Movies Leaving the BBC iPlayer by the End of May - news discussion

Yes they have a handful of movies, but they'e all SDR 720p at 5mbit and with stereo sound. That's arguably worse than a DVD, a technology which came out in 1997.

The BBC were ahead of the pack when they first trailed iPlayer but the service has barely changed in over a decade. It's a relic.
 
The picture and sound quality meets the requirements of the vast majority of the viewing public. Your second statement is laughably inaccurate.
 
Yes they have a handful of movies, but they'e all SDR 720p at 5mbit and with stereo sound. That's arguably worse than a DVD, a technology which came out in 1997.

The BBC were ahead of the pack when they first trailed iPlayer but the service has barely changed in over a decade. It's a relic.
Cancelled my licence years ago. Can't believe it's not changed since then! They're a joke of an organisation.
 
The picture and sound quality meets the requirements of the vast majority of the viewing public. Your second statement is laughably inaccurate.

Most people have 1080p or 4K TVs. There is no excuse to still be streaming 720p. It's not even at a decent bitrate. If you're happy with iPlayer then great, how wonderful for you. Personally I think it looks and sounds garbage.

And how on earth is my second statement inaccurate? The BBC have been stuck on 720p for many, many years. They have their annual Attenborough 4K fling, and some 4K tennis, but that's it. Meanwhile on Netflix 4K is rampant.
 
Cancelled my licence years ago. Can't believe it's not changed since then! They're a joke of an organisation.

I used to be a bit of a BBC supporter, but it's tough these days. I listen to the Kermode and Mayo podcast, and I watch I'd guess around 1 or 2 dramas a year, but other than that I'm paying the license fee for pretty much nothing. Netflix and Amazon are vastly superior offerings.
 
The picture and sound quality meets the requirements of the vast majority of the viewing public.
This is an AVForum most people here have had 5.1 (or more) for years.

What is the point in listening to a film in stereo/mono if said film was made with 5.1? hence just from this perspective most here wouldn't really use this service for there film watching/listening pleasure.

They would just record off the BBC's HD channels should it happen to be broadcast in 5.1 (which of course isn't always a done deal) of course for older films made with stereo/mono sound no problem besides the PQ still no adverts has always been a winner for me as I just won't watch a film with regular interruptions.

Stereo/mono is fine for those that don't mind but how about giving those of us that do mind the choice.

So i am afraid to say the BBC iPlayer is pretty much redundant for me as a film fan speaking as a license payer.
 
Last edited:
Essentially, I pay £13 a month to watch about 1-3 hours worth of content that is indefensively shitty quality.

How and why anybody can defend the BBC on this is beyond me. 'Auntie' now has a strap on & she's got us all touching our toes.
 
Yes they have a handful of movies, but they'e all SDR 720p at 5mbit and with stereo sound. That's arguably worse than a DVD, a technology which came out in 1997.

The BBC were ahead of the pack when they first trailed iPlayer but the service has barely changed in over a decade. It's a relic.
And the logo. Don't forget the bloody logo - infuriating on 2.35 films, especially in dark scenes.
It's a crap service. Mandatory registration, no HD, no Dolby.

There's no excuse for it at all. They've done a ton of work over the past 5-6 years around monetising iplayer (see: Britbox) - that is the reason they don't want to improve the baseline. They forget we paid for the content in the first place - the BBC think they own the content, not us.
 
And the logo. Don't forget the bloody logo - infuriating on 2.35 films, especially in dark scenes.
It's a crap service. Mandatory registration, no HD, no Dolby.

There's no excuse for it at all. They've done a ton of work over the past 5-6 years around monetising iplayer (see: Britbox) - that is the reason they don't want to improve the baseline. They forget we paid for the content in the first place - the BBC think they own the content, not us.

Absolutely, I forgot about that. Burning logos onto video feels so incredibly retrograde, a real throwback to the early days of satellite and cable TV.

I wonder how well Britbox is doing. The idea of paying money for a load of old drama which has already been on BBC and ITV is remarkably unappealing. I guess its targeting the older customer, but then, how many of those are watching streamed stuff?
 
Thanks, watching the Hedy Lamarr documentary now.
 
Essentially, I pay £13 a month to watch about 1-3 hours worth of content that is indefensively sh*tty quality.
Then just cancel your license, you want to moan about the BBC fine there are plenty of other threads other than this one which is about films on the iplayer.

It would be nice to keep a thread on topic.
 
Rant continues...

And their workflow - the fact most are just captures of the broadcast signal so often have commentary etc over the titles. Why is the iplayer version not part of the production workflow? Caturing there keeps the resolution and multi-channel audio.

And on broadcast - well over 10 years into BBC HD channels and they still don't have regional broadcast. Every sodding news and weather break it's those stupid idents.

They've millions to pay for their 'stars' but not a penny to spend on the actual product.
 
he fact most are just captures of the broadcast signal
The same content that is broadcast, not the signal.
It is likely that the video is transcoded to reduce the bandwidth needed.
 
It's often the broadcast signal - on BBC 4 / cbeebies to get the announcer over the closing credits and the channel logos rather than the generic BBC ones. Yes it's transcoded to 720p/25 but it's what comes out of the aerial rather than what's coming off the video master.
 
This is an AVForum most people here have had 5.1 (or more) for years.

What is the point in listening to a film in stereo/mono if said film was made with 5.1? hence just from this perspective most here wouldn't really use this service for there film watching/listening pleasure.

They would just record off the BBC's HD channels should it happen to be broadcast in 5.1 (which of course isn't always a done deal) of course for older films made with stereo/mono sound no problem besides the PQ still no adverts has always been a winner for me as I just won't watch a film with regular interruptions.

Stereo/mono is fine for those that don't mind but how about giving those of us that do mind the choice.

So i am afraid to say the BBC iPlayer is pretty much redundant for me as a film fan speaking as a license payer.
I wasn’t referring to AV aficionados, we represent a small minority of the viewing public. Most people really couldn’t give a toss about 720 v 1080, 5.1 or stereo.
 
How The Elephant Man did not come away with Oscars is quite ridiculous!

One of the most haunting films I have ever watched, And a pleasure to revisit.
 
Regardless about the quality of the image, because of this article I watched "Hollywood's Brightest Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story". With regards to her genius as a brilliant mind who co-invented 1940s wireless technology was unknown to me, and that this technology is used in many forms of today's modern communications is quite incredible.

I found her story not only fascinating but with documentary's like this about well known celebrities one also learns about their frailties and sadness in life. Thank you.
 
Very useful article, thanks. No thanks to all the miserable "The BBC sucks" comments that clogged up this thread.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom