´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer On iPhone: Behind The Scenes
Today was a big day for ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer: it's the day that it first became available on a portable device. ´óÏó´«Ã½iPlayer is now available on iPhone and iPod touch.
To play ´óÏó´«Ã½ programmes on your iPhone or , you'll need to be online via a wi-fi broadband connection (the iPhone's connectivity is too slow for streaming video). ´óÏó´«Ã½iPlayer on iPhone is a right now, so if you find some programmes aren't available on iPhone or you get the occasional oddity... yep, we're working on it.
Ever since we announced that we were working on ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer for iPhone, there's been as to how it would work. Would we use Apple's new ? Would we use the rumoured ? What video format and bitrate would we choose? And which devices will we support next...?
So, for those interested in a behind-the-scenes look, here's the low-down...
First up, we can divide portable and gaming devices into those that include a web browser (, , , etc) and those that don't (, , most mobile phones, most home media servers, etc).
For devices with browsers, assuming that those browsers are able to access and display the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer website, getting ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer working on those devices "merely" [see below] requires us to provide audio and/or video streams in a format that is supported by the media player(s) available on that device.
For devices without browsers, it becomes necessary to create custom applications that users need to install and run on that device. There's little standardisation across devices, and creating these custom apps is time-consuming and expensive; so for now, we're focusing on browser-enabled devices.
We started with iPhone because it is the device most optimised for high quality video currently available. It displays the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer site and ´óÏó´«Ã½ programmes nicely. But - go on, speculate! - we're working on making ´óÏó´«Ã½iPlayer available on many more browser-enabled devices over the coming months: stay tuned for details...
Back to ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer on iPhone implementation: we're not using the new Apple SDK, nor are we using the much-rumoured (no - we haven't seen it, either). Instead, we're creating 516Kbps streams (400Kbps H.264 video, 116Kbps AAC audio) that show off ´óÏó´«Ã½ programmes brilliantly on an iPhone.
There's been a lot of press about the amount of money that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ spent developing iPlayer, but what most people don't realise is that only a small fraction of the cost went into the parts that you see (i.e., the web site), with most of the cost going into the development of a high-quality content production backend that's able to crank out 400 hours of content each week to the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s high standards (frame-accurate in and out points; manual quality control; provision of subtitled and signed versions; guidance-labelling for stuff not suitable for children; rich metadata, etc).
That probably doesn't sound too hard, but consider this: every day, tapes for the programmes that you see on TV (the pre-recorded ones, not live events) are retrieved from our secure archive facility, delivered to our playout centre at , and sequenced for playout to TV. As you've probably noticed, ´óÏó´«Ã½ One hardly ever goes down, so this system has been optimised over many years and is tightly run. Into that process we needed to add the transcoding of that content for our various iPlayer platforms, including PC iPlayer (e.g. the one available at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer), TV iPlayer (available soon on Virgin Media), and now portable devices.
This means that every programme needs to be transcoded in a Flash version (for PC streaming), a WMV version (Windows PC download), MPEG2 (TV set-top box), H.264 (web browser), and a variety of other formats coming soon. To do this, we have a transcoding farm of over 50 rack-mount PCs, most of which are running really fast dual Xeon CPUs. As content arrives off tape (for pre-recorded programmes) or off-air (from our digital satellite links, for live content like news and sport), it's fed into the transcoding platform.
Those input files are encoded at over 50Mbps which makes them huge - around 25GB per hour of incoming video. With eight ´óÏó´«Ã½ TV channels plus 18 regional news broadcasts, that means we need to deal with up to 24 simultaneous incoming programmes, for a peak data rate of over a gigabit per second of incoming video.
We now need to transcode those source files into each supported output format. The various file formats take different amounts of time to transcode - it takes roughly twice as much time to create a 1Mbps WMV files as it takes to create a 500Kbps Flash file, which is why you'll sometimes see programmes in iPlayer that are available for streaming but not (yet) for download; the downloadable version usually arrives an hour or so later.
The transcoded files are then "pushed" to streaming and p2p download head-end servers, and rights management (i.e. content encryption) applied as needed. Separately, programme metadata is delivered into our database. As soon as both metadata and the first of the available media files for a given programme have been received and are confirmed (all automatically, of course) by our system, then that programme becomes available in ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer.
We've recently added a just in section ("Most Recent") to the bbc.co.uk ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer homepage so you can see this in action - every few minutes, this section is updated, showing the latest content that's arrived into our system and made available in iPlayer.
Looking at the ´óÏó´«Ã½iPlayer website, it all looks pretty simple - but beneath the hood, there's a lot of moving parts to deal with those real-time high-bitrate long-format incoming programmes, to process them, to them, and to make them available in ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer, 24/7.
The challenge is to continuously enhance that transcoding platform to support a whole host of new formats to make ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer available in the coming months at higher and higher display resolution and quality, and on more and more devices. Which mobile, portable or gaming device would you like to see it on next?
There's lots of exciting things to work on!
Anthony Rose is Head of Digital Media Technologies
Comments
Thanks for some background to all of this - and thanks especially for the iPhone version of the iPlayer! Now I really wish I had not left my iPod Touch at home this weekend...
Now, I just need to wait for that magic moment when I can get Iplayer on my Alle TV!
Hi, I'd rather watch the 516Kbps H.264/AAC file than the Flash video on my laptop and desktop because Flash is kind of slow and crashy. (I guess the video and audio quality would be higher too). Is this possible?
How in God's name can the ´óÏó´«Ã½ justify making the service available to iPhone users before Mac users?
There are thousands more Mac users than iPhone users.
This is disgraceful.
Excitement delayed - most recent doesn't show up on the iphone
It would be great to see the iPlayer on Sony's PSP or Playstation 3. Or is this further down the list of developments because more people have an iPhone than a PS3? It would be great to see a road map of devices you intend to reach.
