Help, please - Wifi transmitter/receiver

smandlej

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We like to listen to the Internet cricket commentary from BBC local radio stations.

We used to have a fantastic wifi transmitter/receiver, PC to amplifier, bought for £7.99 on eBay. It finally needed replacing, so we bought an HP version: unfortunately, we could listen via the amplifier downstairs but had no sound from the PC upstairs. That all became academic when HP didn't issue any Windows 10-compatible software and so it stopped working. Since then, we've had the laptop on downstairs to listen, but that's very unsatisfactory as any Windows download takes over the machine and we lose the commentary completely.

We want to buy another wifi transmitter/receiver, but all the ones we've looked at on-line make a great deal about transmitting music from your mobile 'phone, which is not what we want to do, and it doesn't make it clear whether you can connect the kit to a traditional PC or, more importantly whether the sound is still produced at the transmitting end.

What we need is a wifi transmitter/receiver which will plug into a USB on a desktop PC to transmit, whist still producing sound from the PC, and plug into an amplifier to receive the sound in another room. Any help you can give would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Lynda
 
I think there is almost certainly another way of achieving your aim.

What devices do you want to listen on (eg what are the speakers connected to)?

Where do you access the cricket commentary - is it on iplayer, or just the webpage of the radio station? Is it available via DAB / FM?
 
Thanks for your prompt response, deleted member.

We listen to the PC on the first floor through a Denon CD Receiver UDM30 connected to Denon speakers. On the ground floor, amplification is through a Sony STR-DH100 FM/AM Receiver, connected to bookshelf speakers.

The commentary is accessed via the BBC Sport webpage and is transmitted via iPlayer.

The commentary will be available on radio, but we are not local to the two radio stations to which we listen, so the FM option is not available and I assume the same applies to DAB. However, we only have DAB available on our TV and so would not want to listen to the commentary through the TV. This is because we will usually have the cricket scorecards being displayed on the TV whilst the commentary is on or, on the odd occasion, we may be viewing the match on Sky via our Now TV box, but will still want to listen the BBC local radio commentary.

Just to clarify matters: we like the commentary to broadcast on both floors so that we can follow the match wherever we are in the house. Also, we do not like DAB radio, hence only FM radios in the house.

I hope this is sufficient information for you, but please say if you need anything further.

Lynda
 
Hi, okay there are probably a number of ways that you could approach this. You basically want a device that is able to stream from iplayer and connect to both your Denon and Sony amps via the red and white phono / rca inputs.

Before trawling the internet to find a streamer that will do this, you may well be able to use devices that you already have. I am thinking of smart phones or tablets. If you install the iplayer app on them, connect them to your router via wifi, then run a cable like this from the headphone out socket into a spare input on the amp, that should work:

3m Aluminium PRO 3.5mm Stereo Jack to 2 RCA Phono Plugs Cable Gold [007525] | eBay

Do you have anything already that would do this?
 
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Never even thought of using the tablet (we don't have a mobile 'phone)! Normally only have the tablet in use if we are out of the house, so would be no problem using it at home to stream the commentary - and no annoying Windows updates to cope with, either! My husband will have a rummage in his hi-fi leads and plugs to see if he has the necessary, otherwise thanks for the link if we need it.

Many thanks for all your help.

Lynda
 
We are having to admit defeat, deleted member! My husband didn't have a suitable lead, so sent for one from the link you kindly provided. We confirmed that we could, indeed, use the tablet to listen to a BBC broadcast (Radio 3), using the headphone socket to connect to the amplifier, but have then been away for a couple of days.

Today there is a match being played and we have tried and tried to get access to the commentary, without success. We have tried accessing it both through the appropriate page on the BBC Sport (cricket) webpage ("this content doesn't appear to be working"), and from the BBC Essex page where a link to the cricket commentary is provided ("Error 404 page not found"). We have Googled every conceivable query we can think of, tried a lot of what was suggested, but no real answers. Our memory isn't what it used to be, but we think we may have listened to the commentary on this, or our previous tablet (also Android) whilst at a match once, but it may be that we had our Windows laptop with us and we know there is no problem listening on a Windows device.

So it looks like we are going to have to revert to our original idea of buying a wi-fi transmitter/receiver, I'm afraid.
 
Install the BBC radio app on whatever tablet you have.
 
Your original post (as shown on the e-mail notification) referred to installing the iPlayer app. However, we have both the iPlayer app and the BBC Media Player app (which I believe was introduced after the demise of Flash Player on BBC apps) installed already. We also tried an installation of the BBC Radio app, as one of the many 'fixes' suggested by search results, but it made no difference, I'm afraid.
 
Your original post (as shown on the e-mail notification) referred to installing the iPlayer app. However, we have both the iPlayer app and the BBC Media Player app (which I believe was introduced after the demise of Flash Player on BBC apps) installed already. We also tried an installation of the BBC Radio app, as one of the many 'fixes' suggested by search results, but it made no difference, I'm afraid.
You don't have a VPN on your internet do you? The BBC website says:

Live cricket on the BBC: Test Match Special, online video and local radio

BBC Sport website
- via bbc.co.uk/cricket
Via the BBC Red Button, via the BBC iPlayer Radio app for iPhone and Android, and via the BBC Sport app

So make sure you have one of those two apps - I'm not in the uk so I am not up on the BBC naming protocols but the titles here are slightly different to the apps you name on your tablet.

