The BBC have finally made the decision to allow viewers to view on demand
programs over the internet. We where lucky enough to get a Beta preview, lets
see just how good the BBC iPlayer really is.
Up until now if you wanted to view BBC programs you could either watch or record. There where certain alternatives such as on demand offerings provided by third parties that carried BBC programs such as NTL (now Virgin Media). Now the BBC have reached a decision to allow internet users to access a range of programs that can be viewed on demand over the internet. The best part is this service will be free, well not really. That's what we pay the licence fee for right?
On demand isn't new, it has been offered by various broadcasters and carries for several years, but online on demand is a relatively new concept and one that the BBC seam to want to be a front runner in.
Currently the BBC iPlayer is in Beta, this means is is still under development but is available for testing purposes. if you woudl like to get your hands on a Beta account for the iPlayer you need to submit an application from the BBC iPlayer web pages. Your submission will then be approved or declined by someone from the BBC.
The BBC iPlayer is web based and there have been a few critics why have commented on the BBC's incompatibility issues, for example the iPlayer requires the Windows operating system. it also requires Internet Explorer and also needs Windows Media Player to be installed on the end users machine.
There are a lot of people who feel left out, for example users who do not wish to use Internet Explorer, or users of apple computers. What I woudl stress at this point is quite simple. iPlayer is still Beta. Beta is a very important with with regards to any software development project. The important point to bear in mind is Beta = still not finished or ready for public release. The BBC may well be working towards allowing the service to be used on other platforms or on computer systems running different software.
To an extent it makes sense for the BBC to keep their focus on the most likely end user system during the development stage. This way it is easier to iron out any bugs or issues that may be present along the way. Then once the software is starting to become usable and stable the developers can then start looking at other branches of the development, for example non IE web browsers, or perhaps non Windows operating systems.
By this time you are probably thinking where is the actual review of BBC iPlayer? Well to be totally honest I was not able to get it to work at all. Our test machine was a PC running a genuine copy of Windows XP professional with service pack 2. It also had Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player installed to their most recent versions through Microsoft windows update. Even with the correct software installed iPlayer was still unable to work for me.
The iPlayer page showed the system requirements and had a green tick next to each item, although it would not allow me to play or download the program. The only option available was "back to program details"
I know I said earlier on that this was simply a Beta, but it is pretty annoying when you apply for a Beta program and get accepted to be issued with software that simply doesn't run. I know there will be a fix for this and it will work, but I feel the BBC could have done a lot more testing on this software before it was released even into Beta stage. If I am having this issue I am pretty sure there are a lot of other in the very same situation. I have posted my issue on the BBC iPlayer forums so hopefully there will be a solution to my issue pretty soon.
If and when I am able to fully test the BBC iPlayer I will be sure to report my findings here.
