I think I recall Bob-cat suggesting that the streaming functionality for iplayer will not be tied down to only working with the BBC.

So presuming that you can point the HDR at a PC on your home network then all we'll need is some way to generate a video stream in the same way as iplayer does - is that feasible ? It sounds feasible, if it were then seems to me what you have is the HDR behaving as a media centre front-end, you could stream all manner of content to it ...

Crikey, that sounds technically feasible, but incredibly unlikely..

My thoughts on this are that while supporting iPlayer, this might extend to services such as hulu which aren't platform specific (I think), or maybe integrate a simple web browser onto the system.

Who knows, but at this rate freeview will be all HD'd up before we get the update. It's like being 8 and waiting for Xmas. Lets just hope we don't literally have to wait till Xmas!

If you are saying what I think you are then I like the idea.. I have wondered from time to time about the joys of IP TV.

In theory would this mean that rather than being limited to Iplayer we could also get streaming TV stations from anywhere in the world? I would imagine if the Humax can stream the BBC it wouldn't be that much of a leap to stream anything else of a similar format.

Patrick

I'm saying you could potentially stream all your music and any DVDs you have ripped etc from a PC to the HDR, if the PC could rep[licate an iplayer like feed.

With respect to other services, hopefully some pay movie model will come out. Whilst I'm against paying regular sub for Sky I'm perfectly happy to pay for the odd film or sports event so long as charge is reasonable.

Other IPTV service is essentially what Project Canvas is all about. For a glimpse of that sort of thing, take a look at recent Panasonic TVs and other AV gear with VieraCast built in; you don't get free choice, you get what's signed up to be on the platform. On VieraCast, there are things like YouTube, Tageschau, Eurosport, Bloomberg and the weather.

Project Canvas aims to be more open (so what you see won't depend on what brand of kit you have).

In-home streaming, if it were to come, would not be via the iPlayer functionality, but via DLNA compatibility, and I'd guess that would be most likely as a separate update. Also, remember that DLNA certification doesn't in itself guarantee media playback - the standard doesn't presently specify mandatory formats.

So, for example, some Sony sets are DLNA certified, but can only pay MPEG2 video; some Samsungs go the whole hog and support avi, mpeg, mp4, mkv and almost anything you can think of, with many variants of each. When you see the DLNA badge, it's best intepreted as meaning "Yes, it'll see your server. Now read the small print to see if it supports the media files you already have."

As for iPlayer functionality not being necessarily the sole preserve of the BBC, that's presumably because of the way it's being delivered. iPlayer is going to be an MHEG (red button) application on Freesat, where stuff behind the red button will be able to direct the box to connect to a stream on an appropriate server. So I don't suppose the update will actually be specific to iPlayer - it's more likely an update that enables the IPTV functionality of the MHEG engine in the box.

And so, if other channels were to add a red button application for their own catch up service (like 4OD or ITV Player), then those should work too, without any further updates.

Nigel.

It would be nice if they could first fix the problems the device has recording and playing back TV programs on the Freesat platform.

Else I suspect the box will end up be a "Jack of All Trades and Master of None"

I myself have never bothered with the BBC iPlayer but how good a picture would you get on a large screen LCD or Plasma?

Is it not designed (picture quality/bandwidth wise) for laptops and the like sized screens?

Automan.

Amen!

I agree, we are now waiting for 8 months, just to get some basic operational issues resolved (delete, etc.). Month after month, these basic fixes get delayed, and we now already have to wait until the end of Summer (which I interpret as September).

What was said earlier, was first one update to address issues, second update to include iplayer. If we keep this rate of fixing for phase 1, iplayer will not see the day on foxsat-hdr until mid next year (not that I care about the iplayer on the device when I can record the thing in the first place with the same device, in better quality).

a, very bored of waiting, humax user, who is now slowly regretting of being an early adopter as no other company waits this amount of time for a freaking update to fix basic functionality.

That's my take on it as well - although HOPEFULLY earlier - bob_cat is, totally guessing, I would think more likely to suggest the end of Summer as being what he thought a worse case scenario. Mind you with the history of this box did he mean end of Summer next year?

As always you are a fountain of knowledge Nigel - but no fun ! Possibilities are there though !

As to other comments about fixing up everything under the sun before adding more interesting functionality - that won't sell them more units.

Yes there are a couple of things to fix, delete function (1 days coding), power loss during standby messes up recordings (3 days coding) and a couple other essentials - I'm sure they can cover those off too.

You can get a pretty good picture with the latest iPlayer HD offerings. They aren't Full HD (ISTR more like 720p) but IMHO look at least as good as broadcast SD on Freeview or Sat.

My ISP isn't really up to streaming the HD shows - sometimes it works but at other times stutters badly. So I download and save them locally.

Very possible, in fact it doesn't even need to be applied to just one manufacturer, if someone could do this in MHEG then they could get it to work on any Freesat device.

I have a document on this subject that I am toying with releasing to a wider audience but it's a difficult area.

Bob

Publish and be damned !

I realised it wasn't HDR specific after writing it. Mods - can this be moved to Freesat area please.

Is there any free software that could produce the kind of stream that a Freesat device will play ? I read that BBC iplayer uses Kontiki, is there a simpler & cheaper way ?

Kontiki was the peer to peer technology that the BBC used for the iPlayer PC client, which allowed downloads - similar to BitTorrent, it saved them having to have massive capacity to provide for millions of people wanting Eastenders as soon as it became available.

Presently, iPlayer used h.264 for various devices, and I'd be very surprised it that's not used for the Freesat service - all the HD boxes at least can decode it, and if you do multi-pass encoding (quite reasonable for iPlayer) you could end up with files that are fairly manageable and still produce decent quality on a TV.

All this fountaining is wearing me out, you know...

If the HDR does start offering iPlayer mode will it have the same "side effects" on FreeSat mode that none FreeSat mode has?

Automan.

Nope.

You probably all know this - but, if you have a PS3 you can connect to the internet and run BBC iPlayer - picture is quite good (on 8MBs AOL line) - watched Robin Hood the other day. High action scenes were a bit blocky at times but mostly way better than I thought it would be!

(on Sony 46W4000)

HTH

I suppose I should also ask what percentage of HDR owners have their unit linked to their ethernet network ready to use the iplayer and how many will attempt this when the option becomes a reality....

Will users who do not have their HDR linked to a live network connection be confused by any iplayer options?

Automan.

You can also get itunes on a wii, quality pretty poor though.

In reply to post directly above re confusion if you don't have network connected, the unit knows if it has a live network connection, I doubt it will do anything without one - probably will grey out the options.

If the network connection became available I would like to be able to connect the PVR to a mains network adaptor in order view some of the stuff I record in a different room.

At this rate perhaps a new device or new technology will replace it before it becomes available.

Zeberdy

Mines been linked to my router since I recieved it launch week - I've even given it a fixed IP in the hope that we will have some advanced networking capability at some point.

Yes - but that is just a web page ----> http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/bigscreen/

I for one would love to see the Humax work a bit like Viera Cast and include DNLA as it would save on one extra device etc how ever first and formost it has to be a good Sat Rec'.

Terran