Topic: BBC Radio & Windows Media (Read 21828 times)

adamsp70 · « **on:** February 10, 2015, 02:17:09 am »

I've played BBC radio on MC via their wma steams for quite a few years now.

But they are closing these streams (all you get is a recorded message on them now) and i cannot find any alternative that will work through MC.

Anyone else got a solution?

Many thanks.....

marko · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2015, 11:28:13 am »

What a pain...
mp3 streams still work, but their blog suggests they plan to bin these too, next year probably...

BBC Radio 2 - http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_radio2_mf_p?s=1423581841&e=1423596241&h=5509d8f4f34c0bfa7aafc29978fd78e7
BBC Radio 6 - http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_6music_mf_p?s=1423580980&e=1423595380&h=e8614b1c24106ae1fa0d1243b773818f

No time to dig out more at the moment.

RussellS · « **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2015, 08:29:46 am »

I've just spend hours trying to find replacement BBC radio streams now that the wma ones are discontinued.

Here are the mp3 streams that I am now using:

BBC Radio 1: http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_radio1_mf_p?s=1423655851&e=1423670251&h=99332e3dcfd381f16c119c6613f668a6
BBC Radio 2: http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_radio2_mf_p?s=1423656630&e=1423671030&h=86fca9d45c3a87b2bc05a0f15774de18
BBC Radio 3: http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_radio3_mf_p?s=1423656731&e=1423671131&h=62e6411f1bbab20e338bcb0c3210e560
BBC Radio 4: http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_radio4fm_mf_p?s=1423656785&e=1423671185&h=c584a9e8d17a5edf089498c5632fa065
BBC Radio 5 Live: http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_radio5live_mf_p?s=1423656844&e=1423671244&h=7d0a6544d313a17ae59ee3c0e3c96a51
BBC Radio 6 Music: http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_6music_mf_p?s=1423654585&e=1423668985&h=0030f35ce24d711346713cfe3677fe30

Just be aware that the Radio 3 stream is now only 128kb/s rather than the 320kb/s that was available before in wma format.

I believe these will work at least until sometime next year. Hopefully in a few months time the BBC will have sorted out all the streams once and for all and we will have some long term working streams.

Here are a couple of BBC blog entries describing the changes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/internet/entries/28dfd220-7ca1-3683-ac16-3938cfb4b882
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/internet/entries/977a1954-658f-4fb2-a23c-71680c49882f

I hope this is helpful

Micromecca · « **Reply #3 on:** February 14, 2015, 03:13:59 am »

I have just been dealing with this for a client this morning who was using the BBC AAC streams, best we could come up with was to add a webpage in theater view to load the stations for now, they sound pretty good so I suspect that they are AAC inside the flash stream.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_one
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_two
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_three

etc etc..

Unfortunately I cant use this workaround myself as I dont fancy burning my Panasonic VT65 plasma, if only webpages faded out in Theater View

Martin

gweefry · « **Reply #4 on:** February 14, 2015, 05:54:05 am »

Quote from: Micromecca on February 14, 2015, 03:13:59 am

I have just been dealing with this for a client this morning who was using the BBC AAC streams, best we could come up with was to add a webpage in theater view to load the stations for now, they sound pretty good so I suspect that they are AAC inside the flash stream.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_one
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_two
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_three

etc etc..

Unfortunately I cant use this workaround myself as I dont fancy burning my Panasonic VT65 plasma, if only webpages faded out in Theater View

Martin

It's possible to add these webpages in Connected Media which replicates indirectly the old aac streams.

Steve

Hendrik · « **Reply #5 on:** February 14, 2015, 06:28:02 am »

There are new HLS AAC URLs, however the high quality AAC streams only work from within the UK.

ie. for Radio 1:

UK High: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/high/ak/bbc_radio_one.m3u8
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_one.m3u8
non-UK: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/nonuk/low/ak/bbc_radio_one.m3u8

Those are HLS streams using AAC audio. They play fine in MC, given the quality notice above.
The world-wide nonUK streams are 48kbps AAC-HE streams. Should be about equal quality to MP3 128.

Micromecca · « **Reply #6 on:** February 14, 2015, 08:00:18 am »

Quote from: Hendrik on February 14, 2015, 06:28:02 am

There are new HLS AAC URLs, however the high quality AAC streams only work from within the UK.

ie. for Radio 1:

UK High: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/high/ak/bbc_radio_one.m3u8
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_one.m3u8
non-UK: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/nonuk/low/ak/bbc_radio_one.m3u8

Those are HLS streams using AAC audio. They play fine in MC, given the quality notice above.
The world-wide nonUK streams are 48kbps AAC-HE streams. Should be about equal quality to MP3 128.

