Introducing the new BBC iPlayer

#1

Post by smethod » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 10:31 AM UTC

Introducing the new BBC iPlayer
bbc.co.uk

Re: Introducing the new BBC iPlayer

#2

Post by evgen » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 10:59 AM UTC

Still requires Flash. BBC continues its long tradition of epic fail.

Re: Introducing the new BBC iPlayer

#3

Post by bananas » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 11:01 AM UTC

I'd like to see them put some more effort on content delivery for their TV partners. I have a Bravia EX and half the time the iPlayer streams don't work i.e. you get sound and no video. Then occasionally we get shot down for a couple of weeks at a time with content region warnings suggesting we're not in the UK.

Having spoken to Sony and my ISP, they're both suggesting that the administrative side of iPlayer is a mess. The former tell them that the BBC regularly breaks their codecs and metadata streams and the latter suggest that the BBC rarely update their geographical IP databases.

Not a great experience.

It's bad when you have to hit the proxy torrent sites to view content you already paid for with your TV license...

Re: Introducing the new BBC iPlayer

#4

Post by jamesmoss » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 11:04 AM UTC

I'm really hoping this redesign is why the Xbox One iPlayer app is delayed.

Re: Introducing the new BBC iPlayer

#5

Post by pathy » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 11:07 AM UTC

evgen wrote: post #2

Still requires Flash. BBC continues its long tradition of epic fail.

What would you it rather use? HTML5? Silverlight?

What is wrong with using an establish platform like Flash? iPlayer works, and works well. I happy to see BBC continuing to improve.

I don't see anything close to resembling epic fail with iPlayer.

Re: Introducing the new BBC iPlayer

#6

Post by BenjaminN » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 11:08 AM UTC

I HATE IT when you have too many search inputs on a page, that don't give you the same results: http://cl.ly/image/3K111v1N1K1y

Re: Introducing the new BBC iPlayer

#7

Post by samwillis » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 11:11 AM UTC

Is anyone seeing the new design yet? I am not here...

Re: Introducing the new BBC iPlayer

#8

Post by antimagic » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 11:13 AM UTC

pathy wrote: post #5

evgen wrote: post #2

Still requires Flash. BBC continues its long tradition of epic fail.

What would you it rather use? HTML5? Silverlight? What is wrong with using an establish platform like Flash? iPlayer works, and works well. I happy to see BBC continuing to improve. I don't see anything close to resembling epic fail with iPlayer.

Well, for one, Flash is a vector for viruses - why should I expose my computer to a much greater attack surface just to watch video. Secondly, Flash is often less effcient than the native implementation - on my Mac the fan ramps up frequently when running Flash apps, but rarely when running HTML5 / Javascript apps. Then there's the fact that Flash takes up space on my flash drive, which I would much rather keep for something useful.

That's just a few reasons off the top of my head. When you consider the fact that they support iPhones / iPads, they are already streaming h264, so why not do it in HTML5?

Re: Introducing the new BBC iPlayer

#9

Post by samwillis » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 11:21 AM UTC

antimagic wrote: post #8

pathy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you it rather use? HTML5? Silverlight? What is wrong with using an establish platform like Flash? iPlayer works, and works well. I happy to see BBC continuing to improve. I don't see anything close to resembling epic fail with iPlayer.

Well, for one, Flash is a vector for viruses - why should I expose my computer to a much greater attack surface just to watch video. Secondly, Flash is often less effcient than the native implementation - on my Mac the fan ramps up frequently when running Flash apps, but rarely when running HTML5 / Javascript apps. Then there's the fact that Flash takes up space on my flash drive, which I would much rather keep for s…

DRM. The BBC can make it "harder" to intercept the video stream by using Flash, it is the reason most of these types of services are still on flash. This is why HTML5 DRM is going to happen, it will remove Flash from the mix, at the expense of having a binary blob from the content owners that manages the DRM.

Re: Introducing the new BBC iPlayer

#10

Post by pathy » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 11:22 AM UTC

antimagic wrote: post #8

pathy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you it rather use? HTML5? Silverlight? What is wrong with using an establish platform like Flash? iPlayer works, and works well. I happy to see BBC continuing to improve. I don't see anything close to resembling epic fail with iPlayer.

Well, for one, Flash is a vector for viruses - why should I expose my computer to a much greater attack surface just to watch video. Secondly, Flash is often less effcient than the native implementation - on my Mac the fan ramps up frequently when running Flash apps, but rarely when running HTML5 / Javascript apps. Then there's the fact that Flash takes up space on my flash drive, which I would much rather keep for s…

Fair points. Flash is moderately inefficient and a vector for viruses. But it runs on practically all computers out there and works on older computers that doesn't have HTMl5 supported browsers. Hopefully this segment is shrinking but it still exists.

We don't know how their development cycle looks or their backend. There is probably a reason they chose not to do HTMl5 at this moment. It will probably come in due time. Worth noting is that Youtube mostly remains on Flash, though they do have HTML5 beta.

HTML5 is still quite a new technology while Flash is well established, despite its flaws.