So, I’ve posted a few places on these forums and blogs, but thought I’d make it a proper post.
You can use BBC iPlayer from the Couch Surfer Pro browser and not need to install XBMC.
The trick is to set the browser to the right user agent so that the web site (BBC’s iPlayer) thinks you aren’t an Apple TV.
Background: A search on the Firecore forums and the rest of the internet will reveal that there’s no viable Flash Player capability in the ATV 2 (black) such that it will perform well enough. Some have suggested that a really old version for PPC Mac’s will work, but probably far more difficult than what I describe below
So, one way to get the BBC iPlayer to work is by a Video or Program plugin for XBMC (detailed many places on these forums). It’s essentially the embedded app. that set top boxes use - but don’t quote me on that!!!. Other On-Demand style players are also available.
The other lighter way to use the BBC iPlayer is via Couch Surfer Pro.
So, by simply using the ‘iPad’ user agent setting in Couch Surfer Pro’s settings, you can use the iPlayer and possibly others without requiring the Flash Player - but this requires that the video service offers an alternative rendering method than Flash (BBC iPlayer does).
I’m not sure about the other services such as 4oD, Demand5 etc.
Normally, when you request a page from BBC iPlayer or most other web sites, it checks the User Agent and redirect your browsers request to the correct backend service assuming they offer different rendered services.
After you set the User Agent to ‘iPad’ in Couch Surfer, you then need go to the ‘big screen’ website location http://bbc.co.uk/iplayer/bigscreen and not actually rely on simply going to the iPlayer start site. The Big Screen site will render a PS3 compatible iPlayer (try going to it from Safari browser, then again with Developer menu enabled and select User Agent Safari iOS 4.3.3 - iPad). This PS3 compatible iPlayer will render on the ATV’s Couch Surfer Pro, but there are a few minor cursor and selected button alignment issues. The blue outline is not quite the same size or location as the button it’s supposed to highlight, but using the ‘mouse’ pointer method of selecting the button seems to work correctly - just ignore the blue outline.
If you try going directly to the big screen site with the normal User Agent set, then the main page will render but no content seems to play - so, I’d assume the backend streaming server is checking the user agent and allowing iPad, which of course there’s an ‘App’ for that!
For more info. on the PS3 Big Screen mode, just google for ‘BBC iPlayer bigscreen’ or check this info. page http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/using_bbc_iplayer/bigscreen
I hope this will be helpful to those who haven’t read my reply in the latest ATV3/iOS5 blog entry or my response to another members post.