ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Greetings,
Following the instructions I connected the Playmaker to power, speakers (BeoLab 3s), and with an ethernet cable to my BT Hub (Router). I streamed music from my Mac laptop via Airplay in iTunes. It worked on the first day despite some dropouts.
Opening iTunes on the second day, Airplay doesn't find Playmaker at all.
As it worked on the first day, I don't think I did anything wrong. Any suggestions?
Power off your BT router then on again. That may cure the issue.
Opman
Thank you. Turning the BT Hub off and on again seems to have reconnected Airplay on the Mac to Playmaker. I'll confirm whether this has solved the problem after a day or two of operation. Thanks again.
djs
Update. Same problem continues. Apple Airplay loses connection with the Playmaker after a while. It may stay connected for 30 minutes before dropping out. It then cannot reconnect.
Spoke to my dealer who after some research on the web said the problem was with the BT Home Hub (Router). He said I probably have an older Hub. I have had the BT Hub for 18 months so I don't know if it is considered old. He suggested I pursue BT to change the Hub or buy a different router. I am not technical so this is just becoming more confusing for me. Incidentally, I told the dealer I had a BT Hub when I purchased the Playmaker.
Has anyone had similar issues with the Playmaker and a BT Home Hub? Any advice about the best course of action would be appreciated.
I use mine in corporate apartments when I travel so I had it exposed to a range of routers.
It works mostly, but right now I have a similar problem. No BT though.
I think in my case its caused by a weak connection. The Playmaker shows an orange colored light indicating this. What color is yours?
I think the orange light means a poor connection. Mine drops out and cannot reconnect.
What you could do, as a extra check, is to change the channel of your router. Therefore you can set the router to channel 1, 6 or 11. Reboot your router after this change. Set up your Playmaker again to your wireless ndtwork with the BeoSetup app. You can reset your PM by putting in a paperclip at the bottom. See your manual for further instructions. When the PM led flashes orange, then setup your PM with the Beo app.
Your Playmaker should then show you a white led, to make sure the wifisignal is strong enough. Then try connection via Airplay again.
Eventually you can try this with different channels on your router. Choose the best signal. Good luck!
djs:Update. Same problem continues. Apple Airplay loses connection with the Playmaker after a while. It may stay connected for 30 minutes before dropping out. It then cannot reconnect. Spoke to my dealer who after some research on the web said the problem was with the BT Home Hub (Router). He said I probably have an older Hub. I have had the BT Hub for 18 months so I don't know if it is considered old. He suggested I pursue BT to change the Hub or buy a different router. I am not technical so this is just becoming more confusing for me. Incidentally, I told the dealer I had a BT Hub when I purchased the Playmaker. Has anyone had similar issues with the Playmaker and a BT Home Hub? Any advice about the best course of action would be appreciated. djs
Changing channels in the router failed. Same problem persisted.
BT say there is nothing wrong with their Home Hub (router). They say the problem is with Airplay or the Playmaker.
I'm running out of solutions. Maybe time to return the Playmaker.
Thanks to everyone who responded.
Sorry for double posting. Anxiously hit the button twice.
HI,
Have had similar problems with my BT Router on infinity 2. The playmaker doesn't seem to detect the router so I connected it wired. Still no joy. For a piece of plastic with a few wires inside the cost of this item from B&O is ridiculous compared with other simlar devices. They work. This doesn't. What am i doing wrong. Any ideas how to connect my itunes to the playmaker.
Thanks
If that BT device is a combined router/modem you should configure that device to act as modem only and add a decent router (B&O recommends Cisco) that works with the Playmaker.
Sure you can say the PlayMaker should work with any router, but your not the first that have problems with a modem/router that comes with your provider. And I strongly believe there are more products on the market that won’t work with this router.
djs:Changing channels in the router failed. Same problem persisted. BT say there is nothing wrong with their Home Hub (router). They say the problem is with Airplay or the Playmaker. I'm running out of solutions. Maybe time to return the Playmaker. Thanks to everyone who responded. djs
Hi all,
my Playmaker is working as expected from day one
Although I am a hardwire-guy, my PM is wireless connected - it was too much trouble to run a Cat-cable to the location where it is (connected to my audiomaster).
Do not blame your problems on the PM - solve your network problems first!
Grrr! Millemissen
There is a tv - and there is a BV
I tried a wireless connection without the ethernet cable but that failed too. Curiously, it crashes each time while using the set up app.
I am able to stream music wirelessly from my laptop via Airplay through the router to Apple TV without any issues. Would this not suggest the problem may be with Playmaker rather than the router?
I've always been interested in the issues as to why some wireless setups work and others don't, particularly as I was reading reviews of wireless routers when I was having issues with my cheap Belkin unit. If you read the reviews, they are all over the map, some people setup easily and never have issues, some don't, and the differences seem too big and random to be just due to operator error. Sounds a lot like B&O Play issues.
