BBC iplayer problems

[mikeb5]

Hi,

Looking through the forums, I'm assuming no one has still come up with a fix for the appalling BBC iplayer App.

I have the UE65CU8500 which I bought over Xmas and am more than happy with the TV other than this. But have these problems with this app:

1. Picture Clarity settings don't work EXCEPT for any UHD program which they are fine.
2. Judder on any HD transmission but again fine with UHD.
3. Pretty appalling picture quality in general except for UHD.

To put it simply, the app appears to be not really fit for purpose other than for UHD programs.

My fix at the moment involves watching all UHD stuff on iplayer on the Samsung app, and all normal HD programs on my Firestick 4k (which doesn't have UHD for the BBC app).

Other than buying a Firestick Max which I can't really warrant at the moment just for iplayer this seems to be the only workaround!

I've found the so-called 'urgently seeking solution' Samsung post, but it's hardly urgent if I appear to be seeing the same sort of issues from two years ago!

Thanks

[Glenntech]

I have similar issues with iplayer.
It's not just Samsung Smart TV's
Got it on my BT box as well. I don't think App Developers for TV viewing get updates very often or if at all.

[Matt Taylor]

I have exactly the same problem. Just thought I should log it here too.

[sasquartch]

Exactly the same problem here too. All other apps eg itvX, All-4 etc are fine, just iPlayer on HD (UHD is fine)

Very frustrating as the TV is great otherwise, especially for a budget model like mine (UE43CU8000)

Come on Samsung, surely this can be fixed ?

[mikeb5]

Amazes me more haven't mentioned the problem. The picture is quality is terrible in HD on iplayer. So much for the 'urgently seeking solution' post from Samsung. All this does for me is confirm that the 'Smart' part of TV's is an afterthought. You are better off with an external solution such as a Firestick, Roku etc.

[sasquartch]

I wonder if people start reposting this on other platforms such as Twitter/X then Samsung might take more notice 

Also, is there a link to the post mentioned earlier (The urgently seeking solution one) ?

[sasquartch]

I've posted on X https://x.com/PaulTom64037427/status/1757766632510812624?s=20 Let's hope that produces a response. Please can others post as well tagging @samsunguk

[AntS]

Hi guys,

Thanks for highlighting this!

According to our latest Tech Briefing the issues with unstable playback and picture judder for Full HD content on the BBC iPlayer app on UECU8000 & UECU8500 models are currently being investigated at the Samsung side of things. Any further news on that, we'll let you know.

[mikeb5]

Thanks for responding, but forgive me if I don't hold my breath regarding a solution. Let's face it whether it is to do with the same issue or not the Picture Clarity settings appear to still not work on HD but do on UHD on the BBC iplayer. Scanning around the forum this issue was first reported in 2022 if not earlier. Samsung put up a post stating it was urgently being looked into some months ago which appears to have now mysteriously disappeared. The reality is the BBC iplayer has had issues for at least 18 months on certain models and little if anything has been done about it.

Luckily for me, I have never been impressed with Smart TVs such as Samsung or Panasonic etc. If there aren't issues, there soon will be when after only a couple of years or so the TV is in no longer supported. But that's beside the point, if you sell it with the feature, bugs should be sorted as soon as possible. Sadly I don't expect it to happen anytime soon and I will have to stick with my Roku and/or Firestick.

[sasquartch]

Samsung support spent a while checking my TV out remotely and reset everything back to defaults - but no change. So I think I can conclusively say it's a problem with Samsung's implementation of iPlayer on my TV rather than a fault as such.

Good to see a post to say it's being investigated - lets hope this results in a fix

Disappointed that something that is probably the most used part of a Smart TV for most people has slipped through testing - I can't believe no-one at Samsung noticed this before release.

Interestingly the version of the iPlayer app on the Samsung is 31.3.0.2 yet my old Humax (which plays iPlayer perfectly) is 31.4.something - no idea if that's significant or not