Uniti WiFi Problem - "Can't Play - Station Unavailable"

Posted by: Dinarius on 29 October 2010

For the third time in two weeks this problem has happened.

I think I've found the solution, but I'd love to know why it's happening in the first place.

1. For no apparent reason, when I click on a wifi radio preset on the remote control, I get "Can't Play. Station Unavailable".

2. If I click OK/List, the complete history of that channel (e.g. BBC Radio 3) appears with the station name at the top of the list and all the podcasts listed below it.

3. ALL of the podcasts will play perfectly.

4. When this problem occurs, ALL of the wifi presets on the remote fail.

Solution:

The only workaround I've found is to switch off the Uniti and switch it back on again. I then get the "Restoring History" message and the station will play again - as will all the other wifi presets.

It's almost as if making the Uniti find the connection again does the trick.

There is nothing wrong with my wifi connection. Three computers and an iPhone are using it.

Up to a couple of weeks ago, I had a year of perfect wifi reception (barring the odd "Press play to reconnect")

Any idea what the problem might be?

Thanks.

D.
Posted on: 29 October 2010 by David Dever
What version of software are you running?
Posted on: 03 December 2010 by Dinarius
David,

Apologies for the delay in replying to you.

My Uniti is running Version 2.0.00 & is a BC SW 10189 model.

I don't receive BBC Radio live streaming at all now, only podcasts. These stream perfectly, without any interruption.

I due to have the firmware upgrade installed by my dealer in a few weeks. Maybe this will help.

Thanks.

D.
Posted on: 03 December 2010 by Hepminster
I have also had this problem and I persevered with it since I purchased my Uniti in March, seemed to happen randomly and for no reason. My solution was simple again but not ideal as I think the Uniti should work pefectly wirelessly - I wired it to my router last month with the ethernet connection and have had no problems what so ever (touch wood).

I personnelly feel it's a wireless issue with the Uniti, possibly dependent on which router you run as well, and I'm sure Naim will be aware of it as this was also WhatHiFi's solution.
Posted on: 03 December 2010 by garyi
At some point people realise (and its not a very nice realisation) that wireless is actually, not very good.
Posted on: 05 December 2010 by 0rangutan
Wireless is fine - Naim's implementation isn't great.
I moved my Qute over to using an Airport Express as a wireless bridge.
This was mostly to provide enough bandwidth for hires audio, but also fixed all connectivity reliabilty issues.
At £60-80 this is well worth a try in your case.
Posted on: 08 December 2010 by Dinarius
Since my last post I came across a thread on another forum on the same subject - no BBC on wifi - this time with a Robert's radio.

The solution suggested was simple. Turn off the system for a few minutes and try again. I did that and it's now working perfectly! I've no idea what has brought about the change. Something in the Uniti's cache (if it has a cache) that didn't agree with BBC's *live* stream (as I wrote above, podcasts have always been perfect). Something changed in the way BBC are transmitting live stream that only became apparent when the Uniti was forced to restore the history? I've no idea. But, it's working now and better than ever - hardly a dropout.

Two responses to what was suggested above.

1. I can't connect the Uniti directly to my modem since it's in my office and I connect two computers directly to it via ethernet precisely to avoid the kind of problems we're discussing.

2. I've never considered an Airport Express. Great idea but, to be honest, I'm not keen on having another piece of hardware in my living room. On balance, I can live with the odd dropout. My 8mb uncontested connection seems to be fine now. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for the feedback.

D.
Posted on: 02 August 2011 by Dinarius
In the last few days, for the first time in the 18 months that I've owned the Uniti, two things have started happening:

1. The time between dropouts when listening to wifi radio has extended to hours, not minutes.

2. I don't seem to have to Press Play To Reconnect any longer. It reconnects automatically. It never did this previously.

I only listen to BBC Radio 3 & 4. So, is this happening because my Internet supplier (UPC) have changed something or because BBC have made a change? Just curious - listening on the Uniti has never been better! ;-)

Thanks.

