how to watch BBC iplayer on mac mini

Sure.

Go here, in any web browser on any computer (including a Mac mini): http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

What problem are you getting?

(You have to be in the UK for this to work, though. I think Wales counts, though! 🙂 )

Go here: and Download Flash Player...

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

iPad doesn't need Flash Player - in fact that's a whole can of worms right there as to WHY it doesn't - but that's the short answer! 🙂

Weren't you one of Thunderbirds team? Early 1960s?

barbarafromwales wrote:

ok thanks for that but why does it work ok on i pad without downloading flash player?

When you access the BBC iPlayer site on a Mac or PC, the webserver detects you are using a computer and tries to show you the Flash version of the site. When you visit the same site using an iPhone or iPad, the webserver detects this and knows that the iPhone and iPad cannot run Flash so it instead shows a different version of the site which uses H.264 instead of Flash.

Both versions of the site are restricted to UK IP addresses.

I have been using a Mac Mini as a media server for a few years now and can conclusively say BBC iPlayer just doesn't work.

In standard definition you can watch streamed programmes through Safari and iPlayer desktop reasonably well. As soon as you go HD the Safari viewer can't keep up and is juddery. It's even worse with iPlayer desktop with downloaded programes, which you would expect to be better. This is on a Mac Mini a few years old. However, the same Mac Mini plays HD content in Quick Time, downloaded from iTunes and using Eye TV both live and stored.

iPlayer just seems to be nconsistent.

Colin Martin wrote:

I have been using a Mac Mini as a media server for a few years now and can conclusively say BBC iPlayer just doesn't work.

In standard definition you can watch streamed programmes through Safari and iPlayer desktop reasonably well. As soon as you go HD the Safari viewer can't keep up and is juddery. It's even worse with iPlayer desktop with downloaded programes, which you would expect to be better. This is on a Mac Mini a few years old. However, the same Mac Mini plays HD content in Quick Time, downloaded from iTunes and using Eye TV both live and stored.

iPlayer just seems to be nconsistent.

On your Mac mini the BBC iPlayer will be using Flash. The performance of Flash is notoriously bad. Allegedly if you have Mac OS X 10.6.3 or higher (including Lion) and Flash 10.1 or higher (currently 10.3 and a bit) then you should get some hardware acceleration of Flash on a Mac.

If your Mac OS X or Flash versions are older than the above then I am not surprised it is struggling. Also the video chip in your Mac mini might also have some impact, the low end Intel HD Graphics 3000 chip might not be powerful enough for accelarating Flash, the higher end AMD Radeon HD 6630M should have no problems.

It has 10.6.8 and the latest flash. The Mac Mini is perfectly capable of playing HD content from every other source except iPlayer and iPlayer desktop.

Nearly... Supercar (pre-dated Thunderbirds - and Stingray - and Fireball XL5). Dr.Horatio Beaker at your service!