A new version of the software for LG’s BD370-P Networked BluRay player finally fixes the “There may be Network Congestion” error when trying to access YouTube.
Version 7.141.01.26 of the software is available to download from the Setup > Others > Software Update menu on your BD730-P as of tonight. Users can now access YouTube even behind a router, and can log in to access any YouTube favourites they have bookmarked. No new drivers have been released alongside this software update, but you should check for them anyway, especially if you have not updated for a while.
The only thing lacking now is the ability to play the HQ / HD versions of a video where present. Setting HD as the default in YouTube and even adding the video as a favorite while playing the HD version has no effect on the LG B370-P itself. If anyone finds a way to do this, please leave a comment.
As before, simple click the button to download a 3.5MB file from Virgin Media’s servers. The site will time how long it takes to download on your broadband connection and plot your broadband speed rating on a bar chart, allowing you to compare against other standard(ish) download speeds.
This is mainly to help with Google spidering, since the d04 subdomain doesn’t lend itself to website promotion as well as a dedicated domain would. Since I had the domain sitting spare, it made sense to bang Google Analytics on there and do some promotion for it.
The updn bit of the domain is an ambigram as well, which is nice.
Update:
To aid diagnostics (and show off a little) I’ve also written a scraper to take the content of Virgin Media’s Status page and plonk it into a table on the site. There’s even a Google Map showing the approximate location of the majority of the tickets.
After a recent disaster of epic proportions that was made all the worse by not having an Internet connection, I bought myself a USB Mobile Broadband Modem – all the mobile phone shops are touting them at the moment but I decided (not sure why) to get mine direct from Three. Ordered it late on Wednesday afternoon and it arrived on Friday morning.
It’s bigger than a USB memory stick but not massively so. I plumped for the white one which looks rather spiffing, and it comes with a white USB extension cable, a few leaflets and a SIM card. It mounts as a CD-Rom drive and the software is on the stick itself, so no discs to lose. Your SIM fits in a tight little jacket which slides into the unit just below the USB connector and stays out of sight from there on. There’s also a MicroSD slot, so it can act as a regular USB memory stick as well.
Three USB Modem
Three USB Modem
Three USB Modem
The first time I plugged it in the internal memory mounted. Double-clicking on it auto-booted the installer and… That was it. No muss no fuss. The software checks for updates (which I downloaded over Wifi rather than use up my allowance) and is generally unobtrusive, comprising a small window with a network status display and a big red Connect/Disconnect button.
I connected to 3G on the first attempt despite only having three bars. Access was impressively quick – this one goes up to 2.8Mb I think – and there were no problems connecting over Telnet or anything like that. It pretty much did exactly what it said on the tin.
Three USB Software
A couple of months ago I installed a bandwidth meter on my small laptop and found that I used 1.3GB (combined up/down) over the 30 day trial period of the software. Since I use WiFi and even wired where possible, I can quite easily get away with just 1GB a month, costing me a ternner, without worrying about extra charges.
So far so good! I’ve done a little bit of web browsing on it and checked my email while doing 60mph on the M180 (no, not driving) and it’s all been spot on so far.
Update: 10th November
There was a brief period of about half an hour this morning where there was no three network available at all and I couldn’t connect. It was annoying that I actually wanted to do something at that time as well. It’s back on now (using it to post in fact).
On the weekend I went off to Scotland to climb Ben Nevis my router decided to pack in on me. No amount of resetting, prodding, poking or power starvation would fix it – the power LED would glow, flickering slightly, and that was that.
A whole month later I finally get time to sit down and contact Netgear about it. The process is fairly straightforward and we arrange for A NOVO to come and collect the duff unit, with CityLink due to drop a new one in sometime in the week.
Except yesterday, while I was packing up the unit ready for collection, the Cable Modem decided to quit. It’s worth mentioning that this is the original Motorola Surfboard modem that can back in the day when Diamond Cable was my provider and NTL was nothing but a distant rumour. I think it had been on for roughly seven years straight.
Calling the 25p/min support number got me straight through to a helpful customer service rep who arranged for a new modem to be delivered in 5-7 days, so for the time being I am completely without internets at home.
I’ve reinstated the old Broadband Speed Test since NTL were rebranded Virgin Media, and put it back online at www.speedtest.d04.netwww.updn.co.uk for you all to play with. This is seriously broadband only, and it’s really only good for Virgin Media Broadband users.
K and myself have definately been upgraded to the new 20MBit package. Upload speeds (using other broadband speed tests, since mine only does download) have topped out somewhere around 720Kbit and my downloads this morning look ike this:
Virgin Media Speed Test - Click to Enlarge
It may be that I am limited by my cable modem. Despite being good got approx 40MBit, the Motorola Surfboard SB4100 that us oldies (K, BB and myself) use is getting on a bit. At this time of the morning I can consistently download at 12MBit using IE, with FireFox being slightly slower.
23rd July ‘09:
I’ve added the list of current service tickets as well, so you can see if there’s a problem in your area that may affect your download speed.
It seems my trusty old Linksys WRK54G is on it’s last legs, with frequent disconnects that require a power cycle every day or so. Time to get the old wallet out again and buy a new router.
K and I went in to PC World yesterday and looked at the N version and associated PCMCIA card, but the staff would only knock £20 off the combined £200+ price tag despite my best Dominic Littlewood impression, so I made my excuses and left. K bought a nice wireless mouse/keyboard combo, however.
Fishing around the Internets again this afternoon, I decided to get the same router Bootblock bought recently, and eBuyer turned out to be cheapest, with the Netgear WNR854T at £86 and free delivery. An order was placed, and it should be here in the next few days.
I seem to have had a run of bad luck just recently – almost everything I use daily has gone wrong somehow.
SatNav – I found that the PocketPC had been away from the mains for too long and had discharged itself, wiping the memory and causing me a couple of hours work reinstalling the TomTom software. Sigh.
Hands Free – the earloop on my hands free snapped in two, so I can’t wear it anymore. I’ve tracked down another one on eBay and I’m waiting for the auction to finish. Oh, and I’ve been outbid. Gagh.
Watch – one of the pins holding the strap to the body snapped. I didn’t realise until it finally slid out and the whole thing fell off my wrist at my mum’s house. I retrieved my other watch – a ‘going out’ version of the same one but with added gold trim – and found the battery was flat. Gnngh.
Digibox – locked up time and time again over the weekend. Hnngh!
Router – has started randomly disconnecting any machine connected to it, be it wireless or not. Mind you, it has been on solid for about two years. Grrrr!
Main PC – PSU decided to quit while I was having my lunch. Enlisting Foo’s help I prodded it with a multimeter for a bit, then caved and splashed out on a new one. AAARRRGH!
What else could go wrong? (No, don’t answer that!)
