[@NickyColman]

I dunno whether this is old news but i have recently come across a new part to the BBC mobile site. Its called the, you guessed it, BBC Mobile Live TV (BETA) site and lets you watch live streaming from BBC channels such as BBC Three, Four, CBBC and BBC News.

Its quite similar to the iPlayer in its ease of use and also gives you access to the BBC's full range of Radio stations too.

Like i said, it may be old news but i thought id share.

Find it at www.bbc.co.uk/mobile/live/tv/


Note - only works over WiFi.

[Hands0n]

Cor! I didn't know that, so cheers geezer - I'll have a play later on today when back in my WLAN :)

[chaslam]

The BBC are really starting to annoy me with this now. There is all this talk about "Mobile TV is the way forward, everyone wants to watch TV on their phones" but what the hell is the point when you are restricted to doing it over wifi? Its like having one of those little portable TVs and when you want to watch it, it says you need to be connected to a power socket or something, its so restrictive. Whats the point in having all these fast HSDPA connections when the BBC isnt going to let you take advantage of it. I want to watch TV when im camping in the middle of the woods, oh but i cant, I dont have a wifi network, I only have a HSDPA connection, which is faster, so i cant watch it.

The other day for example. Everyones been making such a fuss about iplayer on the iphone and N96, so Im sitting on the bus but oh dear, I cant watch it as I dont have a wifi connection. Ill have to wait til im back home, then I can connect to my wifi and stream it. Oh, wait, then i can just watch it on TV or on my computer! Just makes me think, what is the point!

[miffed]

The BBC are really starting to annoy me with this now. There is all this talk about "Mobile TV is the way forward, everyone wants to watch TV on their phones" but what the hell is the point when you are restricted to doing it over wifi? Its like having one of those little portable TVs and when you want to watch it, it says you need to be connected to a power socket or something, its so restrictive. Whats the point in having all these fast HSDPA connections when the BBC isnt going to let you take advantage of it. I want to watch TV when im camping in the middle of the woods, oh but i cant, I dont have a wifi network, I only have a HSDPA connection, which is faster, so i cant watch it.

The other day for example. Everyones been making such a fuss about iplayer on the iphone and N96, so Im sitting on the bus but oh dear, I cant watch it as I dont have a wifi connection. Ill have to wait til im back home, then I can connect to my wifi and stream it. Oh, wait, then i can just watch it on TV or on my computer! Just makes me think, what is the point!

Yeah its a shame , when I first got the iPhone , some of you may recall that I used to use my E90's HSDPA connection to power it via Wi-fi - this enabled me to watch programmes on the iPlayer, on the iPhone , and it was great !
...Recently I tried on the iPhone 3G , and got the Wi-fi only message - "yeah " I thought "That'll be an o2 problem ,I'll simply piggy back onto my T-mobile connection ..... " - But it didn't work ! same "wi fi" message :(

Shame , But it gave a glimpse of the future , and was fun while it lasted !

[chaslam]

Great, just connected it to my wireless network to see what it was like, and now, instead of getting the wifi message, its now telling me I dont live in England, despite sitting here in my chair right in the middle of Brighton. Great.

[Ben]

How strange! Your current IP resolves as UK, not sure if that's on the same network as your iPhone.

[chaslam]

Its actually a N96 im trying it on, but yep, its the same. Strange.

[gorilla]

Is there an iphone version of the site? I mean the site above says my phone does not support the service.

[miffed]

I have not been able to get this to work over any connection , with any device
Be it phones / PC's /Macs all I get is

"Your Device appears to be unable to support this service"

[Hands0n]

That is as weird as hell! There has to be something blocking the port that iPlayer is using - and if it is affecting all of your devices then it suggests that the problem is at the router.

Do you have Port Forwarding set in your router for any game or P2P applications?


The BBC states that Kontiki uses the following ports:

80 (http)
443 (https)
1947
1948
4000
5000
8888
Ports 80 and 443 are commonly used, but you would generally only see outbound traffic unless you are running publicly available web servers. Blocking 1947, 1948, 4000, 5000 and 8888 should typically be enough to stop Kontiki from working, if you haven't already.

