Has anyone else been invited to join this beta test stage?

I just got the email today inviting me to sign up, not entirely sure what to expect, I'll report back once I know exactly what's going on.

Ahem....and exactly why didn't I get such email? My status must have dropped somewhat :snooty:

Well, you are a bit weird.

I on the other hand, know that I'm a lot weird, so maybe that was the deciding factor :lol:

Just got another email from them today, I'll be getting the link to download the player sometime towards the end of the month.

The email also included copious amounts of legal warnings about not sharing any links/material with anyone not directly involved in the beta testing.

I'm even more intrigued now. :ponder:

I guess that this won't really make a splash anyway, you can download episodes after they have aired over the net anyway, too keep if you so wish.

This is basically catch up tv, now seeing as we've paid our license fees I'd like an on demand service where I can watch anything the BBC has produced in the past 50 years.

But that would never happen would it as it cut deep into BBC Worldwides profits (yet we are to believe that they are two independent companies and that the BBC is a non profit organisation). And don't get me started on the overwhelming prices of the new series of Doctor Who. Still can't find series 1 DVD for less than £40 and its only 13 epsiodes!

Anyway Jamie, it will be interesting to see your view on it, as in picture and audio quality, connection issues etc.

And lets hope it is better than 4od because I can't even download that onto my PC, comes up with errors each time.

I believe the idea is to expand it's scope to cover the full range of the beebs output, and include "many" classic beeb shows, but as it's only going into beta testing, I think it'll be limited.

I believe they just want to check it's viability and user-friendliness.

But, I will be back with a full report once I've had the chance to play about on it.

Well, it's all installed, and set up now. And it's....

well, it's another media player :rolleyes:

It's nicely laid out though, everything is clearly set out, and mistakes aren't easy to make (and Gods know how easily I make mistakes :lmao: )

The content is literally, all of the beebs televisual output for the past seven days :o

Currently going through the "Childrens tv on trial" stuff that I missed :D

OK, full report.

The iplayer (atm) is only compatible with Internet explorer. Windows XP/Vista, and can only use windows media player :rolleyes:

Apart from all those setbacks, it's a pretty good system. Clear and easy to navigate between "channels" and a browse function that allows you to look up things by category/genre/date broadcast.

The downloads remain on your PC for up to 28 days, or 7 days from the time you watch the show, which is fair enough I suppose

So far I've downloaded 3 shows.
Ronni Ancona's new show (wish I hadn't bothered)
Kids TV on trial Great show, buried away on BBC4 :rolleyes:
Doctor Who (duh) The only one that I had to queue for. (Understandable)

Download times seem to depend on the demand. Ronni Ancona took about 15 mins, the Kids tv took about 40 mins, and Doctor Who took so long I went to bed before it finished so can't give an actual timeframe.

They're fair to good quality (limited by Windows media format)

All in all, it's pretty good for a freebie.

The BBC's on demand TV service, the BBC iPlayer, will launch to the public on 27 July, the corporation has revealed.

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