BBC iPlayer Download Manager

krysia · Apr 03, 2008, 16:31:30

Has anyone else tried to use this? I've downloaded it, having checked my system meets requirements, and have since been trying to download a program, but all that happens is that it says it's 'connecting' - nothing at all has been downloaded, though the little 'connecting' circle has been going at it for ages . . . . Oh, typing this has brought me good luck - it's suddenly started downloading and is now 8% complete. The statistics about how much is left to download that it's giving me are also now in the reassuringly sane realm: to begin with, it told me I had 39 days' worth of stuff to download for a 60 minute programme! I'll still post this, for anyone else coming to the iplayer download manager for the first time: be very patient!

Rik · Apr 03, 2008, 16:44:20

I've avoided the temptation so far, Krysia, apparently with some justification. Thanks for the warning.

RA-1972 · Apr 03, 2008, 18:02:59

its best to stream it , i have tried dl manager and as you say it is rubbish .

madasahatter · Apr 03, 2008, 18:52:08

I've never had a problem with this at all - and I know at least two other peeps who use it without problems. Streaming is fine, but the quality isn't as good as downloading it.

Rik · Apr 03, 2008, 19:00:08

I see you're our new #9 poster.

madasahatter · Apr 03, 2008, 19:01:25

Thanks Rik - most kind

RA-1972 · Apr 03, 2008, 20:28:54

Sorry it does work , i was doing it wrong . DOH good download speeds too .

madasahatter · Apr 04, 2008, 01:17:20

So what were you doing wrong? It may help others

Thirles · Apr 04, 2008, 03:05:13

You shouldn't have any probems with using the iPlayer download manager with IDNet but what the BBC don't tell you is that it'a a peer to peer program running in the background. Many of the cheaper mass market ISPs would detect it's use as being against fair usage policy - AOL, TalkTalk, Tiscali etc etc etc.

I was annoyed that the BBC don't tell you anything about the download manager (kserver). In case it was making me a seed for anything I ever downloaded I switched it off (see msconfig, services and start up tabs). Don't use torrents so much but when I do I have control over the period I'm uploading, having some insideous piece of software doing God knows what on my PC get my goat!

Rik · Apr 04, 2008, 09:01:05

I agree with you that the BBC is being underhand with the iPlayer. If an ISP did something similar, Watchdog would be crawling all over them.

Ray · Apr 04, 2008, 09:21:06

Quote from: Rik on Apr 04, 2008, 09:01:05
I agree with you that the BBC is being underhand with the iPlayer. If an ISP did something similar, Watchdog would be crawling all over them.

Agreed, Rik, another thing I didn't like when I tried Iplayer and decided I didn't like it and uninstalled the download manager, it doesn't seem to remove the P2P client, about a week after I uninstalled it I was looking in my Taskmanager and discovered I had still got kserver running on my PC

. Which I believe is part of Kontiki the same client as Sky use for their service.

Rik · Apr 04, 2008, 09:24:34

It's all too reminiscent of the Sony rootkit problem in the States, Ray. If they are using P2P, the should state the fact clearly - and explain the implications. Most ISPs include uploads in the bandwidth allowance, so people could find themselves with a bill from using iPlayer. It's one thing when the technically aware install and use it, but with the BBC pushing the iPlayer as they are, a lot of net innocents will be using it without any idea of what they are getting into.

krysia · Apr 16, 2008, 14:02:49

I've been away since my original post, so haven't been able to check replies. The BBC download manager does tell you it's P2P and, in a pop-up box, explains how to disable any automatic uploads from your machine, which I did immediately after installing it. I usually use streaming to watch programmes on the iplayer, which is okay, but had to download this particular programme for my partner to be able to watch on our return from holiday. Haven't yet done so, so can't report on how much better the image quality is, but it might be useful for people to know that downloading a 50-minute-long programme uses about 1 GB.

Rik · Apr 16, 2008, 15:19:27

Thanks, Krysia.

krysia · Apr 17, 2008, 13:15:46

Correction: it was an hour-long programme, not a 50-minute one, that took 1GB of bandwidth. (Was going to edit my last posting with this info: where's the edit button gone?)