Many thanks
David
How joyous it would be to see if the transcoding platform could be opensourced in some way so that we geeky licence fee payers could attempt something similar at home for other channels for our own use!
Great news, I am too waiting for Iplayer to debut on AppleTV. Is there an eta to when this is going to happen?
Kindest Regards
Stephen
Please hurry with the wii version
hey what about the n95 is it likely to be anytime soon :D
Kieran - have you visited the iPlayer site at all since December?
The service is available to all Mac (and Linux) users via an embedded Flash streaming console on every programme page. Almost exactly the same user experience as is now available to iPhone owners.
Nothing to see here, move along..
iPlayer compatible on Nokia NSeries devices, please. There are way more NSeries ownsers than iPhone owners, too, so you'll be reaching a bigger audience
I don't know what planet you are on but the iPlayer has been available for quite a while now for us more sophisticated and brilliant mac users.
Uh, Kieran, you can use iPlayer streaming on a Mac.
To Kieran,
The ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer is already available to Mac users...
In fact, I'm using it right now
Is the iPlayer going to come to Apple TV ?
@ Kieran McGhee (comment #3) - I'm not a mac user, but does the flash streaming version not work on the mac?
Either way, iPhone/iPod Touch should have been a long way down the list of devices supported.
Symbian S60 (and windows mobile) mobile phones would be a good one, most of them are 3G, and provide a more true mobile experience than having to hang around near one particular wifi hotspot. I suspect "iPlayer on the Nokia N95 etc" gets less headlines/attention than an "iPlayer on iPhone" announcement though.
I'd like to see iPlayer on the Nintendo DS as well, just for giggles. (I'm pretty sure there are a lot more DS consoles in the UK than iPhones/iPod Touches as well).
There must also be more linux users who would appreciate a downloadable iPlayer than there are iPhone/iTouch users - I'd prefer to have a higher bitrate programme that I can comfortably watch full screen when I want, without having to rely on my cranky copper wire to the BT exchange keeping a sufficient quality connection to watch the entire programme.
@Kieran
Umm... the service is already available to Mac users, and has been since Christmas!
Erm, Kieran - navigate to bbc.co.uk/iPlayer on your browser of choice on a Mac.
Great article guys.
What software do you use to do the transcoding? How does it scale across the servers?
I'd like to see this work on a Play station portable which is already great for watching media content on.
Kieren - you can already watch iPlayer streams on the Mac via streaming so the iPhone's getting what Mac users already have got.
@#3
You've got the wrong end of the stick Kieran. The iPhone version is for streaming, not DRM downloads. It's the same type of offering that Mac users can access now with the embedded flash player at bbc.co.uk/iplayer. The iPhone doesn't have flash capability so the Beeb have transcoded the source to h.264 for it's built in QuickTime layer.
Next devices? The wii, clearly, although I understand that this is technically not easy given the lack of a Flash 9 API. Then the Nokia N-series, of which there are orders of magnitude more in circulation than all of Apple's shiny things.
I can't help but agree with Kieran. Not a Mac user myself, but I find it odd that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ are developing for new embedded devices, rather than getting iPlayer working on all 3 of Windows, Mac and Linux first. Desktop users are surely a larger market for this sort of thing, people with computers but not TVs, etc.
@Kieran McGhee
What are you on? You realise right that even since the flash version of iplayer was released (i.e. 3 months ago) you can use it on any browser than works with flash, so Macs work just fine.
Um, so where is the iPhone iPlayer site? I don't see any URL in this post; unless there's no specific iPlayer site and iPhone users are supposed to use the standard iPlayer site. If that's the case, the iPhone experience matches my desktop experience pretty well, in the sense that nothing whatsoever works.
Kieran iPlayer is available on Macs, but it's a streaming service rather than a download one, exactly the same service which is now available on the iPhone. So the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is providing anything for the iPhone which has already been available for the Mac.
Sony Playstation 3 or PSP next please :-)
Thanks for a great job so far.
@ Kieran
The iPhone iPlayer seems to be the equivalent of the streaming Flash version which is currently available for PCs and Macs.
The Mac version which is not yet available is the one that allows you to download the programme to your computer and keep it for a limited period of time. Windows PCs already have this, but I don't see what the big deal is, to be honest.
I think you're confusing the two.
"How in God's name can the ´óÏó´«Ã½ justify making the service available to iPhone users before Mac users?"
Mac users have been able to use the flash version of iPlayer for a while now.
I think you mean the download service which is not available for the Mac or iPhone yet.
Hopefully the ´óÏó´«Ã½ will get this sorted, especially as they are obviously able to do the H.264 format and so can presumably use the DRM Apple is using in it's movie rentals.
This is excellent, I just watched Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and the quality was superb. Now all you have to do is make the page more iPhone friendly for browsing the videos and everything will be great! :)
@Kieran
The iPhone gets exactly the same service as the Mac does - the video can only be streamed, you cannot download the video to either device.
Windows users can download the episode to watch later I believe.
So far, really nice. I'm looking forward to more content being available though.
I'd like to request the following for your consideration:
a) an iPhone specific version of the iPlayer website (much like your podcast site) to avoid all the scrolling around to find content. Even better, use the new SDK to do a full-blown application, although I do understand this will require significantly more work than the former.
b) an AppleTV version.
c) limited time downloads via iTunes. The movie rental framework should now make this possible.
Great work - Thanks for thinking of us Apple/iPhone customers.
Apple TV next please, or PS3 would make my day. Will look forwar to trying in on my ipod touch thanks
It's good to see the iPlayer in beta for iPhone and the iPod touch but don't get too cocky: you have got to improve the interface i.e. change it. That means a dedicated iPhone version of the webpage if you're going with streaming. So: easy to navigate, easy to search, with user preferences. It's about usability. USABILITY! If you at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ can wean yourself off the Redmond teat for 2 seconds then you may just realise how things should be done properly. Like using H.264 from the get go.
