back to article BBC bigs up iPlayer for TVs and consoles

The BBC has tweaked its iPlayer for TVs and set-top boxes, launching the "custom-built for the living room" redesign through Sony's PlayStation 3. The look was designed specifically for big screens and comes with a host of fresh features and personalisation options. These include an improved search engine, the ability to …

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  1. jason 7
    Stop

    Cmon Microsoft.....

    ...stop being such a killjoy and let everyone in the UK with a 360 enjoy the iPlayer/4OD goodness.

    We've paid for it already so why not?

    Ditch the Sky Player too...oh and maybe the expensive Zune movie thing too and let us access LoveFilm....

    You know, broaden the appeal a bit.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Finally

    Have the made it so you can actually navigate it with the PS3 remote, rather than having to use a controller?

    Wait a sec - HTML5? Don't tell me they've actually upgraded the browser!

  3. highly_defined
    WTF?

    When is HD not HD?

    My PS3 outputs 1080p except when this new iPlayer launches. All I can get out of it then is 576i SD, even when playing HD feeds. Is it borked?

  4. I Like Heckling Silver badge
    Meh

    So what?

    I've had the BBC iplayer on my Wii for around 2 years, it works fine... my only gripe is the poor bandwidth which makes for a poor quality picture.

    1. Greg J Preece

      It's actually been on PS3 for ages too

      They're just re-launching it, but acting like it's a new product. Why? No idea.

  5. Iain Hamilton
    Thumb Down

    It's pointless and horrible to use

    Compared to the now replaced web based PS3 player it's awful. Almost to the point of being unusable.

  6. DrunkJunkie
    Thumb Up

    Very Nice

    For one thing it doesn't run it in the god awful nearly as bad as iTunes PS3 browser so it doesn't crash every 10 seconds. And that means 720p.

    Layout is really nice with both PS3 six axis and the bluray remote working great however some nice animated transitions would be nice. Settings also allows you to keep "HD" option on so if its broadcast in it, you get it... Top Gear looks pretty good as much as Clarkson would in HD.

    Success for Aunty this time.

  7. DrXym

    HTML5 based

    How can it be HTML5 based? The PS3's browser is a barely HTML4 compliant piece of crap called Netfront.

    Perhaps BBC aren't using HTML5 at all or their app includes a version of Webkit to run more complex content.

    There have been murmurings that the built-in browser is to improve. It would be nice if the Netfront one was dumped (except for legacy uses) for something more modern. But I wonder what the likelihood is of that happening.

  8. tekgun
    Trollface

    Alright for some...

    If only the UK government would force the population to buy services from my business I too could spend millions setting up a cool website.

  9. Adam T

    HD?

    But will the PS3 version support HD at last?

    iPlayer on my (Samsung) TV supports HD, but then I'm stuck with shit volume controls and no access to TV settings, which is doubly annoying because it turns on that shitty video smoothing and sets sharpening to max by default, which makes everything look like it was filmed with a home camcorder. Same goes for Lovefilm...I use the PS3's instead.

  10. Adrian Jones

    Hmmm

    I bought a Sony Bluray player, which can access iPlayer. except that when you try to watch HD content it'll play the first 19 seconds then give up.

    Hopefully they'll have fixed it in this update...

    (Not holding my breath)

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    The king of consoles

    just got even better.

    Cheers Sony/BBC....

    A dedicated iPlayer app which supports HD too, very nice.

  12. terd

    xbmc?

    that looks very much like the aeon skin for xbmc...

  13. Chris 171
    Meh

    VM Tivo too?

    I only say this as I have been experiencing odd picture size behaviour on HD iplayer content (onscreen logos pushed off screen / lame quality).

    Hoping its one of those early adopter issues as with all the other things missing from the box but thats another story..

  14. SpaMster
    Meh

    Live TV?

    Now all they have to do is put links to the live broadcasts of there channels on it as well, got no idea why they havnt done this already

    1. Greg J Preece

      At a guess

      It'll be because most people have their PS3 plugged into a TV....which can do the live broadcasts on its own...

      1. Andy Moreton

        TV licence

        Plus if the PS3 could show live TV you would have to have a TV licence to use it legally.

  15. Annihilator
    Unhappy

    Not holding breath..

    .. does it improve upon the UI currently embedded with the PS3? i.e. the only way to really control it is through the PS3 controller, defeating the purpose of having the BD Remote that works for pretty much every other function (bar games, natch)? I'm not holding my breath..

    1. SteveBalmer
      FAIL

      Works fine with my BD Remote.

      And HD too...

      Epic fail post....

  16. highly_defined
    Thumb Down

    When is HD not HD?

    Well, my PS3 is set up for 1080p output, but as soon as the new iPlayer app loads it falls back to 576i. even when displaying so-called HD content.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Does this mean the Wii is getting an update?

    The only reason I use it now a days

    1. SteveBalmer

      No

      because Wii is still stuck in 2005, with Flash7 (with no H.264 support) and double the bandwidth for more blockiness.

      It's a shame consumers are such fucking sheep, and don't understand details like this, and just buy what their neighbor buys...

    2. I Like Heckling Silver badge
      Meh

      Does this mean the Wii is getting an update?

      Yes... unfortunately as the Wii only supports up to 480p... it'll probably come with the Wii U next year.

      Nice to see the PS3 is still playing catchup with the Wii,.. but still not worth the purchase price (nor is the 360)... when they drop below £125 I might consider it... and I don't mean the budget model that's not worth having at all.

  18. David Wood
    WTF?

    Am I missing something?

    My ps3 is just giving me the old style browser based iplayer...

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bravia TV

    I use the iPlayer application on my Sony Bravia TV quite a lot, and it's really good. I hope they don't bugger it up!

  20. Flossie
    FAIL

    Draft standard

    HTML 5 is still a draft standard. How can the BBC justify using it as the basis of anything beyond a test service when the W3C advice is that it shouldn't be used yet?

  21. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    HTML 5 dubious, quote

    "While it may not look anything like a website, what we are unveiling today - initially on the PS3 games console - is built using the same technology: HTML and Javascript. The increasing use of standards for playing media, such as HTML5 and CE-HTML (both elements of the the Dbook7 standard for hybrid TV devices in the UK) is making it easier for us to roll this out more widely. So, expect to see it come to other devices in the coming months."

    They're demonstrating that HTML 5 is something they've heard of. And here "HTML 5" evidently means "placing a video player in a web page".

    Also that it's 300 models of TV-compatible device such as set top box OR overambitious TV set, and not 300 TV models or indeed 300 TV owners as in the dear old days at Alexandra Palace, when BBC TV could be received by a moderately large area of central London. All right, I'd be a bit surprised - a bit - if an Internet-connected product had a geographical limitation as strict as -that-.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Re: It's pointless and horrible to use

    Spot on, bloody awful compared to the previous version, very slow to respond to input.

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