D.
Posted on: 04 August 2011 by Gordon McGlade
Originally Posted by Dinarius:
In the last few days, for the first time in the 18 months that I've owned the Uniti, two things have started happening:

1. The time between dropouts when listening to wifi radio has extended to hours, not minutes.

2. I don't seem to have to Press Play To Reconnect any longer. It reconnects automatically. It never did this previously.

I only listen to BBC Radio 3 & 4. So, is this happening because my Internet supplier (UPC) have changed something or because BBC have made a change? Just curious - listening on the Uniti has never been better! ;-)

Thanks.

D.

I can confrim that the BBC has had issues and have been highlighted to them by Naim

 

Gordon

Posted on: 20 August 2011 by Dinarius
Gordon, some weeks on since my last post, I am continuing to enjoy excellent & consistent wi-fi reception. Listening to the Proms has been bliss compared to the constant "Press play to reconnect" hell of last Summer (I gave up).

Another question re BBC Radio 3/4 in HD.

Both these stations are listed under Naim's Choice on the Uniti, along with AVRO Klassik.

Neither BBC station works for me in 320k. However, AVRO Klassik does & it's phenomenal.

Any idea what the problem might be with BBC? Is it only broadcast occasionally? Is it location restricted? (I'm in Dublin) Neither of these issues is mentioned here....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/help/hd-sound.shtml

...so I'm at a loss.

Thanks.

D.
Posted on: 22 August 2011 by Dinarius

Update:

 

Just tried connecting to BBC Radio HD on my computer this morning and got the dreaded 'Not available in your area'.

 

No problem connecting to it using Expat Shield and the sound is excellent.

 

But, until Auntie says, "Yes", I won't be getting it via the Uniti.

 

Pity.

 

Will drop them an email and ask when it's being made available outside UK. Or, if anyone knows......?

 

D.

Posted on: 23 August 2011 by Frank E

I only have a wired network (100base T)  and have never been able to connect to the 3rd  and Home Service HD stations.

I've tried BBC 3  before the Proms are broadcast in the evening, during the Proms after the Proms and at times during the day as I understood the bitrate changes,depending on the staiton's programming or did change.  Also tried after 23:00 when traffic shaping is likely to be relaxed. I ran Glas load tests and it doesn't seem like my ADSL2 line has significant traffic shaping peak, busy hour or off peak.

 

I've tried adding them trying ports on all their casting servers (10 I could find) with different bit rates and codecs bit still get the "no station" message. I can listen fine on a PC based player, all other 320k services (bar Linn) are fine any time of day and I've ran some not-particularly-well-metered load tests-putting as much traffic on my ADSL2 link while the 320 stations are streaming to my UQ - and the buffer doesn't budge from full bar .

 

I'm not that bothered about it, just curious to find the problem.

Posted on: 25 August 2011 by Dinarius

Reply for BBC re Radio 3/4 in HD.

 

"Thank you for contacting the BBC iPlayer Support Team.

I understand that you’re unable to play HD content on BBC Radio 3 and 4 outside the UK.

We’re currently looking at ways to increase and improve the services we offer but at present, we wouldn’t have any further information of when such services would be implemented.

Once again thank you for contacting us.

Kind Regards"

 

 

D.

 

Posted on: 10 September 2011 by Dinarius
In the last few days I've been getting interference when listening to BBC Radio 3 on my Uniti. The interference is in the form of a pulsing/ticking sound, which rises a falls in volume with the volume of the music.

There is no interference on BBC Radios 2/4 via wifi on the Uniti. Nor is there any if I listen to Radio 3 via wifi on my iPhone.

After a couple of months of perfect listening, when BBC appeared to have sorted their problems, this is frustrating.

Anyone else having problems?

Any ideas?

Thanks.

D.
Posted on: 24 September 2011 by Dinarius
Update:

Just discovered that BBC Radios 3 & 4 HD test are now available outside UK on my Uniti.

Radio 4 pretty good @ 128k. Radio 3 only a piffling 53k, but at least that interference (see above) is not audible on this frequency. Neither a patch on AVRO Klassiek, however.

D.