And instead of trying to write your own downloadable iPlayer for the Mac desktop, offer ´óÏó´«Ã½ content through iTunes like you should have done in the first place instead of wasting everybody's time.
Just tried this out on my iPhone after hearing about it on the Chris Moyles show this morning. Very impressive!
I would love to see this implemented on the PS3 so I could view back on my TV.
How do I report bugs? I already found one.
If your iPhone is configured to use a web proxy, it says "you need a broadband connection", even though I do have one.
If I turn off the proxy, it works fine.
Fantastic,
what more can I say, I use the Iplayer alot and have missed it on the Touch but had a look at the Beta on the Touch and have to say, amazing quality. Well done to those concerned.
Thanks for the in-depth info. Very interesting read.
I hope you guys are planning to bring iPlayer to the Xbox 360, you're already transcoding to WMV after all.
Magic. Both Iphone users can now access the Iplayer via their devices. What about the rest of us who have proper 3g devices?
And why can't you post on these bloody blogs without getting time out messages all the time. I'd spend more time getting the basics right before wasting time and effort delivering content to a minority group.
Great to see the iplayer on the iphone and ipod touch. Not that it matters for the iphone, but it is also great for the ipod touch that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has signed up with The Cloud to stream the iplayer.
Next I would like to see the ability to download the files so I can watch them when I'm away from my wi-fi connection (like you can with Windows) rather than pay to get them much later from itunes.
Just tried iPlayer on an iPhone. The picture quality is excellent with no blockiness or stuttering. In fact if anything it looks better than the Flash version in a web-browser on a Mac.
I would say that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ need to do a version of the website designed for a mobile (i.e. iPhone). While of course the iPhone can (and does) display the full ´óÏó´«Ã½ website and the iPlayer webpage, if it was designed like some other iPhone optimised sites it would be a lot quicker and easier to navigate.
I think that develop a video client application on a platform like the XBox is not only a technical issues.
Tools like XNA enable you to develop only games.
j
Re: The above comments about the iPhone h.264 version being available for everyone. That'd be awesome.
we want wiiPLAYER
Does anyone know if we can download a tv program on the iphone and watch offline when on the move?
I'm loving the iPlayer and thanks for all the development work to make this happen. It's very cool.
I do a lot of travelling so it's nice to be able to load up the laptop before I go away and watch some quality British shows while I'm out of good old Blighty ! It would be cool though if I could download shows while outside the UK. When I'm in the office in the UK we get IP addresses which look like they are from another country so can't download content then. Why not have a registration login to override this - tie it to the TV licence and address and limit to a max of 5 computers per household or something?
Also I'd love to be able to view the content on my TV without having to hook up the laptop each time. I've got an Xbox 360 and a Wii sitting there - can anything be done with them ? (Obviously after the Mac development).
Great news about the iPod - I'll be trying that when I get home !!!
Just tried watching one of the h264 encoded videos on my Nokia Internet Tablet (N810), but unfortunately the built-in media player says the codec is not supported, and the version of MPlayer for the tablets does not have hardware support for AAC decoding so video playback stutters (although it works perfectly with the audio stream turned off!).
So my request for a format to transcode into is MPEG4 video (400x240, 768kb/s) with MP3 audio (192kb/s) :-)
I'd like to second the request Dave made in comment #2 regarding allowing the choice to view the H.264 stream from a non-iphone/ipod touch browser.
At the moment you can use the firefox User Agent Switcher to make the iplayer site think you're using an iphone, but the video doesn't load - presumably it's using something iphone specific to push the video into the iphone's full screen player?
Anyway, the streams look brilliant on my ipod touch, so top marks there - just wish I could choose the same stream from my laptop rather than the flash one.
I can't get this to work on my iPod Touch. I go to the iplayer page and can see the "iPlayer for iPhone beta" logo, but when I click on a video I seem to get the 'flash' version, which I can't play. Anyone else have this problem?
shame its rubbish at finding shows that actually play on the iphone, so far.... it aint an occasional issue, its the vast majority - alpha, not beta
"It's the day that it first became available on a portable device."
Doesn't the Nokia N8xx count then? It got it at the same time as every other Linux box.
As everyone else has said, the quality is indeed excellent! I think that people underestimate the significance of adding H.264 to the formats encoded for the iPlayer - the encoding process must be the most technically time-consuming part of getting programmes onto iPlayer, and H.264 is a very processor-intensive format to encode.
Now that the video is in a certain format, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ can focus on ways of delivering it to devices that support it. The iPhone is most likely the first device to take advantage of this because it can already display the iPlayer web pages.
Most of the connected devices that people have been mentioned in their comments can actually play H.264 - the Apple TV, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Nokia N-series devices and even the Zune can play it, but would require custom, maybe even non-HTML client interfaces to be developed (with the possible exception of the PSP, which can stream media pointed to via RSS feeds).
I don't believe there is any sort of conspiracy on the part of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ or Apple to make a good headline out of this - although this announcement *does* make a good headline considering the popularity of the iPhone platform - at the expense of other, more common devices, it simply appears to me as a want for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to actually *do* something with the technology, a bit like when the iPlayer was first introduced only for Windows. The amount of work required to launch the iPlayer beta, and now to integrate H.264, must have been enormous - and it's only natural for the teams to want to show something for it!
Sam
I was sitting in my living room today wanting to watch Whistleblower on iPlayer and I got to thinking that it would be really cool to be able to watch it on my TV instead of my Laptop.
Any chance of a Wii version? Wii supports Flash, but it doesn't seem to support all the latest stuff in the Flash spec, it gives me an error about it not supporting something. Maybe work with Nintendo on developing an iPlayer channel for Wii?
Also, Xbox 360 or Nokia N95/N800 support would be great.
And access to that h.264 stream on the desktop would be good, it looks much better than the current FLV stream.
"only available in the UK"
This annoys me to no end.
