Help watching iplayer for a mac newbie!

[edward1]

Hi Guys,

I've just bought my first mac and loving it except one major problem...

I'm using it as a media centre to play music, photos, movies etc and most importantly to watch catch up tv. Unfortunately I can't watch bbc iplayer, itv or channel four on demand. Each time i load a video it simply stalls at the beginning (except itv which just rotates through adverts).

Now, I'm sure you need some info... I've installed the latest version of flash and it seems to be working, I'm using safari and this is a mac os x 10.5.8.

Any ideas? I've been trying to fix it for over 3 hours now and I'm losing the lot...

And please make your suggestions simple! I'm totally new to this mac business and wasn't that clued up on the pc to be honest... ; )

Thanks! Ed

 

[Hellhammer]

May be a problem in BBC's site. Have you tried other sites like Youtube?

 

[edward1]

Youtube works fine... I thought it may be a problem with just the bbc but Channel 4 and itv don't work either... an odd problem you'd agree..!

 

[p0mme]

Channel 4 OD doesn't like Mac much. You can't download their programmes, you can only watch the streaming versions.

ITV isn't much better. Never tried it myself, but seems you need some kind of plugin. Have a read here:
http://forum.macformat.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=17897&itv+player

BBC Iplayer is the best of the lot. Streaming works fine and/or you can download their software to download the programmes.


If you get to the streaming pages ok and start watching but it just hangs (which sounds like your problem), then that would make me think your internet connection isn't fast enough to cope or you don't have enough memory.
Just guesses, I'm no techie! You might be better posting on the UK macFormat forum as they'll all be more familiar with the specifics of BBC/ITV/Ch4 sites

 

[The Phazer]

Channel 4 OD doesn't like Mac much. You can't download their programmes, you can only watch the streaming versions.

Channel 4 don't have a download facility at all any more, Mac or not.

Obviously something wrong with Flash, since it's affecting Channel 4 too - both iPlayer and C4 use Flash 9 rather than Flash 7 like YouTube, so the problem is probably something related to that.

ITV isn't relevant, since it uses Silverlight, not Flash.

I'm afraid short of a specific error my best advice is to completely wipe Flash off your machine and then try reinstalling it again. Also clear all your browser caches.

Phazer