View Full Version : BBC News videos not playing
I reflashed my N900 this week so don't know if I need to download more codecs or plugins, but trying to view any BBC video on http://news.bbc.co.uk or watch the news channel does not work. The black square turns to a picture and I get the swirling dots but that it it.
I can view video on sites like Guardian however.
Can anyone help please? I am on Vodafone but cannot check if they started to block this in the UK as I am not near a wifi spot now. This used to work before I flashed my phone, this was as recently as a couple of weeks ago.
Thanks
kojacker
2010-06-25, 12:08
I have the same thing happening with BBC videos, but I thought it was maybe they'd moved to Flash version 10... so I just forgot about it. I don't think it's a connection issue as other sites play fine. However, it may be something else entirely so Im interested to see where the thread goes :)
Also I have tried the BBC iPlayer, it will load and play the intro logo (ie BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three), but then when the logo stops and the programme starts to load it just sticks on the logo. I can hear sound but no picture at all.
Is anyone else getting this on the iPlayer?
Anyone at all? Surely others have noticed none of the BBC videos work on the N900 lately?
bbc videos have never worked on any of the nokia devices ive owned, so its nothing new to me
They have previously worked on the N900 though, the iPlayer and BBC streaming news channel worked fine up until very recently.
hoxtonhopper
2010-06-28, 00:41
I can confirm the problem. Like LaptopU I happened to have re-flashed yesterday and went to the beeb site to test Flash. The static preview comes up but the timer spins endlessly. Flash on other sites works fine.
I've also got this problem, though I reflashed when PR1.2 came out and I'm sure bbc vid's were working then.... emails to the beeb me thinks.
update: Checked out the Glastonbury bbc site and managed to watch Muse, albeit with slightly stuttering playback. Only BBC news affected?
courtneyg
2010-06-28, 08:30
They previously worked for me, but no longer do. Radio streams work on iplayer though.
This phones seems to become more and more useless.
mobilephil
2010-06-28, 09:24
i dont believe a word in these posts . i would suggest you people cheack your service providers before you blame the n900 . im in thailand and watch the bbc every morning . and it was stll working fine this morning llll
regards
i dont believe a word in these posts . i would suggest you people cheack your service providers before you blame the n900 . im in thailand and watch the bbc every morning . and it was stll working fine this morning llll
regards
What a rude post! This is a problem for me both on Vodafone 3G and Virgin Media through my wifi. Using the same Virgin Media connection streams fine on my desktop pc.
Also you should remember if you are outside UK you will be getting a different version of BBC News with adverts which we don't get within the UK.
Same problem here, I used to watch F1 highlights etc before, now they don't work. Maybe bbc is upgrading to flash 10?
i dont believe a word in these posts . i would suggest you people cheack your service providers before you blame the n900 . im in thailand and watch the bbc every morning . and it was stll working fine this morning
What site are you using? The BBC UK sites/iPlayer check IP address and wont let you watch from outside the UK. I would assume you are watching from a site that has an agreement with the BBC.
Sorce code from the BBC news site:
<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/player/emp/2_26_20959_21121_1/widgets/10shell.swf?revision=20959_21121....
I think we can assume they are now using Flash 10
hoxtonhopper
2010-06-28, 18:16
Prompted by mobilephil's sensible suggestion, I have tested BBC News Flash video on Firefox on my desktop machine, using the same internet connection as I'm using on my N900 (via wireless). It works fine, which would seem to rule out my ISP as the locus of the problem.
For reference, my Flash versions are 10,0,45,2 on the desktop (on Arch Linux) and 9,0,260,0 on the N900.
To reiterate, it's only a problem with Flash on the BBC, where news videos aren't working at all for me, and iplayer videos start but are audio only. Flash on other sites such as YouTube is fine and dandy.
PS I'm a big fan of the N900, mobilephil. Reporting or confirming an issue isn't necessarily a sign of having a downer on the device.
PPS Hang in there, courtneyg. With a bit of luck someone will get to the bottom of it ... or it'll get fixed at the server end if that's where the problem lies.