This is excellent, I just watched Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and the quality was superb. Now all you have to do is make the page more iPhone friendly for browsing the videos and everything will be great! :)
@Kieran
The iPhone gets exactly the same service as the Mac does - the video can only be streamed, you cannot download the video to either device.
Windows users can download the episode to watch later I believe.
Hopefully, the Nokia N810 is on your radar for another mobile optimised version:
800x480 screen, Firefox 3-based browser, Linux operating system, wireless and Bluetooth.
The streaming Flash version works almost adequately on it: the sound is fine, but the video is very laggy. This is a side effect of the N810's relatively sluggish processor and full blown desktop Flash implementation.
Please can you try to get this on the xbox 360 or even Windows Media Center extender that runs though the xbox.
Curious to know if your system is able to output in any of the Dirac formats yet? Is it still in your plans?
Wii please. Opera supports Flash 7 as that was the most recent version that was available with a device SDK when Opera was developed.
It looks like Adboe has pushed out FlashLite for embedded devices since then:
... but the site says "support for most Flash 8 content". Doesn't iPlayer use Flash9?
Anyhow, I guess if you could just make iPlayer a little more backward compatible (like YouTube is) so people that are stuck with Flash 7 can still enjoy the fun that'd be grand :)
There are more Mac users than iphones, there are more Linux users than iphones.
Yet still we are waiting.......
Interface, interface, interface, try stealing the YouTube model, apart from that the programme itself was excelent. Thank you.
it be excellent to get ps3 support, you can watch youtube on a ps3 so why not bbc iplayer
Not withstanding how good it is to see iPlayer being made available on new platforms, I think the most interesting thing about this post is the detail around the backend processes.
This I found fascinating, and would appreciate more of this level of information.
Thanks Anthony.
You're using the iPhone "because it is the device most optimised for high quality video currently available" - rubbish!! The iPhone is great for music and talking but for video, Archos are the best devices with bigger screens, higher resolutions and bigger capacities. Please work with Archos!!
Must agree now the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is using H.264 why are they not using this for the other versions too?
H.264 is the way to go, and while MPEG-2 is still needed for set-top boxes it provides better bang per buck in terms of quality.
Less transcodes would mean a smaller server farm, or able to do more content, e.g. slowly get the ´óÏó´«Ã½ archives online.
BTW PSP and PS3 version is soon I hope, we can play H.264 content out of the box.
I'm sure people will be able to view the H.264 version on their Macs (rather than the standard flash version) pretty soon. If not via an official version, then with a browser extension that 'pretends' to be an iPod Touch...
So the iPlayer is now available for the iPhone. How many people are actualy going to use it? how about a version which allows mac users to download the programs the same as a window users. since it is named after a mac product anyway.
Watched a couple of programmes on my iPhone - very impressed!
The big question for me is when I will be able to view this stuff from abroad - I spend a great deal of m time travelling but when I log in from the US (say) the system detects the IP address and refuses to work for me.
I would even pay a licence fee for my portable devices.
Missed the first episode of new TorchWood because of this.
/blogs/technology/2008/03/an_iphone_wishlist_for_steve_j_1.html
Thanks for explaining about the backend stuff, makes the expense make sense now.
Does seem to me that encoding in WMV and Flash is a bit of a waste of time since Quicktime is available for Windows so a H.264 stream could be served. If you then add 3GPP support you have a lot more of the market covered.
Just kill WMV, you know it makes sense, it's a nasty low quality format for ancient devices and don't hope for improvement, the next version will be worse..
Cannot believe ´óÏó´«Ã½ wasted time and tax payers money on making a version for iPhone.
They said themselves due to the iPhone only using 2.5g (EDGE) it cannot handle streaming yet there are phones like the Nokia N95 that support 3.5G with insane speeds around 3mbit with massive market share which they didn't bother with first. Instead they went for such a small market share then only offer it with WiFi. If someone can afford to waste that much money on an overpriced piece of rubbish, I'm sure they can afford a laptop to watch it on!
Come on ´óÏó´«Ã½, you said yourself the reason you went Windows only first was for market share reasons, then you do the reverse here! Guess some high up people at ´óÏó´«Ã½ put there own personal choices ahead of the British Tax Payers!
When are we going to get an international version of the iplayer. I live in Belgium, my boss in Poland. Both of us are interested in being able to watch and/or download current ´óÏó´«Ã½ shows. We will even pay for them, just give us the option to do it legally, and not through PhP or Proxy servers.
Love the beta so far,
But like others have said, please make a nice iphone/ipod touch interface like the beta podcast site, and fingers crossed, please make the radio streams work. I would love a aac or mp3 stream of the radio shows, it would be great to pick a show on listen again and listen to it on my iphone!
Im so happy things are moving forward, For years we have had to deal with stupid real player for the radio, and wmv for video, now we get options from a transcoding farm.
I cant wait for teh dau that i can watch catch up tv from any station on a box under the tv be it the AppleTV, Ps3 or whatever, and watch tv in bed on the iphone, or listen to a radioshow ive missed. Add in a 3G iphone, an the custom interface or app, and I will have an amazing device!
Please work with ITV and channel 4 to get all tv shows using this system, and work with Sony, Apple, and Microsoft to get it on their boxes!
Thanks again, loving the iphone beta!
Amazing! I love the iPlayer!
In no particular order :
PS3/PSP
Apple TV / iTunes for PC and Mac via limited time rentals, with iPod transfer possible. That way you can watch the same content on your PC, your iPod and your TV.
However the biggest step forward should be delivering decent picture quality - whilst the streamed and downloaded services are fine for the iPod touch sized displays, they don't scale well on a decent living room TV. I'd like to see 720x576 50i content - so you get full motion rendition - not the jerky 25p stuff that is currently being used.
I'd like to see ´óÏó´«Ã½ programmes on . (This means you, Ogg Vorbis.)
