BBC iPlayer

[UTVLifer]

Not sure if this is just a problem with my devices but the purple bar that allows you to rewind live BBC channels doesn’t seem to be appearing and the restart programme button is not working. It also seems to be around 2 minutes out of sync rather than the usual 40 seconds. It’s been like this for about a day now. I’ve tried deleting and reinstalling the app but that doesn’t seem to fix it.
Is Anyone else experiencing this issue?

Yes, I'm experience the exact same issues. My subtitles have also been playing up in recent days

[Jon]

Was just about to post the same thing, having the issue on iOS.

[Nathan]

Does anyone happen to know the current streaming resolution on iPlayer (for non-UHD content)?

Last time I checked using Streamlink (which was a couple of months ago) the highest quality available was 720p50, and I believe it's still the same currently.

1920x1080/50p does exist: however, it simply isn't served to the browser, and instead only to things like set-top boxes and smart TVs (though it is possible to figure out how to find the relevant playlists via some technical knowledge and network traffic sniffing - I've redacted the full playlist location in the screenshot as it's not something that's supposed to be accessed from a PC). I presume out of concern over potential performance issues? Netflix doesn't serve (without third-party browser extensions) anything higher than 720p in the browser out of concern for the aforementioned performance issues.

[AllWillBeWell]

I hope they allow Apple OS.app to have the capacity to remember where you paused content and previously viewed menu. At one time I am sure it had it, but then the feature was removed.

[IanJRedman]

Does anyone happen to know the current streaming resolution on iPlayer (for non-UHD content)?

Last time I checked using Streamlink (which was a couple of months ago) the highest quality available was 720p50, and I believe it's still the same currently.

1920x1080/50p does exist: however, it simply isn't served to the browser, and instead only to things like set-top boxes and smart TVs (though it is possible to figure out how to find the relevant playlists via some technical knowledge and network traffic sniffing - I've redacted the full playlist location in the screenshot as it's not something that's supposed to be accessed from a PC). I presume out of concern over potential performance issues? Netflix doesn't serve (without third-party browser extensions) anything higher than 720p in the browser out of concern for the aforementioned performance issues.

Thanks for this - very interesting. So there is a 1080p50 stream, but it isn't being served to anyone? IIRC, even TVs and set-top boxes are only getting 720p50 at the moment. It's baffling, especially since they enabled 1080p for a while but then retracted it.

At one stage, Microsoft Edge was the only browser to support Netflix in 1080p on PCs, but I don't know if that's changed since they moved to the Chromium engine.

Maybe the BBC should just implement a quality toggle on the iPlayer, as they did in the old days (you could toggle between SD and 720p). YouTube seem to manage fine...

[ElMarko]

My wife and I have suddenly lost the ability to change the channel on the TV Guide on iOS. Anyone else?

[Universal_r]

My wife and I have suddenly lost the ability to change the channel on the TV Guide on iOS. Anyone else?

I’ve got the same issue, it’s been like that since yesterday for me. It looks like it’s under the top menu bar.

[harshy]

Last time I checked using Streamlink (which was a couple of months ago) the highest quality available was 720p50, and I believe it's still the same currently.

1920x1080/50p does exist: however, it simply isn't served to the browser, and instead only to things like set-top boxes and smart TVs (though it is possible to figure out how to find the relevant playlists via some technical knowledge and network traffic sniffing - I've redacted the full playlist location in the screenshot as it's not something that's supposed to be accessed from a PC). I presume out of concern over potential performance issues? Netflix doesn't serve (without third-party browser extensions) anything higher than 720p in the browser out of concern for the aforementioned performance issues.

Thanks for this - very interesting. So there is a 1080p50 stream, but it isn't being served to anyone? IIRC, even TVs and set-top boxes are only getting 720p50 at the moment. It's baffling, especially since they enabled 1080p for a while but then retracted it.

At one stage, Microsoft Edge was the only browser to support Netflix in 1080p on PCs, but I don't know if that's changed since they moved to the Chromium engine.

Maybe the BBC should just implement a quality toggle on the iPlayer, as they did in the old days (you could toggle between SD and 720p). YouTube seem to manage fine...

So there definitely is a full HD stream I thought it was 720p50.

[IanJRedman]

Judging by this - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/quest...nected-tv/ - it looks like a cap on viewer numbers has been reintroduced for the UHD Euro matches. Have there been bandwidth problems? We had a couple of buffering issues in the England/Croatia game (the only one I've seen in UHD so far)

[IanJRedman]

This is an interesting R&D article from a couple of weeks ago. Suggests iPlayer might now be serving 1080p50 via web browsers. Does anyone know if any other devices have changed?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2021-06-st...-bandwidth

[BcastCornwall]

I think I know why BBC FOUR has been retained now. It's being used increasingly to revalidate and restart the 12 month iPlayer window for programming. Several examples of this currently on the player notably 'The Art of Persia' which on expiry got an immediate reshowing which has triggered another 12 month player slot.

[Ash101]

Interestingly another example of the above seems to be the comedy series Motherland.

Which seems to be getting a monthly late night airing on BBC Four in order to keep it on iPlayer for another 28 days.

Series 1 Episode 1 is due to expire tomorrow, but is currently airing. The BBC Programme page shows this is the 4th repeat in as many months!

I presume this is just a rights issue where it is only being put on iPlayer for a month at a time, not the 12 months most shows have now?

[Brekkie]

Quite often some random content in the early hours. They showed the old EastEnders episodes last year when they were releasing a weeks worth on the iPlayer during its hiatus.

As I said in the Sky thread perhaps rethinking channels rather than trying to make a 20 year old channel work. "BBC Box Sets" could work quite well with both BBC3 scripted content and archive BBC content, along with the Saturday night foreign series, basically airing a series at 9pm for around three hours then something else overnight.

[London Lite]

8.7m watched the final episode of Line of Duty according to stats released by the BBC.

https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2021/07/...TV+News%29

[Night Thoughts]

8.7m watched the final episode of Line of Duty according to stats released by the BBC.

https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2021/07/...TV+News%29

Nearly 5.2 million for the nine-year-old first episode of the first series too. That's a lot of catch-up viewing!