iPlayer for iPad issues

DangerMoose · 4 Aug 2011 at 22:51

Just wondering if many of you are having problems with this app? Specifically, playback stops after what seems like variable amounts of time. It is possible that if left long enough, it will simply cache some more and continue, though I have gotten into the habit of alternating between low and high quality modes which seems to resume playback after a brief loading screen.

Now this may seem like a simple network bandwidth issue and may even be just that. However, I find this unconvincing for a few reasons. One, I just sat through episode 4 of Miracle Day streamed live, with not a glitch to be seen. Two, streaming other videos, including Youtube HD videos seems to work without much if any caching. Three, My broadband connection seems capable as my PC will play the HD stuff from iPlayer with no problems (I have seen a few exceptions with popular shows just after broadcast, which I attributed to server side load). The iPad also seems OK with local video of quite large file sizes and bitrates, including streaming over WiFi.

Performance is similar with high and low quality, though low quality unsurprisingly plays for longer before stopping. It seems as if it caches so much, then for some reason neglects to cache any more (except if the quality is changed, which seems to trigger further caching).

Not sure if I am overthinking it but I was beginning to wonder if it could be some quirk of the router I am using, such as ports required specifically by the iPlayer app.

Jimbeam3678 · 4 Aug 2011 at 23:09

Not much help but I have the same issue only with I player. Sky go is fine for hours

SIAT · 5 Aug 2011 at 14:31

Getting the same issue here. Has been happening for a while, it's not the router as playing the same shows on my mac works fine. Its the app.

Interestingly often going to the bigscreen web version of iplayer works when the app doesn't.

Morfik · 5 Aug 2011 at 19:35

Yep, recently been a thread on it

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18298405

Morfik · 8 Aug 2011 at 21:42

Seems BBC are working on a fix

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/08/bbc_tests_fix_for_iplayer/

metachi · 18 Aug 2011 at 21:57

new version just came out

icedbullet · 19 Aug 2011 at 14:25

metachi said:
new version just came out

I hope this update fixes the issues. Theres nothing worse then getting half way through a good show/documentry only to have it indefinately interupted by the dreaded spinning wheel of death.

lemoon · 23 Aug 2011 at 11:00

Hmm, I nearly haven't use this app, as I got a list of to get and watch videos on iPad from here: http://www.wikihow.com/Get-and-Watch-Free-Movies-on-iPad

whitecrook · 23 Aug 2011 at 11:05

The iplayer app for IOS has always been the suck. It works better just visiting iplayer in safari. If you need it to look like an app, just create a icon on your springboard from the bookmark/share menu (the curved arrow)

godinman · 23 Aug 2011 at 17:59

There was some bint on the radio moaning about this, but blaming iplayer, rather than her ipad. The chap was trying to explain the various factors that could affect her watching it but she was too thick to even begin to understand and was just moaning about the bbc ****ing it all up.

DangerMoose · 25 Aug 2011 at 21:07

Based only on a single episode of Doctor Who, I found that it does improve things but is still not perfect. It played fine for approx 10 minutes, then frequently cached for the next 20 or so, before returning to normal for the remainder. Only time will tell if this is a short term glitch or even my own connection, though in general my broadband and WiFi continues to behave as described in my OP.

During the problematic period of the episode, by the way, it did not seem to make a huge difference if it was on high or low quality and rewinding a bit did seem to make the caching a little less frequent. I left it on low quality for the last half or so.