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Question

Update on playback problems with AIR 3.5 on desktop

Forum|Forum|13 years ago
November 19, 2012
10 replies
21894 views

Adobe has received reports that desktop AIR 3.5 users of BBC iPlayer and Digital Theatre Desktop Player are no longer able to play or download video after upgrading from AIR 3.4 or earlier. Specifically, the user will attempt to play the video and will get a black video window or will fail to successfully download videos. Adobe is working on a permanent resolution for the issue in AIR 3.5. In parallel, Adobe is working closely with the BBC and Digital Theatre to offer support and investigate interim resolutions. We will publish an update as soon as we have released the fix.

In the meantime, the work-around for affected users is to migrate back to AIR 3.4. The following link provides instructions for determining the version of AIR currently installed on your machine. If you believe you may be experiencing a video playback problem caused by migrating to AIR 3.5, your video service should be able to tell you whether they believe going back to AIR 3.4 or earlier will resolve the problem. If instructed to do so, the following steps here can help you uninstall your current version and locate and install a specific AIR version for installation on your Windows or Mac PC.

Please feel free to report your issue or reproducible steps here and we will alert you once a fix has been put in place. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your continued support.

This topic has been closed for replies.

J

jon-wed

Participant

The suggestion originally posted DOES work on a Mac.

1. Uninstall Adobe Air (using the uninstall application in Utilities)

2. Restart

3. Download Adobe AIR 3.4.0.2710 Mac (23.2 MB) from here

4. Open the dmg, run the install and restart iPlayer Desktop

T

trhan

Participant

The most recent Adobe Air 3.4 download is 3.4.0.2710, which does *NOT* make BBC iPlayer work properly - as indicated by the replies so far. After scouring various forums, I found that some people (on http://www.catchupsupport.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=521&start=10) have discovered a version which restores iPlayer to its normal working. This is 3.4.0.2540. I uninstalled Air (I had 2710 installed at the time), and then installed 2540, which made iPlayer work perfectly, the programme list and downloads both work now! I was even able to restore earlier downloads from a backup into the repository folder and start iPlayer again, and those which were in date showed up fine. Both Adobe and the BBC should make this specific version available, not just "3.4" - the link on the BBC iPlayer help site points to the later of these 2 versions, which is wrong! I have sent a suggestion to the BBC with the correct version, hopefully they will change their link. The earlier version can be found on an "old apps"site, but I trust it is still available from Adobe?

C

Criosdean

Participant

Thanks for the useful post. I tried version 3.4.0.2540 and everything appears to be back to normal. Like others, I found that the version linked on the BBC iPlayer site made no difference and I wasted hours trying to resolve the problem. I hope they follow your suggestion and post a link to version 3.4.0.2540. In the meantime, an internet search for that version brings up sites that have it available.

I used a third party uninstaller (Revouninstaller) to completely remove Adobe Air and any traces left over from the built installer and then installed version 3.4.0.2540 launched iPlayer and all the programmes reappeared again. Thank you so much for your tip.

Message was edited by: Criosdean

S

SMÖRGÅSBORD

Participant

I have to concur with lostinthespecs. Reverting to 3.4 has had no appreciable effect. The download list is still blank. My files appear to still be in the repository but that's about it

I am surprised that Adobe released this update (and presumably QA tested it) with such a significant and disabling effect on what must be one of the most popular and heavily used AIR applications in the world. I shall not dwell on the "how" but rather wish for a speedy resolution of the problem and am mollified that all parties appear to be working together to expedite a fix.

Although, that said, it is rather concerning that the current fix (v. supra) is ineffective.

L

lostinthespecs

Participant

Please note that I have followed the BBC's instructions to uninstall Air v3.5 and iPlayer Desktop and then install Air v3.4 and iPlayer Desktop, but contrary to what they and you say, this has made no difference - iPlayer still can't download programmes to iPlayer Desktop and it still can't find the programmes I had previously downloaded. I surmise that maybe uninstalling wasn't enough and that some fault remains that still prevents the programme from working. I am not an IT expert, so I would need more comprehensive instructions to fix this.

You may like to note that I downloaded Air v3.5 several days before iPlayer Desktop failed, and I am pretty sure that I used iPlayer Desktop in between times. After it failed, it was very reluctant to even open, let alone do anything when, after repeated instructions, it finally did open.

You may also like to note that I began to experience a ridiculous amount of buffering on radio playback straight from the BBC website before and after iPlayer Desktop failed. I don't think it can have been a broadband issue, as I could stream both TV and radio live and I could stream TV playback with no problem. Since reverting to Air v3.4, I have had no buffering. I doubt whether this is a coincidence.

I have an Acer 5745PG with Windows 7, Intel Core i3-350M, NVIDIA GeForce 310M and I use Firefox.

Don't you guys beta test stuff?

A

Anonymous

This is not the first time that Adobe has blown iPlayer out of the water. Roll on the day when the BBC cuts its ties with this joke of a business. The Beeb should also stop brown nosing Apple while it is at it.

But back to the problems.

It may indeed take more than it says here to get back in business. Here is what I did:

Close iPlayer
Uninstall Air 3,5
Install Air 3.4
Rename iPlayer repository (repositoryold works)
Start iPlayer (this creates a new repository folder)
Check that it works OK
Close iPlayer
Uninstall Air 3,5
Copy/move back subdirectories from repositoryold to repository
Start iPlayer

If you are lucky, iPlayer will see your previous programmes and will work through them finding the licence and making them available.

Good luck and a curse on Adobe.

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