BBC iPlayer

Today the BBC trust approved the Beeb’s plans for the iPlayer. This fancy bit of software will let you catch up on any show for the next 7 days, and even download and store them for a reasonable period of time, you all know the rest by now. Really exciting developments that I believe will change TV for the better, with more people more willing to catch a show they missed because of their hectic life, or a scheduling conflict, or some such.

My only gripe is a personal one, as a mac user. One of the changes imposed on them by the trust was to make the iPlayer available to those not using a Microsoft operating system in “a reasonable time frame”, thought to be two years. Yesterday a BBC spokesman said they may not be able to do that, with their plans to roll the software out on cable boxes first, then other operating systems, but that depends more on the third parties involved.

I would love a bit of iplayer action, but I’ll be damned if I have to use Windows or join Virgin Media to get it before 2010.

Who wants mobile TV?

Have you ever met anyone wants to watch television on their mobile phone? Yesterday BBC announced a deal with 3 UK networks to stream full programs to 3G mobile phones. Last week NBC launched a service with Verizon to stream their programs to users of the V-cast service. Everybody I know owns a mobile phone, but I’ve never come across a person who said:-

Do ya know what would make this better? If I could watch TV on it!! Yep, good old TV, with grainy audio and a 2 inch screen. And I’m willing to pay for the privilege too!

As some of you may know, in the UK the analogue spectrum, bandwidth if you will, to broadcast a high definition signal over the air will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. the likely outcome of this is that the deep pocketed phone networks will outbid the broke-arse BBC and ITV. A government spokesman the other day said, and I’m quoting this from memory, that the government don’t know if the people would prefer mobile TV or HD over the air in the future, and that industry don’t know either but would be a better judge. Shall I tell you who really knows??? Me. I don’t care how high the quality it is, watching streamed TV on any sort of screen you can hold in your hands is always going to be no more than a convenient thing to pass the time, never the full blown dolby digital eye-poppingly sharp experience the so many shows today demand. There, I’ve said it.

Playstation Home

When I return from my travels, I will expect Sony to have announced this. It’s the online network service that they should have originally launched with the console, but may just be in place by the European launch date.

Early details revealed by Kotaku suggest a cross between Xbox live and the virtual console/Mii’s of the Wii. If it combines the best of those two services, that will be better than what PS3 is offering right now. But how does it relate to my TV lifestyle, I hear you ask? Well this statement in the patent filed to the FCC sounds like something that may interest me.

mininova passes 1 billion downloads

There is a story here about the fact that Mininova, my favoured site for downloading TV, has just passed 1 billion downloads. Thatsa spicy meataball!

I’m working on a few articles that are basically about how to get the TV you like, when you want it, and my first one was going to be all about bittorrent, which most agree is the most efficient way to download large files.

24 leaked…

It had to happen, although I can’t quite understand how it did. Like the plot of a drama that takes place over the course of a single day, some sensitive material has fallen into the wrong hands, and they have used it for evil. The first 4 episodes of Season six of 24, along with a 15 minute preview of episode 5, have been uploaded onto the internet, and people are downloading it like crazy. Always one step ahead, those internet folk. Click here to feed your addiction if you can’t wait til next Monday on FOX in the US, the Sunday after on Sky One, or soon after that on Seven network in Australia. I believe the files also have Spanish subtitles, so thats another billion people covered! sweet!