The Failings Of Bbc Iplayer

[normchurch]

I am trying to watch a programme from last week but it is constantly being disrupted by pauses marked by revolving pink rings. Have others had this problem? What can be done to stop it? Or must we accept that the Beeb is simply c*r*a*p?

[ubasses]

we get the problem when our broadband speed drops.

[bibblebub]

If this is when using the online version then it's probably that you internet connection isn't fast enough to buffer the video. For a PC/laptop a desktop version is allowed which lets you download the whole video before viewing, so no delays; don't know what's available for other devices.

[normchurch]

what do you mean, what device?

[normchurch]

... i use bt internet

[normchurch]

... and i use a desktop

[bibblebub]

You might want to consider downloading the desktop iPlayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/install - once a programme is downloaded you can view it as many times as you want in the availability period and there won't be any pauses when you come to watch because the video will have already been downloaded.

[normchurch]

i started off to download this hour-long programme but then discovered that there were 621mb to be downloaded and the rate of download meant i'd be up until way into the wee small hours. isn't there any way to speed up downloads?

[normchurch]

anyway, many thanks to those who have replied.

[Gromit]

Probably not the bbc's fault. Blame your internet provider.

[Peter Pedant]

its a downloadie thing
some days are worse than others

[jno]

you can check your broadband speed here and see if it's what you thought you were paying for

http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/

[Buenchico]

There's also a broadband speed checker on the BBC website, which has the advantage of telling you whether your speed is good enough for different iPlayer services:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics

Some programmes on iPlayer offer a lower bandwidth option (located at the bottom left of your screen), so it might be worth trying that. Otherwise you need to hassle BT to provide you with a decent service.

You can theoretically use iPlayer with a speed of around 2Mbps but I'd advise that closer to 5Mbps is really needed for a fully reliable service (without the 'buffering' that you've been experiencing). The speed you get is largely determined by how far away from the exchange your house is but 'contention ratios' can also play a major part as well. Your ISP's contention ratio determines how many people share the same connection at the exchange. With BT that's often 50 to 1, so there are 50 of you all trying to use the same connection, which means that you'll all get very slow speeds at peak times (e.g. in the early evening). Better ISPs use a contention ratio of around 20 to 1, with ISPs mainly serving businesses (such as Claranet, which I use) offering around 8 to 1.

The type of ADSL broadband connection you get also affects your speed. The standard service offered by BT Wholesale to other firms (and to BT Broadband) is 'ADSL Max'. However if you ask a decent ISP to change it, you can get 'ADSL2+',which effectively doubles the available speed. I'm not sure though, that 'ADSL2+' is actually available to users of BT Broadband because their Home Hubs reserve half of the available bandwidth at your location for other users (i.e. people out in the street who use your router to access BT's Mobile Broadband service)

So it's not good old Aunty Beeb that's 'c*r*a*p' [as suggested in your post] but BT!

[China Doll]

You can click to run your programs at a lower broadband speed, the option is there. That's what I do.

It was particularly pants a couple of times last week actually though and can confirm that it wasn't anything to do with my broadband speed.

[cecil39]

I find that I get good results if I download in the early afternoon, everything is slow for me just now, so won't even try to download anything, I am even having trouble typing this, have to keep back and filling in missing letters. its just a busy time.