BBC iPlayer and Ubuntu Intrepid

[Cork Soaker]

I can't figure out what the problem is here. Something seems to have
broken on the BBC iPlayer with Intrepid.

The BBC News website has small video players in some of their articles;
these work fine. I would have assumed that it was the same thing; Flash
for example, but the iPlayer just won't load the player.
This worked fine in Hardy, and YouTube still works.

Oh, wait, is it Java???

http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/streaming_programmes/flash_recog

No, it isn't.
Then, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

The .swf file is named 9player.swf, so maybe it's looking for Flash 9
and is too stupid to recognise Flash 10?

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.3) Gecko/2008101315
Ubuntu/8.10 (intrepid) Firefox/3.0.3

Mind, you about:plugins doesn't really help.

File name: libflashplayer.so
Shockwave Flash 9.0 r124

File name: libflashplayer.so
Shockwave Flash 10.0 r12

Indeed.

[Cork Soaker]

Post by Cork Soaker
I can't figure out what the problem is here. Something seems to have
broken on the BBC iPlayer with Intrepid.
The BBC News website has small video players in some of their articles;
these work fine. I would have assumed that it was the same thing; Flash
for example, but the iPlayer just won't load the player.
This worked fine in Hardy, and YouTube still works.
Oh, wait, is it Java???
http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/streaming_programmes/flash_recog
No, it isn't.
Then, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?
The .swf file is named 9player.swf, so maybe it's looking for Flash 9
and is too stupid to recognise Flash 10?
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.3) Gecko/2008101315
Ubuntu/8.10 (intrepid) Firefox/3.0.3
Mind, you about:plugins doesn't really help.
File name: libflashplayer.so
Shockwave Flash 9.0 r124
File name: libflashplayer.so
Shockwave Flash 10.0 r12
Indeed.

Scrub that!

Now it's working, but without sound. No, nothing changed.
YouTube is now in the same position also.

I would guess that Firefox is randomly switching between 9 and 10. 10
removed and I'm back to 9's lack of sound.

AFAICT there is no way to REMOVE 9 from Firefox, Gawd knows why!
Disabling 9 just disables Flash altogether. Nicely done.

Just tried reinstalling flashplugin-nonfree (Flash 10) and it's
completely ignored.
It not even shown in the "Add-ons" area, but is listed in about:plugins!

"Download done.
Flash Plugin installed."

Lies! Where? Plugin for what? Opera is no longer in the repositories
so it's not for that.

I assume there's some symbolic linking I should try here...... but I
should *have* to!

[Cork Soaker]

but I should *have* to!

shouldn't

[Cork Soaker]

Sound's back! Nothing's changed...

[Cork Soaker]

Post by Cork Soaker
Sound's back! Nothing's changed...

Various apps are trying to use the same channel, apparently (i.e.
Amarok, Firefox w/ Flash). Need to choose from all the various sound
daemons / mixers (ESD, ALSA, OSS) to get everything working.

[Cork Soaker]

Post by Cork Soaker

Post by Cork Soaker
Sound's back! Nothing's changed...

Various apps are trying to use the same channel, apparently (i.e.
Amarok, Firefox w/ Flash). Need to choose from all the various sound
daemons / mixers (ESD, ALSA, OSS) to get everything working.

Flash has stopped working. Nothing has changed.

This is great, right?

[dennis@home]

Post by Cork Soaker

Post by Cork Soaker
Sound's back! Nothing's changed...

Various apps are trying to use the same channel, apparently (i.e. Amarok,
Firefox w/ Flash). Need to choose from all the various sound daemons /
mixers (ESD, ALSA, OSS) to get everything working.

Flash has stopped working. Nothing has changed.
This is great, right?

Why not just run windows in a VM and then you can get the high bitrate (a
few megabits per second) downloads rather than the low bit rate (about 250
kilobits per second) stuff.
There is a huge difference in quality.
It downloads at about 12 MB/s here so its about 20 minutes for a one hour
program.

[Cork Soaker]

Post by ***@home
Why not just run windows in a VM and then you can get the high bitrate
(a few megabits per second) downloads rather than the low bit rate
(about 250 kilobits per second) stuff.
There is a huge difference in quality.
It downloads at about 12 MB/s here so its about 20 minutes for a one
hour program.

The online version also has a high quality version now, and it's fine
(when it works!)

I'd rather not load Windows every time I want to use a web page with
Flash in it (iPlayer, YouTube, eBay) and Java doesn't work anymore
either (Northern Rock, and I'm sure a million others!)

