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Controversial BBC iPlayer to launch this fall, with beta coming next month

27 June 2007 18:11 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 9 comments

The BBC announced today that its iPlayer service will be available as a public beta on July 27th and a full launch will happen in the fall

The iPlayer is a standalone application for UK residents that allows for the downloading of TV shows up to seven days after it airs on the many BBC networks.

The shows are downloaded to the users HDD where they have 30 days to watch it before it expires. If you start the show then need to pause, you have 7 days to complete watching before it expires.

The timing restrictions are thanks to Microsoft DRM, which has recently generated controversy from Mac users and open-source advocates. The BBC says they are working on a solution and that Mac support is "absolutely on our critical path."

The application will be XP-only at launch, but a Vista version is forthcoming.

So far, 15,000 private beta testers have been using the application and the BBC said the "public beta" will still be "controlled" so most interested users will not get to try it out until the full launch later this year.

Source:
Arstechnica

Permalink to this article

BBC adds Firefox support to the iPlayer (2 February 2008)

BBC Trust says there will be an iPlayer for all platforms (16 October 2007)

BBC's iPlayer fuels criticism from open source advocates (16 September 2007)

iPlayer to be expanded for games content (5 August 2007)

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Discuss this article!
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 27 June 2007 19:09
The only thing i have against this is the fact that Microsoft has always got their hands in these things all the time. Why can't they just leave these things alone. [ + quote]
OzMick (Inactive) 27 June 2007 19:28
Because at the end of the day, the Microsoft product is still the best anyone is offering at the moment. BBC didn't have to use it, they chose to. Getting angry at Microsoft is like blaming gun or knife manufaturers for all the world's murders. [ + quote]
gad123 (Newbie) 28 June 2007 1:25
I have been using it and it's a nice bit of software! Set top boxes using the tech are to follow, so it will bring "on demand" to the masses here in the UK and that can't be a bad thing whether it is linked with M$ or not! :) [ + quote]
cousinkix (Newbie) 28 June 2007 2:15
A friend of mine has a TV Tuner/DVR card in his computer. It works much like TiVo and records whatever is on the cable system. No DRM and no 30 day time limits. Nothing prevents him from reformatting those MPEG-2 files and burning a DVD with Nero 6 either. I don't know if there are any PAL formatted cards on sale in the UK; but you guys might wanna check it out... [ + quote]
plazma247 (Junior Member) 29 June 2007 1:14
Originally posted by cousinkix: A friend of mine has a TV Tuner/DVR card in his computer. It works much like TiVo and records whatever is on the cable system. No DRM and no 30 day time limits. Nothing prevents him from reformatting those MPEG-2 files and burning a DVD with Nero 6 either. I don't know if there are any PAL formatted cards on sale in the UK; but you guys might wanna check it out... Yeah theres lots of cards out there mate, but with either media center or a set-top DVB DVR system its going to record what you tell it, the advantage to this i belive is being able to go back to something that u missed/didnt know about at time of broadcast and have the ability to get at it for upto 30 days after the broadcast. Which is pretty cool and if they are smart the should write in a front end for media center or add it to the more TV section. On the DRM, i was under the impression that microsoft DRM wasnt that secure: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9592_22-6111530.html?tag=nl http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/6097/ [ + quote]
sammorris (AfterDawn Addict) 29 June 2007 5:11
There are three letters in this article I don't like, they're in bold, and they're not BBC. [ + quote]
plazma247 (Junior Member) 29 June 2007 5:31
Originally posted by sammorris: There are three letters in this article I don't like, they're in bold, and they're not BBC. hehe VOD ? [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29 June 2007 6:10
sammorris (AfterDawn Addict) 29 June 2007 6:08
lol you could at least have chosen letters that were in the article! [ + quote]
madman91 (Junior Member) 29 June 2007 6:37
lol cmon now.. It will be cracked before it is released. [ + quote]