Has BBC iPlayer changed?

[iBozz]

I'm not sure if this is the correct section to ask this, but I rarely watch TV in real time and wht little I do watch tends to be by the various on-line catch-up services.

I was recently recommended Line of Duty on BBC iPlayer and I had, up to last night, watched Episodes 1, 2 and 3 - with 4, 5 (and 6?) still available to view.

I logged on again this evening to find not only that the site looked different but that the only episode available was No 6 - 4 and 5 had disappeared.

This, of course, makes having watched the first three episodes a waste of time as there is no point whatsoever in missing two episodes and jumping straight to No 6.

So, have the retention period for drama been changed? Why have the older episodes been removed? I can understand that they can't keep everything fr ever, but to suddenly and seemingly without notice, change the "rules" seems bizarre to me!

Or am overlooking the bleeding obvious?

Thanks in advance.

[koola2]

Some programs have been known to temporarily disappear from the iPlayer and come back later due to technical reasons.
http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.u..._latest_issues

[iBozz]

Since posting my original query, I see that iPlayer is shortly (end of April or May?) to hold most/some programmes for a month.

That makes sense to me as then annual holiday and other long absences can be catered for rather than just the "Oops, I forgot it was on last night" brigade.

[Cosmicpore]

Did you have the series saved in your favourites and did it say the show was expiring? When a series has finished they tend to remove all the episodes at once. And I have seen discrepancies where iplayer says there is about a month until expiry and then the lot has gone the next morning. I would go by the 'expiring' option in TV favourites rather than the date it says it will expire.

[iBozz]

I use iPlayer infrequently so have not explored the finer niceties! i had no idea one could have favourites and i tend to watch only things that have been recommended to me by someone i trust!

Whilst storing programmes takes up space on Auntie's system, one week's worth seems far too short to be of use to anybody.

I'll look at the favourites facility anon, thanks for the tip.

[Goldberg]

For those who use it a lot, do you download shows to devices (iPads etc). Do they expire after 30 days or will they remain on your device as the intention is to watch them offline?

[Cosmicpore]

The downloaded shows expire after 30 days (or a week if you've started to watch them) regardless. In order to watch the shows offline first they have to be validated online (I guess so that the 30 day countdown is put into effect). Originally there was no time limit but eventually they got wise and made it impossible to watch the downloads without having an expiry time in place.

[tombott]

I use the get-iplayer tool under Linux. Keep everything as long as I want that way.
I've never used it under Windows, but can see there is a download for it.