UK ITV Hub

[evadgib]

Hi All,

 

        After a recent update the ITV hub on an android box plumbed into my TV now reads 'Unfortunately DRM protected content cannot be played on this device. Contact the device manufacturer'. Does anyone know what DRM is or why it no longer works when for 3-4 years it's been perfectly ok?

 

       Thank you,

       Eva

       Technical Luddite ????

 

(My android box is quite full therefore I had to delete several unused programs and reinstall others, inc TVMucho & ITV. I have express VPN too and was using it when the ITV hub failed this morning)

[Mutt Daeng]

Digital Rights Management. In simple terms, it's a technology used to control the use and distribution of copyrighted content. Access may now be restricted by your distributor after receiving a "cease & desist" order (or similar) from the content owner.

[Hamus Yaigh]

On 9/8/2020 at 3:01 PM, evadgib said:

After a recent update the ITV hub on

What ver? 8.9.1 seems OK for me on a VPN.

 

Not doing so well with 4.102.1.22 for the BBC iPlayer at the  moment tho.

[evadgib]

14 minutes ago, Hamus Yaigh said:

What ver? 8.9.1 seems OK for me on a VPN.

 

Not doing so well with 4.102.1.22 for the BBC iPlayer at the  moment tho.

The problem seems to be with my android TV box. ITV hub still works via my other devices.

[xofswen]

2 hours ago, evadgib said:

The problem seems to be with my android TV box. ITV hub still works via my other devices.

Probably something to with Widevine.

https://www.widevine.com

You will need to use an Android box that has widevine.

[Susco]

 Most recent boxes have Widevine, but it is version L1 you need, and which is only available on higher spec ( higher priced) boxes, because it is a Google license.

 

Most likely the website will still work on your Android box if using Google chrome, and then you can add a shortcut to your home screen, so it looks and works similar to the app.

[WorriedNoodle]

On 9/12/2020 at 6:13 PM, Susco said:

Most recent boxes have Widevine, but it is version L1 you need, and which is only available on higher spec ( higher priced) boxes, because it is a Google license.

What should I look for in specs to see if the box has Widevine. I cannot seem to see it in the specs for the Nvidea Shield of Mi Box S?

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/specs/

https://www.mi.com/global/mi-box-s/specs/

 

I have a 3 year old Beelink box that no longer plays the BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub apks thro a VPN. I wonder if buying a new box will help with that? Cheaper the better so thinking of the Mi Box S? Will that work do you think?

 

Cheers,

[Susco]

8 hours ago, WorriedNoodle said:

What should I look for in specs to see if the box has Widevine. I cannot seem to see it in the specs for the Nvidea Shield of Mi Box S?

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/specs/

https://www.mi.com/global/mi-box-s/specs/

 

I have a 3 year old Beelink box that no longer plays the BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub apks thro a VPN. I wonder if buying a new box will help with that? Cheaper the better so thinking of the Mi Box S? Will that work do you think?

 

Cheers,

Mi Box S is Widevine L1 certified, but has no Ethernet port, only WI-FI.

[Susco]

10 hours ago, WorriedNoodle said:

I have a 3 year old Beelink box that no longer plays the BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub apks thro a VPN.

Have you tried access ITV and BBC Iplayer through Google chrome?

 

On my non certified box the latest version of the APK's of Iplayer also don't work anymore, but the older versions still work, as does it work through Chrome browser.

 

Be sure to have an updated Chrome. If needed, uninstall Chrome and install again from Playstore

[Susco]

For those that are confused.

 

Google chrome has by default Widevine L1 and DRM enabled on every box, because it is their own license.

 

You may need to enable play protected content in the Chrome settings, or reinstall with the latest version of Chrome

[polpott]

On 9/12/2020 at 4:57 AM, Hamus Yaigh said:

What ver? 8.9.1 seems OK for me on a VPN.

 

Not doing so well with 4.102.1.22 for the BBC iPlayer at the  moment tho.

After a couple of false starts, BBC iPlayer appears to be back via Express VPN. Been over 24 hours now without interruption. Appeared to only work when selecting "London" node yesterday. I've since downloaded everything and everything since its return. You never know.......

[stouricks]

On 9/12/2020 at 10:57 AM, Hamus Yaigh said:

What ver? 8.9.1 seems OK for me on a VPN.

 

Not doing so well with 4.102.1.22 for the BBC iPlayer at the  moment tho.

BBC was back yesterday on Express VPN.

 

Sorry Polpott, I posted before I read yours.

[WorriedNoodle]

17 hours ago, Susco said:

Have you tried access ITV and BBC Iplayer through Google chrome?

Yes thanks. Both BBC and ITV player work through Google Chrome with VPN applied on the old Android box.

