Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Eejits.
Does "big screen" iPlayer shutting down affect us?
- Thread starter Owen Smith
- Start date
MontysEvilTwin
Well-Known Member
I am still trying to extract a satisfactory answer from Humax customer support. It seems that they are likely to get the new version of iPlayer (V4, presumably), and that this might only require an app update rather than a full software update. I think though that this will only apply to models with the Opera browser (HDR-FOX, HDR-2000T): I can't get a clear answer for the HD-FOX. This is my interpretation from a string of e-mails full of partially answered questions and peppered with factual inaccuracies. If I get anything definitive, I'll quote it. I don't really want iPlayer V4 though. I'm not convinced the new layout is an improvement and it has had the radio section stripped out.
Luke
Well-Knwοn Мember
I find the new layout a backward step, but I know what I want to watch on iPlayer when I use it. For those who want to surf it is an improvement.
But as it stands none of my Humax freeview boxes have successfully connected to the portal if they are running using any of the 1.02.xx firmwares and so anything would be an improvement.
The HD-FOX not having an internal HDD may add further difficulty in updating the iPlayer app.
But as it stands none of my Humax freeview boxes have successfully connected to the portal if they are running using any of the 1.02.xx firmwares and so anything would be an improvement.
The HD-FOX not having an internal HDD may add further difficulty in updating the iPlayer app.
OP
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
Sounds sensible to me. You're watching BBC content, you should be paying the licence fee, regardless of whether you're watching over the air or via the Internet. The licence fee is an absolute bargain for what it provides, I'd willingly pay more for a better service eg. the return of drama made for BBC 4.
OP
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
Consider the long term future. Eventually all TV will be delivered over the Internet and there will be no broadcast, or only broadcast to outlying communities. Are you saying the BBC will effectively lose the Licence Fee as more and more people watch TV only over the Internet?
Trev
The Dumb One
I didn't say that at all. But if what you suggest actually happens, perhaps they will stop wasting so much money. Oh no, I'm talking about a taxpayer funded organisation aren't I. Silly me.
Is not iPlayer a catchup, non-live thing when I pay my licence for real time broadcast material?
You need a licence to watch TV over the Internet anyway. So what are they bleating about.
Is not iPlayer a catchup, non-live thing when I pay my licence for real time broadcast material?
You need a licence to watch TV over the Internet anyway. So what are they bleating about.
TV licencing said:
- How could you prove that you only watch 'On demand' anyway?
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I believe the original concept of a licence was permission to operate receiving equipment. Now it has transformed into a method of funding the BBC, I cannot acknowledge that watching the same material but on-line in catch-up form should be exempt.
prpr
Well-Known Member
Why? We have a perfectly good system of live broadcast distribution already. Why invent a worse/more expensive one?
Do you understand what broadcast means? How do you only broadcast to such areas? How would it be cost-effective? How would you manage the allocation of frequencies in just those places? If you have to reserve them there, then nothing else can use them, which means nothing else can use them anywhere else, so why not just reserve them everywhere as we do now?
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I dread to think what will happen to normal Internet traffic when everybody gets all their TV by IP.
OP
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
I didn't say it's a good idea, just that one day it might happen. People are talking about it. No-one wants to spend the money to upgrade the system again, one theory is that when the current broadcast system is worn out, we will switch to Internet.
Personally I think this is a terrible idea, but that's not the point. The issue is being discussed by the powers that be.
Personally I think this is a terrible idea, but that's not the point. The issue is being discussed by the powers that be.
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Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
As an aside, somebody with WAN knowledge might be able to answer this: what happened to the ability of a server being able to send packets in broadcast mode - or is that something that can only happen on a local network, or has never been implemented?
OP
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
IP broadcasts stay within the local subnet, ie. they don't pass over gateways. Imagine if they did, every broadcast packet would flood over the entire world and over everyone's ADSL line. The Internet would grind to a halt, totally swamped by broadcasts.
If you want something similar that does pass over gateways (well some of them), you want mutlticasts. These have an address that you listen on to get the multicast, and all the gateways are supposed to pass it through due to IGMP requests. But most home broadband providers don't support multicast. The BBC would like to use multicast for iPlayer because it uses a lot less bandwidth on the Internet, only one stream would leave the BBC for any given item and then people would opt into them.
The problem is those people that do watch it via the internet are only suppose to be watching catch up, not live and obviously tricky to tell the difference. The enlightened THREE people that the BBC is aiming to broadcast to via internet most probably won't get a license and will watch catch up, so a strange way of funding an IP channel if it's outside the license.
You would think that the IP player just needs to capture a license number, generate a cookie and you have it. Obviously they would need to check that the same license number wasn't being used too often together or on two different IP addresses at the same time and the license was currently being paid.
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
Well, the powers that be are all invested in telecoms, etc, and getting us onto a 'pay-for-everything' system is their ultimate goal, so they can reap the big profits.
So they'll get us all onto cable/internet so they can shaft us for the non-optional upgrading of the connection. Then they can sell off the rest of the TV spectrum to the mobile phone operators for a fat profit and then we can be shafted all over again for using that spectrum on our mobiles.
Cynical? Moi? Absolutely.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
That's been my view ever since digital-switchover was first mooted. DVB has the capability to be encrypted.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
General information: BBC iPlayer has now ceased support for pre-1.03.xx firmware.
