Hmm, turns out I'm not the only person whose BT homehub router regularly cuts out (needing to be completely rebooted) after ten minutes or so of using the iplayer. I did wonder if BT are deliberately throttling bandwidth - particularly annoying as we've paid for the high-bandwidth option. And we don't have a telly set up in the new house yet, as we're waiting for one arm of BT to talk to the other arm to set up BT Vision, which I already have doubts about.
Anyway, turns out I'm far from the only one with this issue.
According to the 'community support coordinator' on that thread:
"Just a small update on this, we've been checking the small number of PC users who are reporting these problems and we've found that updating to the latest version of Adobe's Flash Player (9.0.124.0) solves the problem for them. The Mac issue is a separate problem that we're still talking with the BBC about the best way to fix it, I'll post again when I have some more news."
Which sounds hopeful, although I suppose if they were deliberately restricting bandwidth, they'd be hardly likely to admit it.
Also a mention of it from BBC news here.
Anyone else had similar problems/a solution?
On a tangent, I've noticed a number of mournful comments over on various sites like rpg.net that they can't watch shows like Doctor Who on the iplayer due to coming from the States. Obviously this only slows your proper geek types down for about 0.3 seconds, as they then get on the torrents. How long is it though, until the BBC start offering a subscription service for the iplayer? Or would this cause major problems with BBC America? Because it does seem like it could be a major earner.
In the meantime, alternative means are being sought to catch up on Doctor Who episode 'The Stolen Earth'. No spoilers plz.
UPDATE: The Girl has pointed me at Troubled Diva's post on BBC Vision. It don't sound good.
On the plus side, I have Obtained a copy of The Stolen Earth.
Blimey. There do seem to be some whacking great spoilers around, so I may have to avoid the internet entirely until next Saturday, but still. That was aces.
15 comments:
No spoilers here, just an advisory from fellow blogger Troubled Diva on his horrendous experience obtaining BT Vision.
Bugger, that link's broken. Here it is again, or otherwise, just Google Troubled Diva + BT:
http://troubled-diva.com/labels/consumer.html
I have a Mac and have just got rid of my BT Home Hub thing - weirdly it crashed every time I accessed the Doctor Who website. uh. which wasn't that often I swear...
My BT HomeHub is still in the box, which is still wrapped in plastic. I pay BT for my broadband line, and there the relationship ends. I've had a Netgear router for a few years, which I've had no trouble with. BT and BT "Vision" and any of their other nonsense that they keep offering me can bugger right off, frankly.
I'm living in Germany and almost exclusively watch British and American television. But apart from buying the DVD there's hardly a legal way of watching foreign TV. Consequently one has to resort to *other ways* (tm). It's not even possible to buy American TV episodes on iTunes. I will try out that proxy thing, though. Seems to work for the iPlayer. Still not entirely legal...
(Doctor Who non-spoiler: "Osterhagen" is a tiny village in Germany... It really is! I've been there!)
Thanks The Girl, interesting stuff.
I have a pretty good Netgear router in a box somewhere, perhaps it's time to dig that out again (it has flashing blue lights on the top as well, so is thematically appropriate).
Fritzi: is it on a river? Perhaps I misheard the dialogue, it could be The Osterhagen Quay. Maybe it's got a nice little deli or something.
It's not on a river. But it sure is small enough to fit into that transparent box. Maybe the people of Osterhagen have been chosen for the colonization of a new planet once _Earth's gone_ (which I have found to be an anagram of Osterhagen).
Having met those people I shudder at the mere thought.
speaking of anagrams, "Wilfred Mott" is an anagram of "Time Lord, WTF?".
not sure if that ones intentional though....
i do like insanely babbling Dalek Caan...perhaps they could keep him in the corner of the TARDIS console room or something?
I refuse to read any spoilers, I am spending the next week looking forward to seeing David Tennet regenerate into Julian Rhind-Tutt. I am in bliss!!! (and probably a lot of self denial)
I'm feeling the same way IMO, only I'm hoping it's John Simm. So what if he was the Master before? It'll be like when Bad Terminator Arnie turned into Good Terminator Arnie.
Uh-oh, did someone mention BT Vision? All I can say is Good Luck. You might well need it. (And on a more positive note: when you do finally manage to get the service working, it works very well indeed.)
Good to know - thanks TD.
Another person living in Germany. No, the damn iPlayer doesn't work for me, either, and so I just rely on torrents, then delete them.
Never been to Osterhagen though. Veldenz, yes, Bernkastel-Kues, yes, Osterhagen no.
Proper geek types just see Dr Who through a proxy that makes it seem they are from Britain!
Encountering a similar 'not in the right country for proper telly' problem last year I simply googled a transcript, read it in an appropriately gloomy setting and made up the pictures in my mind. Worked very well. Not accurately mind.
Post a Comment