None of the online stuff works if you appear to be outside the UK.
 
No, we don't have a VPN, so nothing to do with that.

Read the link you provided, thankyou: just after the paragraph you quoted here there was a link "Get BBC iPlayer Radio on your mobile" - comes up as Page Not Found if I click on it from here (desktop Windows computer), but will try from the tablet instead, just in case it will only link via Android. However, whether it's any different from the BBC Radio Player app, which we've already tried, I do not know. My husband already tried the BBC Sport app, but that didn't help.

From the many websites I've visited during the Google searches I did yesterday, it seems that people have been having problems listening to internet broadcasts on Android since time immemorial, which is why I think we shall have to buy a wifi transmitter/receiver and listen from the desktop.
 
If you know the radio station that is broadcasting the commentary go to the Win10 app store, type into the search bar tunein radio and install the app. When you run tunein search for BBC and it will list the main radio stations and at the bottom you will see local, click on that to expand the list of local radio stations, maybe it has the one you want.

If it does have it and you want to channel the audio to external speakers, there are a number of ways, personally the most flexible way is to get Airfoil, this can channel the entire audio output from Windows or OSX into a variety of wireless speaker connections via Apple Airports, Bluetooth receivers (plugged into your speakers) or things like Chromecasts. Airfoil also allows outputs to multiple speakers as well.

Edit: Re-reading our posts you actually shouldn't need to use tunein at all if it works on desktop (my guess it's locked behind Flash, BBC still use that), Airfoil will pump the audio out to the wireless speakers no matter what.

Get an Apple Airport Express, set that to join your existing wireless network, Airofil will see it as an Airplay receiver, use a 3.5mm analogue audio connection to your speakers or mini SPDIF (airport has both) and you should be set.

Also that existing gizmo you have you describe, I'm not sure what it is a wifi radio bridge of some sort ?, anyway Windows has built in options for making old software work (so long as it's not a driver issue), right click any .exe and select properties from the context menu then click on compatibility tab, in here select the version of Windows the software was designed for, also tick the box to run as administrator. If the app wont install then try the same on the installer .exe as well.
 
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Using TuneIn might have problems as a lot of live sport is subject to geographic rights issues, so listening via internet sources often means you get a "sorry this is unavailable" message rather than the sport broadcast you were hoping for.
 
We have disposed of the HP receiver, next010, as it broadcast the commentary where it was connected to our amplifier downstairs but cut the sound upstairs at the PC - we want to have both available to listen to. Not sure the Tunein app would help, as I suspect it would only play what was being broadcast on FM/AM, not what the radio station was broadcasting totally separately on the Internet. The Airport Express does sound as if it would replace what we had but, although not expecting to find something again for £7.99, we hadn't planned on spending £99!

I don't think we would have problems with geographic rights issues, neilball, as county cricket isn't up there with Premiership football but, anyway, if that was the case I wouldn't be able to listen to the commentary from BBC Essex on the PC in North Yorkshire (as I am doing at this very moment).
 
Airfoil does work with bluetooth receivers, which can be gotten for around £20. How well it works I cannot say plus the range is limited to 10-12 meters, your PC will need a bluetooth adapter if it doesn't already have one.

Airfoil with Airport uses your local WiFi to stream over and doesn't mute the PC either if you don't want it to. You can buy second hand + older generation Airports on eBay or check out non-Apple devices that claim to have Airplay support (wireless audio tech Airfoil taps into) like this £23 unit.

Lastly if your Android tablet has an audio output and you can connect it to the speakers try Airfoil Android which turns the tablet into an audio receiver for Airfoil running on the PC, it will see the tablet and allow streaming audio to it.
 
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Like the idea of Airfoil with the second-hand Airport or the Neet unit you gave a link to, next010 - sounds like a solution to the problem. Having spent hours searching, it seems that all the PC-to-hi-fi boxes have been discontinued, probably because everyone does everything from their 'phones these days, so will look into your suggestions - thanks very much.
 
I spent a bit longer searching the Internet and came up with a definite recommendation of the Tunein radio app. Finding the appropriate link to the actual broadcast seemed somewhat hit and miss, though: the most recent information, several years old, was to access the commentary through one of the BBC Live Events. If you're lucky, some kind soul will post on Twitter to say which Event number is which, otherwise you have to go through all of them until you find the one you want.

We installed Tunein and yesterday went on the app to see what we could find. I tried several searches - hoping to get the list of BBC Live Events and trawl through them - without success. However, I did come up with an option to 'diarise' for the next day's broadcast of the Sussex v Durham match, which by today is the only match being played. Today, we went onto Tunein and were able to access the commentary, listened to through our amp thanks to the cable recommended by deleted member. I have also e-mailed Tunein about this and they are currently trying to help me so that we can bring up a list of commentaries available.
 
Looks like it's back to the Airfoil/Airport solution, as commentaries are only available at county matches where BBC 5 Live are present. Other county commentaries used to be available, but no longer. Thankyou to everyone who replied.
 

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