Problem with BBC HD I player.
 

On 20 May, 09:41, Mike wrote:
On May 20, 8:33*am, "Ivan" wrote:

According to System Tools it's an: 'Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz 3200 MHz 1
core(s) 2 logical processes'

2 logical processors - Hyper Threading - Should have enough grunt.

No, it's at the limit.

Two things to note:

1. The CPU/GPU load when decoding depends on the content of the
programme. Static / head and shoulders shots are far easier to decode
than the camera swooping over details rolling countryside (like at the
start of Wainright's walks).

2. The web and download player used in iPlayer is desperately
inefficient. I can't play the iPlayer HD content on my PC - both the
website and the Adobe Air download play like a side show. However,
comparable content (:-)) plays just fine in VLC - at least it does
when stripped out of the FLV wrapper and sent as a pure MPEG-4 stream.
I have a 2.8GHz processor that's otherwise the same as yours.

So, your PC could play the BBC content perfectly - but not using the
wrapper and player that the BBC forces you to use.

Cheers,
David.

Problem with BBC HD I player.
 

In article
s.com, Mike scribeth thus
On May 20, 10:22*am, "Ivan" wrote:
"Mike" wrote in message

...
On May 20, 8:33 am, "Ivan" wrote:



"Ian" wrote in message

...

In message , Ivan
writes

"Jim Mason" wrote in message
. net...
In article ,
says...

Well I installed the new card and after I'd done so a BBC graphic
popped
up
asking if I'd like to download the latest player, which I accepted, it
did,
I then selected the aforementioned Wainwright's Walks and.. D'oh!
still
the
same, the problem gives the impression of movement jumping forward,
almost
as if half the fields had been removed, I checked the broadband
download
speed which was still reckoned to be 9.87 MB, I then got a little more
involved and found some info which indicated that the programmes which
run
OK are 796 kbps 640x360 and the ones that don't are 3200kbps 1280x720,
surely a 10 meg connection speed should be more than adequate? perhaps
I'm
looking in the wrong place, but I've tried to find help and
instructions
on
the BBC HD site which may indicate whether the problem is with my
equipment
or ISP, but can't appear to find a link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics

Thanks Jim, I ran the check and it came out at 100%. In fact I appear to
have almost twice the broadband capacity required to play HD programmes,
it seems that it's got to be something to do with my PC, but what, I
confess I don't know.

What's your processor speed?

According to System Tools it's an: 'Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz 3200 MHz
1
core(s) 2 logical processes'
2 logical processors - Hyper Threading - Should have enough grunt.

I've got the hyper threading activated in the bios, the PC also has 2 GB of
DDR2 RAM, and now 512MB on the graphics card, so I can't think what else I
can do, other than maybe as a desperate last resort replace the Vista OS, as
someone has 'jokingly' suggested:0)

XP is an upgrade from Vista. It really is.

WIN ME would come into that class..

Never thought I'd ever say that!..

Anyone tried LINUX as yet?..
--
Tony Sayer

Problem with BBC HD I player.
 

In article
..com, 2Bdecided scribeth thus
On 20 May, 09:41, Mike wrote:
On May 20, 8:33*am, "Ivan" wrote:

According to System Tools it's an: 'Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz 3200 MHz 1
core(s) 2 logical processes'

2 logical processors - Hyper Threading - Should have enough grunt.

No, it's at the limit.

Two things to note:

1. The CPU/GPU load when decoding depends on the content of the
programme. Static / head and shoulders shots are far easier to decode
than the camera swooping over details rolling countryside (like at the
start of Wainright's walks).

2. The web and download player used in iPlayer is desperately
inefficient. I can't play the iPlayer HD content on my PC - both the
website and the Adobe Air download play like a side show. However,
comparable content (:-)) plays just fine in VLC - at least it does
when stripped out of the FLV wrapper and sent as a pure MPEG-4 stream.
I have a 2.8GHz processor that's otherwise the same as yours.

So, your PC could play the BBC content perfectly - but not using the
wrapper and player that the BBC forces you to use.


So why is a publicly funded broadcaster doing that?..

Cheers,
David.

--
Tony Sayer

Problem with BBC HD I player.
 

tony sayer wrote:
In article
.com, 2Bdecided scribeth thus
On 20 May, 09:41, Mike wrote:
On May 20, 8:33 am, "Ivan" wrote:
According to System Tools it's an: 'Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz 3200 MHz 1
core(s) 2 logical processes'
2 logical processors - Hyper Threading - Should have enough grunt.
No, it's at the limit.

Two things to note:

1. The CPU/GPU load when decoding depends on the content of the
programme. Static / head and shoulders shots are far easier to decode
than the camera swooping over details rolling countryside (like at the
start of Wainright's walks).

