Ah, here come the naysayers... I've not had any real problems with iPlayer at all (aside from the frustrating 'there are no episodes' error), but I understand that the automated encoding process is still being refined and that much of the content is being manually encoded... Though I was never on the iMP trial, I never liked the look of the interface from the screenshots I saw (and the iMP-like web interfaces for some of the minisite multimedia content on bbc.co.uk) - the iPlayer design is definitely the way forward, with a web interface accessible from browsers which interacts with the desktop client... I know it's not a final solution, because it only works (at present) with IE and the Kontiki client, but it's a step further towards agnosticism. From what I can tell, the iMP was nothing more than a slightly more integrated, closed up Kontiki client offering the same thing. I feel similarly about the problem of discerning between multiple episodes from the same show - and I've posted to that end on the forums detailing possible improvements they could make to the web interface. The lovely thing about the web interface? They can (and I hope will) improve it down the line based on feedback like mine. It's alright though, it does the job ok. I've never had a problem with license acquisition to date, and my laptop's XP setup is hardly what you could call 'standard'. I run WMP10, it seems that people with WMP11 are having more problems - an indication it might be Microsoft's fault to an extent? The iMP was never going to fly as a cross-platform VOD system. The iPlayer design is a step closer, but not there yet. The PCPro article is a good bit of copy for drumming up eyeballs to the site, but it's not really very reflective of the experiences of all the beta testers! (imvho.)
_____ From: Brian Butterworth [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 02 July 2007 16:36 To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk Subject: Re: [backstage] BBC Ofcom complaint raised Interesting? http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/118819/what-have-they-done-to-the-bbc-iplayer.ht ml On 02/07/07, Brian Butterworth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On 02/07/07, Peter Bowyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: On 02/07/07, Gordon Joly < <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Let the people speak! > > http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/iplayer/ <http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/iplayer/> What a complete waste of time. Just like the huge majority of such things. Let Mr Brown get on with running the country, and let the BBC Trust run the BBC. Please. Yes! Gordon's already stolen £600 million from the BBC! (or "the pockets of licence fee payers" or "from YOUR licence fee!") -- Peter Bowyer Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk <http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/> discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ -- Please email me back if you need any more help. Brian Butterworth www.ukfree.tv <http://www.ukfree.tv/> -- Please email me back if you need any more help. Brian Butterworth www.ukfree.tv