There's the issue of interferrence of course, different environments have more or less noise on the same bands but I think it goes beyond that. A friend who's an IT guy for a college and I discussed it, and his observation is that the "standards" for wireless networking are too often treated as suggestions by different device and wireless router vendors. To the point where it's hard to predict what will or will not work well. I remember a few years ago a certain Intel wireless chipset didn't work worth squat with many routers. Honestly, you'd hope that standards were standards but apparently not, which might explain why the Playmaker doesn't play well with some setups. Personally for non-Apple setups I've found things like the older Airports and such to be very problematic, though I haven't tried a newer one. The old one really mucked up my network, when you could get it to connect at all.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
What I find difficult as a non technical person is that B&O blame the router and BT (who supply the router) blame Playmaker. This doesn't help the poor customer.
I have a very simple set up. A BT Home Hub, BT Vision box, Samsung TV, Apple TV, BeoLab 3s and Playmaker. Music is fed wirelessly via Airplay from an up to date Mac laptop. There is no problem streaming to the Apple TV. The Playmaker on the other hand, keeps disconnecting from Airplay.
Thanks for reading,
Surely, if I am able to successfully stream wirelessly using Airplay to the Apple TV then it can't be the hub at fault. Or am I missing something here?
UPDATE. The problem of Playmaker dropping out regularly has been solved! I have a new BT Home Hub 3 (Version B) which works flawlessly with Playmaker. My previous BT Home Hub 3 (Version A) was the problem. The problem was only with Playmaker though, as it functioned perfectly with Apple TV using Airplay.
After advice from my B&O dealer, I contacted BT who sent the new HH3(B). So, anyone with a BT HH3 who is having problems should check which version it is.
I would like to add how pleased I am with the sound quality and ease of use of the Playmaker. I am so happy with it that I am seriously considering selling my BeoCenter 2.
Thanks to all who offered suggestions and advice.
That is great - enjoy 🎵
But please consider keeping your BC2 - you can easily connect the Playmaker to the A.AUX of the BC2.
Greetings MM
Vince,
To confirm whether your HH3 is A or B, go into settings at http://bthomehub.home. You will need your password of course.
Hope this helps.
djs:Vince, To confirm whether your HH3 is A or B, go into settings at http://bthomehub.home . You will need your password of course. Hope this helps. djs
My Playmaker is connected to the HH3 by Ethernet.
As the original poster of this thread, I have to report that I have given up on Playmaker and packed it away.
I did have initial success when BT supplied me with a new HH3 (version B). Although I no longer had the issue of losing the connection, I did start to experience dropouts. The dropouts would only be for a few seconds but due to the regularity of them I soon grew tired of them.
I want to make the point that my Apple TV works flawlessly. So, to say that the problem is the HH3 cannot be entirely correct. I don't understand why the Apple TV works with Airplay and HH3 but the Playmaker doesn't.
djs: Has anyone had similar issues with the Playmaker and a BT Home Hub? Any advice about the best course of action would be appreciated.
The Playmaker right royally gets on my t*ts, I can tell you :)
I bought a MKI a couple of months ago and was quite to open a thread saying how good it was and how the sound quality was ace compared to my Airport Express. Still believe this to be the case. Sound quality is superb.
However, one area where the Airport Express excels over the Playmaker, is Airplay connectivity. The Airport Express, in the same setup, in the same room, about 5 metres away from my Apple Time Capsule, never (!) loses the connection. The Playmaker loses the connection, nearly all the time often for 20 seconds at a time. Sometimes it disappears from Airplay altogether.
I've tried my Netgear router, gone back to the Time Capsule, manually setup a wifi channel, set the channel to automatic, but it's still the same.
As a comparison, the BS8, connected to an Airport Express, downstairs, many metres from the Time Capsule, never loses the connection. It's definitely a Playmaker issue.
This week I'm going to buy a power socket solution and connect via ethernet, see if this makes a difference. I'll report back.
Try swapping the positions of the A8 and Playmaker and see if there's a change to the wireless performance of either. Instead of it being a Playmaker issue it could be a problem with interference that only affects one position and doesn't make it to where the A8 is now. Something to check.
Is it the connection that fails or just the processor that cannot keep up the pace?
This from the B&O website describing the Playmaker:-
"How you enjoy your digital music with Bang & Olufsen sound is totally up to you, your family or your friends. AirPlay, DLNA or NAS. Apple or Android . The possibilities are virtually endless. The pleasure, hassle free."
I think I'll stick to my AEs!
Just want to point out that my Playmaker runs perfect since the frst day.
I tried a wireless connection as I first set it up, because it was rather difficult to get a wired connection to the room where it is located.
It worked flawless - and so it stayed!
MM