Thanks Hendrik, the UK High URL's were exactly what I was looking for

Micromecca · « **Reply #7 on:** February 14, 2015, 08:30:39 am »

It seems I spoke too soon, those playlists don't work for me in MC20, If I try and open them using 'Open URL' nothing happens.
If I save the playlist file locally and them import them MC tells me 'the selected files cannot be played'

They do however, play fine in VLC. am I missing something $:-\$

Hendrik · « **Reply #8 on:** February 14, 2015, 08:33:46 am »

I cannot test the UK URLs as I'm not in the UK. the Non-UK URL works for me.

Micromecca · « **Reply #9 on:** February 14, 2015, 08:37:33 am »

Hey Hendrik, even the non-UK stream, doesn't open in MC for me
I've tried on 3 different boxes now to ensure it wasn't a local issue, and they do all work via VLC.

cheers
Martin

Micromecca · « **Reply #10 on:** February 14, 2015, 08:45:57 am »

Log file attached in case that helps!

Hendrik · « **Reply #11 on:** February 14, 2015, 08:48:29 am »

How did you try to open it? I simply used File -> Open URL, and that worked for me.

Micromecca · « **Reply #12 on:** February 14, 2015, 08:48:55 am »

Yes that's exactly what I am doing. (also tried saving the playlist locally and importing).

JimH · « **Reply #13 on:** February 14, 2015, 08:53:09 am »

This doesn't work for me in 20.0.70:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/nonuk/low/ak/bbc_radio_one.m3u8

File / Open URL / Enter.

Micromecca · « **Reply #14 on:** February 14, 2015, 08:55:03 am »

Same build as me Jim, cheers

Hendrik · « **Reply #15 on:** February 14, 2015, 09:07:21 am »

Odd, will investigate on monday.

Micromecca · « **Reply #16 on:** February 14, 2015, 09:20:07 am »

Brill, thanks guys

Hendrik · « **Reply #17 on:** February 16, 2015, 05:26:55 am »

I fixed it, in the next build:
NEW: Support for playing HTTP Live Streaming streams (both video/audio and audio-only).

You can either simply use Open URL to open them right there, or you can even import the URLs into your library.
The File Type should automatically be set to "hls" for those URLs.

Hendrik · « **Reply #18 on:** February 16, 2015, 05:33:05 am »

Spike1000 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 16, 2015, 06:06:08 am »

Nice work Hendrik

Just to confirm the excellent 320 kb URLs available in the UK. . . .

/high/ will give you 128kb/s AAC-LC in general
/sbr_high/ will give you 320kb/s AAC-LC
/low/ will give you 48kb/s HE-AAC

Radio 1:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_one.m3u8

Radio 2:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_two.m3u8

Radio 3:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_three.m3u8

Radio 4:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_fourfm.m3u8

Radio 4 Extra:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_four_extra.m3u8

Radio 5 Live:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_five_live.m3u8

Radio 5 Sports Extra:
UN 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_five_live_sports_extra.m3u8

Radio 6 Music:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_6music.m3u8

EDIT: When I tried the playlist URL in VLC it played the /high/ (128 kb) stream rather than the /sbr_high/ (320 kb) stream.

Spike

Micromecca · « **Reply #20 on:** February 16, 2015, 06:35:15 am »

Quote from: Hendrik on February 16, 2015, 05:26:55 am

I fixed it, in the next build:

Thanks for the quick turnaround on this Hendrik, fantastic!

I can also confirm along with Spike that the sbr_high streams are valid (tested with VLC)

mark_h · « **Reply #21 on:** February 17, 2015, 01:54:12 am »

More information, and reaction, on what is happening, and why:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31487515

bocian74 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 17, 2015, 07:30:55 am »

Thanks Hendrik. When can we expect the new build with this issue resolved?

Will this also fix the problem with the BBC links published here: http://www.listenlive.eu/uk.html ? They work perfect in Winamp but don't open in MC. As you can see the BBC1 m3u file contains such link: http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_radio1_mf_p

Thanks!

Hendrik · « **Reply #23 on:** February 17, 2015, 07:34:58 am »

Those links should work already today, they do work fine here, and they are just simply mp3 streams afterall. However the AAC links are probably going to be higher quality.

bocian74 · « **Reply #24 on:** February 17, 2015, 08:57:16 am »

Thanks, I'll double check but they didn't work so far, while others like DI.FM radio works w/o any problem.

