When Google decided to withdraw support for Adobe Flash player there was one obvious casualty…..BBC’s much used and much loved iPlayer.
After some alleged pressure from the BBC, Adobe restored access to iPlayer on the Play store but it was still not natively supported for Jellybean devices and therefore iPlayer still did not work.
More recently, the BBC announced BBC Media Player which made use of Adobe Air.
The good news is that BBC Media Player has now been fully integrated with iPlayer which is now fully functional on Jellybean devices and once again available to download from the Play store.
Upon testing the solution is very neat and tidy, indeed the integration is seamless.
One issue does seem to have raised it’s head and that is the issue of quality. The quality on the streams doesn’t seem to match that of old, even on high quality mode.
Comments currently seen on the play store include
*Finally out on Jelly Bean. Never thought I’d see the day. However, quality is not that great even when I select high quality in the options. Hope it can be improved.
*Why would you not treat Android with the same respect as ios? Really poor quality on Nexus 7. There are more Android devices, bad show BBC, bad show!
*The one core function of iPlayer is to allow you to watch video content. The quality is so appalling even on “high quality” setting, it is embarrassing. I’ll go back to my sideloaded flash and Firefox until you get it sorted out.
We’ve asked the BBC for a comment and as soon as one is forthcoming we’ll update you with their thoughts.