PPPS With my Free Software leanings, I feel a bit degraded using Flash at all. Wish the BBC would hurry up and stream in Dirac or Theora.
arbitrabbit
2010-06-28, 22:53
Yup, on Fennec it actually says that you don't have the right version of Flash installed. So it does appear that BBC has moved to Flash 10, which probably means that BBC videos would no longer be available on N900, unless BBC decides to move to a free codec such as Dirac or Theora or Nokia decides to give us Flash player 10.
Dunsurfin
2010-06-28, 23:14
Have you tried the Beta iPlayer? This works on the iPad (no Flash). I am in the U.S., so cannot test without using a VPN.
iPlayer Beta:
http://beta.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/
Good luck!
arbitrabbit
2010-06-29, 00:26
No, that wont work either... at least not in a straightforward way. BBC uses your browser identification string to serve content and N900 just comes across as a standard Linux PC there (technically BBC could identify it but they don't). So they still serve the standard flash page to N900.
arbitrabbit
2010-06-29, 00:33
By the way, this could be something that can be used to beat Nokia around to convince them to finally port Flash 10.1 to Maemo. Incompatibility with iPlayer in UK context is massive. The fact that N900s are still being sold in UK as a Flash enabled device (saw it in my Local Tesco) means that users would expect it to work with iPlayer. Also, it could be a good opportunity for some of us N900 owners to write to Nokia UK support to pester them. So what says, is a mass complaining worth a try?
mishmich
2010-06-29, 01:11
Tried it on mine, and nothing with Firefox using standard or beta, best I can get is using the bundled browser on iPlayer beta - get sound but no picture, just a black screen...
Going via WiFi through Virgin broadband.
Hrumph. Something that did work now doesn't. I was hoping more would work through time, not less. I expect that on Windoze, not Linux. In this situation, less is not the new more.
:-)
Dunsurfin
2010-06-29, 02:00
No, that wont work either... at least not in a straightforward way. BBC uses your browser identification string to serve content and N900 just comes across as a standard Linux PC there (technically BBC could identify it but they don't). So they still serve the standard flash page to N900.
Assuming that changing the user agent is either not working or not worth the bother (http://www.nokian900.tv/two-panel-gmail-aka-the-ipad-version-of-gmail-on-n900/).
I share your frustration with something that worked, but no longer does.
Dunsurfin
2010-06-29, 02:04
By the way, this could be something that can be used to beat Nokia around to convince them to finally port Flash 10.1 to Maemo. Incompatibility with iPlayer in UK context is massive. The fact that N900s are still being sold in UK as a Flash enabled device (saw it in my Local Tesco) means that users would expect it to work with iPlayer. Also, it could be a good opportunity for some of us N900 owners to write to Nokia UK support to pester them. So what says, is a mass complaining worth a try?
Sounds good to me. Ari Jaaksi (http://jaaksi.blogspot.com/), are you listening? We love the N900, but we would love it even more if Flash 10.1 was available.
arbitrabbit
2010-06-29, 10:51
Okay, done. I have written to Nokia UK support. It would be brilliant if a few others could do the same. Here is the link (http://www.nokia.co.uk/support/contact-us/ask-nokia) to their contact us page
I think 95% of the complaints with N900 are due to lack of two features:
1. Lack of flash player 10.1
2. No turn by turn navigation in Ovi Maps
If only Nokia could break its silence on these two issues, that would do wonders for a thing called customer satisfaction, that Nokia seems to have forgotten the meaning of.
i suspect we will get more joy from pointing out to the bbc that no-one really needs flash 10 - while a number of their fee payers need it to be flash 9
There must be numerous other devices that can't play this video as well, not just phones so .....
andyr0ck
2010-06-29, 19:35
i suspect we will get more joy from pointing out to the bbc that no-one really needs flash 10 - while a number of their fee payers need it to be flash 9
There must be numerous other devices that can't play this video as well, not just phones so .....
i think the easiest route would be to see if the Beeb can set up a user profile for the N900 and pray they still have some v9 servers left running or if there's a compatability mode.
Dunsurfin
2010-06-29, 19:49
i suspect we will get more joy from pointing out to the bbc that no-one really needs flash 10 - while a number of their fee payers need it to be flash 9
There must be numerous other devices that can't play this video as well, not just phones so .....
Well said - I would also imagine there are quite a few N900 owners within the BBC's technical teams. However, I think most decisions on how direct and change iPlayer are politically influenced. There is a new coalition government that is watching closely what the BBC does with the license fee. The cynical part of me thinks that viewer demand may have less influence.
