BBC iPlayer via IPad and AirPlay issue

Hi David,

I have seen the same issue, although I have never previosily seen the AirPlay button, as I didn't have an Apple TV until now. Just posted the below on the iPlayer App comments/review page:

I like the BBC iPlayer look and feel. It plays great on my iPad 2 on my wifi LAN. However, I have just bought the latest Apple TV because this App, says above in the description that you can stream programmes via AirPlay to your TV. Well that's not true at all.

I have read many forum posts and the only way this seems to work is if you Jailbreak the Apple TV, which I am not willing to do. Will the developers please correct this problem or at the very least remove the bold claim from the App description. When playing a programme on the iPad there is no AirPlay button to allow you to send the stream to the TV. I have read about hitting home button and swiping the screen a few time to activate, but that's a load of codswallop as well. I really want this app to stream to the Apple TV…please fix this issue. Thanks.

The attached image shows the claims about AirPlay....

Hello David - I have also spent time trying to stream BBC iplayer to the tv via airplay. Other people posting on this issue are correct, the iplayer app does not seem to be compatible with airplay and the error message appears. However, the iplayer does work with mirroring. The solution is to double tap the home button on the ipad (not the home button in the iplayer app) following which recently used apps will appear at the bottom of the screen. Swipe left to right and these apps will be replaced by controls including the airplay button. Press this and set to mirroring (to ATV). Start BBC iplayer and the tv screen will now show what is on the ipad. Once you start a programme, tv screen will go blank and the buffering circle will appear on the now static image on the ipad. Eventually the tv will show the programme. It can take a while to get this to work so be patient. I was extremely surprised when it did work as I had given up before.

Until relatively recently, iPlayer was streaming fine to Apple TV so, as far as I'm concerned, their claims were correct.

I'm guessing from the last two iPlayer newsletters that they're aware of problems as they are 'in discussion with Apple' over how to fix it.

It seems, from the other posts on related subjects, that the problem has come about with the latest run of updates. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they issue an update soon.

Thanks, after getting a message back from the BBC iPlayer support team, which advised me to do the Home Button double tap and swipe option, I realise I had been doing it all wrong.

As you state, you have to double tap the iPad Home Button (the physical one on the front of the iPad) which brings up the icons of all running Apps. You then swipe these icons away to the right, to reveal the Player controls. These have the rewind, play, fast forward buttons as well as the Airplay icon.

I pressed the Airplay icon and low and behold, it works....not only works, but works a treat.

So, I was confused, and take back what I said about iPlayer not having the option to stream to the AppleTV.

Just for reference, I am using the latest version of iOS, iPlayer and AppleTV 3rd Gen (release Mar 2012). All seems good, if not a little disjointed in how it works.

I would rather see the Airplay icon on the iPlayer main controls, but this will do for now.

I've just received this email from the BBC

------

We would just like to update you that the Airplay issue that has arisen has not been resolved yet, but rest assured that our tech team is working very hard to resolve as soon as possible.

The BBC iPlayer (Global) app was tested against Apple's Beta 5.1 version and successfully played video. There was a small change added to 5.1 between the Beta and Public Release around video streaming which affected our app. Apple would normally have released a Gold Master version before releasing to the public which would have allowed us to pick this up, but didn't in this case for security reasons.

There is also an issue with the AppleTV 5.0 update which is affecting AirPlay. We have been working with Apple on a fix for this and they have found a solution but we are not sure when they will release it. In the meantime our developers are investigating a workaround which we will release once it is properly tested. We hope to release this latest by the end of April, depending on how quickly we can test how long it takes Apple to approve the submission for the app store.

Please bear with us while we try to solve this and we will get back to you with any news.

Thanks again for your patience.

----------

Thank you for posting this. Very helpful and informative. Here's hoping they release the update very soon.