Internet, media players, and other fun stuff

[ffutures]

The BT engineer duly turned up this afternoon, and eventually established that (contrary to their previous diagnosis) the fault was back at the exchange, not in my flat etc. This unfortunately took well over an hour to sort out - he set up a transmitter that sends a signal into the line then had to trace it back through various street boxes etc., then come back and test the line once he'd fixed it.

Anyway, I'm now back on line, which let me check the Sumvision Cyclone Live media player I bought. It does work, and I got e.g. a lot of NASA stuff, but unfortunately doesn't support the two services I particularly want - YouTube and BBC iPlayer.

YouTube is there but videos don't play; really not sure why, has the format changed in the last few months. No British sources are there at all, especially not iPlayer.

So I've asked for a refund, and it's back to the drawing board. Meanwhile Morgans are out of stock of the Intempo Evolve, which was the first thing I looked at, and I gather that Apple TV also fails to support most British services. Any other suggestions?

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

What's your budget?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Limited - this is basically something to last a couple of years until the new BBC thing gets started / affordable, and I can live without if it's too pricey.

[cobrabay.livejournal.com]

I've no personal experience of them, but I'm thinking of getting a Western Digital TV Live Streaming Media Player http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005NYOKC2/ref=pe_212211_30811781_pe_epc_dt1 for myself, costs more than the Cyclone though, £70, but it is supposed to support BBC iPlayer & YouTube among many other services, and the reviews I've seen have been mostly very positive.

[murphys-lawyer.livejournal.com]

Have you looked at the Raspberry Pi? I understand it's possible to run get_iPlayer, and it'll definitely do the YouTube thing with one of several browsers...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thought about it, but I'm really not convinced I'm up to making it work.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I hadn't spotted that one. But I'll have to get a refund for the Cyclone first.

[uk-sef.livejournal.com]

It would be amusing if its killer app (as per earlier post) turned out to be its ability to run BBC iPlayer and YouTube better than the "proper" units do.