 

The apk apps don't work tho. The BBC app gets stuck on a revolving orb when choosing a show, and the ITV app says I must upgrade and my device isn't compatible. I also get similar failed results trying these apks on Bluestacks. Looks like only a hardware solution is the way to solve this I guess?

[Susco]

If it works through Chrome then you don't need apps, because with Chrome you can add a shortcut to the home screen.

 

Looks same as an app

[Mutt Daeng]

iPlayer apk version 4.102.1.22368 is still working fine for me using NordVPN.

[surat04]

On 9/8/2020 at 9:01 AM, evadgib said:

  After a recent update the ITV hub on an android box plumbed into my TV now reads 'Unfortunately DRM protected content cannot be played on this device. Contact the device manufacturer'. Does anyone know what DRM is or why it no longer works when for 3-4 years it's been perfectly ok?

I had the same problem using an old Himedia android box. So i recently purchased a cheap replacement from AliExpress. The new box has a root switch in the settings so you can disable the root function. Now i can use Itv hub, All4, My5 and iPlayer again.

[evadgib]

5 hours ago, surat04 said:

I had the same problem using an old Himedia android box. So i recently purchased a cheap replacement from AliExpress. The new box has a root switch in the settings so you can disable the root function. Now i can use Itv hub, All4, My5 and iPlayer again.

Appreciated, but what is a root switch?

[theoldgit]

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

Appreciated, but what is a root switch?

 

The Root bridge (switch) is a special bridge at the top of the Spanning Tree (inverted tree). The branches (Ethernet connections) are then branched out from the root switch, connecting to other switches in the Local Area Network (LAN). All Bridges (Switches) are assigned a numerical value called bridge priority.

 

 

PS - I just looked that up, I have absolutely no idea what it means. ????

[surat04]

"Rooting is the process of allowing users of smartphones, tablets and other devices running the Android mobile operating system to attain privileged control (known as root access) over various Android subsystems. ... Root access is sometimes compared to jailbreaking devices running the Apple iOS operating system."

 

Most android boxes are rooted when you buy them. The root switch turns it off.

[Susco]

On 9/22/2020 at 4:05 AM, surat04 said:

I had the same problem using an old Himedia android box. So i recently purchased a cheap replacement from AliExpress. The new box has a root switch in the settings so you can disable the root function. Now i can use Itv hub, All4, My5 and iPlayer again.

Root has nothing to do with DRM or Widevine, but your comment is interesting.

 

Can you confirm that if you enable root, on the box you purchased from AE, that Iplayer stops working?

[Susco]

The latest versions of Iplayer didn't work any more on my box.

 

I always downloaded the APK's from apkpure because they were not available from playstore

 

Now the other day I was able to make a backup of version 4.103, from someone who had installed it on his box while in the UK.

 

I installed the app on my box a few minutes ago and it worked again, and to my surprise it was now also available on playstore, as I was able to update to version 4.104.

 

So it is not related to root - drm or widevine, because old versions worked, then the last 4 versions didn't work, and the one I had made a backup worked again and also made it available in Playstore, all on the very same box

[surat04]

6 hours ago, Susco said:

Root has nothing to do with DRM or Widevine, but your comment is interesting.

 

Can you confirm that if you enable root, on the box you purchased from AE, that Iplayer stops working?

I think my post was a little inaccurate as i hadn't actually had a problem with iPlayer. The other apps refused to load or play and the All4 app actually gave a warning that rooted devices were unsupported. So i thought i would try a newer box and picked the H9X3 which had the root switch and only cost £22.

I retried the apps with root activated and they still played, so it seems that wasn't the problem.

The box only has widevine L3 so it can't be that either.

It might be to do with the newer Android version 9 as opposed to 5 on my old box?

For a small outlay its nice to have everything working again.

[Susco]

6 hours ago, surat04 said:

I think my post was a little inaccurate as i hadn't actually had a problem with iPlayer. The other apps refused to load or play and the All4 app actually gave a warning that rooted devices were unsupported. So i thought i would try a newer box and picked the H9X3 which had the root switch and only cost £22.

I retried the apps with root activated and they still played, so it seems that wasn't the problem.

The box only has widevine L3 so it can't be that either.

It might be to do with the newer Android version 9 as opposed to 5 on my old box?

For a small outlay its nice to have everything working again.

Thanks for clarification.

 

I also don't know what the real reason is why they stopped working, but as you can read in the post above yours, I got it working again yesterday.

 

My box is Android 7.1.2 and rooted as in fact it runs on my custom firmware optimized for streaming, and all versions above 4.89 would give me the message "this content is not available".

 

I could roll back to version 4.89 and it would work again.

 

The apps are designed to work on Android 5.0 and above, so should work fine on 5.1

 

So what the real reason is that it stops working on selected devices is still a mystery, but glad you found a workaround, and so do I without any hardware changes