Download BBC iPlayer Radio And TV Programmes

Martin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 10:00:07 +0000

BBC iPlayer is a popular online service by the BBC that is offering BBC radio and TV programmes on the Internet. The BBC TV programs are limited to users from the United Kingdom only while the radio programs can be accessed by a worldwide audience. BBC iPlayer is in this regard like many of the other TV on the Internet services that limit the viewers based on their IP address. Users from the UK can watch the TV programmes of the past seven days on the website, download and stream HD programmes, access the iPlayer from supported mobile phones and download programmes to the computer system with the help of BBC iPlayer Desktop. BBC iPlayer Desktop is powered by Adobe Air and downloads use a digital rights system.

Users who want to download radio and TV programmes from BBC iPlayer can use the portable software program iDownload to do so. The download manager has been programmed in Java and is accessed in a web browser. The interface provides access to a content search that includes all supported BBC radio and TV programmes.

Available radio and TV shows are shown and can be marked for download by either double-clicking them or using the download button. All selected TV and radio shows are moved to the Downloads section of the web interface. Users from the United Kingdom can start to download the TV and radio shows right away while users from other countries need to find an anonymous web proxy (or VPN from the UK) to do so.

Download BBC iPlayer TV and Radio programmes can be launched directly from within the web interface. The TV programmes are downloaded as Apple Quicktime files (.mov) and the radio shows as mp3. The iDownload software to download BBC iPlayer programmes is available from the developer’s website.

Tags: bbc, bbc iplayer, bbc radio shows, bbc tv programmes, download iplayer, idownloader, iplayer, iplayer desktop

ITV Player: UK Silverlight-based catch-up

Joe — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:24:24 +0000

Catching up with the BBC’s iPlayer and Channel Four’s 4oD, British broadcaster ITV has released its own free video-on-demand service: ITV Player.

ITV Player uses Microsoft’s Silverlight format to stream its media, which allows it to be played on Windows and Macs. Users report problems with it working under the Linux build of Silverlight. The website itself looks quite slick but is nowhere as near as nice to use as BBC’s iPlayer.

The service allows users to watch shows like Coronation Street but I cannot see any way to download these episodes to watch portably as you can with iPlayer.

Whilst it’s nice to see ITV using a non-Windows only brand (unlike Channel 4), it would have been good had they used a more universal format like Flash or OGG.

There are a few other issues with it. Many shows can’t be watch live due to licensing issues, the video is too small and the only options are small or fullscreen – unlike iPlayer. ITV Player also fails to offer HD shows.

I think ITV Player will either be drastically improved or scrapped! I’m surprised ITV are in-touch enough with the public to stay clear of DRM but I’m disappointed they used Silverlight and made it incompatible with Linux. The interface needs work too.

I expect the site won’t work outside the UK but it’s still a convenient service British readers may have overlooked. If it does work outside, please comment and let us know!

Tags: iplayer, itv, itv player, silverlight, uk, video, video on demand, vod

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Download BBC iPlayer Radio And TV Programmes

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