Great new service and I will use it alot. Although it would have been nice to be able to download the content to watch where there is no free wifi coverage (most places)
It would be great to be able to download the content and watch on the train on the way to work. Hopefully that will come with the proper mac support promised later in the year that hopefully involves using itunes rental type model, thus covering ipods, macs and apple tv..
@Kerin:
"Um, so where is the iPhone iPlayer site?"
Just visit bbc.co.uk/iplayer on an iPhone. There's no separate site; it just sniffs the user agent string to find what platform you're on and serves you the appropriate content.
As someone who is anti-apple I'm quite pleased that you've managed to do this. Sounds like not much was needed in new technology to pull it off, and hopefully it can be "ported" to other devices.
I would suggest like others that the homepage is tweaked, and programmes filtered out so only those which are available are showing.
Just waiting now for the hinted Wii release :)
Yeah, as a Brit living in San Francisco i'd love to have access to this. I have no problems paying for it. I'd buy a UK TV license like that! .
I'm not hopeful that this would become a reality though. I'd honestly pay $1000 a year no problem to have access to british TV (though would be nice to have channel 4 also). If only it were available. :(
@woo - it might just be me, but the framerate of the flash iPlayer is too low to be watchable on my N800.
A version of the iPlayer optimised for Nokia internet tablets would be a great idea, IMO.
Tim - #72: Live iphone radio streaming would be easy for the beeb to pull off. WFMU, a station in the US has been doing it for a few months now at both 32k and 128k mp3.
check
I can't reconcile these statements:
"We started with iPhone because it is the device most optimised for high quality video currently available."
"(the iPhone's EDGE connectivity is too slow for streaming video). "
What was the point of this exercise other than to grab Jesus-phone media interest? If you're in range of a Wi-Fi connection, you're probably near a laptop.
Wouldn't it have been better to start the mobile push with a device that has connectivity that wasn't designed in the early nineties?
I stream and I'd really rather do so on quicktime. H.264 videos are just far more suited to the job and what the service needs to get more hits than the same video on youtube.
Amazed at the number of complaints about the exciting development in the above comments.
I have iplayer working on my PC, my Mac and now my iPod touch and they all work really well.
What's not to like?
Thank you for this new service.
Well it's got to be AppleTV support, that would take this service and make it compete in the real world with SKY & cable.
Please make the iPhone/touch h.264 version being available for everyone. That'd be awesome.
Finally, think a Wii version would also be a great thing, as the largest selling worldwide entertainment platform should be first to get iPlayer support!
Steve
Check this out for Live Streaming FLV content to Nokia N95:
A massive thank you to the ´óÏó´«Ã½. Watching on my iPhone is just stunning and has to be seen to be believed. I was expecting quality similar to the YouTube application that's already on there, but it's crystal clear and flawless.
I was furious at the launch of the iPlayer being a Mac user, and as many people have pointed out you can use it on a Mac now (albeit just the streaming version) but it took a long time before anyone not using Windows could use the service.
The ´óÏó´«Ã½ has now redeemed itself by committing to making the service available in as many ways as possible, which sets them apart. 4oD for example still doesn't work on anything but Windows and there are seemingly no plans to change this.
Keep up the good work! For those who love the iPhone like me, the iPlayer is up there with the stunning applications like Maps and YouTube which make the device exceptional.
Hi Anthony,
This isn't the first time a mobile device has been able to play iPlayer. The N95 8GB can already access iPlayer in its flash enabled browser without being redirected to any specially optimised site.
Also, I'm sure you could have released this for the N95 classic at the same time, it shold be able to handle it perfectly.
Before I start my, self-confessed, rant, I would like to ask this Question...
What if the ´óÏó´«Ã½ only allowed one brand of television to decode ´óÏó´«Ã½ channels?
I apologise in advance for my spelling and grammar which I know will be incorrect. It is a message I want to get across, and you will hopefully see that message despite my deficiencies here.
Thank you. I don't own an iPhone, but I can fool my browser to say that it is one. Since you badly wanted your content on the Iphone and it can't handle your DRM'd media, you decided to remove it. Everyone else has to use it, and some operating systems don't have access to this service but Iphone users (´óÏó´«Ã½ execs) are special. They should have access before Mac, Linux and Unix users, you thought. You could say that it was easier to do it for the Iphone but this would be a lie. It is simple to introduce this for other operating systems in the same way but you chose not to. For us. But the iPhone user is clearly special. He would not be able to use this DRM'd media. So you removed it, but only for him.
So, thank you. Now that you have removed this limitation on the Iphone, and I have a lying browser, I can now use your service without the degraded quality of the flash service. We are all equals now.
It appears though you have taken down this service. Maybe this is due to a large amount of traffic, thanks to the www.boingboing.net article. It might however be because you found out what people were doing. Either way I hope to be enjoying the Iplayer soon.
Though my tone here is rather disrespectful I do appreciate the flash support. That is, if it is a first step. As I have always said, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ should not be supporting a proprietary standard that forces people to use a specific operating system. Now I am guessing you are finding out that you are fighting a loosing battle.
Fantastic Good work and well done using Safari rather than an application. The only thing that is missing at the moment is a slightly easier to navigate style for small screen devices!
I would hate to see an iPhone only design, but an easy to navigate with big buttons would be great if your screen size was a little small!
Question from someone without an iphone and to lazy to investigate. Are you able to access the listen again feature and/or stream radio?
Big factor in not getting an iphone yet is the lack of radio. It would be great if this development solved it. It would have to work whilst on the move in the city, at least, to be truly great.
Anyone tried?
Well done the ´óÏó´«Ã½ on bringing the iPlayer to the iPhone. This along with Apple TV and iTunes will prove to be the best thing the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has done with regards to the iPlayer.
Thank god you have seen sense and not used the abomination that is flash player for the iPhone. The sooner Adobe are eradicated from the internet the safer and more secure the web will become.
Apple TV support for me would be very helpful. Especially if the content was delivered using the iTunes/podcast system as the ´óÏó´«Ã½ wouldn't need to create a new custom app. An alternative option is to use YouTube?
