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 …

[jason 7]

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.

[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!

[highly_defined]

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?

[I Like Heckling]

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.

[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.

[Iain Hamilton]

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.

[DrunkJunkie]

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.

[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.

[tekgun]

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.

[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.

[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)

[Anonymous Coward]

The king of consoles

just got even better.

Cheers Sony/BBC....

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

[terd]

xbmc?

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

[Chris 171]

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..

[SpaMster]

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

[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...

[Andy Moreton]

TV licence

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

[Annihilator]

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..

[SteveBalmer]

Works fine with my BD Remote.

And HD too...

Epic fail post....

[highly_defined]

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.

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this mean the Wii is getting an update?

The only reason I use it now a days

[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...

[I Like Heckling]

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.

[David Wood]

Am I missing something?

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

[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!

[Flossie]

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?

[Robert Carnegie]

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-.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: It's pointless and horrible to use

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