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BBC iPlayer dropping out

entbedford
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎06-12-2015

BBC iPlayer dropping out

So I upgraded to fibre (mainly for OneDrive, another story  Angry )
  iPlayer on my Freesat Panasonic TV starts off well - minimal buffering, plays at higher quality
  ...but then after about 10-15 minutes it stops, buffers, and rarely restarts properly.
Overall it's unwatchable.
As far as I know in house all is well - Plusnet modem -> Netgear router ->TP-LINK 500Mbps Powerline -> ethernet to TV
Am I being throttled?
Any ideas?
7 REPLIES 7
chillypenguin
Grafter
Posts: 4,729
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: BBC iPlayer dropping out

Have you tried iPlayer on any other devices?
SteadVex
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎17-08-2014

Re: BBC iPlayer dropping out

do you get the same with WiFi with the tv (if your tv supports wifi)?
for what its worth, I've found using openDNS servers speeds up nearly everything, although been having issues recently so switched back to plusnet's dns servers, but will be switching to opendns again as xbox seems to prefer open dns
might be worth trying these and giving it ago
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
although if your using the default openreach modem i'm not sure if you can change the DNS settings?
Andrue
Pro
Posts: 775
Thanks: 90
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎12-01-2015

Re: BBC iPlayer dropping out

I doubt that DNS settings will have anything to do with iPlayer. A running stream does not need to make DNS queries.
DNS is only the computer equivalent of a telephone directory so once the connection has been established that's it in the same way that once you've dialled a telephone number you don't have to keep dialling to keep the connection open. I'm also doubtful that iPlayer uses DNS when starting a stream. I'd assume that the site uses proprietary IDs to reference streams and everything is done based on those rather than domain names. That's how I'd do it - it would be a good first move to enforce licensing as it would mean that the streams didn't even have a public facing URL. It forces all access to be through their portal.
DTEG
Rising Star
Posts: 84
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎08-06-2007

Re: BBC iPlayer dropping out

Getting possibly similar issues on our Samsung UE32H5500, probably basically the same iPlayer app. Plays for several minutes, flashes up a warning message about internet connectivity for a fraction of a second (I managed to read it by filming the screen and stepping frame by frame!) then locks solid about 30 seconds later. Plenty of bandwidth available, and nothing else seems to be struggling to maintain a connection. We're on the 38Mb/s fibre service and the TV is connected by wifi.
SteadVex
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎17-08-2014

Re: BBC iPlayer dropping out

Quote from: Andrue
I doubt that DNS settings will have anything to do with iPlayer. A running stream does not need to make DNS queries.
DNS is only the computer equivalent of a telephone directory so once the connection has been established that's it in the same way that once you've dialled a telephone number you don't have to keep dialling to keep the connection open. I'm also doubtful that iPlayer uses DNS when starting a stream. I'd assume that the site uses proprietary IDs to reference streams and everything is done based on those rather than domain names. That's how I'd do it - it would be a good first move to enforce licensing as it would mean that the streams didn't even have a public facing URL. It forces all access to be through their portal.

it doesn't make sense, but all I know is using open dns I don't get weird streaming issues a I do with plusnet, using plusnet at the moment and amazon instant video seems to dropout around 20-25 minutes without fail, on the open one it doesn't? maybe its an issue with my tv, but changing that seems to cure it for me
ChrisWoods
Rising Star
Posts: 55
Thanks: 2
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎11-08-2015

Re: BBC iPlayer dropping out

Quote from: DTEG
Getting possibly similar issues on our Samsung UE32H5500, probably basically the same iPlayer app. Plays for several minutes, flashes up a warning message about internet connectivity for a fraction of a second (I managed to read it by filming the screen and stepping frame by frame!) then locks solid about 30 seconds later. Plenty of bandwidth available, and nothing else seems to be struggling to maintain a connection. We're on the 38Mb/s fibre service and the TV is connected by wifi.

Had almost exact same issue with parent's Samsung Smart TV using iPlayer, YouTube, almost any app involving moderate wifi usage... The router (not PN) was just too far away to be able to cope with neighbouring wifi interference, loss due to thick building walls and the mixture of EM and RF interference in the house.
I repositioned the router just so and gently pivoted it on the spot until I found a stronger LOS signal (using my laptop and wifi scanner app as a rough guide) and the telly happily streamed for the rest of Christmas without further buffering.
tl;dr - move your router! Even as little as an inch can make a big difference if you have loads of local interference, some of which you may be completely unaware of.
802.11 spectrum is in the gigahertz - susceptible to interference from noisy equipment pumping out noise on adjacent frequencies and attrition due to building construction. Though you may have a strong indicated signal, if periodic interference causes more retransmits than you have spectrum for, the effective link bandwidth plummets as TCP throttles back to cope.
elfish
Grafter
Posts: 235
Registered: ‎22-02-2009

Re: BBC iPlayer dropping out

Anyone else experiencing issues with iplayer at the moment?