And when the new build will be available?

Quote

I fixed it, in the next build:
NEW: Support for playing HTTP Live Streaming streams (both video/audio and audio-only).

marko · « **Reply #25 on:** February 17, 2015, 12:07:22 pm »

Brilliant stuff. Library updated.

Here's some 1000 x 1000 logos attached if anyone wants

Micromecca · « **Reply #26 on:** February 17, 2015, 02:02:45 pm »

Nice Marko, thanks

bocian74 · « **Reply #27 on:** February 18, 2015, 06:07:50 am »

Want to confirm that these BBC links don't work: http://www.listenlive.eu/uk.html. The only one that works is BBC World Service (http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/meta/live/mp3/eneuk.pls) but I'm interested in BBC Radio 1 (http://www.listenlive.eu/bbcradio1.m3u).
I'm getting a message 'Something went wrong with the playback' or something like this. Tested on 2 MC installations. Could you please check? They work perfect in Winamp and Foobar so it's MC specific issue.

Hendrik you wrote:

Quote

I fixed it, in the next build:
NEW: Support for playing HTTP Live Streaming streams (both video/audio and audio-only).

When is this new build going to be released. I can only see version 20.0.70 which doesn't have this feature yet.

Thanks!

AndrewFG · « **Reply #28 on:** February 18, 2015, 06:36:10 am »

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31487515

PS at least this shows that the BBC's news organization is still somehow still independent of its marketing department...

RussellS · « **Reply #29 on:** February 19, 2015, 12:16:12 pm »

Quote from: Spike1000 on February 16, 2015, 06:06:08 am

Nice work Hendrik

Just to confirm the excellent 320 kb URLs available in the UK. . . .

/high/ will give you 128kb/s AAC-LC in general
/sbr_high/ will give you 320kb/s AAC-LC
/low/ will give you 48kb/s HE-AAC

Radio 1:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_one.m3u8

Radio 2:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_two.m3u8

Radio 3:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_three.m3u8

Radio 4:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_fourfm.m3u8

Radio 4 Extra:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_four_extra.m3u8

Radio 5 Live:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_five_live.m3u8

Radio 5 Sports Extra:
UN 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_five_live_sports_extra.m3u8

Radio 6 Music:
UK 320: http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_6music.m3u8

EDIT: When I tried the playlist URL in VLC it played the /high/ (128 kb) stream rather than the /sbr_high/ (320 kb) stream.

Spike

I can confirm that these are now working fine in MC v20.0.73

whatlarks · « **Reply #30 on:** February 19, 2015, 06:44:23 pm »

I can also confirm that the new BBC HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) stations are now fine in MC v20.0.73. However there does now appear to be a problem with the old aac stream (which the BBC have reinstated a couple of days ago), so when I try to open this -

http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/select/version/2.0/mediaset/http-icy-aac-lc-a/format/pls/vpid/bbc_radio_three.pls

- via now via File / Open URL ... there is a short freeze for a few seconds, then an entry appears in Playing Now, followed a few seconds later by an error message - 'Something went wrong with playback'.

This was working fine in v20.0.70.

Thanks for the great work so far on this,
Ian

Hendrik · « **Reply #31 on:** February 19, 2015, 06:57:11 pm »

Nothing changed in handling normal streams. On that URL, all I get is a totally empty page, no playlist content at all.

whatlarks · « **Reply #32 on:** February 19, 2015, 07:21:12 pm »

That's weird. If I put the URL into Firefox it downloads the file and autoplays it fine in MC. The file is then in my download folder and contains -

[playlist]
NumberOfEntries=2
File1=http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_lc1_radio3_p?s=1424383945&e=1424398345&h=efc93c48d992137c0be08d1d84bac575
Title1=No Title
Length1=-1
File2=http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_lc1_radio3_q?s=1424383945&e=1424398345&h=59485e540c1f572e4d6352654e58067c
Title2=No Title
Length2=-1

If I enter either of the above URLs in File/Open URL they are fine. Perhaps I am misundertanding how this works. I was sure I just typed the playlist url when I last tried this in v20.0.70.

Thanks for your help,
Ian

Micromecca · « **Reply #33 on:** February 20, 2015, 02:53:58 am »

Quote from: whatlarks on February 19, 2015, 06:44:23 pm

I can also confirm that the new BBC HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) stations are now fine in MC v20.0.73. However there does now appear to be a problem with the old aac stream (which the BBC have reinstated a couple of days ago), so when I try to open this -

http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/select/version/2.0/mediaset/http-icy-aac-lc-a/format/pls/vpid/bbc_radio_three.pls

- via now via File / Open URL ... there is a short freeze for a few seconds, then an entry appears in Playing Now, followed a few seconds later by an error message - 'Something went wrong with playback'.

