We have the same problem on a new BDP-S370 BluRay player.

ISP: Be

Download: 6Mb

Haven't tried any other services apart from iPlayer

Latest firmware

We can usually watch a couple of programs then it starts to buffer. If we use iPlayer on our PCs (wireless connection), it runs fine without buffering. The Sony box is connected to BeBox with ethernet cable.

I'm convinced it's the Sony box.

Hi Tim, it's definitely not fixed! Mine has now become totally unwatchable even in SD and that's despite a near constant 15Mbs via BE and a short lead, direct lan connection.

I think from reading this and other boards that the issue is almost certainly a change made to the way the BBC delivers iPlayer content from mid December last year (ties up with my experieince over Christmas) and that it affects our S370s, Sony Bravia TV's and other makes' blu-ray players, set top boxes etc.

Could I ask for Catmambo or someone from Sony to confirm that this is understood by them, that they're in direct communication with the BBC to try to work out what to do about it, and that there will be a fix or firmware update forthcoming in the near future.

I'm happy to accept that this is not Sony's fault but just give us a bit of good proactive info guys, yeh? You don't want us S370 owners to go all 'Cairo' on you now! 

Exact same problem here

O2 14Mb, BDP-S370 and BBC iplayer unwatchable and has been for weeks.

Found this thread after several weeks of back and forth with O2, with them monitoring my broadband speed, and getting me to factory reset my router. I now know why there was nothing they could do to fix it! But glad it's not just me! Hoping Sony can work it out quickly with BBC!

Any news on this from Sony? Its been a problem for far too long now. Its completely unusable.

ISP: Be - 19Mb/s (Wired connection to the router) and it isn't a problem on the PC.

The player will download the first part of the program at a resonable speed and then continues at snails pace for the rest of the show. By stopping the program, going back to the show page on iplayer, hitting play then seeking to where you left off, the player will then download another big chunk at a resonable speed and then go back to being stupidly slow.

I have to agree with the users who posted graphs showing this behaivour and come to the same conclusion, this could well be due to the change to stop getiplayer by limiting the bandwidth avaliable if the client tries to download the whole show at speed greater than what would be needed to view the program. Because the player will donwload as fast as possible into the future, the bbc servers then slow it down after a period of time.

This is why the lower the quality you select, the furture into the program you can get before the probelms start. And once they start its a very long wait to finish the program.

Message was edited by: willl1987

I get the same problem.

About a third of the way through watching iplayer it starts to buffer.

Using 50mb wireless connection with Virgin.

No problem using iplayer on my PC.

Dave

This is ridiculous. Over a month since this stopped working. This product no longer works as advertised and they're still selling it!

Feel sorry for people buying one of these today, taking it home and finding it doesn't work, and that it's a known problem.
Can't even sell the piece of junk on until they fix this issue either. Never buying Sony again.

I have a feeling this is just to do with overload.

My broadband was upgraded from 2M to 4M yesterday morning so to try it out I played Top Gear in HD on iPlayer and it was perfect... all the way through with NO buffering, this was around 8:00am.

Last night I decided to watch some other programs in HD... no luck, took about 3 mins before it started playing and then buffered every few seconds. Went back to SD (High quality) and still buffered about every 30 seconds. So I dropped to SD normal quality and it played ok-ish, buffering around every 15 minutes. Speedtests on my broadband were still reporting 3.5 - 4 M.

Later in the evening (after 11pm) I tried again and it was much better - not as good as at 8:00am - but played SD High quality with hardly any buffering.

The strange thing though is that people have reported that when the bluray player has problems, iPlayer on PC works fine. I did not check this but it suggests it is not an overload problem... or, are the streams from iPlayer to Sony Bluray players DIFFERENT streams to those that go to the PC? and it is only the Sony streams which are being overloaded? Maybe, in which case it should be pretty easy for BBC to fix.

Mark.

(BDP-S570, wired network connection)

Message was edited by: mshelley

I had buffering problems on Sony BDP-370's Iplayer when I bought it just after Christmas.  I don't now - since I got my dongle to register a "100%" signal (see below).  I use "high quality".  I used to have to switch to "normal" quality to get mostly uninterupted content.  Now I use "high quality" and it never buffers despite only having an 8-meg-ish wired connection upstairs and having to pass through a wireless dongle.  I personally avoid supposed "HD" content on Bravia/internet - I can't determine the difference in quality between that and "high quality" non-HD.. and it's most likely to cause problems.  I've never had a problem with Lovefilm - I've watched three films buffer-free so far.  I do think the Bravia Iplayer software needs improving especially as more and more people start to use it.  We Tiscali users have been plagued with a much worse problem where it tries to load the web version of iplayer then crashes!  From that thread, I've replicated below some tips/workarounds for buffer prolems.  Sorry if the tone seems patronising to some - it's written with people like my mum and dad who don't have a clue in mind.  But you may find something useful in there...

Problem: when I use Sony Bravia Iplayer, the pictures freezes  and that effing circle spins so many times, I find myself running to  the kitchen to make a stiff drink before the wife clouts me because  apparently this is my fault.

Solutions:

This  is to do with "buffering" - when you "stream" a programme.. watch it on  the internet without downloading the whole thing.. it downloads enough  information so you can watch the bit you are at, and has the bit just  ahead of where you are ready, then steadily more as it's needed.  If  connection or software is slow, the player will come to a point where  the information isn't ready, and it will freeze till it is ready.  You  can get round this is in a number of ways without upgrading your  broadband package (and while you wait for Sony and BBC to get their a**ses into gear..)

1)  If you are using wireless, you need to optimise your signal.  Go to  "Set up" - "Internet settings" - then "View network status".  The signal  strength is half way down, expressed as a percentage.   Now, my wired  broadband connection upstairs is about 8 or 9 meg (24 meg my a**se!) and I  find I need a signal of 97-100% on the dongle to watch the "high  quality" (not HD) Iplayer content uninterrupted.  Bravia uses "high  quality" by default.  To achieve that signal, I plugged the USB  extension cable that came with the dongle into the back, the dongle into  the extension base which gives a bit of movement.  If your router is  upstairs, generally the higher your dongle is, the better the signal you  get.  Also crucial is the position of your router and its antenna - and you should  experiment with the antenna.  Pointing one way, my signal was 45%,  pointing the opposite way, it was almost always 100%.

2)  If you are having trouble getting a good signal, or your broadband  connection is just very cr*p generally, it's time to reduce the amount  of information you need to buffer by reducing the quality of the Iplayer  programmes.  Don't worry - the effect is noticeable to the trained eye,  but won't hamper the viewing pleasure of vaguely normal people.  From  Bravia's Iplayer homepage, go down to "settings" at the bottom, click on  it, then scroll down to "video quality" - click on it, then choose  "normal".  When you have done this click "back" or the return button on  your remote till you are back to the home page.  Then choose your  programme.

3)  Another tip, if you're not impatient to get viewing, is to pause your  programme at the start for a few minutes (while you make a cup of tea?)  to give the buffering a head start.  This can make "high quality"  viewings less interrupted in my experience.  Though since I've got my  signal up to 100% give or take, I never need to do this.  A combination  of steps 1 and 2 should mean you shouldn't need to resort to this.   Interestingly though, I've never had buffering problems with Lovefilm  because that TESTS your connection and gives you the right settings.   This is how it should work (Sony and BBC take note) - people of my mum  and dad's generation don't want to be faffing doing signal tests,  changing quality settings and doing workarounds.  So sort it!

Finally,  if all I have said, seems too daunting, get someone with a vaguely tech  brain to read this and help you.  Once you've been shown, it will be a  doddle.

Good luck!!!

Paul.