BBC Recordings no longer possible, watch via iPlayer?

[brizzlechris]

Hi,

I've noticed today that if I record BBC programmes on my BT TV Box Pro (in IP mode), I can no longer watch the recordings from the hard drive (are they actually being written to the hard drive any longer?) and am instead am redirected to watch the programme via the iPlayer app.

On the face of it it looks like this causes two immediately obvious negatives (and maybe some less obvious ones I haven't yet thought of!)

1) Programmes/recordings cannot now be kept for an infinite period.

I "recorded" last night's Sports Personality of the Year. This would previously have been available to keep on the box for as long as I desired (subject to hardware failure etc.) Now, as it's reliant on the iPlayer availability, it's shown as being available for 29 days.

Some older recordings I had sitting on my box for some time from BBC channels now are unplayable, show as "Unavailable" with the message "This programme is not available to watch. Press delete to remove".

2) Some programmes which don't get made available will no longer be viewable after transmission

Previously, you would have been able to record programmes that don't get onto iPlayer (e.g. the "Verified Live" afternoon news bulletins on the BBC News channel). Now, if I schedule a recording and attempt to watch this immediately after the broadcast has ended, I get the "Unavailable" status displayed with the message "This programme is not available to watch. Press delete to remove" upon playback.

A few questions come to mind...

Does this only affect Pro box users in IP mode? Or is this also applicable to aerial users?

When did this change occur? And is there anywhere where this was announced? I feel like I've missed something but it's not immediately obvious when I tried to find something. 

[chrisjp]

I still use an aerial for my TV and, so far, have had no issues with recording programmes, via my Freeview box, on any channel, including the BBC.

[Andy005 · Accepted solution]

Hi @brizzlechris 

I've just been able to record BBC1 in IP mode and I was able to watch the recorded section without any problems. I recorded Vigil last night and that plays okay as well. I have other recordings from 18th Nov and 9th Dec and they play as well.

Being directed to watch via iPlayer sounds like what you'd experience if trying to watch programmes from within the TV Guide that show the 'play' symbol.

It might be worth going into Maintenance Mode and select the 'Keep Recordings' option, see if that cures the issue.

[brizzlechris]

Thanks @Andy005 - a maintenance mode factory reset (keeping recordings) seems to have put things back to how they worked previously.

Having a look at things post reset, the component software (4.1.108) and manufacturer software (0.9.58) remained the same as before the reset but the platform configuration changed from 5497 pre-reset to 5485 post-reset.

Here's a pic of how BBC recordings were appearing pre-reset...

[zulu17]

Only spectulation but based opon your experience (EE TV experts might be able to confirm if there were any issues)

1) You may find that another box software update may be available either now or overnight or when you next restart  that will update your box configuation.

2) As you found your "unavailable " recordings were still on the box  just that the system considered that you were not entitled to access them  or system couldn't find them based upon the system view of your channel subscriptions. So suspicion of rogue  or mismatched data somewhere.  Possibly this would have corrected itself overnight or indeed in the box was restarted (powered off/on).

[NickBS]

Hey - sorry about that. Looks like your TV Box is part of a user research group and received a build that we use for internal testing. Glad you got it sorted with a reset.

[Lizzie]

Hi everyone,

Do we know if anything has changed recently on this issue?

I have received an email this morning from ee along the lines of the original poster's query, that BBC recordings will from 21 August only be available through the iplayer app, with warnings that some content will not be available, that there may be a 15 minute delay before recordings are playable, and that availability may expire quickly.

The email refers to watching in internet mode, which I now do.  I used to watch via aerial but when I had my latest box, the cable that was sent would not work, and as the hub was very close to the TV the engineer who helped me over the phone talked me through changing to internet instead.

[Midnight_Voice]

@Lizzie 

The above was @brizzlechris accidentally getting an early test build of what will now be rolled out on August 21st.

It will affect recordings of programmes on BBC channel made on or after that date only, and only for people using IP Mode.

If you want to carry on as at present, switch back to aerial mode. This is supposed to require a factory reset, thus losing all your current recordings, but it’s worth reconnecting an aerial and then trying a Maintenance Mode Option 2 reset, to see if this brings the box out of IP Mode without losing them.

I don’t know what happened with your latest box, but BT don’t send out aerial cables, so it should just have been a case of plugging in the existing one you had; you were badly advised about that 😢

[Lizzie]

Thank you!
You helped me at the time when I couldn't work out which cable I needed, so in a way I was glad to go cable less.
I wonder if I might do better just buying a box that records.

[Midnight_Voice]

@Lizzie 

You have a box that records. You have a box that records from an aerial (and if you don’t, and you have a faulty one, then EE will swap it for a working one).

What you apparently don’t have is a working TV aerial cable; and if you don’t, then no recording box, YouView or not,  is going to work for you (unless you happen to have an unused satellite dish on the wall or roof, and you get a Freesat recorder!)

Get your TV aerial cable (the end looks like this):-

and plug it directly into your TV, other end still in the socket on the wall, and see if you can tune the broadcast channels or not. If you can’t, something needs fixing. If you can, try it with the YouView box (remember it will need a reset before you start).

If all this seems a bit complicated, get a techie friend or family member, show them this thread, and get them to help you. It should be quite straightforward….