tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21098869.post8176791454718295750..comments2024-03-29T06:59:04.369+00:00Comments on Alan in Belfast: iPlayer Beta experiencesAlan in Belfast (Alan Meban)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04647690758839987063noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21098869.post-39394459769240398572008-10-07T13:12:00.000+01:002008-10-07T13:12:00.000+01:00Thanks for that Alan, I have just now uninstalled ...Thanks for that Alan, I have just now uninstalled iplayer, and, coincidence or not, have been playing online with no untoward effects whatsoever. I triple boot with a 2nd install of xp and ubuntu. I think the safest way to safeguard my gaming bandwidth will be to install iplayer onto one of those and reboot into that OS for my veiwing pleasure. That way whenever I'm not booted into the OS containing iplayer, I'm in no danger of having my bandwidth sucked dry without my knowledge. :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21098869.post-32802486541047589202008-10-07T11:23:00.000+01:002008-10-07T11:23:00.000+01:00The authoritative answer is probably to be found "...The authoritative answer is probably to be found "straight from the horse's mouth" in the <A HREF="http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/about_iplayer/" REL="nofollow">iPlayer help pages</A>.<BR/><BR/>You don't need to download the iPlayer PC client in order to stream the programmes straight from the iPlayer website.<BR/><BR/>If you download the client but have no shows downloaded to your PC (either never downloaded, or they're all watched and deleted), then there's no ongoing bandwidth being used.<BR/><BR/>If you download a show using the iPlayer client then you could be using around 250-500MB of any download limit your broadband package enforces.<BR/><BR/>And while the programmes are sitting on your PC hard drive, and you're connected to the internet, and you have iPlayer's background application active on your PC, other iPlayer users can be served portions of those shows from your PC. (The peer-to-peer/P2P nature of the service is what makes it possible to download popular programmes relatively quickly in the first place. The load on a set of central servers would otherwise be immense.)<BR/><BR/>However, this traffic will be in the opposite direction, being uploaded from your PC out to the net, and there are few broadband packages with upload limits (given that the asymmetric part of ADSL means that upload bandwidth is a lot less than download bandwidth), and unless an ISP has set an overall bandwidth constraint (upload+download), it shouldn't matter.Alan in Belfast (Alan Meban)https://www.blogger.com/profile/04647690758839987063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21098869.post-69318230391850958032008-10-07T10:58:00.000+01:002008-10-07T10:58:00.000+01:00So, am I correct in understanding that as long as ...So, am I correct in understanding that as long as I don't download any programmes but only watch them using iplayer, then my bandwidth won't be 'interfered' with? I downloaded iplayer a couple of days ago and although I have only tried it briefly to see how it worked etc, I have noticed that my online gaming has slowed down and I have had intermittant connection losses whilst playing too. Could this have anything to do with iplayer?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21098869.post-89069631779695835872008-02-18T09:31:00.000+00:002008-02-18T09:31:00.000+00:00Last time I installed iPlayer, the new versions ar...Last time I installed iPlayer, the new versions are pretty upfront about the peer-to-peer aspect of downloading. Isn't there also now a tick box in the iPlayer Options to turn off sharing facility ... though leaving it on only affects your upload speeds (and any limits), not downloading. Your download speeds should only be affected when <I>you</I> are downloading programmes.Alan in Belfast (Alan Meban)https://www.blogger.com/profile/04647690758839987063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21098869.post-61846464368067548152008-02-15T23:56:00.000+00:002008-02-15T23:56:00.000+00:00I have just come across this blog after using the ...I have just come across this blog after using the BBCiplayer for a fortnight now.<BR/>I was initially pleased with the speed and quality of the shows using the P2P downloads until yesterday.<BR/>My Virgin internet connection is slow right now anyway (that's another story) but it seemed slower than dial-up. I thought nothing after recent problems until I began having difficulties with windows.<BR/>On closer inspection I found the "Kserver.exe" which the system uses was activating without my consent and as well as using almost all my bandwidth was also using 100% of my CPU.<BR/>Blocking it through the firewall didn't work and so I uninstalled the iplayer to give me back my PC.<BR/>Maybe I didn't read the small print but I expected more from an institution like the BBC than having to investigate any links they might have with me.<BR/>Tut tut BBC, shame on you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21098869.post-48868022094456814782007-08-06T14:07:00.000+01:002007-08-06T14:07:00.000+01:00Never quite got around to signing up for Joost (mo...Never quite got around to signing up for Joost (mostly because people were saying the content was minimal).<BR/><BR/>There's some comparison in the <A HREF="http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2007/08/do-we-expect-too-much-from-iplayer.html" REL="nofollow">New Scientist Technology blog</A> and a look at the technology over at the <A HREF="http://blog.ipdev.net/2007/08/iplayer-technology-review.html" REL="nofollow">IP Development Network Blog</A> ...Alan in Belfast (Alan Meban)https://www.blogger.com/profile/04647690758839987063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21098869.post-39321750931022400032007-08-05T01:38:00.000+01:002007-08-05T01:38:00.000+01:00How does this compare to Joost , http://www.joost....How does this compare to Joost , <B>http://www.joost.com</B> ?<BR/>From my experince Joost is pretty usable if a bit lacking on content.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21098869.post-39505123019462847322007-08-03T16:48:00.000+01:002007-08-03T16:48:00.000+01:00No - it's currently quite restricted ... Windows X...No - it's currently quite restricted ... Windows XP (not 98, not Vista) and IE - though if you spoof the IE signature to make it look like it's running on XP, rumour has it that everything works ok, but it hasn't been as thoroughly tested.<BR/><BR/>With the volumes of data being thrown around for VoD services, to run on a national scale, P2P is nearly inevitable. Channel 4 (and others) are doing exactly the same - C4's VoD works on Vista (a good thing since their underlying distribution software is the same).<BR/><BR/>Not sure if readers of this blog are typical - but today's visitors reveal that 81% Windows XP, 6% MacOS, 2% Linux, and 75% IE5/6/7, 18% Firefox, 5% Safari.<BR/><BR/>(I notice that those stats are quite different <A HREF="http://alaninbelfast.blogspot.com/2007/01/search-gems-and-few-stats.html" REL="nofollow">from what I observed back in January</A> ...)<BR/><BR/>And most Windows users still have IE and Windows Media Player on their machines, gathering dust.<BR/><BR/>I'm intrigued how soon they'll be able to release a Mac version - if it's early, it'll require a completely separate DRM solution. But if they wait for a cross-platform DRM, it'll be a long wait.Alan in Belfast (Alan Meban)https://www.blogger.com/profile/04647690758839987063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21098869.post-39471969601440229252007-08-03T16:36:00.000+01:002007-08-03T16:36:00.000+01:00Using P2P seems a bit of a swizz: a cheap way for ...Using P2P seems a bit of a swizz: a cheap way for the Beeb to save on server capacity, and I'm quite sure most people using it won't realise that their computer is having stuff downloaded from it by other peoplem, and wouldn't necessarily be happy if they did know.<BR/><BR/>Perhaps the glitches will be ironed out by the time it's available for Mac and I can get my hands on it.<BR/><BR/>Did I read somewhere that as well as Windows, you need to use IE for it? Blocking Firefox, Netscape, Opera etc would exclude perhaps a third of users. Maybe I picked that bit up wrong.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com