Lance · Apr 17, 2008, 13:25:07

You can only edit your posts for up to 60mins after making them

krysia · Apr 17, 2008, 15:05:05

Thanks for solving that mystery, Lance!

Niall · Apr 17, 2008, 18:15:47

There's an article on the BBC site somewhere, where they've offered a hacker a job as he's got a PS3 to use iPlayer by "making it think it's a wii". In other words, he's made an emulator.

krysia · Apr 18, 2008, 15:13:28

I've now watched the downloaded programme, and the image quality was excellent - much, much better than the streaming one, so it's worth doing for certain kinds of programme. I've also downloaded a second programme, which completed itself much more quickly than my first download did. So, all in all, I'd really recommend the Download Manager, as long as you tick the box that stops it from running in the background.

Rik · Apr 18, 2008, 15:15:40

Thanks for that, Krysia.

Dopamine · Apr 19, 2008, 00:59:49

Quote from: krysia on Apr 18, 2008, 15:13:28
I've now watched the downloaded programme, and the image quality was excellent - much, much better than the streaming one, so it's worth doing for certain kinds of programme. I've also downloaded a second programme, which completed itself much more quickly than my first download did. So, all in all, I'd really recommend the Download Manager, as long as you tick the box that stops it from running in the background.

I agree that image quality of the downloads is much better than the streamed version, but I've now uninstalled Download Manager because I found there is no way to stop a download if you want to exit DM completely. I could pause the download whilst DM was running, but as soon as the program was closed completely, any partially downloaded programmes would recommence downloading. (which obviously means that DM hasn't actually been closed, but nothing is showing as running in my Task Manager)

Worse though was the inability to configure how much bandwidth you want to allow DM to use. For me, any download swamped my connection, using all available bandwidth, making surfing or emailing attachments impossible whilst a download was running.

And beware the automatic upload feature. Yes, you can prevent downloads from being shared when you exit Download Manager, but you cannot stop uploads while the program is running. The only check-box available is: "Peer-to-Peer Network Participation - Allow programmes to be shared when you exit Download Manager". I found that often my upload speed would be maxed out, presumably by users uploading from me the same programmes that I was busy downloading, as I had no other previously downloaded programmes stored on my PC.

drummer · Apr 19, 2008, 02:05:20

I'm sure everybody already knows this, but shutting down iPlayer has no effect on the Kontiki P2P software which is the background engine behind iPlayer and 4oD (among others).

Short-term solution is to stop Kservice.exe and its variants from Task Manager.

Or stop it from running in the first place using msconfig or services.msc .

Better still, uninstall the sodding thing!

Grumpy moment over...feel much better now...

krysia · Apr 19, 2008, 13:25:26

Thanks for that, Drummer. I installed 4oD the other day and was concerned to see that, unlike BBC iPlayer, it doesn't give you the option to stop uploads, so I exited Kservices.exe via Task Manager once I closed the programme. What I wasn't sure about, though, is whether you can still download a programme after exiting Kservices.exe or if that needs to run in order to do so. Obviously, though, that's a pain to keep doing each time you want to download a programme - can you please post instructions on how to stop it permanently via msconfig or services.msc?

Rik · Apr 19, 2008, 14:50:31

Hit Start > Run, then type MSCONFIG, Krysia. In the result applet, click the Services tab, then check the 'hide all MS services' box and look for Kontiki in the list. Uncheck anything you find, click OK and re-boot the machine. You'll get a dialogue box about the changes, check the 'do not show' box and that should be it.

If you need to do it through services, look for and run C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.msc (where you find it depends on your menus). In that, again look for Kontiki, and double click on the entry. Stop the service if it's running, then change the startup from automatic (or manual) to disabled.

drummer · Apr 19, 2008, 15:59:05

Thanks for posting that Rik - it's Saturday and reading the papers in bed takes precendence over the computer.

Incidentally krysia, if you want to permanently remove Kontiki from you computer, there's a removal tool that saves you the hassle of making registry changes:

http://www.omn.org/support/Troubleshooting/support0705.shtml

Kontiki makes me grumpy because lately I keep getting calls from friends and family moaning about slow startup of Windows and really slow connections. On every single occasion, the culprit has been Kontiki and the applications that use it.

EDIT: Link posted didn't work, so replaced with one that does.