Margaret wrote:Hi i am Mr Corser Margaret's husband, could you tell me where i could get the iPlayer for the scroll from, we have the BBC iPlayer installed but it says the iPlayer is not compatible with the scroll but says there is one for android but cannot find any help on this only i want to watch catch up programmes.
hope you don't mind me posting this on my wife's page.
thanks for any help.
Chris
Hi Chris and welcome to the forum,
Although the answer to your question should be simple, I note from Margaret’s previous posts both here and on Storage Options Facebook page; that unfortunately Margaret does not appear to have much android experience; which is why I went to such great lengths to try to help answer her previous questions that she posted here:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3023#p24744I am always happy to help wherever I am able but sometimes in order to fully understand a question the person is asking they may need to give more information about it.( you mention in your post - "Scroll"- but there are many models?) Margaret’s questions have been quite wide and varied and some aspects of her questions appear to have been based on incorrect assumptions; which is why I went to such great lengths in my very long answer to Margaret on the previous page in this thread.
Unfortunately, 'Storage Options' (the people who import and distribute all the Scroll tablets in the UK) have a habit of distributing tablets of the same model and name to sellers, but which may have different internal hardware specifications and abilities during the product’s sales life.
This means that what you actually have inside your tablet often depends on when and where you bought it and how long it has been on the seller's shelf. The nearest analogy I can suggest would be to point at the many vehicle variations that have been called a Ford Escort.
A good example of this is the Scroll Essential 7" android tablet which is what I believe Margaret has?
This was first released as a model with hardware which did not support Flash Player at all - whereas the later release with the same model name does support Flash Player. So the very first thing we must establish is which model Scroll Margaret has, and a useful way to find out is to install a free app from Google Play called "Android System Info" which you can find by clicking on this link.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... VwLmFzaSJd this app will tell you what hardware is inside your Scroll Essential.
However, to complicate matters, Margaret has already stated in previous posts that she does not have the Google Play app installed and that the only way she can view Google Play is through a browser (the same way as on a Microsoft Windows computer) and that she cannot download apps from Google Play to her tablet. This means we need to get the Google Play issue sorted first of all to be able to download the Android System Info app – unless, of course, you know without doubt whether the tablet is based on a Telechips processor or an Allwinner processor?
Unfortunately this opens a can of worms, but I am happy to try and explain things in detail in the hope that it will be of help. Most people have lots of bother when trying to access Google Play Store through a browser, everything seems OK until you come to download an app, and it may even say your app will download shortly but nothing happens. Alternatively, downloading apps from Google Play using the Google Play app is usually much more straight forward - but you need to meet the usual requirements in having registered an account with Google which usually (for ease) involves also having a Gmail account.
You say that you already have BBC iPlayer installed but it gives you an error saying it is not compatible. You also say that it says there is one (a BBC app) for android but you cannot find any help for this anywhere. Well the latest BBC iPlayer app (recently upgraded to a newer version) is available from Google Play Store to which you don’t have access yet.
From the list of problems Margaret has described it would appear that you may be attempting to use incompatible cross-platform applications - this means the wrong program for the wrong operating system. It is a common dilemma when using the browser on an android platform such as a Scroll tablet to receive a prompt from the BBC iPlayer that you need Flash Player installed in order to view the content. The trouble is that when using a browser to try and access BBC iPlayer catch-up; it sometimes thinks you are using a mainstream operating system like Microsoft Windows or Linux Ubuntu and because it can't find a compatible version of Flash on your tablet - it can't work - and even if you could download this from Adobe (who make Flash) using a browser, it would be the wrong version for android and would not work.
Margaret has indicated in other posts that Flash Player was pre-installed on the tablet but that she needed to update to the latest version but could not do this as she could not access Google Play store.
So all in all you can see there is a dilemma as not only do we not know which version of the Scroll tablet Margaret has, but we also don’t know if any incorrect files may have been downloaded onto it; as unfortunately although things like Flash Player and BBC iPlayer use a generic name there are different versions for different devices and you must have the latest correct ones for your device and operating system to make things work.
You ask where you can get BBC iPlayer from and the normal answer would be from Google Play Store but Margaret has already told us in other posts that she hasn't got the Google Play app and can’t make it work. To try and put some form of perspective on the Google Play issue this may benefit from some clarification. The Google Play Store does not want you to be able to download apps that won’t work or conceivably could even damage your tablet, so in order to avoid Google being held responsible for sorting out any problems you may experience by using apps downloaded from the Google Play store; they test android devices and phones to ensure that they meet the certain criterion needed to run android correctly.
When a device has been tested and accepted as OK, Google then issues a license and the device is logged into the Google Play store’s database. When you log in to the Google Play store with your android device, an automated behind the scenes Google online interrogation takes place telling Google which device you have.
Google can then compare this to their apps database and allow you access to those apps it expects to work on your tablet, but deny you access to those apps it expects will not work on your tablet.
Unfortunately, none of the Scroll range of tablets is licensed as compatible with the Google Play store and this is why Storage Options tell you to use the pre-installed store apps they provide who don’t require your tablet to be licensed. Currently these are Slide Me:
http://slideme.org/ 7 Digital:
http://www.7digital.com/ and Wild Tangent:
http://www.wildtangent.com/ unfortunately, the last time I checked none of these sites host either the BBC iPlayer or the latest Flash Player apps.
Due to this licensing issue and the fact that as yet no Scroll tablets have been officially logged into the Google Play Stores compatibility database, the Google Play store will often report an app as being incompatible with your device, even when it isn't. Unfortunately, the Google Play store app does not appear as a downloadable item on the Play Store but is one of a collection of Google’s own apps that are built into the android operating system by the tablet manufacturer. To keep the right side of the law, the distributors of Google unlicensed tablets either remove the Google Play Store app, or make it necessary for you to do something in order to make it work, thus passing any possible liability onto the user.
I am sure you can see already why you need to know and understand so much more about an android tablet and its operating system than you do with a Windows (click and go) desktop or laptop PC.
From what Margaret has written about her Scroll tablet which includes possibly removing system files and all the pre-installed apps in the Scroll apps folder put there by Storage Options, I am very tempted to suggest that you initially carry out a factory reset on the tablet, but I am uncertain if it will still be possible to do this safely.
So in order to be able to answer any of your questions with a degree of confidence we first need to establish with certainty which version and model Scroll Margaret’s tablet is before we can even say it is suitable to work with the BBC iPlayer catch up service – and in order to follow this up we will need to find some way of getting the Google Play Store app onto the tablet as well.
I know that this is a lot to take in but please feel free for either you or Margaret to ask more questions as necessary and I or others on the forum will be happy to try and offer guidance.
