BBC happy with PS3 iPlayer success. Open iPlayer coming soon.

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Published: Monday 14th September, 2009 | Author: Steven Williamson
Companies: BBC (All BBC content)

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The BBC reports that it is delighted with the success of its BBC iPlayer service since it launched on PlayStation 3 following the latest firmware update,v3.00.

Figures released by the T.V. company show that PS3 owners now account for 10% of the iPlayer audience, making it the second most popular way to catch up with T.V. shows. While 70% of viewers watch iPlayer on the PC, the PS3 now overtakes the amount of viewers who use the service on Apple computers, which currently stands at approximately 8.5%.

“User response to our new iPlayer for PS3 has been amazing, [it] now accounts for a massive 10 per cent of all iPlayer viewing,” said BBC online media spokesperson, Anthony Rose.

The news follows the revelation that the BBC has been approached by third parties keen to utilise its iPlayer service to show their T.V. shows. Though the BBC is still waiting for approval by the corporation's governing body, it seems like it's only a matter of time before we'll be able to watch rival channels on the iPlayer.

Indeed, at the IBC 2009 event in Amsterdam Erik Huggers, director of future media and technology, confirmed that the company will create an Open iPlayer that will allow the streaming of other companies' T.V. shows from around the world.

“It is not a concept of aggregation, but federation,” said Huggers. “It is about making sure each of the broadcasters around the world can continue to have a direct relationship with their users.”

Huggers points out that ITV's Coronation Street is the most popular searched for show on iPlayer, but will ITV be interested in jumping on board? Surely, it'd be foolish not to.

Anthony Rose from the BBC believes that the updated version of the iPlayer for PS3 is "almost as good as broadcast television."

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Re: News - BBC happy with PS3 iPlayer success. Open iPlayer coming soon.

Posted by HSK - Mon 14th Sep 2009, 8:50am

Cool, yea I've been using iplayer to watch a few programs on the PS3 for sure.

One thing though I can't figure out though is - my brother created his own profile on the PS3, and iplayer does not show up in the XMB? no idea why. Does he need to create his own PSN network ID?Quote

Re: News - BBC happy with PS3 iPlayer success. Open iPlayer coming soon.

Posted by Barrichello - Mon 14th Sep 2009, 5:38pm

Quote: HSK
Cool, yea I've been using iplayer to watch a few programs on the PS3 for sure.

One thing though I can't figure out though is - my brother created his own profile on the PS3, and iplayer does not show up in the XMB? no idea why. Does he need to create his own PSN network ID?

Love the new iplayer how it sizes/scales full screen now to our main tv and the video quality is even better since V3.0.

In regard to it not appearing under a seperate profile, have a read here....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2009/09/new_version_of_bbc_iplayer_for.html

I think it is implying that you have to actually use your full PSN UK account log in, rather than a "sub" login. I have other sub logins i use for Asian/US accounts and iplayer only shows up under main UK one.Quote

Re: News - BBC happy with PS3 iPlayer success. Open iPlayer coming soon.

Posted by JimmyBoy - Mon 14th Sep 2009, 8:11pm

its a good idea having iplayer on the console but i always found that once iplayer was put into full screen it was a little choppy, Admittedly i havent updated to 3.0 yet, does that improve things by the sounds of it?Quote

Re: News - BBC happy with PS3 iPlayer success. Open iPlayer coming soon.

Posted by Barrichello - Mon 14th Sep 2009, 9:29pm

Quote: JimmyBoy
its a good idea having iplayer on the console but i always found that once iplayer was put into full screen it was a little choppy, Admittedly i havent updated to 3.0 yet, does that improve things by the sounds of it?

Definitely...

Quote
Sony have done a great job of enhancing the PS3's Flash playback experience, and the latest *V3.0 firmware update* now includes hardware acceleration in full-screen mode, allowing for a substantial improvement in the playback experience.

Over the past year, we've also done a lot of tuning and enhancements to our iPlayer video encoding, including adding a new 1500Kbps "SD quality" format. Put the two together and the result is an iPlayer on PS3 with brilliant video quality - almost as good as broadcast television!

Details here...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2009/09/new_version_of_bbc_iplayer_for.html

Also you have to laugh at this........

Quote
points out that ITV's Coronation Street is the most popular searched for show on iPlayer

I find that hard to believe? people searching for coronation street on *BBC *iplayer? Please say its not so :rolleyes:Quote

Re: News - BBC happy with PS3 iPlayer success. Open iPlayer coming soon.

Posted by Agent - Mon 14th Sep 2009, 10:36pm

I didn't even realise the PS3 did this until a friend pointed it out :rolleyes:

Certainly something I will be using a bit more now.Quote