Round up Friday 27 August 2010
Post categories: round up
| 08:22 UK time, Friday, 27 August 2010
I thought August was supposed to be quiet, but:
reports PC Pro magazine.
Mark Watson, CEO of Volantis is quoted in the article:
"No-one is going to be able to say that pressing ahead with HTML5 development is eccentric when the world's dominant video site is backing it, alongside Microsoft, Apple, and Google. Indeed, it's the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's stance on this issue that is eccentric or suggests a vested interest.
Comments on the article are worth reading. This from Mikeos:
Until it is established as a standard and open source only a fool would adopt it..
See Erik Hugger's original post and George Wright's update for background.
The new Strictly Come Dancing blog explains why there are no Strictly messageboards this year
A successful FOI reuest on WhatDoTheyKnow reveals a few numbers around devices":
In July 2010, 1,026 hours of programming were streamed from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer to Android devices... we confirm that in July 2010 6,400 programmes were streamed from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer to Android devices... In July 2010 there were 5,272,464 programmes requested via the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer from Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices.
According to CrunchGear: Broadband TV News has
On the Radio 4 blog Leigh Aspen announces "Some Changes to the Radio 4 website".
The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that we've added a fifth term to our top navigation - a page we've called "Comment", which aggregates a lot of the comment and conversations around Radio 4 - on our messageboards and blogs, and on social networks.
The R&D blog has another in their series of videos: R&D North Lab: The Move to MediaCity:UK
And from Media Guardian's Data Blog is simply wonderful:
Nick Reynolds is Social Media Executive, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Online
Comment number 1.
At 27th Aug 2010, angrymartin wrote:Shame the FOI request didn't ask how many pre-froyo android users attempted to access the iPlayer web site and found it inaccessible, and how many Android users successfully streamed using beebPlayer or myPlayer.
Or perhaps the person who asked already knows how many people use beebPlayer and myPlayer. If so, it would be good if they could share the comparison of how many people use the approved access vs unapproved.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
At 27th Aug 2010, HD wrote:So has the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ decided not to do 3D yet because the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ haven't got enough bandwidth? Couldn't the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ get back some of our spectrum that is being sold/auctioned off and use that for 3D? Can't Ofcom stop selling our TV spectrum that was for our TV channels if we don't have the spectrum for 3D?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)
Comment number 3.
At 27th Aug 2010, johndrinkwater wrote:‘"Usage of Flash 10.1 ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer streaming on Android 2.2 ('FroYo') devices"’
Sadly they were asking the question too early, the only device in the UK with this firmware at that time, was the Nexus One.
My HTC Desire went 2.2 on the 1 of August!
Anyhow, the usability of iPlayer in the browser with Flash is horrible, it puts me off wanting to view anything - i’d rather use my PS3 for it instead.
Try pressing pause.
Just try it.
It is horrid.
If there was a dedicated application for Android, like iDevices, your figures would be higher.
Oh, and if you advertised Android as much as you do for Apple equipment :^)
----
Enough with Android, HTML5 comment time:
Are the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ experimenting with WebM streams for iPlayer?
If Flash had WebM support, would the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ start using HTML5+WebM with Flash to fallback on?
I feel the arguments for avoiding HTML5 in browsers, and avoiding a client on Android, is much more about ‘protecting works’. Does the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ believe abusing the purpose of copyright is more important than accessibility to all?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)
Comment number 4.
At 27th Aug 2010, techbelly wrote:@mmillmor - I'm the person who made the FOI request. I made the FOI request so that those of us arguing against their current platform strategy have real numbers to talk about.
As far as I'm aware, beebPlayer and myPlayer, et al. do their best to impersonate iPhones. If there were a way to identify their traffic I'm sure the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ would use that to block them. I could be wrong here, someone more knowlegeable than me can correct me.
@johndrinkwater - I intend to make the same request for August traffic figures; although, it would be great if the numbers were published, say, on this blog, instead.
I believe that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's current policies let down users of open platforms, distorting the mobile device market, and working against their stated aims: "our use of Flash is not a case of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ favouritism, rather it currently happens to be the most efficient way to deliver a high quality experience to the broadest possible audience."
The flash experience on Android is, indeed, awful. And much poorer than the iOS experience. The traffic numbers, I believe, speak to this - particularly the number of programmes watched per user per week.
But, it will likely take a few months of traffic figures to reveal this.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 4)
Comment number 5.
At 27th Aug 2010, johnsto wrote:@techbelly - beebPlayer (intentionally) did not impersonate any device in particular. It used the default user agents as provided by Android OS of the user's phone.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 5)
Comment number 6.
At 27th Aug 2010, angrymartin wrote:@techbelly, I agree that a few months more traffic is needed. The HTC Desire is probably the most popular Android device, and froyo is only just rolling out to that at the moment. However, I think there is a habit now where people look for downloadable apps, and if there isn't one, they assume that they can't do what they want.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 6)
Comment number 7.
At 29th Aug 2010, Franky wrote:Great
"The new Strictly Come Dancing blog explains why there are no Strictly messageboards this year"
So the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ message boards which Nick has already wrecked now gets pollouted.
Or is this to redirect traffic to PoV messageboards whose traffic has somewhat suffered over that last year?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 7)
Comment number 8.
At 29th Aug 2010, Franky wrote:Comments on the article are worth reading. This from Mikeos:
Until it is established as a standard and open source only a fool would adopt it..
Or someone who wants to get a jump on the competition and be ready to offer services ahead of the competition? Yes its a gamble - but it could pay off. Irrespective of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 8)
Comment number 9.
At 29th Aug 2010, Nick Reynolds wrote:Comment 7 - I didn't "wreck" the POV message boards and traffic there has been stable, or at least was stable the last time I looked. Any more of this personal abuse will be removed.
Thanks
Complain about this comment (Comment number 9)
Comment number 10.
At 29th Aug 2010, Franky wrote:Stable? Its down (as is number of active members).
No "personal abuse" intended - merely observation (which is what I do on the PoV board - you font appear to have paid it a visit for a while - at least not actively).
Complain about this comment (Comment number 10)
Comment number 11.
At 30th Aug 2010, U14596400 wrote:#9 to be fair the last time you looked andy quested was still in his old job. so maybe you will need to look again if you think pov messageboard traffic is stable.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 11)
Comment number 12.
At 31st Aug 2010, TV Licence fee payer against ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ censorship wrote:#2. At 1:30pm on 27 Aug 2010, HD1080 wrote:
"So has the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ decided not to do 3D yet because the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ haven't got enough bandwidth? Couldn't the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ get back some of our spectrum that is being sold/auctioned off and use that for 3D? Can't Ofcom stop selling our TV spectrum that was for our TV channels if we don't have the spectrum for 3D?"
I suspect that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is not indulging in 3D TV (and TVL payers money) as they realise that the only TV company pushing yet more unneeded and unwanted technology is BSkyB - for their own commercial needs - want to see the world in 3D, get off your backsides, go outside, into the real world were you wont need to see the world through rose (and blue) tinted specs!...
Whilst HD might have been justifiable to correct the rubbish PQ found in low and medium cost SD flat screen technology the same can't be said for 3D. If the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ goes down the 3D road that will be the day the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ has said that it would prefer that the TVL be scrapped and that it wants to become a fully commercial entity in my opinion.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 12)
Comment number 13.
At 1st Sep 2010, sa wrote:Will the HTML5 video tag with h264 or WebM be added for iPlayer as Flash uses way too much cpu and is jerky, even on 2ghz core2 cpu's. Or will you even use silverlight 4?
3D is just a fad, 12% of brits can't see it and get a headache too!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 13)