Well for some reason I can now play BBC News Videos :)
I had sent them a online form mail from my desktop, got a stock reply back, then did the same again from my N900 (thus supplying flash & browser agent info) and lo.... or maybe they were playing about with the feeds?
Still all seems okay for me....for the moment :D
Now if we could only get them to correct the playing live streams http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/watchlive/ which even on a 1150Mhz overclock device only play in a choppy manner. Life would be sweet.
@rizbert, don't know where you found the online form to contact the BBC but perhaps you could give them another nudge to fix them, as you seem to have the magic touch for getting results.
arbitrabbit
2010-06-29, 23:56
I still can't play BBC News videos, though I can play iPlayer now. The trick is to use the pop out button (the second button from left, next to the full screen button), which would open the video in a new window and then that can be made full screen.
delaroca
2010-06-30, 01:03
Well for some reason I can now play BBC News Videos :)
Same here... thanks for the alert!
--denis
Now if we could only get them to correct the playing live streams http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/watchlive/ which even on a 1150Mhz overclock device only play in a choppy manner. Life would be sweet.
@rizbert, don't know where you found the online form to contact the BBC but perhaps you could give them another nudge to fix them, as you seem to have the magic touch for getting results.
Thanks I'll try!
For the form, follow the 'contact us' link at the bottom of the bbc news page, then choose the website feedback link, then 'technical problems'.
mishmich
2010-06-30, 15:20
I reflashed my n900, as I was having trouble getting some things to install (KMplayer, Extra Codecs) - reporting gstreamer version unavailabe (yet it showed as installed in the repo). Just got round to trying this out again. News still not working. iPlayer only seems to work using the original iPlayer (not Beta) using the bundled browser, not the Firefox download. To get it to work well, I had to open the program in a new window, and close the original iPlayer window. It seems to work better (smoother) now. I originally downloaded update to 1.2 over the phone, but reflashing with 1.2 direct from the Nokia site seems to clear up a couple of problems - and it looks to me like there is more stuff shows under the Applications manager (the spirit level wasn't there before, which is more useful than Attitude).
Mish.
They have started working for me now, interestingly I did email the BBC about this around three days ago so it could well be they have put a Flash version 9 stream back on for us. Which is nice.
n900faniam
2010-07-01, 07:09
Also I have tried the BBC iPlayer, it will load and play the intro logo (ie BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three), but then when the logo stops and the programme starts to load it just sticks on the logo. I can hear sound but no picture at all.
Is anyone else getting this on the iPlayer?
I've had the same probem with Iplayer since the day I started using the phone. Really frustrating.
What I am noticing is that gradually there are fewer and fewer sites we n900 users can watch video streaming on.
I started a link regards this a few days ago, seems like flash technology is moving on at a pace but its unlikely in the extreme that we'll see any flash updates for the Maemo platform.
How long will it be before we're unable to view flash video at all?
colinbaillie
2010-07-13, 12:58
Okay, done. I have written to Nokia UK support. It would be brilliant if a few others could do the same. Here is the link (http://www.nokia.co.uk/support/contact-us/ask-nokia) to their contact us page
I think 95% of the complaints with N900 are due to lack of two features:
1. Lack of flash player 10.1
2. No turn by turn navigation in Ovi Maps
If only Nokia could break its silence on these two issues, that would do wonders for a thing called customer satisfaction, that Nokia seems to have forgotten the meaning of.
I totally agree, and have written to Nokia, but from past experiences, I don't expect much - my message was:
Hi,
I have an N900, with two issues:
1. I cannot use the BBC iPlayer (currently on Vodafone UK and firmware version 10.2010.19-1.203.1), it seems to be a flash issue as I understand it, when I go to the iPlayer, I get conversation, music etc., but NO picture, what can I do.
2. There is no voice guided navigation available for this “top of the range” phone, which I had on my N97 (by the way was excellent), but this phone was returned and exchanged for an N900, due to all the software problems of the N97. It is unrealistic to expect N900 owners to pay for the Sygic software, when lower specified phones get it free – so far I am very disappointed with Nokia’s response.
I look forward to your response.
vBulletin® v3.8.8, Copyright ©2000-2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.