Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPad and BBC iPlayer beta = WIN!

shellbryson

shellbryson

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 28, 2006
277
12
Edinburgh
Tried out the web-based iPad BBC iPlayer beta today to watch live football over 3G while waiting in a cinema. Quality was perfect, and 40 minutes of crystal clear letterboxed fullscreen video cost around 200Mb of mobile data.

Network: 3 (Three), superb.
 
shellbryson said:
Tried out the web-based iPad BBC iPlayer beta today to watch live football over 3G while waiting in a cinema. Quality was perfect, and 40 minutes of crystal clear letterboxed fullscreen video cost around 200Mb of mobile data.

Network: 3 (Three), superb.
Click to expand...

1 = live on iplayer - how?

2 = cinema while world cup on - why?
 
Tebailey said:
1 - where can you watch live?

2 - watch the football... Sounds like you have enough film in your life already!

Tom
Click to expand...

There are no matches right now, but when there is live streaming, if you click the TV tab you will get a banner that says 'watch live'. Click that and you will get a list of live broadcasts.

Streaming was as good as TV (vague blocking occasionally) with about 50% signal strength in the bowels of Cineworld over 3G.
 
shellbryson said:
There are no matches right now, but when there is live streaming, if you click the TV tab you will get a banner that says 'watch live'. Click that and you will get a list of live broadcasts.

Streaming was as good as TV (vague blocking occasionally) with about 50% signal strength in the bowels of Cineworld over 3G.
Click to expand...

Normally use iPad.tvcatchup.com for live.. Good choice but quality sometimes lacking...
 
I'm not a huge fan really - actual video is good (and seems to work more consistently than the shocking iphone version!). But the interface is designed for a control pad a la wii, and seems far too clunky for my multi touchable ipad.
 
Waaaaaaaa...I want to watch top gear but I live in the US, I hope they make an international version soon, very soooon
 
Shoesy said:
I'm not a huge fan really - actual video is good (and seems to work more consistently than the shocking iphone version!). But the interface is designed for a control pad a la wii, and seems far too clunky for my multi touchable ipad.
Click to expand...

I've only played around with it but that was my impression too. It seems like they realised that the iPhone version wasn't going to work so they just pointed everyone at the big-screen version. Not being able to use the iPad's keyboard when entering text into a search field is a particular low point.

Edit: Looks like they've been updating it as the keyboard now seems to be working. More stuff seems to work with touch too but there is still the problem that everything is too large because it is intended for display on a TV.
 
I'm a big fan of Britians Got Talent and sur wish we could watch that show here in the states! They really have some great talent and some funny stuff also! ;)
 
Corsair.Noir said:
man wish this was available in the States
Click to expand...

There's too many programs and too many copyright issues to deal with. They'd have to come up with a BBC America kind of thing which is crap. It would be all 'home improvement' shows.

If it's that important to you, get a good-quality VPN subscription. I've had one for a while now and it works great for this. I watched the last Olympics out of Canada and the UK.
 
Are they showing the F1 coverage live? That would be worth paying for VPN.


Maybe even worth it if they're just showing the race coverage on demand... less of a PIA than hitting the torrents.


Any suggestions on a good UK VPN service? I found this VPNgates.com site, $15/month and they talk a good game on their website.
 
topmounter said:
Are they showing the F1 coverage live? That would be worth paying for VPN.


Maybe even worth it if they're just showing the race coverage on demand... less of a PIA than hitting the torrents.


Any suggestions on a good UK VPN service? I found this VPNgates.com site, $15/month and they talk a good game on their website.
Click to expand...

They stream football games and F1 live on the website. Its how I watch at work :D
 
I still love the player, but given I *HAVE* to pay a tax for the BBC every month (no choice), I really hope that the beeb keep other countries blocked -- or introduce a subscription system.

Every person who owns a TV (whether or not they watch the BBC) in the UK is forced to pay for a license, which works out around $18 a month.

It's unfair to tax us here to pay for the US to watch something ad free, live or otherwise.
 
shellbryson said:
I still love the player, but given I *HAVE* to pay a tax for the BBC every month (no choice), I really hope that the beeb keep other countries blocked -- or introduce a subscription system.

Every person who owns a TV (whether or not they watch the BBC) in the UK is forced to pay for a license, which works out around $18 a month.

It's unfair to tax us here to pay for the US to watch something ad free, live or otherwise.
Click to expand...

They do block access here in the US.

With all the people belly-aching over $10/month for Hulu, I expect that the number of people willing to cough up $15/month for a VPN to the U.K. will be inconsequential.

That being said, the rights issues make this all but impossible for any content that the BBC doesn't have US distribution rights for (e.g. F1), but it would be nice if the BBC offered a subscription service to the BBC player for non-UK residents. We do pay for BBC America as a part of our Satellite or Cable subscription, but that's a rather poor substitute.
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C134 Safari/6533.18.5)

Corsair.Noir said:
any word on if they have plans to bring this to the States?
Click to expand...

I doubt it ever will to be honest: it's funded by UK license fees which is why it's free to uk users and not available elsewhere.
The only way it would ever be available outside the UK would be as a pay service.
 
i'm waiting on an actual app for it, i know they were working in one, as they were said to be working on a BBC news one, a BBC sport one and an iPlayer one earlier in the year, then there was the kerfuffle about using license payers money for apps and itv & channel 4 were bitchin about BBC issuing free apps that will be in direct competition with them which is not allowed or some crap then it all got the OK and the BBC news one got released.
 
A BBC iplayer App was released yesterday for Blackberry and is now in it's app store for free. So th iPhone/iPad one shouldn't be too far away now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back