Big iPlayer news today - the service has had it’s first launch onto a TV platform, starting off with the Virgin Media set top boxes with other services to follow. More info on the BBC internet blog

Found this on Tonteau’s Threadless Blog which I thought was pretty funny, a classic British tabloid headline?

In other news related … news, check out the redesigned bbc news site, which is finally starting to drop those Real/WMV pop-up players and replacing them with the new embedded flash video player I was working on before Christmas.

It’s been quite a busy few weeks getting some designs signed off for the next release of iPlayer. In the meantime there’s been some pretty cool developments - firstly it’s now become one of the few video sites (the only other one I know of is youTube) which will work on the iPhone and iPod touch, this is because it can stream in H.264 as well as flash - more info on the BBC internet blog and in the Guardian.

The other thing which has been quite interesting has been a couple of iPlayer clone websites which essentially use the same content and flash player but reorganised into a different site. My favourite version of this is iPlayerList which has the strapline “Making the unmissable, browsable” a little dig at the fact that on the current site, which is very picture heavy, it can be difficult to browse through content quickly and easily (this is something which we’re remedying for the next release).

Anyway it’s actually a really great site, with RSS feeds of programmes, related blog posts, it also pulls in related video from other video sharing sites. I think the main point seems to be though, that if you can easily find and play content it really doesn’t matter what the site looks like?!

Really like the new music video for the Justice track ‘DVNO‘ which takes a poke at the old retro tv idents. One of them inparticular reminded me very much of the old BBC video ident - so cooool!

Am currently watching Mark Kermode’s Film Reviews live on Radio 5 … the quality of the stream is pretty good and it’s actually quite interesting viewing - another example of the blurring between TV and radio?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive

An interesting development to come out of BBC Research and Development recently - ‘surround video‘

“Surround Video is a means of visually immersing the viewer into a TV programme.

It is like surround sound, an optional extra that enhances viewing on a normal display. The idea is to use a wide angle (or fisheye) camera fixed rigidly alongside the normal camera shooting the programme, and to project the image onto the walls, ceiling and floor of the viewer’s room.

The image is scaled and positioned to ensure that it aligns up with the existing TV, and warped to compensate for the distortion effects that come from the wide-angle lens and projection system. Although the projected image will be dimmer and of lower resolution than the main image, it nevertheless gives a strong feeling of immersion, particularly with motion cues being visible in the viewer’s peripheral vision”

So it seems BBC Three have gone for a bit of a rebrand, along with a new multiplatform vision which will include becoming the first channel to be broadcast live across the internet as well as on tv (though if you missed your weekly hit of “Can Fat Teens Hunt” on either platforms then don’t worry as you can always catch up with it on iPlayer too!)

I quite like the new logo, though it does seem mighty similar to the Heart FM one?

The BBC are currently running a ‘Festival of Technology’ today and all of tomorrow. It’s completely free, and will showcase latest developments within web, interactive television, digital tv, audio production etc. It’s in Television Centre on Wood Lane and is open to everyone (though if you’re not BBC staff you have to register here). I’m gonna try and pop down tomorrow morning …

Interesting article this morning from Ashley Highfield (head of BBC Future Media & Technology) talking about possibilities of the BBC getting more involved with Apple now that they’ve released a time-based system of DRM in their new movie rentals feature within iTunes:

… Apple’s (long anticipated) move to a rental model means that we can look to getting BBC iPlayer onto this platform too, as we should be able to use the rental functionality to allow our programmes to be downloaded, free, but retained for a time window, and then erased, as our rightsholders currently insist.

Personally I think this would be really good, I think it’s a big problem that alot of video sharing sites also seem to have their own media library - what would be really great is let people download content which can be used in the player of their choice?

Really enjoyed the Liverpool Nativity performance shown on BBC THREE a few days back, really well told, some great music, and thought the ‘asylum seeker’ twist on it was really interesting. If you missed it, it’s available to watch for a couple more days on iPlayer

The other big product that’s come out of the BBC User Experience Design team recently is a redesign on the homepage of bbc.co.uk. The key features include:

The page is still in beta, but you can see what you think here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/beta/

It’s been interesting reading some of the initial feedback after the first day of the flash-based iPlayer, generally it seems pretty postitive - my favourite review so far is from the Inquirer:

“Unlike the Windows Media / DRM-infested train wreck that was the initial incarnation of the player, this one uses the altogether-simpler Flash for web-based streaming of the last seven days of TV. The cross-platform Flash technology enables Mac and Linux fans to get in on the action, as well as reducing the barrier to entry for Windows fans, who previously had to jump through more hoops that a show dog in order to get the dodgy quality video.

This nullifies one of the major complaints about the original Iplayer - that Mac and Linux computer users didn’t get a discount on their licence fee, despite being treated as second class citizens by the online service. The new player appears to work quickly and simply, with no downloading of anything required as long as you have an up to date version of the Adobe software. We couldn’t find any bugs either, besides the ones on the Beeb’s nature shows.”

Although still in beta, a new version of BBC iPlayer which we’ve been working on for the last few months has been released this evening. The big changes on the previous version are that it now offers streaming flash video which will work across platforms, the sign in process has been removed so anyone in the UK can easily access it, the first step towards radio integration has been taken and the download manager has been significantly redesigned to make it simpler and easier to use.

There are still a couple of bugs, but I’m really proud of it and think the design and development team have done a really great job. So if you’re in the UK click on the link below and catch up on the last 7 days of BBC TV!

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Last Saturday’s episode of Click was interesting - all about the concept of visualising radio, how it might work, pro’s and con’s etc. The argument seems to of come around due to the fact that most new devices for listening to radio these days will come with a small colour screen which will enable extra information to be broadcast alongside the audio.

On the minus side it has been claimed that this will just mean for cheap tv, but I like Andy Parfitt’s idea (head of Radio 1) of “glanceability” in that “it can’t be content that you must look at in order to get the picture” (so things that nicely supplement the audio - EPG’s, visualisations, track lists etc)

Read the article / Watch again

Our team is currently working on the new design for the BBC homepage which will be released for public beta soon. In the meantime someone sent me this great link showing the various designs from over the years - am loving the 1997 version pictured below! Link