Can't see iplayer on BDP-S370

[mudkipper]

I have a BDP-S370 Blu-ray player and have updated the firmware to M03.R.694 but no sign of the BBC iPlayer. The unit was purchased from Pixmania selling into the UK market but it is a French unit. Could this be the problem? I would have thought that iplayer restrictions were based on ip address and as far as I can see the M03.R.694 firmware downloads from the UK and French service sites are identical.

Has anyone else had this problem or know what can be done?

[Catmambo]

I'm just checking with a colleague for you as i'd be interested to know also. Will feedback as soon as I have an update

Thanks

[sonyihugs]

I've just got mine from the same site and have the same problem, has anyone found an answer yet. If not I think it's going back !

[Catmambo]

The Tv's are definitely region specific  - Freeview HD/DVB-T2 is a UK only technology and denoted by the 3 at the end of the model code e.g. 46HX903 - thus iPlayer is restricted to just UK models. However, still waiting for confirmation from a colleague who looks after Blu-ray who is currently in the US. Hopefully have an update tomorrow.

thanks

[Catmambo]

Just to confirm, iPlayer is actually locked out on European equivalent Blu-ray devices even if you are  based in the UK and have the updated firmware. So maybe see if you can return it  and pick up the device from a UK reseller instead to ensure current and future compatibility for UK IP services.

Thanks for raising this.

[jowestw92]

I have just updated the firmware on my S370, no sign of Iplayer.

Regards

John

[Catmambo]

Which retailer did you buy it from?

[pmk_mck]

I got my S370 from play.com a few months back and iPlayer works just fine on it but it didn't appear when I first connected up the device to the internet, and I'm in the UK. The issue I had was due to the geographic boundary control implemented in the unit and the fact that my ISP was giving me a WAN ip registered to the republic of ireland (dont ask! 😉 ) You've no idea how much chew this caused with my Vodafone SureSignal!!!!

Anyway, the long and short of it is, that the ip address on the WAN side of your broadband router is used to pinpoint which country your S370 is being used in. So when the S370 calls home (has internet connectivity) it's told which services it can list. Unless your ip is registered as being in the UK then it won't show iPlayer. The reason for this is that iPlayer content is not licensed for playback outside the UK, so mechanisms are put in place to make sure that this is the case.

If you have the ability you 'move' your WAN address to different countries then you'll see 'other' services listed in place of iPlayer. http://www.speedtest.net/ will show you where it thinks your ip address is registered.

I had the opportunity to try my S370 with a WAN ip address registered to Luxembourg and it listed a totally different set of catch-up services. When back with a UK ip, it shows iPlayer etc.

I'm running M03.R.694 by the way.

I can't say that Sony don't put different firmware on devices intended for use in specific countries, but it would make the manufacturing processes very difficult. Though, i'm seeing posts on this forum where other uk based catch-up services are listed but not iPlayer...so maybe they do.

[pmk_mck]

One further thing. When I was trying to diagnose the S370 iPlayer issue with Sony I was given this response:

"The next thing to consider is that this BDP-S370 was not intended for sale in the United Kingdom and has been imported by the retailer, if this is the case there would be nothing that could be done to allow BBC iPlayer to be available on the product. I would recommend that you check with the retailer to establish where the product originated from."

[Catmambo]

Very useful post! Thanks