[Zarch]

Morning all,

Done a search, can't seem to find exactly the summary i'm after.

I'm considering plunging for an ATV2 but i'm after some feedback from UK users regarding how BBC iPlayer performs.

My last experience with XBMC was in the early days of ATV1/Crystal combo, so i'd hope things are better now.

The number one requirement would be that its Wife-friendly.
I can ssh onto anything and start hacking, but for her it just needs to work out of the box. (press on, press play)

Are we at that stage with BBC iPlayer on ATV2? Both SD and HD feeds?

Thanks.

[jcwacky]

iPlayer is working great for me on the AppleTV. I actually prefer to use it over the iPlayer on my FreeSat box, as on XBMC it's a bit snappier and can play HD.

I've added the plugin to favorites, so pressing the Menu button at the main XBMC menu, up pops the favorites list, select iPlayer and you are straight into the list of channels.

[Stiffler]

Functionally it's very good. Far better than any of the integrated TV options as jcwacky has already stated.

Currently the interface is very basic so don't expect pretty menus and the experiance of the normal product. Having said that I prefer to use my ATV2 for BBC iPlayer than my PS3

[idlerobbo]

Can I ask - is there the ability to form a VPN connection for the ATV2? I'm a UK citizen but currently in the US and I can't live without my iplayer! :-)

[garyi]

I have it running ok but its very slow. And hd does not work. If you go into bbc hd and pick a stream it just loads a standard def slowly.

Once the stream eventually loads its fine.

I am on a 50Mb down 5Mb up connection so its not my network

[tomwrob]

I have iPlayer working fine - (Garyi check what speeds you are actually getting because HD does work quite well) setting it to a favorite is a great way of accessing it...

Yes the interface is simple, but it works effectively - hoping someone will be able to make a nice interface soon - or apple will release an ATV app (like iphone/ipad....)

If you are thinking about ATV plunge, take a look at the skin Quartz, so light weight & fast, but looks great, very intuitive http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=101319

[garyi]

Tom, the same ethernet cable had my mac mini on and throughput from network is 60MB/s and on internet is measured at 50Mb/s

The problem is how iplayer is accessing I think. And I cannot get HD to work, and advice appreciated. I pick BBCHD from the menu and start a stream and its just standard def. Again on the mac mini its perfect and indeed on the ATV1 upstairs.

I played in settings of iplayer to no avail.

[Stiffler]

My ATV2 iPlayer HD seems to have recently broken also. I've been ignoring it in the hope it will correct itself but it is a little annoying.

[rirawin]

Have you changed the video quality under the "stream" tab in the iplayer settings? you can set it to h.264/480, h.264/800, h.264/1500, h.264/3200 or auto. Personally I find h.264/1500 is the best setting for my network. You can also select the source of the stream, I've heard selecting Level 3 works well, but I leave it on auto.

[garyi]

rirawin, I have mine set to 1500 as well.

Put simply HD does not work. I am using the nightly from july 11th.

And iplayer I got from google code thingy.

[danfozzy]

which repo you guys getting the iplayer from? is there an itv player or 4 on demand pluggin?

[cromity123]

rirawin, I have mine set to 1500 as well.

Put simply HD does not work. I am using the nightly from july 11th.

And iplayer I got from google code thingy.

Agreed, I haven't been able to get HD (3200 kbps) iplayer streams to work on anything since nightly build in about April. Works perfectly on official build 10.0-7 from February...

I posted about it in the official build thread and Antlane filed a bug report. http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=831...tcount=349

If it's any use i've uploaded a sample of one of the BBC HD streams, in case anyone can work out why it doesn't play without stuttering, and debug log too

I'm using IOS 4.2.1 (8C154)

Debug log under 10.0-8 official build linked below, but I have this issue with 10.0-9 and nightlys. In it I'm watching a few seconds of HD stream, relevant stuff seems to be from about line 540: http://pastebin.com/1xJHPUza

Here's a zipped sample of one of the files that won't play properly:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3623045/Luther%20S02E02_009.zip

Media info for the file is:

General
Complete name : L:\Downloads\useful things\ATV2\Luther S02E02_009\Luther S02E02_009.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 47.4 MiB
Duration : 2mn 49s
Overall bit rate : 2 341 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-07-01 10:39:06
Tagged date : UTC 2011-07-01 10:39:06

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 6 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=4, N=53
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2mn 49s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 2 242 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 3 500 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.097
Stream size : 45.4 MiB (96%)
Tagged date : UTC 2011-07-01 10:39:07

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : HE-AAC / LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 2mn 49s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 96.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz / 24.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 1.92 MiB (4%)
Tagged date : UTC 2011-07-01 10:39:07