaming - it's been hard enough to get it going with no interruptions as it is.  I need something that will slow down the connection like a hole in the head.  Definitely the reset option for me - but if anyone has a Tiscali proxy that works, let's have it..

Nice one, Archer11.  If the reset process works for anyone else, let us know - and also how long it works for before you have to do it again.. if at all.

[DerekWa]

Hi Catmambo

Thanks for your reply.

For many years I used to work for a UK subsidiary of a large multi-national company. The IT department would install software updates over weekends and often, on Monday mornings, various parts of our systems would no longer be working.

It was the standard response of the IT department to deny that any changes could have been made by them which would cause these failures.

Over time I realised that the solution to these problems was to learn to ask the correct question of a person within the department who was both willing and able to take up the challenge of fixing the issue.

Up to now, I haven't yet found this magical combination in either the BBC or my ISP.

I am hoping that you may be able to furnish me with the correct wording I need in order to ask the right question of the BBC/ISP. Better still, I would be grateful if you could contact these service providers on my behalf. It would carry a lot more weight if the query were to come from a Sony representative. I am confident that you will be able to make far more progress than me alone.

I am asking this of you since Sony is such a customer-focused organisation and my primary purpose in purchasing the Blu-ray player was to access the BBC iPlayer service.

My case number with the BBC is CAS-584010-7NLNJ1

My Technical Support Advisor contacts at TelecomPlus are Hafeez Saka and Roshan Goonewardene (no case number provided) on email techsupport@utilitywarehouse.co.uk

I have read the fix posted on this forum which requires both the router and Blu-ray player to be re-set every time the fault re-appears.  However, this cannot be a realistic long-term solution.

Please can you help?

[PeterJ101]

Hi - I appreciate all the posts on this. Keep them coming!  Its been great to know I'm not the only poor sod with this problem. Made up for the near deafening silence from the various providers involved!

One new bit of information - when mine fails and goes into the reloading cycle, and I then press a random selection of remote buttons in a fit of frustration as it tries to re-load, I can usually get it to eventually load the right page and work! Now explain that!

[paulgrecothompson]

Interesting, Peter.  Which device do you have again?

Derek, "every time" will only be a real pain if it happens often.  (I now have the reset procedure down to 5 minutes max after my lastest venture - see below..)  How often are people experiencing this?

Yesterday I decided to stream a HD program - over-confidence since I'd had no buffering problems since my last reset and working out how to get 100% wireless signal.  The programme lagged and froze - then everything else did, the standard "high quality" and even "normal" quality programmes.  Then I thought back, and I'm dead sure the moment I started having buffering problems was after I first tried something in so-called "high definition".

Anyway, when I had the buffering probs yesterday, which I believed were caused by my attempting an HD watch, I decided to go for a reset again.  I reset all, and guess what - yep, the home page fiasco happened again.  Arggggghhh!  So I reset it again.  No luck.  And again.  No luck.  And again.  Success!  By the way, this time, I switched off the Blu-ray after the total reset, so after resetting (total reset, remember, to those reading this first) the router, it switched on straight into set-up, like it does after you buy it.  Not sure if that helped - probably not - I suspect the procedure just doesn't work every time.  But I'm SURE now that resetting the router is significant.  Not least because my buffering problems disappeared COMPLETELY after this successful reset, even though by now we were deep into peak time viewing!

Lessons?  Well, I have two theories.  Keep away from those supposed "HD" options you get with some programmes, they're a bloody curse.  Get_player can't grab them probably because of some sort of security code protects them probably to stop people taking the pi55 bandwidth wise.  Some sort of "rules" are causing problems, I'm sure of it.  Stick to standard "high quality" (pretty much as good, as far as I can determine) or "normal quality" if you need to go there.

Secondly, the reset is definitely doing something good in terms of getting rid of problems. But it doesn't always work first go, so don't give up - give it a few goes if you have the patience.  I am now going to test my theory that the "HD" option only available on some content is the route of all evil (IPs not being keen on folk using it?).  I will avoid it totally and keep you posted on my player's behaviour.

[drb001]

For what is worth I have had exactly the same problem and a full reset fixed it for now. Using BDP-S570 and Tiscali. Also on the rare occasions I use iPlayer I generally watch HD (with no problems).

[PeterJ101]

I've a BD570 and an EX732.

As I get iplayer no problem from my dell/windows device using the current router set up, its not the router. It may help to fiddle with it but it doesn't get away from the fact that the Sony box cannot seem to do what my dell laptop does consistently no problem. So on that basis I don't think its Tiscali or the BBC's fault either - again they work perfectly well. The issue lies with the BD570. Sorry Sony, but until you explain it otherwise, I'm pointing the finger at you!

[plakra]

OK everyone the process to get it to work is not quite as bad as you think. I have a '370' with all the issues of iplayer coming and going. It went again tonight and so I had another hunt on the internet and found this thread and the 'reset' solution. I know a bit about networks and what this solution is doing is giving your router a new ip address from your isp. There is an easier way to do this than lose all your settings. I have jsut logged into my router (Thomson on TalkTalk) and disconnected the internet and reconnected. This process gave me a new ip address. Do this with the Sony BluRay player off. I then switched on the BluRay player and connected to iPlayer. I had to do this whole process 3 times and low and behold up came iPlayer correctly!

From what I have read invarious places iPlayer sends out video streams in one of two ways - for PC's or for media players. Looks like when you connect to the BBC iPlayer site some negotiation occurs with the player and the iPlayer server then decides which of the two modes to use. Appears that having decided that a particualr ip (this is more complex than i am writing here because you might realise that you can have several different devices at home on one network connection but we'll put tha to the side for now) is a PC or media player it will always serve the same protocol. If the iPlayer server decides incorrectly you are stuffed until you can persuade it to regnetiate. Thsi is my guess on how it all works.

Why Virgin and TalkTalk give particular problems i am not sure but both ISP's I suspect use fancy content checking bits of kit which I suspect are delaying the iPlayer negotiations.

[paulgrecothompson]

Interesting stuff.  Wouldn't just turning your router on and off give you a new IP address?  Because I tried that loads of times and it didn't work.  I will definitely use that technique in future though - sounds much quicker.  Also, how do we explain the fleeting times this happens - this happened to me once, just a couple of on-offs on the Bluray and it was back.  Did my internet restart itself coincidentally as I did this?  And how do we explain the "pressing loads of buttons on the remote" technique described by a couple of people?

To the "it's not the router" crowd.. yes, we know, the Sony software needs development - the software you use on your computer has been around a while now and less buggy for it.  That's not to say problems can't be fixed in other ways while Sony tries to salvage its reputation - nobody's "blaming" routers, or Tiscali or the BBC.. though you'd hope those parties would talk to each other and Sony to find a permanent solution.. that's how problems got fixed with the PC software, not just by blaming one poor sod and demanding they solve the problem in a bubble.  That's why we're all talking about it now.. in the hope we'll turn a light bulb on.  The router fix works on Tiscali.. so I'm not sure how helpful the phrases "it's not the router" and "it's not Tiscali" are.  Nobody said it was, we're just pointing to fixes that work for now.