The BBC iPlayer has been promoted as replacing the BBC Radio Player and their other Players. But, seems no radio is included initially. And, eventual inclusion of other audio players will get them under the roof, but not integrated into one player or even one audio player.
And, what about personalisation--presets, interests, playlists, email sharing--seems none?
RadioCentrePlayer (and Radeo Internet Player) includes all BBC Radio and TV Clips (and Film Network) and rest of world. Works with MS Windows and Mac OS; IE, Firefox, and Safari browsers; Windows Media, Real, and QuickTime players. Web-based, streaming. Free and easy. Now.
Ryan Jarrett
· 2 years ago
Dpomic, you are right, there will be no radio player built into the iPlayer on launch but it will be included soon. And as far as I'm aware the Radio Player will still be available after it is integrated into iPlayer.
I'm not suggesting the iPlayer will be the best way to watch TV on the net, just critiquing what is (or will be) available. There may be more features in the final launch release than is in the current Beta than have been publicised so maybe on Friday we can debate the features missing from the iPlayer!
Stefan
· 2 years ago
There're BBC fans outside the uk also. What do they get? BBC world news service and that's it. We want the good stuff also. Why can't we get it?
martin
· 2 years ago
iPlayer also uses Kontiki
Ben
· 2 years ago
I emailed Channel 4 about the Windows only situation, and they sent me a stock reply, cut-ant-pasted from their website about Apple not licensing their DRM to anyone, so they couldn't serve content to Macs. It's disappointing, but actually now I'm not so sure about 4OD. Looking at the software, it seems that it stores downloaded programmes, and then uses your machine as a node to allow other users to download the content from you as a peer-to-peer system, which isn't mentioned.
Also, I filled in the BBC survey about TV on demand, and as a Linux and Mac OS X user; I made the point that the BBC should be platform agnostic, as we are all license payers.
Seems that the first consideration every time is DRM - which again proves that it is *not* in the end-users' best interests.
William Donelson
· 2 years ago
Keep in mind that the Sky+ box's connection to the internet is probably a very low bps system, maybe even as low as 28k bps dialup-style...
Niko GTA
· 2 years ago
Let's do a quick overview, the majority of those censor any non-Uk citizens from watching it. What if you're an ex-pat or a foreign national with citizenship.. that aside, there's the fact that they're using hideous DRM technology to prevent people from pulling the video off the IPTV stream. Geographic limitations and DRM are not a viable way to offer iptv to consumers.
So the options are slim, but you can still catch some of these TV offerings like BBC elsewhere.
There must be a platform agnostic DRM out there. I believe Jaman, which offers paid-for downloads, is Mac and PC compatible, for example. Apple not licensing its DRM is only relevant to any discussion around the iPod/iPhone. So, yes, it's poor play by Channel4, BBC and the rest, who've all bought into Microsoft's Windows Media solution.
Tiscalli broadband
· 2 years ago
I think that for the people who live in the UK the best IPTV application so far is Zattoo - you can watch BBC1-5 + News, Sky News and couple of european channels as well. The application is slick and quality good.
looking forward for the day when these will be available outside UK ...
Hob Monday
· 2 years ago
Its the content suppliers/owners that insist on the DRM standards and license their output to the broadcasters for the UK market only. Without enforcing these restrictions the broadcasters couldn't provide the service within the terms of their license. Now there is an argument than the Beeb also owns a lot of its content and so could be more generous than say Sky or Channel 4 who license most of their ouput from external production sources but since the license payers are entierly UK based it would seem a little unfair if the rest of the world could get Auntie's output free.
OSS
· 2 years ago
The major problem I have with all of the services is that the resolution/bitrate they use is simply too low. Often the programs aren't even viewable in full screen because they appear too pixelated.
As Niko pointed out, it is far easier to download a "pirated" copy of the programme. They often have higher resolution and higher bitrate.
The Rant Man
· 2 years ago
Interesting article. This serves to illustrate that the technology is still immature.
To miss out Linux users is unforgivable and ultimately will be an expensive mistake. If the current trend of OEM manufacturers selling Linux based PC's as an alternative to Windoze continues, the revolution really is coming. Cross platform is a must these days.
The programmes aren't of broadcast quality, far from it. You must install peer to peer software, hidden files and folders that many PC users will know nothing about and DRM. It is sneaky and intrusive.
The Rant Man
Pete White
· 2 years ago
Nice roundup - I will have to give Sky Anytime a go, i've been pretty disappointed with 4OD so far with its slow interface and annoying expiration times.
dpomic
· 2 years ago
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for your response. Have you tried Radeo Internet Player (or UK preferenced RadioCentre Player) yet?
The organisation by Stations, Shows and Episodes and the personalisation—presets, interests, playlists, histories, share and news emails—makes it much easier to find, play, and manage your preferences across the BBC (and the rest of the world). I think far beyond the BBC visible horizon.
Streaming is the easy alternative for those that don't want the hassles, risks and costs of download and p2p.