Source: http://www.dynamoo.com/diary/blocking-bbc-iplayer.htm


If you are already Port Forwarding any of these ports to a specific host on your network, or blocking them completely, it is quite likely that will prevent iPlayer from working properly, if at all.

As the problem is spread across all devices that you use at that point, but also works fine elsewhere, it is either your ISP (unlikely) or your router (more likely) - unless, that is, you have something else in your LAN that could be causing port blocking or redirection.

[miffed]

I'm not so sure , I have tried numerous devices on no less than 3 networks (here , work and next doors ! )

All I get is this

[Hands0n]

This is too funny for words - I tried the exact URL that you had in your image (minus the stuff past /live/) and got a completely different type of rejection ... The bizarre thing is that my connection from Mac to network is by wires to the router, why on Earth would it want so specifically wireless?

[Hands0n]

Ah, it gets better ...

The initial URL works fine, I get the channel menu. But when I select any particular channel then I get the same error response that you do.

I must confess, I thought you were trying to use iPlayer - that works 100%. It is the streaming realtime channels that do not seem to work on the Mac Safari browser...


It does not even work under Parallels with Windows XP and IE7 (see 3rd slide)!! Beta code it certainly appears to be :D

Memo to self, read the posts more carefully in future LOL :D


Edit: Same "Your device appears to be unable to support this service." message on the iPhone! I think we can safely take it that the BBC mobile/live/tv service is borked.

[The Mullet of G]

I just looked at the FAQ's and it says they can effectively fine you £1000 for using the service on your mobile if you don't have a TV license. What a bunch of douchebags. :eek:

[Hands0n]

Thats just their standard T&Cs borne of the statutes enacted for the BBC by Parliament decades ago. It is long time since they were the "public service" they were once. I reckon they forfeited their right to government protection a long time ago.

[Ben]

TV licensing needs a jamassive overhaul to cope with new technologies. I'm all for the BBC and the TV License, but it needs to keep up with the times in the way it is applied.

I can't help but feel that the BBC has become more integrated into the Labour government since it came to power. It doesn't feel as independent as it used to... but perhaps it never was. These days it's so scared of losing the TV License that it has to bow to whatever government wants of it :(

[Hands0n]

Ah, but that is the whole point of the BBC. It is protected by Parliamentary statutes to ensure its continued existence. It is a public organ for the incumbent government. As such it is not, and has never been, independent. Imagine the thought of an independent government owned broadcasting company at a time of war? That organ could sway the voting public's opinion against the government and cause it's downfall. No government in the world would permit that to happen.

[The Mullet of G]

The really annoying thing about the BBC is the fact you have to pay them even if you never intend to watch any of their channels. No company should have an automatic right to your money just because you bought a TV. You can't even play a games console or watch a dvd without effectively having to pay them.

The license fee should be scrapped, least then the BBC might feel more compelled to actually show something of worth. About the only thing I watch on BBC is Charlie Brookers Screenwipe, and its stuck on BBC 4. :(

[Ben]

I get the impression that the rest of the world envies our BBC. It's certainly the only PSB in the world that's actually worth its salt. If it wasn't for the BBC I think we could kiss goodbye to almost all local news and radio, it's just not commercially viable :(

I don't know. Labour have banned just about everything that's British, and privatised the rest. Rumour has it the Met Office is next, to pay down some of 'our' debt. The BBC truly is a great British institution, I think we get good value for money from this media tradition of ours, not to mention better technical TV quality and fewer adverts on the commercial channels (they have to compete with something with no ads - hurrah for us).

[gorilla]

I believe that I get value for money from the license fee. I watch very little BBC television, but I listen to the radio and podcasts, use their website everyday and use iplayer.

I get the point about comparing the beeb to ITV, and perhaps they should be independtly funded, but then how annoying would their services be with traditional ads?

Having said all of that, if they don't switch their live radio streams away from Real Player, this love affair will surely wane!