I wonder if there is something a bit wrong at the bbc end with authenticating with akamai. I've been looking at the data sent from the website flash player to try and work out why I've been getting access denied from akamai streams and it seems the bbc also gets the errors but retries and then it works.
for example the excellent "tropic of cancer episode 6".
Note that the "authString" for this is "auth=dbEdHbibZb4awcfcTcaa6b_a.d0bwdlcDai-bl2bQq-cOW-d0i_-EotEBoCnHDsGsyC&aifp=v001&slist=secure/800kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/400kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/1500kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/480kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/3200kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw" and the identifier is "secure/800kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw"
The flash player sends
Code:
app: ondemand?_fcs_vhost=cp41752.edgefcs.net&auth=dbEdHbibZb4awcfcTcaa6b_a.d0bwdlcDai-bl2bQq-cOW-d0i_-EotEBoCnHDsGsyC&aifp=v001&slist=secure/800kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/400kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/1500kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/480kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/3200kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw
swfUrl: http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/10player.swf?revision=18182_18346tcUrlrtmp://92.123.153.110:1935/ondemand?_fcs_vhost=cp41752.edgefcs.net&auth=dbEdHbibZb4awcfcTcaa6b_a.d0bwdlcDai-bl2bQq-cOW-d0i_-EotEBoCnHDsGsyC&aifp=v001&slist=secure/800kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/400kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/1500kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/480kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw;secure/3200kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw
pageUrlNhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s7glt/Tropic_of_Cancer_Laos_to_Hawaii/
then after rtmp handshaking the akamai sends back an "access denied", and the flash sends another request this time using parts of the authString but using the identifier for the slist - and with a new authentication key
Code:
app: ondemand?_fcs_vhost=cp41752.edgefcs.net&auth=dbEcMducsdebIc0cOcFaqaaawaxbaahaYcz-bl2bQG-cOW-d0i_-JqlFIqAoJDpGnyD&aifp=v001&slist=secure/800kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw
swfUrl: http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/10player.swf?revision=18182_18346
tcUrl: rtmp://92.123.153.110:1935/ondemand?_fcs_vhost=cp41752.edgefcs.net&auth=dbEcMducsdebIc0cOcFaqaaawaxbaahaYcz-bl2bQG-cOW-d0i_-JqlFIqAoJDpGnyD&aifp=v001&slist=secure/800kbps/Tropic_of_Cancer_Episode_6_b00s7gdw
pageUrl: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s7glt/Tropic_of_Cancer_Laos_to_Hawaii/
The connection then succeeds.
I have tried reproducing the second request, but I get "access denied". Perhaps it does require sending in the first, getting a denied request and then sending in the second. Seems odd though, and seems odd thy the bbc would do this, unless the first request is for old style before their changes (hence the older episodes that still play with some small modifications), and then the second for their new episodes.
Anyone else there playing with this that has any insight ?