The Radeo Internet Player More than 10,000 Stations, 20,000 Shows, and 800,000 Episodes— Broadcasts, Webcasts, and Podcasts Worldwide—Audio and Video. www.radeo.net
Watch over 800 free Live TV's channels with sport, movies, news, music, fashion, entertainment, adult content and many more... at http://www.TVchannelsFREE.com
liam
· 2 years ago
Hi could any1 give me a website that i can watch all uk channels. like bb1, itv and channel etc. thanks.
Could you write back with 1.
jim
· 2 years ago
This site is pretty cool. It has a good selection of free TV and Video from around the world.
Nicola
· 2 years ago
It's only a matter of time before all television is on the internet and available worldwide, surely this can be the only way to combat video piracy and downloading sites?
bry
· 1 year ago
Cool review of UK sites. We in the US also watch quite a bit of BBC . http://www.fantasy-tv.com has a lot of channels for free including UK ones
ahmed
· 1 year ago
internet tv is a very good option. u can multitask using this i.e browse nd watch tv at the same time. cool comparisons
tvleri
· 1 year ago
Tvler canlıtv tv izle online tvler tüm tvler haber muzik spor kanal kanallar program programlar
David
· 1 year ago
One solid way to access BBC's iplayer and other blocked online content is via a uk vpn account. All your traffic gets tunneled through that vpn and you will not appear non-uk based anymore.
I watch online tv on http://tvipe.com Talked to their admin recently - he is in process of creating video on demand category, so soon we will be able to watch movies online.
All Comments
The BBC iPlayer has been promoted as replacing the BBC Radio Player and their other Players. But, seems no radio is included initially. And, eventual inclusion of other audio players will get them under the roof, but not integrated into one player or even one audio player.
And, what about personalisation--presets, interests, playlists, email sharing--seems none?
RadioCentrePlayer (and Radeo Internet Player) includes all BBC Radio and TV Clips (and Film Network) and rest of world. Works with MS Windows and Mac OS; IE, Firefox, and Safari browsers; Windows Media, Real, and QuickTime players. Web-based, streaming. Free and easy. Now.
I'm not suggesting the iPlayer will be the best way to watch TV on the net, just critiquing what is (or will be) available. There may be more features in the final launch release than is in the current Beta than have been publicised so maybe on Friday we can debate the features missing from the iPlayer!
http://therantman.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/4od-...
Also, I filled in the BBC survey about TV on demand, and as a Linux and Mac OS X user; I made the point that the BBC should be platform agnostic, as we are all license payers.
Seems that the first consideration every time is DRM - which again proves that it is *not* in the end-users' best interests.
So the options are slim, but you can still catch some of these TV offerings like BBC elsewhere.
http://www.joost.com - watch bbc new videos
http://www.freetube.us.tc - watch BBC, Sky and ITV live
http://www.tv-links.co.uk/1/ - catch shows like British shows like coupling, office
http://www.peekvids.com - mirror of tv shows
http://www.thepiratebay.org/shows/ - torrents for tv shows (higher quality then any of the above)
There must be a platform agnostic DRM out there. I believe Jaman, which offers paid-for downloads, is Mac and PC compatible, for example. Apple not licensing its DRM is only relevant to any discussion around the iPod/iPhone. So, yes, it's poor play by Channel4, BBC and the rest, who've all bought into Microsoft's Windows Media solution.
http://zattoo.com/
As Niko pointed out, it is far easier to download a "pirated" copy of the programme. They often have higher resolution and higher bitrate.
To miss out Linux users is unforgivable and ultimately will be an expensive mistake. If the current trend of OEM manufacturers selling Linux based PC's as an alternative to Windoze continues, the revolution really is coming. Cross platform is a must these days.
The programmes aren't of broadcast quality, far from it. You must install peer to peer software, hidden files and folders that many PC users will know nothing about and DRM. It is sneaky and intrusive.
The Rant Man
Thanks for your response. Have you tried Radeo Internet Player (or UK preferenced RadioCentre Player) yet?
The organisation by Stations, Shows and Episodes and the personalisation—presets, interests, playlists, histories, share and news emails—makes it much easier to find, play, and manage your preferences across the BBC (and the rest of the world). I think far beyond the BBC visible horizon.
Streaming is the easy alternative for those that don't want the hassles, risks and costs of download and p2p.
The Radeo Internet Player
More than 10,000 Stations, 20,000 Shows, and 800,000 Episodes—
Broadcasts, Webcasts, and Podcasts Worldwide—Audio and Video.
www.radeo.net
Best,
DP
Could you write back with 1.
All your traffic gets tunneled through that vpn and you will not appear non-uk based anymore.
You can then try getting a vpn acount to be able to watch bbc outside the uk .
I also use http://www.yourtvonline.net for watch uk channels from canada
Talked to their admin recently - he is in process of creating video on demand category, so soon we will be able to watch movies online.