Saying that, I'd imagine using iTunes would mean the ´óÏó´«Ã½ would have to embrace the Apple DRM system?
Really great to see and use this. Quality is excellent. It is like suddenly being able to watch good quality TV on my phone! Well done.
There is one reason and one reason alone that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has not made this service available to more handsets. Money.
When I start the web browser on my N95 (that uses the same technology as the iPhones Safari browser and is h.265 codec compatible too) I have the option to PAY for ´óÏó´«Ã½ content. Why would the ´óÏó´«Ã½ give me the option to pay for something and then give it to me for free? No one would do that. That's the same reason the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has been "unable" to create a DOWNLOAD version of the iPlayer for the Mac yet decided to give the option to PAY for content on iTunes. Why give away stuff when you could pretend the technology does not exists to make it possible, but you CAN pay for it and then magically the technology DOES exist!
Shame on you ´óÏó´«Ã½.
I would like to see the Wii next on the list, as so many people have one connected their TV already.
Thanks for the overview of how the system works, it sounds like a pretty major setup! The iPhone / iPod Touch version is a really great application of this technology, I'm far more likely to get round to watching shows on my iPod Touch than on my computer!
That said, I would love to be able to access the h.264 streaming version via my Mac rather than the Flash version as it does appear to be better quality and scales in size better than Flash's codec does. Is this likely to be enabled? You could of course offer the h.264 version via the Flash 9 player which supports this format natively although I would like to view it via quicktime directly.
It would be great if there was some visual way of identifying whether a programme is available for viewing on the iPhone / iPod Touch, although I presume once more shows are transcoded it will be less likely to find shows that aren't available.
A complete waste of time and money.
I watched a show on Iran, 1.5 hours and the experience was great on the touch. The H264 coding looks absolutely brilliant on the screen format of the touch.
To have this on AppleTV would be absolutely great!
Just another person wanting to add themselves to the list of people frustrated to see ´óÏó´«Ã½ investing time and effort into a minority platform compared to Symbian S60. Especially given the promise to work on a download solution for Mac and Linux.
The h264 video looks great, markedly smoother than the FLV output. I only hope the ´óÏó´«Ã½ can work out cross-platform DRM so we can watch EastEnders on the tube.
I'm writing this from my Wii, and you can guess which platform I'd like the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iplayer to be made available for next.
Thanks for the info, and as someone else said, a roadmap of future platforms would be great.
Tom
Good job you're doing, folks, keep it up.
Hi Anthony,
Thanks.
Have you made a diary of the implimentation from initial plan, would love to get the even more nerdy details. 8-)
On a more responsible note, what justification can there be for iphone availability first, versus symbian - Something that looks like it's done for the obsessive, but completely elite Fanboys -did the ´óÏó´«Ã½ staff get their iPhones "expensed" :p
Finally, wouldn't the most fairest solution be to make it available in 1 or 2 formats, publish the standards, and tell anyone who can't deal/adapt with that that it's their loss -which the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has the power to drive, even more than it did in setting the agenda on Broadcast?
(-the whole point of the open-web and open-sourcing/api's, and user-demand (on manufacturers))
Thanks in advance.
Yours kindly,
Shakir Razak
I have an ipod touch and was wondering if you can use the tv out feature that you can for tv shows etc for the iplayer when streaming?
Thanks
It would be great on Wii, you could create a Wii Channel with a custom interface that could be bought for a minimal fee in the Wii Shopping Channel. On this channel you could display listings for all the content available and also use the screen in the interface to highlight new content that all the family could view. You could also connect it with the Parental Controls so kids could catch up with stuff safely. Childrens TV through the Wii would be immensely popular. Please bring it to Wii with the codecs it supports, it would be popular among British users and also in europe too I think.
Love this development. Would be extremely useful if the UK video weather forecasts could be provided in this format too.
Thanks
Hi,
Just a couple of comments here from my own end of the duck-pond
First I've been holding off the iPlayer site till I could reasonably access it from most platforms of preference. For me the selection of WMV + Flash + H.264 seems to make sense. Sure you could argue for DivX and other methods however at some point you are going to get into a user preference / satisfaction poll with lesser / inferior codecs being dropped - that's evolution... and more importantly ubiquity.
In the meantime iPlayer basically keeps to the TCP/IP transport media and bandwidth restrictions we are currently limited to here.
It was interesting to read of the ISP pains regarding the traffic being generated around iPlayer which is all to the good. We need to get out of this complacency regarding our still mid 20th C telco infrastructure.
Clearly for future expansion onto mobile platforms we really should be chasing down our service providers for a Hi-Spec transmission infrastructure capable of coping with the bandwidth. The most significant part of that is not talked about here is the billing that Mobile users incur.
So what are we looking at here...?
A technology showcase platform delivering transcoded datastreams on demand over the TCP/IP protocol to as many users that demand it!
For that I applaud the team for there efforts and continued enthusiasm.
David, I watched "Mad Men" last night on my 22" TV streamed through my iPhone and using the iPhone's TV out. The quality was awesome. "Question Time" was noticeably poorer quality but still very watchable on the larger screen.
As for those of you with a Nokia N series or an Archos or whatever mobile device... there's no shame in admitting you bought the wrong phone. Just drop it in to a charity shop on your way to the Apple store.
Re Lummy_al (Comment 91) - regarding Cory Doctorow's Boing Boing blog post.
This is the current ´óÏó´«Ã½ line for press enquiries:
'The ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer on iPhone and iPod Touch is currently in beta, which enables the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to pick up on these issues and find a solution that ensures the content is delivered to users in a secure way before the service is rolled out'
I hope to have a more detailed post from Anthony in the next few days on this subject.
When will ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer content for iPhone become available for those outside of the UK? I enjoy listening to ´óÏó´«Ã½ podcasts on my iPhone but would like the option of listening to your streaming content as well.
