The BBC have stopped any future 3D productions. I believe this Dr Who special is the last programme to be made in 3D.
Posts by jxp
16 publicly visible posts • joined 28 May 2012
Doctor Who to land on the BIG SCREEN and in 3D in November
HDMI 2.0 spec arrives ... 1.0 years late
You MERCILESS FIEND... you put that audio file on AUTOPLAY
Seven snazzy smartphones for seven sorts of shoppers
Tim Cook: Android version fragmentation is 'terrible for developers'
It's our money!
"We paid out five billion of that in just the last year."
There was me thinking that it was the Apps that made money and Apple take a very hefty commision.
Apparently it's Apple's money which they share with the developers.
We must all bow down before the wise and generous Apple.
Paying a TV tax makes you happy - BBC
Re: I want to like the BBC
OK, I'll bite.
Firstly no-one is forced to pay for the BBC. You are completely free to not have a Television. Some people I know have no TV, they don't seem either culturally deprived or overjoyed at their freedom. It's not a big deal.
Secondly the TV license pays for a service of TV channels, radio channels, catch up service and websites.
When you pay the fee you can access the services legally. The channels are still there whenever you want to watch them.
I am pretty sure the iPlayer time restrictions are to pacify commercial rivals.
I would agree that the BBC should be better at making archive material more widely available.
However the people involved in this material (actors, writers etc.) are due fees whenever their material is shown.
Should the BBC produce less new material to cover these fees from the TV license?
How popular are more repeats (archive material) at the expense of new content?
How should the content be released?
Would the BBC invoke costs for curating/preparing such a release?
I think the most reasonable thing BBC could do for archive material is;
1. have a regular archive slot (probably on BBC4) - they do show some archive material already
2. Allow older content (5 years+) to be downloaded or streamed for a small fee (99p per episode) via iTunes/Amazon/YouView/wherever
3. Setup commercial channels to show archive material (UKTV)
Freeview telly channels face £240m-A-YEAR shakedown by Ofcom
Re: Freeview is a public service
You are of course talking about a government (and certainly not the first) that has long since given up on the concept of public service.
All that matters now are budgets and targets (and maybe the occasional back-hander now/job later on). The public and the benefit of society be damned.

Wrong in so many ways
Freeview space is already over-used. We need the space to be used less efficiently to give better picture quality.
The high costs of entry to Freeview already encourage channels to be as profitable as possible. Hence why "niche" channels don't last long before moving towards more general entertainment to get more viewers.
The most financially efficient usage of the space is probably shopping channels and we don't need any more of them.
It would also be nice if programme makers didn't have to sacrifice £200M of their budget to the government.
Inside Lord Sugar's 'you're fired' YouView bust-up with TV baron
Not yet IMO
YouView is a step in the right direction but it's not there yet.
IMO to be truly compelling YouView needs to offer;
1. IPTV downloading. Its mentioned in the spec but not yet implemented. Downloading gets over the problem of slow or erratic broadband.
2. Online portal. They really need the reverse EPG on a website, even if each programme just links to the relevant iPlayer, 4od page. I know they are targetting the TV but this would build the brand image and be fairly simple and useful
3. Tablet apps. They also need to create a YouView client (online and downloading) for tablets. A lot of IPTV is low (video) quality. It doesn't need to be on a 42" plasma, an iPad or Nexus tablet would work just fine.
4. A cheap box (£50 or less) that is YouView IPTV only. I have enough Freeview boxes/TVs but I can't watch itvPlayer, 4od or Demand 5 on my smart TV. Maybe add an SD or USB slot for download storage
Google's Native Client browser tech now works on ARM

Terrible
So let's take an open standard that's supported by every connected device regardless of CPU and hobble it with hardware compatibility restrictions. Way to go Google.
Can anyone explain how this is in any way different to IE6/ActiveX lock-in that many devs are still struggling to get rid of?
Google's JavaScript assassin: Web languages are harder than VMs
What's the point
Who (but Google) is going to support this?
Does anyone fancy writing code for Chrome only, or are we expected to write systems twice (once in js, once in Dart)?
We're just getting rid of the last bone-headed round of browser lock-in (IE6 I'm looking at you).
Let's not start that again.
Still at least its better than Google's Salt idiocy (and how is Google Go doing?)
Schmidt 'very proud' of Google's tiny tax bill: 'It's called capitalism'
Man, 19, cuffed after burning Remembrance poppy pic is Facebooked
YouView reportedly set for 2500-home pre-Olympics trial
All I want is a set top box that allows IPTV content to be downloaded at decent quality. YouView may be what I am looking for. I believe it will include a HDD but they may be for recording broadcasts only.
My smart TV has iPlayer and Blinkbox built in, but no downloading. I'm at the mercy of my ISPs service to be able to watch something without seeing Buffering... and the quality can be poor.
I would even accept a forced advert each 20 minutes or so. Sometimes it seems like they want people to illegally download stuff.