Shame.
There doesn't seem to be a solution. There's clues, but the result is
random.

[dennis@home]

Post by Cork Soaker

Post by ***@home
Why not just run windows in a VM and then you can get the high bitrate (a
few megabits per second) downloads rather than the low bit rate (about
250 kilobits per second) stuff.
There is a huge difference in quality.
It downloads at about 12 MB/s here so its about 20 minutes for a one hour
program.

The online version also has a high quality version now, and it's fine
(when it works!)

That is still quite low bit rate, its not high quality unless you are used
to American TV.
Its also a problem with many ISPs that can't manage the bit rate over tens
of minutes.
Its not too bad on my system but YMMV.

[caver1]

Post by Cork Soaker

Post by ***@home
Why not just run windows in a VM and then you can get the high bitrate
(a few megabits per second) downloads rather than the low bit rate
(about 250 kilobits per second) stuff.
There is a huge difference in quality.
It downloads at about 12 MB/s here so its about 20 minutes for a one
hour program.

The online version also has a high quality version now, and it's fine
(when it works!)
I'd rather not load Windows every time I want to use a web page with
Flash in it (iPlayer, YouTube, eBay) and Java doesn't work anymore
either (Northern Rock, and I'm sure a million others!)
Shame.
There doesn't seem to be a solution. There's clues, but the result is
random.

Try Opera.
All of a sudden my flash quit working in Intrepid 64bit FF3. So I
installed Opera just to see and Flash works fine. Now if we can get it
working in Intrepid.
caver1

[Cork Soaker]

Post by caver1
Try Opera.
All of a sudden my flash quit working in Intrepid 64bit FF3. So I
installed Opera just to see and Flash works fine.

Well I tried that but it doesn't detect Flash at all, shame.

I like the new Opera look though....

[caver1]

Post by Cork Soaker

Post by ***@home
Why not just run windows in a VM and then you can get the high bitrate
(a few megabits per second) downloads rather than the low bit rate
(about 250 kilobits per second) stuff.
There is a huge difference in quality.
It downloads at about 12 MB/s here so its about 20 minutes for a one
hour program.

The online version also has a high quality version now, and it's fine
(when it works!)
I'd rather not load Windows every time I want to use a web page with
Flash in it (iPlayer, YouTube, eBay) and Java doesn't work anymore
either (Northern Rock, and I'm sure a million others!)
Shame.
There doesn't seem to be a solution. There's clues, but the result is
random.

Just found this. Tried it and my Flash is now working again.
wget http://queleimporta.com/downloads/flash10_en.sh && sudo chmod +x
flash10_en.sh && sudo sh ./flash10_en.sh
caver1

[caver1]

Post by caver1

Post by Cork Soaker

Post by ***@home
Why not just run windows in a VM and then you can get the high
bitrate (a few megabits per second) downloads rather than the low bit
rate (about 250 kilobits per second) stuff.
There is a huge difference in quality.
It downloads at about 12 MB/s here so its about 20 minutes for a one
hour program.

The online version also has a high quality version now, and it's fine
(when it works!)
I'd rather not load Windows every time I want to use a web page with
Flash in it (iPlayer, YouTube, eBay) and Java doesn't work anymore
either (Northern Rock, and I'm sure a million others!)
Shame.
There doesn't seem to be a solution. There's clues, but the result is
random.

Just found this. Tried it and my Flash is now working again.
wget http://queleimporta.com/downloads/flash10_en.sh && sudo chmod +x
flash10_en.sh && sudo sh ./flash10_en.sh
caver1

Sorry I pasted the wrong thing.
This is the link;
http://queleimporta.com/the-easiest-way-to-install-flash-10-on-ubuntu-64-bits/en/
caver1

[Cork Soaker]

Post by caver1
Sorry I pasted the wrong thing.
This is the link;
http://queleimporta.com/the-easiest-way-to-install-flash-10-on-ubuntu-64-bits/en/

Tried that, didn't work. Neither Firefox nor Opera recognise any Flash
plugins.

Purged.

Installed 9 from the Hardy repos which brings Flash back to both
browsers but with no sound at all.

[Conor]

Post by ***@home
Why not just run windows in a VM and then you can get the high bitrate
(a few megabits per second) downlo

Might as well just uninstall Ubuntu and stick Windows on in that case.

[dennis@home]

Post by Conor

Post by ***@home
Why not just run windows in a VM and then you can get the high bitrate (a
few megabits per second) downlo

Might as well just uninstall Ubuntu and stick Windows on in that case.

