Freesat & iPlayer - some thoughts

Big Aura

Well-known member
Oct 13, 2008
522
10
18,895
Visit site
Now that the BBC has gone 'official' (see news story) with its beta trial of iPlayer on Freesat, I thought it would be useful for WHF users to post their views/thoughts/experiences (good and bad) of the new set-up.
Personally, the 'standard' view (on my 40" Sony LCD) looks appalling, but the "watch in higher quality" option give me a PQ that is rather good.
While it's not up to the standard of good SD (which is, these days, on a par with BBC's HD!), it matches quite a few of the 'lesser' channels, and is far superior to the rubbish end of the Freesat spectrum - basically anything above Film4.
The interface is well thought out, and relatively quick (there's a lag of 20-30 seconds in jumping to the next selection). It's also quite easy to get to grips with.
On the negative side - the search function needs a bit more detail. If, for example, searching for "Gavin & Stacy" (not my choice) - it will give you several episodes to chose from - but it doesn't say what they are - you need to select an episode at random (20-30 second lag) before you find out which particular episode it is. On the other search options - searching by "most popular" it gives this info as a 'drop-down' as you scroll through the hits, without having to select the programme.
I've noticed also (these may be teething problems), some programmes aren't there in full - (good old Gavin & Stacy's final episode was missing the last 10 minutes - her indoors wasn't happy!). Also, when I tried to watch "Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe", (when it was listed as 'available for 5 more days') nothing happened (both high quality and standard) - I got a holding screen for 2 seconds, then a black screen which didn't go away. I tried a few times - on one occasion it actually re-booted my Humax.
Anyway - those are my initial thoughts. A good service, and can't wait until it's properly up and running. We may not have the "new and exciting HD channels" that Freesat's initial fanfare implied, but this is a welcome new feature.

EDIT: Also - I've yet to fully play with this feature but, while 'pausing' works fine, the FF/RW functions seemed a bit cloddish.
 

hammill

New member
Mar 20, 2008
212
0
0
Visit site
The Freesat IPlayer is a very useful new feature, although I would agree that the UI is a bit clunky. The picture and sound is pretty good on the higher quality option and there are hardly any transmission breaks. The Wii equivalent is a bit easier to use, but does not have the option of a higher quality picture (at least when I last looked at it). One annoyance is that a lot of programs are not available (e.g. Family Guy), but I assume that depends on the agreement the BBC has with the content provider. I am using a homeplug which could not have been easier to deploy.
 

motley

New member
Aug 15, 2008
202
0
0
Visit site
I am having a few "issues" trying to set my Foxsat HDR up with the net for accessing Iplayer;

My PC is upstairs with a wired internet connection to a netgear Modem/Router supplied by my ISP Vodafone. I purchased another netgear wireless router/modem that had 4 ports on the back so that it could sit downstairs behind the TV and connect to both the HDR and the Blueray for the Blueray live content, plugged in to the land line by the TV.

My ISP set up the new router over the phone when connected to my PC and when moved downstairs the player linked up to the web, but when I connect up the old router back to the PC it no longer works.I would like to avoid having to have the modem downstairs linked to the PC upstairs wirelessly.

My ISP is saying that you can't have 2 modems on one phone line even if one is switched off when the other is in use?, the HDR is also asking for a raft of settings information on the networking page, anyone know where to get these from or what settings are working on their HDR.

Many thanks
 

hammill

New member
Mar 20, 2008
212
0
0
Visit site
motley:

I am having a few "issues" trying to set my Foxsat HDR up with the net for accessing Iplayer;

My PC is upstairs with a wired internet connection to a netgear Modem/Router supplied by my ISP Vodafone. I purchased another netgear wireless router/modem that had 4 ports on the back so that it could sit downstairs behind the TV and connect to both the HDR and the Blueray for the Blueray live content, plugged in to the land line by the TV.

My ISP set up the new router over the phone when connected to my PC and when moved downstairs the player linked up to the web, but when I connect up the old router back to the PC it no longer works.I would like to avoid having to have the modem downstairs linked to the PC upstairs wirelessly.

My ISP is saying that you can't have 2 modems on one phone line even if one is switched off when the other is in use?, the HDR is also asking for a raft of settings information on the networking page, anyone know where to get these from or what settings are working on their HDR.

Many thanks

I assume that the reason you cannot have 2 modems is that you have registered the MAC address (unique hardware identifier allocated to all network devices) of your new modem with your ISP and they no longer recognise your old router. It does not surprise me that they can only cope with one modem at a time.

Do you need two routers? If you just have the PC upstairs, then you could use a pair of homeplugs to connect the PC to the downstairs router if you want to avoid a wireless connection.

The default settings for the HDR should be fine - that is what I used. Let DHCP allocate you an ethernet address
 

hammill

New member
Mar 20, 2008
212
0
0
Visit site
motley:

What do you mean by "home plugs"? and who is DHCP

Homeplugs enable you to connect a network device (computer, blu-ray etc) to your router over the mains instead of trailing loads of CAT5 cable around the house - since you said you did not want a wireless connection to your bedroom PC. You plug one homeplug into your router and one (or more) into the network device(s). This would enable you to connect your computer in the bedroom to your new wireless router. See http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000TV7FJ4/?tag=googhydr-21&hvadid=4230149750&ref=pd_sl_4s10rbfdz2_e for one possible solution, there are other internet shops apart from Amazon.

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol ). Your freesat box by default uses DHCP to obtain automatically obtain an internet protocol address. In the home environment, this is almost certainly what you want. In other words, the default network settings for your freesat box should be left alone because they will almost certainly do what you want as they are. We can talk about static IP addresses, DNS servers and IP address lease times if you like but I think this is more information than you need.

Hope this helps
 

Tonya

Well-known member
Sep 9, 2008
57
3
18,545
Visit site
I can't currently access iPlayer directly with my FreeSat box as I'm not in the UK, but FYI, using a Windows Media PC and a good proxy service, the picture from the iPlayer on a 52" LCD is really quite good (using HDMI).
No dropouts at all, even when streaming the BBCHD stuff.
Pause function works perfect.
The only difference s that the SD content does appear slightly less sharp than the "real" channels on Sky.
I personally think the user interface is rather spiffy!
emotion-21.gif
 

hammill

New member
Mar 20, 2008
212
0
0
Visit site
motley:Hammill, many thanks, is there such a thing as a home plug with two inputs to save having to purchase two pairs?Not that I have seen, but you dont need two pairs. You have one plugged into your router and one per network device and you can certainly buy singles. I currently have my freesat box and my son's pc connected in this way. I don't know what the limit is, but I am aware of people with 5 plugs. The solwise web site would probably provide more information.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
May be a daft question but when using the homeplug attached to a freesat box does the pc need to be turned on in order to access bbc i-player?
 

hammill

New member
Mar 20, 2008
212
0
0
Visit site
eremis6:May be a daft question but when using the homeplug attached to a freesat box does the pc need to be turned on in order to access bbc i-player?No, only your router
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts