BBC iPlayer won't play
Hi
I've a Moto G5 Plus Dual Sim mobile using Android 8.1 & Firefox for Android. I use the BBC Sounds app to play BBC audio programmes which have already been broadcast. But I get the message on the attached image 'This content doesn't seem to be working'. By clicking that message I get the further info re 'unknown bitrate' etc shown in the attached image. It seems to be related to adaptive bitrate streaming - though that may be mistaken - but a lot of searching has not yielded a solution. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the BBC Sounds app, switched between 3G & 4G, gone into Safe Mode, stopped & restarted data connection, cleared cache & data, closed open windows, used Opera & Chrome but the issue always recurs though I stress it doesn't happen all the time and seemingly less so with Firefox. I have also more faith in Firefox Support. Even an explanation of the cause might furnish some consolation - is it the phone, the browser, my provider - Tesco Mobile. Geo-location restriction - I am not in the UK - is definitely not the answer as some have suggested on other fora.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/other/codecs_bitrates https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/other/hls_hds_mpeg https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/other/buffering
These three very short articles on the BBC website might help someone more technically qualified than me understand the issue & this forum discussion has some info though it relates to Linux so not really relevant, probably.
https://forums.informaction.com/viewtopic.php?t=22633
Strange the BBC gave no fix or good explanation of this - even the error number referred to yielded no help & believe me, I've looked. I don't use replay of video programmes tho' I can see others have issues re that which might be relevant.
Any help very greatly apprecieated. I might even volunteer for Support!
Krejt Përgjigjet (5)
Hi
Thank you for your question. I have a similar phone (and tend to shop at Sainsburys rather than Tesco) and have heard of the new BBC app and I think I know what might be causing this issue.
Looking at the screenshot you supplied (thank you!) It looks like you have a large number of applications open on your Android device. If you swipe down from the top of the screen a couple of times you should see all the app notifications. You should be able to clear a number of these by swiping the notification from left to right.
More importantly, you can close down a number of apps that you have open. If you tap the square Android icon on your device you should see the apps that you have open. Close as many of these as possible (Motorola have an option to close all).
Once done, turn off your phone and turn it back on again. Get online and try the BBC Sounds app and it should be okay.
I hope this helps, but if not please come back here and we will try to help.
(If you are keen to help Mozilla make the web more awesome, view my profile on here and find the link to send me a message and I will do my best to help you get involved.)
Hi Seburo
Thanks very much for the very prompt response - it confims my faith in Firefox suppor! However I'm sorry but I did as you suggested twice - I'm very familiar with the process - yet the problem remains as described. I've somethimes done it in the past without success also.
Two things I didn't mention which might be relevant. One, is that the problem is not present when you use catch-up on BBC World Service which would lead one to think the BBC are the problem or that it might relate to geography. But it's definitely not geo-restricted as I sometimes get the same shows to play, other times not. And in any case I get a separate msg re geo-restriction when that applies. Two the right-hand figure showing the programme length cf. image attached to previous msg shows as 00.05 i.e. five minutes when the problem is present in Chrome. It can also be present in Firefox but sometimes Firefox overcomes the issue and the time changes to the correct programme length and the programme plays - that's absolutely never happened with Chrome. Hope this makes some sense.
Regards
Hi
Hmm...that is useful info.
Looking at the links for the BBC, it seems that the different stream that go into the app are not all the same, some are better quality than others (such as BBC Radio 3). This may also be the case with the BBC World Service.
This issue is also happening in Chrome, but Firefox is handling it better? (awesome...!) That makes me think that this more of an issue with the BBC app and the streams it is using, rather than Firefox for Android.
To be fair to the BBC, this app of theirs is very new and they may still be resolving a few outstanding issues so i recomend that you keep an eye on this and make sure that the app is regulary updated.
Seburo
Thanks again for your reply.
I attach two screenshots, taken more or less at the same time for the same programme. The FF one is playing while the Opera won't play. The address - I assume it's an address - starting 2.25... is the same yet one plays, the other doesn't. I see FF is using Akamai as the CDN - Content Delivery Network - while Opera is using Limelight. Don't know if that's important. Also re streaming rate, I've checked a lot of programmes since you mentioned it and all of those which played incl. World Service, Radio 4, Radio 3 (incl. music shows) played at 96kbps. If you're getting different rates, don't know if that's a function of the phone, CDN or something else.
What's so frustrating is that I see no explanation of the cause of the issue - at this stage I don't know if it's my phone, provider, location, CDN or some setting which I could change and thus fix. FF is the browser which causes least problems but it still happens often with it. Frankly I'm very surprised there is no explanation & i've searched a lot.
Thanks
I do not recognise those designations as addresses (I could be wrong!) but it does look like Opera is struggling a little.
As mentioned before, it does look like your phone is doing a lot of work, and then is being asked to play a complicated media stream.