2. The web and download player used in iPlayer is desperately
inefficient. I can't play the iPlayer HD content on my PC - both the
website and the Adobe Air download play like a side show. However,
comparable content (:-)) plays just fine in VLC - at least it does
when stripped out of the FLV wrapper and sent as a pure MPEG-4 stream.
I have a 2.8GHz processor that's otherwise the same as yours.

So, your PC could play the BBC content perfectly - but not using the
wrapper and player that the BBC forces you to use.


So why is a publicly funded broadcaster doing that?..

Because people wanted to use it on Macs and Linux... ;)

D

Problem with BBC HD I player.
 

On May 20, 1:50*pm, tony sayer wrote:
In article
s.com, Mike scribeth thus



On May 20, 10:22*am, "Ivan" wrote:
"Mike" wrote in message

....
On May 20, 8:33 am, "Ivan" wrote:

"Ian" wrote in message

...

In message , Ivan
writes

"Jim Mason" wrote in message
. net...
In article ,
says...

Well I installed the new card and after I'd done so a BBC graphic
popped
up
asking if I'd like to download the latest player, which I accepted, it
did,
I then selected the aforementioned Wainwright's Walks and.. D'oh!
still
the
same, the problem gives the impression of movement jumping forward,
almost
as if half the fields had been removed, I checked the broadband
download
speed which was still reckoned to be 9.87 MB, I then got a little more
involved and found some info which indicated that the programmes which
run
OK are 796 kbps 640x360 and the ones that don't are 3200kbps 1280x720,
surely a 10 meg connection speed should be more than adequate? perhaps
I'm
looking in the wrong place, but I've tried to find help and
instructions
on
the BBC HD site which may indicate whether the problem is with my
equipment
or ISP, but can't appear to find a link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics

Thanks Jim, I ran the check and it came out at 100%. In fact I appear to
have almost twice the broadband capacity required to play HD programmes,
it seems that it's got to be something to do with my PC, but what, I
confess I don't know.

What's your processor speed?

According to System Tools it's an: 'Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz 3200 MHz
1
core(s) 2 logical processes'
2 logical processors - Hyper Threading - Should have enough grunt.

I've got the hyper threading activated in the bios, the PC also has 2 GB of
DDR2 RAM, and now 512MB on the graphics card, so I can't think what else I
can do, other than maybe as a desperate last resort replace the Vista OS, as
someone has 'jokingly' suggested:0)

XP is an upgrade from Vista. It really is.

WIN ME would come into that class..

Never thought I'd ever say that!..

Anyone tried LINUX as yet?..

Ubuntu rocks. I love it. I've got an older (5yrs?) Dell laptop and it
whizzez all over my Vista and XP machines.
You can even run ot from CD to see if you like it first :)

Problem with BBC HD I player.
 

"2Bdecided" wrote in message
...
On 20 May, 09:41, Mike wrote:
On May 20, 8:33 am, "Ivan" wrote:

According to System Tools it's an: 'Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz 3200
MHz 1
core(s) 2 logical processes'

2 logical processors - Hyper Threading - Should have enough grunt.

No, it's at the limit.

Two things to note:

1. The CPU/GPU load when decoding depends on the content of the
programme. Static / head and shoulders shots are far easier to decode
than the camera swooping over details rolling countryside (like at the
start of Wainright's walks).

2. The web and download player used in iPlayer is desperately
inefficient. I can't play the iPlayer HD content on my PC - both the
website and the Adobe Air download play like a side show. However,
comparable content (:-)) plays just fine in VLC - at least it does
when stripped out of the FLV wrapper and sent as a pure MPEG-4 stream.
I have a 2.8GHz processor that's otherwise the same as yours.

So, your PC could play the BBC content perfectly - but not using the
wrapper and player that the BBC forces you to use.




Thanks for the explanation, I can at least now see why it's all going pear
shaped, although it does leave me wondering exactly 'why' they bothered in
the first place if it doesn't apparently work for the majority of online PC
users.

I downloaded and played back episode six of Wainright Walks and although it
cured the 'slideshow' effect there was still a pronounced juddering on
moving objects, especially noticeable on the 'panning' countryside shots.

It also now looks as if Virginmedia are also beginning to take the ****, as
earlier this morning the BBC download speed check showed around 10mb, since
then its struggled to make 2.4mb with a streaming speed of 2.2mb,
hopefully this is just a temporary glitch (as they're still upgrading
different areas) however if it does start to become a regular feature then I
suspect that they will soon start receiving large amounts of customer flak,
including some from me!

Problem with BBC HD I player.
 

Ivan wrote:

"2Bdecided" wrote in message
...
On 20 May, 09:41, Mike wrote:
On May 20, 8:33 am, "Ivan" wrote:

According to System Tools it's an: 'Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz
3200 MHz 1
core(s) 2 logical processes'

2 logical processors - Hyper Threading - Should have enough grunt.

No, it's at the limit.

Two things to note:

1. The CPU/GPU load when decoding depends on the content of the
programme. Static / head and shoulders shots are far easier to decode
than the camera swooping over details rolling countryside (like at the
start of Wainright's walks).

