After taking a great deal of heat from Mac and Linux users over the Windows-only iPlayer, the BBC has introduced a Flash based player. Unlike the iPlayer software, this new client is intended to stream video for playback rather than download it to the viewer's hard drive.
When the public iPlayer beta was opened earlier this year there was an outcry from a relatively small but vocal group of dissatisfied BBC viewers who complained about the Windows-centric approach the entire program appeared to be taking, while being funded partly by their license fees. After BBC management appeared to confirm their fears in October with a statement that support for other platforms would be contingent on the cost, but were quickly overruled by the BBC Trust, who said they approved the entire program with the understanding that all platforms would be supported.
The new Streaming player isn't restricted to non-Windows PCs either. If media reports of dissatisfaction with the iPlayer are accurate there will likely be many people already using it who are tempted to try this new alternative.
However, there's a downside to streaming vs. downloading. While an iPlayer user should have no quality issues if their Bandwidth is Limited, streaming has minimum requirements to allow realtime transfer of video and audio. The BBC's program is the first to be deployed on such a large scale and the effects on the existing residential internet infrastructure have yet to be truly measured.
Source: The Register
The new Streaming player isn't restricted to non-Windows PCs either. If media reports of dissatisfaction with the iPlayer are accurate there will likely be many people already using it who are tempted to try this new alternative.
However, there's a downside to streaming vs. downloading. While an iPlayer user should have no quality issues if their Bandwidth is Limited, streaming has minimum requirements to allow realtime transfer of video and audio. The BBC's program is the first to be deployed on such a large scale and the effects on the existing residential internet infrastructure have yet to be truly measured.
Source: The Register