J. Sutton. Indianapolis, Ind. USA
the ps3 will I'd already has the patch to watch films on say joox.net or stage6.com. I use iplayer on my laptop of I miss two pints but taking all this time just to get it t work on consoles is a waste of e because srely if you have broadband to watch these shows on a console of something likethat surely you should have a computer so why not make it just work for computer and save a lot of hassle!!!!!!
Although pleased to see this being made available I did wonder if i would actually use it for real.
Well yesterday I did. At Edinburgh airport whislt waiting for my plane I connected from my ipod Touch to the The Cloud and through the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s agreement of free access to their sitesI was then able to watch 15 minutes of the 1 o'clock news before I had to board my flight.
Also, used the updated Mobile pages as well which looked pretty good and less scrolling andpinching to view all the stories.
Very handy indeed.
Roll on the full solution for Mac and Linux users.
Rather than say thanks for the iPhone/iPod Touch format, I'd just like to thank you SO much for choosing streaming Flash for iPlayer; I can use iPlayer on a whole load of geeky Flash-enabled devices (like the Nokia N800). Keep up the great work!
I have been watching TV using the iPlayer on my iPod touch since day one and I'm so impressed, the picture quality is amazing, looks like DVD, its made my Ipod touch even more valuable, now I have streaming TV along with my music, movies, photos and the internet, hat's of to the geeks at the beeb, a truly fantastic application.
Thank you
Alan McIntyre
Quite simply the best use of license payer's money we have seen from the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in a long time.
Come on, let's stop wasting money on ´óÏó´«Ã½4 etc., keep the programme volume low and the quality high, and stuff that iPlayer full of brilliant programmes.
For once I'm happy to cough up the license fee this year.
I would like to know why ´óÏó´«Ã½ programs are made available world wide through the iPlayer? Members of other countries can watch the ´óÏó´«Ã½ for free while Bits have to pay the licence fee.
I'd be interested - purely geeky interest - in what kind of platform the transcoding farm runs. It would be cool it it's on Linux, though I wonder if the need to produce WMV ties you into Windows on the server.
I think the thing to blame for lack of compatibility is DRM. If not for the requirement for DRM then we could all use a nice open standard format for video and lots of platforms could work with it.
DRM increases cost for all but the content producers and the owners of the DRM standard and reduces flexibility and competition. It can be argued whether or not in the long term it's great for Hollywood. It's certainly great for Microsoft as they get legally enforced vendor lock-in through file format.
DRM also reduces the potential for exiting new devices to do things that the content industry never imagined. So it's one group's paranoia and desire for control versus everyone else.
The music industry is moving away from DRM. Maybe the video industry will one day do the same.
My iPhone is a MOBILE phone. So I use it when I'm out and about, especially to watch video on the tube. iPlayer needs WiFi, which implies that I have to be STATIC. I suspect I'm amongst millions of people who are in the same predicament. We can watch a proper TV at home, and have computers and broadband at home too.
Although this may be a step forward, it's nothing more than a gimick. What we need is the ability to download selected programmes (obviously with the right licensing and expiry) and then watch them on our MOBILE devices on the move. iTunes could do this. If we can't have that then I suggest concentrating on getting iPlayer working on STATIC devices like Virgin Media STBs, Wii, Playstations, Apple TV, etc.
Streaming to Mobile phones via 3G is a better option, but only if you are lucky enough to be on something like T-Mobile's Web'n'walk, or else you may find yourself paying more to watch East Enders than it cost to make (Orange charge £3/MB!!!).
The ´óÏó´«Ã½ should be commended for the distribution platform they've created.
I have some questions which media executives really need to face up too:
Can you estimate how much you would of saved if you weren't forced to restrict access to your publicly broadcast media? Do you think restricting the media has any effect at all on preventing unauthorised distribution of it. Do you not think you could of created a much better consumer experience without these restrictions and with the money you may or may not of saved? Do you think that given the license payer has already seen huge compulsory increases in fees under the guise of paying for these digital services; the license payer is then expected to incur further fees as content providers perceive they have the right to milk more money from dvds/high definition dvd sales?
Does the restriction and 'management' of content provision to the license paying public in the end all boil down to money?
Wicked move, love it. iPlayer is the way forward!! Just a shame Skins isn't on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ :-(
Had a play with it earlier and the quality and speed is superb. Now please develop a proper interface for it. I don't want to have to pinch and squeeze to choose something to watch - the iphone comes with some nice web APIs that you can leverage to create an amazing, native look and feel web interface for the iPlayer.
Go do it please!! Oh, and I use a mac, and I'm really not that bothered about the download client - when are you ever away from a wifi connection nowadays?
Cheers ´óÏó´«Ã½, you've just made someone who threw his TV out a long time ago very happy. Now about Skins...
Like the poster above, I had noticed that a lot of the programmes were displayed as not available when i clicked on them.
However, I realised I only had 50mb or so free on my iPod touch (not enough to buffer the full mp4 file).
After freeing up some more space on my device, all programmes loaded and played like a dream.
Great service so far guys!
Thanks ´óÏó´«Ã½ News for describing people using the iPhone downloading workaround as "hackers".
There I was thinking I was just an honest licence payer trying to access material for which I've paid, in a form which is usable, without having to pay a further licence fee to a foreign corporation in order to do so.
Yes, Mac and GNU/Linux users can peer at a small Flash video animation, but going back to a 1950s screen size is scarcely a cutting edge experience. (The fullscreen option for the Flash version is very jerky unless you reduce the image quality to the lowest setting.)
As Cory Doctorow has pointed out, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s use of DRM for iPlayer represents a declaration of war by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ on its own users, and it is a battle the ´óÏó´«Ã½ cannot lose. Workarounds have already been found for the latest attempts to shore up the DRM, and I'll be making full use of those in order that I can enjoy my full rights as a licence payer.