This was working fine in v20.0.70.

Still works fine for me in 20.0.73

pluto · « **Reply #34 on:** February 20, 2015, 06:57:28 am »

May I please refer you to http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=95002.0 which talks about recording.

Recording does not work (for me) with HLS streams. When attempting to play back the 'recording', I hear the live stream.
I assume that the option "Auto play while recording" means that we ought to be hearing whatever's being recorded in the normal way. This doesn't appear to be so, with either HLS or more usual streams.

Would someone please cross-check my findings to confirm whether the problem is with the software (20.0.73) or my understanding of it. Thanks.

Hendrik · « **Reply #35 on:** February 20, 2015, 07:30:42 am »

Recordings for HLS are not supported, sorry.

pluto · « **Reply #36 on:** February 20, 2015, 08:02:59 am »

Quote from: Hendrik on February 20, 2015, 07:30:42 am

Recordings for HLS are not supported, sorry.

May I enquire why?

My basic understanding of these things suggests that once you are playing some audio, that capturing it (even if only in WAV format) ought not be that big a deal.

whatlarks · « **Reply #37 on:** February 23, 2015, 02:10:25 pm »

Quote from: Micromecca on February 20, 2015, 02:53:58 am

Still works fine for me in 20.0.73

OK, could do with just checking that we are both looking at the same thing

If I click on the URL in my previous post -

http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/select/version/2.0/mediaset/http-icy-aac-lc-a/format/pls/vpid/bbc_radio_three.pls

then it is downloaded by Firefox and then MC automatically runs the first of the two streams that the above .pls contains - no problems there.

However, if I cut and paste the URL into File/Open URL ... then MC 'appears' to think the above is the actual stream rather than a playlist and comes up with the error 'Something went wrong with playback'

Another example, and this definitely was working in previous versions.

If I open the RadioFeeds.co.uk website in my browser and choose the aac feeds list, then the BBC Radio 3 320K stream, the playlist is downloaded and then MC shows the two streams in the playlist and plays the first correctly.

http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/aac.asp

However, I also have this URL set up as a website in Audio/Connected Media. When I click on the BBC Radio 320K button from MC then exactly the same error happens as above.

Ian

Micromecca · « **Reply #38 on:** February 24, 2015, 12:43:52 pm »

Quote from: whatlarks on February 23, 2015, 02:10:25 pm

if I cut and paste the URL into File/Open URL ... then MC 'appears' to think the above is the actual stream rather than a playlist and comes up with the error 'Something went wrong with playback'

Just checked to make sure I wasn't imagining it and this works fine for me

Spike1000 · « **Reply #39 on:** March 02, 2015, 01:19:23 am »

I'm having problems playing these new HLS streams to my UPNP/DLNA renderer over my network. I can play MP3 streams to the same renderer no problem. I'm not sure if it's a configuration issue on my part or a problem with JRiver. Both type of streams play on the media centre itself without any problems.

I'm running 20.0.79
The Renderer is a Raumfeld Connector 2.

This stream (mp3 128Kb)
http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/bbc6music.pls
Plays on the Media Centre and on the 'Kitchen' Renderer.

When I try any of these
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/nonuk/sbr_vlow/llnw/bbc_6music.m3u8
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/nonuk/sbr_low/llnw/bbc_6music.m3u8
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_med/llnw/bbc_6music.m3u8
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/llnw/bbc_6music.m3u8

http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/select/version/2.0/mediaset/apple-ipad-hls/vpid/bbc_6music/format/pls.pls

They *don't* play on the Renderer but *do* play on the Media Centre.

The failure is as follows:
I get an 'Opening URL' message box.
Then the display window says 'Bbc 6music Waiting' for a couple of seconds.
Then it reverts to the 'JRiver Media Centre 20' idle message.

I do have a log file of the working and non working stream that I can send/post if I need to.

Is this an issue with my config, the renderer itself or JRiver; I'm aware JRiver has only just been modified to work with these HLS streams?

Cheers

Spike

Richard Martin · « **Reply #40 on:** March 02, 2015, 01:52:31 pm »

Here's a link to a playlist of 59 BBC Radio stations, the URLs are in UK format, but there are instructions for changing them to work outside the UK http://forums.linn.co.uk/bb/showthread.php?tid=29518&pid=348813#pid348813

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: BBC Radio & Windows Media (Read 21828 times)