2. The web and download player used in iPlayer is desperately
inefficient. I can't play the iPlayer HD content on my PC - both the
website and the Adobe Air download play like a side show. However,
comparable content (:-)) plays just fine in VLC - at least it does
when stripped out of the FLV wrapper and sent as a pure MPEG-4 stream.
I have a 2.8GHz processor that's otherwise the same as yours.

So, your PC could play the BBC content perfectly - but not using the
wrapper and player that the BBC forces you to use.




Thanks for the explanation, I can at least now see why it's all going
pear shaped, although it does leave me wondering exactly 'why' they
bothered in the first place if it doesn't apparently work for the
majority of online PC users.

I downloaded and played back episode six of Wainright Walks and although
it cured the 'slideshow' effect there was still a pronounced juddering
on moving objects, especially noticeable on the 'panning' countryside
shots.

It also now looks as if Virginmedia are also beginning to take the ****,
as earlier this morning the BBC download speed check showed around 10mb,
since then its struggled to make 2.4mb with a streaming speed of
2.2mb, hopefully this is just a temporary glitch (as they're still
upgrading different areas) however if it does start to become a regular
feature then I suspect that they will soon start receiving large amounts
of customer flak, including some from me!

Have you hit their usage limit?

http://www.virginmedia.com/help/traffic-management.php

If you're on the free upgrade to 10Mb, if you use 1.5GB during 10am to
3pm, you get throttled by 75% (so 10Mb connection becomes 2.5Mb
connection) - you get throttled for up to 5 hours.

During the evening (4pm to 9pm), the limit is 750MB down or 400MB up
before throttling.

D

Problem with BBC HD I player.
 

On 20 May, 15:59, "Ivan" wrote:

I downloaded and played back episode six of Wainright Walks and although it
cured the 'slideshow' effect there was still a pronounced juddering on
moving objects, especially noticeable on the 'panning' countryside shots.

That's just how it's encoded. It's only 25p (not 50i or 50p, which
would be nice), so it's less smooth than normal video to start with.
Unless your PC monitor's refresh rate is an integer multiple of 25
(i.e. 50, 75, 100 etc) you'll get horrible judder due to frame rate
conversion. Unless you video playback is frame-locked to the monitor,
you'll get occasional hic-ups even when the frame rates are supposed
to match. Google Powerstrip, ReClock etc.

Cheers,
David.

Problem with BBC HD I player.
 

"David Hearn" wrote in message
...
Ivan wrote:

It also now looks as if Virginmedia are also beginning to take the ****,
as earlier this morning the BBC download speed check showed around 10mb,
since then its struggled to make 2.4mb with a streaming speed of 2.2mb,
hopefully this is just a temporary glitch (as they're still upgrading
different areas) however if it does start to become a regular feature
then I suspect that they will soon start receiving large amounts of
customer flak, including some from me!

Have you hit their usage limit?

http://www.virginmedia.com/help/traffic-management.php

If you're on the free upgrade to 10Mb, if you use 1.5GB during 10am to
3pm, you get throttled by 75% (so 10Mb connection becomes 2.5Mb
connection) - you get throttled for up to 5 hours.

During the evening (4pm to 9pm), the limit is 750MB down or 400MB up
before throttling.



No mention at all of any limitations when the bearded one 'personally':o)
emailed me with information of the upgrade, which incidentally a friend of
mine reckons that it 'isn't' free, as he says that he was told over the
phone that it's going to cost everyone £2.00 a month extra, irrespective of
whether they wanted to upgrade or not.

Problem with BBC HD I player.
 

In article , David Hearn
scribeth thus
tony sayer wrote:
In article
.com, 2Bdecided scribeth thus
On 20 May, 09:41, Mike wrote:
On May 20, 8:33 am, "Ivan" wrote:
According to System Tools it's an: 'Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz 3200 MHz 1
core(s) 2 logical processes'
2 logical processors - Hyper Threading - Should have enough grunt.
No, it's at the limit.

Two things to note:

1. The CPU/GPU load when decoding depends on the content of the
programme. Static / head and shoulders shots are far easier to decode
than the camera swooping over details rolling countryside (like at the
start of Wainright's walks).

2. The web and download player used in iPlayer is desperately
inefficient. I can't play the iPlayer HD content on my PC - both the
website and the Adobe Air download play like a side show. However,
comparable content (:-)) plays just fine in VLC - at least it does
when stripped out of the FLV wrapper and sent as a pure MPEG-4 stream.
I have a 2.8GHz processor that's otherwise the same as yours.

So, your PC could play the BBC content perfectly - but not using the
wrapper and player that the BBC forces you to use.


So why is a publicly funded broadcaster doing that?..

Because people wanted to use it on Macs and Linux... ;)

D

So LINUX can't handle a streaming video feed then?..
--
Tony Sayer