I am not going to start redistributing this content or doing anything shockingly evil like that. I am just going to download it and watch it at my convenience, like I can with ´óÏó´«Ã½ shows transmitted over the airwaves.
Please substitute this version for the version I submitted earlier today. Many thanks.
Hmm! To those who think that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer should be developed for other media players ahead of Apple's iPhone listen to what Anthony is quite rightly saying "We started with iPhone because it is the device most optimised for high quality video currently available. It displays the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer site and ´óÏó´«Ã½ programmes nicely."
I have to say that for once the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is seriously thinking ahead rather than bowing to 'the numbers as they stand at the moment game'. The Apple iPhone has obviously generated a great deal of interest word-wide and is the fastest growing product of its kind. Its estimated two year technology lead may not last forever, but there are several factors that make it the obvious horse to back.
1) It is the only device to have a complete mainstream computer operating system on-board. 2) It is the only device that supports a genuine web browser. 3) It has very high quality display technology built-in. 4) With the forthcoming SDK release there are soon going to be literally thousands of useful applications that will be eagerly snapped up by users, thus increasing its popularity. 5) Apple have turned their attention seriously to address the corporate market - one of the most lucrative areas. 6) The largest and most sophisticated venture capital company in the world is backing developers of applications for the iPhone with a huge investment fund to the tune of 100,000,000 USD (that's one hundred million dollars US) and they they have stated publicly that they see Apple's iPhone as one of the most significant technology developments going forward. And this is at precisely the moment when there are so many dire warnings about the world economy! 7) Security has always been an Apple byword, and this has been recognised by the many industrial strength partners that Apple has been engaging with in their iPhone project. 8) A 3G (with the potential for next gen as well) version is part of Apple's development plan - maybe ready for release Q3 2008.
Love it or hate it, the Apple iPhone/iPodTouch family has a very, very bright future.
So don't knock the ´óÏó´«Ã½ for backing a winner and using the license payer's money wisely! Just remember the Microsoft Vista shambles, XBox with HDVD, Internet Explorer that defies agreed international Web standards and many portable phone/media devices with cut-down incompatible systems that are really tailored for a past generation of technologies.
Keith Littlejohns
Harrow
Yes all very good, but where is the consistency in the content?
The first part of the Sport Relief Apprentice special was enjoyed on my iPhone - however episodes Two and Three are not available on the device - why is that?
I am shocked that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ did not make links to the cracked source code or the cracker's blog. It's not actually hard to find but by not linking it, it shows that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not fully reporting the situation.
I am appalled that they treat a news story about THEIR player in this censoring way.
Great news that the amazing iPlayer is available on iPhone!
...so where do I download iPlayer for iPhone then?
...why is it I'm hunting high and low for the link??
Is there no one in the office to provide a blatant 'click here' graphic??
Not impressed...
Ashley Highfield has now posted an update on iPlayer on the iPhone here.
PS3 PSP PLEASE
** iPlayer on iPod touch/iPhone **
Amazing. Just access the iPlayer URL from the iPod
Safari browser, wait a few seconds, click on the play button that appears and it works brilliantly.
Tonight my wife, myself & son watched the Top Gear Botswana special via iPod plugged into TV.
Excellent video quality, occassional very minor
pixelation.
I'm a card carrying alpha-geek but I was seriously impressed.
Its what the ´óÏó´«Ã½ stands for Quality!!
Thank you to the visionary who took the decision to do this. Please add more content though. Lots of the program links are dead links.
I hope the ´óÏó´«Ã½ rolls this technology out to many other end user devices, Xbox, PS3, PSP etc. People may be more encouraged by the license fee if they were able to use such a great service like this.
iPlayer on Apple TV would be a killer app for both parties. Apple would get to open up a huge market for a set-top box which currently has little market in the UK; the ´óÏó´«Ã½ would get a way to deliver on-demand content straight to users' wide screen TVs using the infrastructure they already have in place, in a 100% user-friendly way.
The combination could be revolutionary. I'll be ordering my Apple TV the day the firmware comes out.
Will i player work on the n82 with flash 3 for mobiles?
Having read through many of the comments above I was tempted to press the "Complain about this post" for many of them, but probably reasons like: "this post is rude!" or "how self centred can you be!", or "what a stupid question! try doing some research - I hear Google it quite good for that." or "how ungrateful can you be".
I think this is a brilliant service and have used it a lot since I discovered it. And I see it as "free". Yes I know I am paying a licence fee, but at approx 40p per day, and I still have my TV... so what is that: 1 pint of beer a week, half a packet of cigarettes a week, 1 over priced coffee a week, 4 texts a weeks to people that didn't want them any way.....
If this was a fully "commercial" service it would only be available on devices/OSes that have significant market share (basically Windows PCs) - so the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is doing amazingly well to provide it as widely as it has. Stop griping or I'll start to complain that they are wasting their money doing it for anything except Windows!
I don't in general like DRM (for all the usual reasons), but for ´óÏó´«Ã½ content (that I have paid something towards) I think it is justified as it allows the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to generate more revenue (which does not cost the licence payer (me) any more unless I want to pay).
Well done ´óÏó´«Ã½! I don't say that very often - have you seen the "British Menu"?
Pity it is such a good service - as it looks like it might swamp the UK internet!
* rant mode off *
Please, Please, Please release a PSP and PS3 version.
Like many of my friends I have both and iPlayer on the PS would be great and better than using a PC monitor. One will allow mobile access, the other a TV experience.
I'm a Brit, living in India and would love to see the iplayer available for international customers. Like others I would be willing to pay a fee for this service. Can we have an update on the International version?
Please provide a user interface for Windows Media Center.
well I have been using iplayer on the iPhone for a while and its amazing quality and so easy to use! However for the last few days it has not been working for any progs,there is no play button to press, whats going on.... Any ideas?I miss it!!!
My ipod touch does not show play button for any programs on iplayer as well. come on beeb. sort it out. pls