A message from the BBC on iradio issues

Hi Paul,

bbc radio 2, wma Stream, uk, 28.10.14 at 18.59. Popping badly at the moment. However, the aac feed is perfect.

Clyde

Radio 2 WMA 128khz popping badly right now. AAC 128khz is fine.

5 live WMW 48khz popping now, but as badly. AAC 128khz is fine.

6 Music WMA 128khz not popping. AAC 128khz is fine.

All WMA streams buffer at 90%. All AAC streams buffer at 100%.

Keith

Ok will feedback

p

thanks guys, this information has been fed back to the BBC for investigation

it would be very helpful to have absolute UK date/times in the reports please to make it easy for the BBC

update:

The BBC are investigating as they take quality issues very seriously and will be scheduling some updates soon

In the meantime they apologize and pass on their thanks for being made aware of the problem.

Why not switch the WMA feed(s) to AAC  ???

Even when R-2 WMA is not popping its runing 50-70-90% buffer whereas AAC is 100%

I first reported this issue to Naim support on 13 July and to vTuner support on 6 July. It has recently stopped affecting 6 Music and now happens on Radio 2 and 5 Live.

It has been present on one or other of these stations every time I have used iRadio since July. I don't know if it's still happening. I last checked at the time of my last post. I no longer bother with the WMA streams as AAC sounds so much better.

Keith

hi all,

as an update I've just updated Naim Choice to include the aac streams from the BBC. These are 128K for most and 320K for BBC3. 

please note that due to licensing restrictions, outside of the UK the stream may drop to a lower sample rate.

any comments/feedback from these streams is welcome

Trevor

Thanks Trevor :-)

Trevor,

The AAC feeds seem to be perfect. Its much easier now you have included them in the naim list. I had problems originally trying to get them through v tuner, but did manage it in the end.

Thanks

Clyde

You could add BBC 5 Live Extra. The AAC stream is 128khz, whereas WMA is barely human at 48khz. You never know, there may be some audiophiles who want to listen to commentary of Birmingham vs. Wolves this lunchtime?

Keith

hi guys,

regarding Radio 5 live extra - sure, just waiting for the master logo before i upload. might be few days as its the weekend

Thanks Trevor.

Thanks Trevor,  just got back from a weekend away & was so pleased to see this.

AAC seems to sound better (pops & the WMA problems aside) or is that my imagination?

hi all

the BBC have been in touch. They believe the issues to be resolved Friday 7th November late evening UK time. if you experience any further issues please can you let me know - including station, UK time

thanks 
Trevor

Thats great news, thanks Trevor.

Clyde

I have been having the same troubles today (Nov 17th).  BBC Radio 2 popping in and out on the WMA stream and buffering up and down all the time.  I listened to the same station on BBC iplayer in parallel on an iPad just to check if it was my internet connection, but that was continuous.  Having read the above, I switched to the Naim Choice channel with the AAC stream and that was better but still dropping out regularly, although the buffering was not so up and down.

hi guys

can i ask for your location please, ie UK, london or similar

Nr Oxford,  UK.

R2 been faultless 100% buffer today

Yesterday it had two 2 or 3 second breaks,  impossible to say if it was a transmission or local wireless issue. 

hi all

the bbc just got back to me with:

It would be helpful to know if this report relates to our UK or non-UK streams (they are on separate infrastructure).  Clarification of the meaning of 'popping in and out on the WMA stream and buffering up and down' would be appreciated.  There is no adaptive bitrate provision on our WMA or ICY streams.

thanks malcolm

ive emailed the BBC on this, lets see

This doesn't sound like "popping" in the sense that I understanding it. "Popping" sounds like clicking. It's the round of the stream resynching and the loss of a microsecond of music as the streamer struggles to lock into the signal. This sounds more like it's just dropping out? I've had no issues with the AAC streams.

Keith

hi all

i am still awaiting feedback from the BBC - however can i also ask if your still experiencing issues and if so, the afore mentioned information. location, time and date and explanation of the issue