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channelflip: MP4 RSS feeds are broken (cannot be played on iPhone). Please fix!

March 11 2009 | PeterC

Mod note: Please delete the other thread since it was posted to the wrong category (and keep this one instead)!

This happened recently. All the mp4 files in the RSS feeds, such as the feed for ChannelFlip Tech, is NO LONGER playable on the iPhone. I have tested it using RSS Player 1.2.7 for the iPhone. The feeds can be downloaded, but when any video is being played. The RSS Player/iPhone returns an error message saying the file cannot be played. Worse yet, the feed then crashes the player and the iPhone (yikes)!

I have tested this with RSS Player 1.0.2 which, in the past, was able to play the MP4 feed without any problem. It, too, now crashes. So, this is a problem due to some recent changes in your RSS feeds or MP4 coding.

The problem exists with both Firmware 2.0 and 2.2 update of the iPhone 3G.

Can a mod please post a response and fix this? Thanks.

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comments

WilHarris
March 11th, 2009 - 3:56pm

Hey Peter,

Thanks for dropping us a line. Unfortunately this is nothing to do with us. It seems that MP4 on the iPhone has gotten completely borked - I am finding the same problem with MP4s from all over the place, not just ChannelFlip.

We haven’t changed anything in our RSS or MP4 coding - this is purely something that has happened with the iPhone firmware.

We are continuing to investigate :(

Peter
March 11th, 2009 - 7:08pm

Thanks, Will, for your reply. It means a lot to me, and your effort to be in touch with the community is truly awesome, mate.

If this helps a bit, at one time, I was able to play the MP4 files from ChannelFlip without any problem using the RSS Player on the iPhone. At the time, I was on firmware 2.0. I have since used another iPhone that has stock 2.0 firmware, and it still did not work. I am unsure what this means, but it does point to some changes in how the RSS feed was handled… very weird.

Please keep posting your finding here…

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