BBC iPlayer 2.0 arrives in beta

by Nik Fletcher Jun 26th 2008

We've covered the BBC iPlayer in great depth here at Download Squad - from its inception to nationwide rollout - and today, the BBC has announced version 2 of the (hugely successful) project. The new-look site has been heavily re-designed, bringing together both Radio and Television shows in a central portal. Personalisation also seems to be the key to the new release, which incidentally runs side-by-side (at least for now) with the previous version. The iPlayer site keeps track of what you last watched, listing up to ten recently-viewed shows and if that weren't enough, a list of 'last night's TV' is available to help you find shows to catch up with. The video playback size also increased from 512 pixels wide to 640 pixels (a jump of 25%) and the BBC has promised a more 'cinematic' feel to pages playing video.

The iPlayer continues to use Flash to stream videos online for seven days after broadcast, and remains available only to UK residents due to the BBC's publicly-funded status - but if you're a UK resident then you can get started with this new beta here.

Tags: BBC, bbc-iplayer, iPlayer, Video-streaming

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

James Cridland (BBC) said 8:37PM on 6-26-2008

Just to let you know: the radio bits of iPlayer are available internationally (though some of the increases in audio quality aren't) so if you're outside the UK, feel free to come along and listen.

whiskey said 7:54PM on 6-29-2008

James:

Please don't take this the wrong way, i mean no offense...

Why put your content online only to restrict it?

It would be very interesting if you (err, the BBC) could work on an alternative that could provide us with some content, ok maybe not the latest.

How about it?

Sincerely,
Whiskey.

PS: I know you have the youtube channel, it's just not the same.

Peter C said 2:48AM on 6-27-2008

Here's something I hadn't noticed before, and will amuse fans of Spinal Tap: the volume goes up to eleven!

Dagwood said 6:45AM on 6-27-2008

Great picture. I love Doctor Who. Martha was awesome. I wish they would put these BBC show up for a US audience. I understand if BBC doesn't want to do it directly, but through Hulu with the rest of the licensed SciFi channel content should be possible with ad support. I guess giving up those $80 a season (13 episodes) DVD sales is hard to do.

westudi said 1:02PM on 6-27-2008

Yeah, the Doctor DVDs are insanely priced (the classic ones especially). I miss Martha. I think she got canned way too soon.

BlackAle said 10:47AM on 6-27-2008

Pretty impressive improvement, great to have the radio integrated, no longer have to use realaudio.

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