iPlayer take-up 120,000 in a week - Techwatch: Satellite TV forums, FTA, Cable, Hardware, & Tech forums

BGonaSTICK · 05-08-07, 02:15 PM

More than 120,000 people have downloaded the BBC's new web TV tool the iPlayer since it launched one week ago.

A spokesperson for the BBC said that 105,000 accounts for the beta version of the player had been activated, with the remainder due to go live this weekend.

The BBC estimates that 500,000 people will download the iPlayer in the first six months and that it will account for more than 11% of catch-up and simulcast TV viewing by 2011.

Channel 4 expects its own on-demand web TV service, 4oD, will soon have more than 500,000 users.

The channel's service has so far recorded 2.5m unique users and 20m downloads of shows since the launch in December 2006.

Jeff Richards, vice president of digital content services at Verisign, the technology firm behind both services, told MediaGuardian that the iPlayer was in development for 2.5 years.

"The iPlayer is well beyond beta and ready for prime time," he said.

"It has had more creative thinking and more thought put into it than any other similar product and is one of the most advanced platforms of its kind."

Verisign uses Kontiki, a peer to peer (P2P) technology, Kontiki to power the iPlayer and 4oD.

"P2P has certain connotations in the industry. But then they realise why people are illegally using P2P - the answer is that it is the most advanced, sophisticated and efficient way to distribute content if done legitimately with digital rights management," Mr Richards said.

Over time, the iPlayer could be modified to allow users to embed video, he added.

Source: MediaGuardian

BGonaSTICK · 05-08-07, 02:16 PM

Anyone tried it yet?

Gav · 05-08-07, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BGonaSTICK

Anyone tried it yet?

I have, the download speeds aren't fantastic, and the BBC need to more openly show what ports need to be opened (its a P2P/Bittorrent like thing), but overall, I'm pretty impressed. Its the first time I've seen a situation where DRM is actually effective, and not too restrictive. The quality and choice of the programs is fantastic (the quality of the picture, not the actual programming - Eastenders for example

)

The only thing I would say though, (and I'm not an expert on this), but it needs a bit of oomph to play back, I had to close all other programs to get playback to run smoothly on a AMD XP 1700 (1.4Ghz) system with 512MB Ram. I think this is probably to do with it being transcoded. Whatever that means :P

All we need know is a Mac version, and I'm chuffed.

Top marks for the BBC on this one!

05-08-07, 02:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
BGonaSTICK Super Murderator Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Brighton Posts: 10,548 Thanks: 3 Thanked 42 Times in 29 Posts	iPlayer take-up 120,000 in a week More than 120,000 people have downloaded the BBC's new web TV tool the iPlayer since it launched one week ago. A spokesperson for the BBC said that 105,000 accounts for the beta version of the player had been activated, with the remainder due to go live this weekend. The BBC estimates that 500,000 people will download the iPlayer in the first six months and that it will account for more than 11% of catch-up and simulcast TV viewing by 2011. Channel 4 expects its own on-demand web TV service, 4oD, will soon have more than 500,000 users. The channel's service has so far recorded 2.5m unique users and 20m downloads of shows since the launch in December 2006. Jeff Richards, vice president of digital content services at Verisign, the technology firm behind both services, told MediaGuardian that the iPlayer was in development for 2.5 years. "The iPlayer is well beyond beta and ready for prime time," he said. "It has had more creative thinking and more thought put into it than any other similar product and is one of the most advanced platforms of its kind." Verisign uses Kontiki, a peer to peer (P2P) technology, Kontiki to power the iPlayer and 4oD. "P2P has certain connotations in the industry. But then they realise why people are illegally using P2P - the answer is that it is the most advanced, sophisticated and efficient way to distribute content if done legitimately with digital rights management," Mr Richards said. Over time, the iPlayer could be modified to allow users to embed video, he added. Source: MediaGuardian __________________ Dreambox 7000, Skystar2 PCI, Skystar USB, Fibo 90cm on Moteck SG2100, Triax TD110 multi-LNB. Sky + ART cards. 45.0°E - 58.0°W

05-08-07, 02:16 PM	#2 (permalink)
BGonaSTICK Super Murderator Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Brighton Posts: 10,548 Thanks: 3 Thanked 42 Times in 29 Posts	Re: iPlayer take-up 120,000 in a week Anyone tried it yet? __________________ Dreambox 7000, Skystar2 PCI, Skystar USB, Fibo 90cm on Moteck SG2100, Triax TD110 multi-LNB. Sky + ART cards. 45.0°E - 58.0°W

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