That would depend on what else he wants to run.
If he has applications that don't run on windows its no good.

[Conor]

Post by ***@home

Post by Conor

Post by ***@home
Why not just run windows in a VM and then you can get the high
bitrate (a few megabits per second) downlo

Might as well just uninstall Ubuntu and stick Windows on in that case.

That would depend on what else he wants to run.
If he has applications that don't run on windows its no good.

That'll be an extremely short list made even shorter if GTK2 for Windows
is installed.

[Adam H]

Because running something in a VM isn't that fun. BBC can get off their
asses and code something native. They should just modify VLC.

Post by Conor

Post by ***@home

Post by Conor

Post by ***@home
Why not just run windows in a VM and then you can get the high
bitrate (a few megabits per second) downlo

Might as well just uninstall Ubuntu and stick Windows on in that case.

That would depend on what else he wants to run.
If he has applications that don't run on windows its no good.

That'll be an extremely short list made even shorter if GTK2 for Windows
is installed.

[dennis@home]

Post by Adam H
Because running something in a VM isn't that fun. BBC can get off their
asses and code something native. They should just modify VLC.

How does VLC give them the DRM they need to satisfy their contractual
obligations?

[Moog]

Post by ***@home

Post by Adam H
Because running something in a VM isn't that fun. BBC can get off their
asses and code something native. They should just modify VLC.

How does VLC give them the DRM they need to satisfy their contractual
obligations?

Like their recent boob with Iphone DRM free "contractual obligations"
you mean?

To be perfectly honest, I don't see any convenient solution. The BBC
can only release its own shows DRM free, but there must be some sort
of "downgrade" or "limited availability" supplied with it or they would
fail to sell any future copies on DVD.

It's a shame they don't see fit to use "dirac". That would be a superb
solution. Not likely mind (due to the above reasoning)

[dennis@home]

Post by Moog

Post by ***@home

Post by Adam H
Because running something in a VM isn't that fun. BBC can get off their
asses and code something native. They should just modify VLC.

How does VLC give them the DRM they need to satisfy their contractual
obligations?

Like their recent boob with Iphone DRM free "contractual obligations"
you mean?
To be perfectly honest, I don't see any convenient solution. The BBC
can only release its own shows DRM free, but there must be some sort
of "downgrade" or "limited availability" supplied with it or they would
fail to sell any future copies on DVD.

They do stream some stuff at lower quality than the iPlayer downloads.
That is DRM free so linux users can watch that.

As it stands the irrational opposition to DRM will probably prevent the high
def stuff on linux for the foreseeable future.

[Moog]

Post by ***@home

Post by Moog

Post by ***@home

Post by Adam H
Because running something in a VM isn't that fun. BBC can get off their
asses and code something native. They should just modify VLC.

How does VLC give them the DRM they need to satisfy their contractual
obligations?

Like their recent boob with Iphone DRM free "contractual obligations"
you mean?
To be perfectly honest, I don't see any convenient solution. The BBC
can only release its own shows DRM free, but there must be some sort
of "downgrade" or "limited availability" supplied with it or they would
fail to sell any future copies on DVD.

They do stream some stuff at lower quality than the iPlayer downloads.
That is DRM free so linux users can watch that.

You mean the "available for 7 days stuff"?

The quality of it is very good. AFAIK, it's PAL resolution (correct me
if I'm wrong)

Post by ***@home
As it stands the irrational opposition to DRM will probably prevent the high
def stuff on linux for the foreseeable future.

Opposition to DRM is not irrational. However, I do think if companies
such as the BBC are offering it as a "service to Licence Payers" then
there ought to be some sort of workaround. Anyway, I see you've seen
the latest news.

[Adam H]

Post by ***@home

Post by Adam H
Because running something in a VM isn't that fun. BBC can get off their
asses and code something native. They should just modify VLC.

How does VLC give them the DRM they need to satisfy their contractual
obligations?

Why is this medium so much different than TV? What DRM do they use for
that?


--
***@arrpirate.com

[dennis@home]

Post by Adam H

Post by ***@home

Post by Adam H
Because running something in a VM isn't that fun. BBC can get off their
asses and code something native. They should just modify VLC.

How does VLC give them the DRM they need to satisfy their contractual
obligations?

Why is this medium so much different than TV? What DRM do they use for
that?

HDCP.

[Adam H]

Not applicable to most TVs?

HDCP