Five things to know about the BBC iPlayer

Crib sheet for bluffers

Five things to know about the BBC iPlayer

12 December 2008 14:27 GMT / By Stuart Miles

It's BBC iPlayer day to mark the service's year anniversary and to celebrate, here are five things you should know about the iPlayer:

It's popular
That's right, the iPlayer has been pretty successful since its launch last year. According to figures from the BBC the total requests for iPlayer views online stands at 237 million to the end of November 2008, with a further 61 million TV requests to the end of October to view via Virgin Media's iPlayer offering. Last month alone, the BBC revealed there were over 35 million requests to view online and, on average, over a million requests to view each day during the month. It's not clear if these statistics take into account views through the iPlayer's mobile platform, on PMPs, via Sky, or indeed views through the Nintendo Wii, if not, the figures would easily go over the 300 million mark.

You can now get it on more than just the PC
When it first launched the iPlayer was only available on a PC running Windows XP, now you can get it on Vista, the Mac, computers running Linux OS, the Nintendo Wii, Sony's PS3, Virgin Media cable service, home media hubs from Netgear and Linksys, the Apple iPhone, the Nokia N96, N85, Archos 605 Wi-Fi, the Creative Zen, the Philips GoGear SA52 series, Samsung's YP-P2 and YP-Q1 and the Sony Walkman E and S series. Last week the Beeb announced that it's just added Sony Ericsson's C905 and Xperia X1 mobile phones as well as Samsung's Omnia handset. However the Beeb has yet to offer the iPlayer to Sky satellite subscribers and for phones you'll only be able to access the service via a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Picture quality still isn't that great
You might be able to get the player in lots more places but that doesn't mean the quality of the footage is going to be very good. While the iPlayer is great for catching up on content you've missed (like the Olympics back in the summer) opt for the full screen option and it's blocky as hell, especially if you're watching it via the PS3 on your 40-inch telly.

After 7 days it's gone
If you've missed that 7-day cut off then you're stuffed, the iPlayer currently only lets you playback content online within 7 days of the first broadcast and not all content is available. You do get a reprieve if you've downloaded the content (currently only available via the PC) as you get 30 days to watch it, but you must have downloaded it in the first 7 days. Licensing rights are to blame as always. So if you're going on holiday for longer than 7 days make sure you set the PVR otherwise you'll be disappointed. Oh, and don't bother trying to access it from outside the UK - you won't be able to.

Content ahead of TV
The iPlayer is soon to get a pre-booking tool that will allow viewers to select programmes from the schedule up to 7 days in advance of them airing on TV. They will then be able to download the programmes for viewing after the content has been on the Beeb. Users will then have 30 days in which to open the file for viewing.

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Comments

  • Regarding the picture quality, I would just like to point out that if you access the iPlayer via Virgin Media's "red button" service then the Picture Quality is as good as (or at least not noticably different from) broadcast quality. There is also no lag or download delays and the program can be controlled like a DVD.

    Obviously net based offererings, and especially mobile devices, need to compromise on the picture for bandwidth reasons. But on Virgin it's as good as any other piece of their OnDemand programming...     Posted by VMSubscriber, UK
  • A lot of us expats would love to have this service even if we had to pay for a link in the UK, a video version of anonymous remailers. Anybody have any ideas? Forward to Virgin as a business opportunity? Posted by Paul Muller, Thailand
  • I am not an expat but a lover of British Tv, and I was able to watch an episode of Merlin from Venezuela using an a proxy server. Quality was better than most Cable we get here. Sadly the server got offline and I haven't found one that works again. Guess I'll have to settle with the news of World Service. Posted by Ramon Insua, Venezuela
  • You forgot the sixth thing to know about the BBC iPlayer. You'll now have to pay the BBC even if you don't have a TV. Posted by Tor Cromwell, England
  • You'll now have to pay the BBC even if you don't have a TV. Posted by Tor Cromwell, England
    Not sure where you are getting that idea from - you need a TV licence to receive TV programmes in real time, i.e. as they are being broadcast or as near as. That counts as "television" - doesn't matter whether it comes down an aerial modulated in PAL or down your phone line in bits and bytes. Doesn't even matter how or whether you actually view the programme.
    Opt to get your programmes outside of realtime and you don't pay the licence. So you can use iPlayer to watch everything you like, and pay no licence, just as long as you are not receiving "live" transmissions/streams.
     Posted by Martin Daler, UK
  • Martin

    The BBC are transmitting BBCs 1-4 LIVE, in real time, you therefore need a licence for it.

    Also, the Ts&Cs of your TV licence say 'capable' of recieving a TV signal, therefore, every computer with a browser and Flash.
     Posted by Tor Cromwell, England
  • Tor
    This is from the BBC web site Q&A

    You do not need a television licence to watch programmes on the current version of BBC iPlayer.

    You will need to be covered by a TV licence if and when the BBC provides a feature that enables you to watch 'live' TV programmes on any later version of BBC iPlayer, which has this option. Your TV licence for your home address will cover your use of the BBC iPlayer in your home (and outside the home if you use BBC iPlayer on a laptop or any other device which is powered solely by its own internal batteries).

    A 'live' TV programme is a programme, which is watched or recorded at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is being broadcast or otherwise distributed to members of the public. As a general rule, if a person is watching a programme on a computer or other device at the same time as it is being shown on TV then the programme is 'live'. This is sometimes known as simulcasting.

    You cannot currently watch 'live' TV programmes as part of BBC iPlayer, however, we hope to offer this function in the future.

    What will happen if I don't have a TV licence?

    It is a criminal offence to watch 'live' television without a TV licence or to posses or control a device which you know or reasonably believe will be used to watch 'live' TV without a TV licence. You could be prosecuted and fined up to £1000 (plus be ordered to pay legal costs) for these offences.

     Posted by Joe, UK
  • Joe

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/simulcast/pop.shtml?epid=bbc_one_london
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/simulcast/pop.shtml?epid=bbc_two_england
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/simulcast/pop.shtml?epid=bbc_three
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/simulcast/pop.shtml?epid=bbc_four

    The BBC *ARE* transmitting BBCs 1-4 LIVE, in real time, you therefore need a licence for any computer that can receive it. It says so here:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/licencefee/
    and here:
    http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/index.jsp#link1

     Posted by Tor Cromwell, England

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