NG
Though other than the Sky+HD implementation the picture quality of iPlayer isn't great (720/25p at best these days and a pretty low bitrate) Certainly not a patch on Freeview HD, Freesat HD or Sky HD. They are more convenient - but I couldn't watch them unless there was a compelling reason to. (Though the Sky+HD version is as good if not better than broadcast off-air quality - and incredibly useful)
Yes, I noticed that. I don't have Sky+HD, but my brother-in-law does, and I was astounded at the quality, as you say, it could well be better than off air. It's very data hungry though (of course !)
AIUI for the Sky CDN delivered content (which I believe includes the BBC iPlayer stuff) I've heard rumblings of 8Mbs H264 for 1080/50i and something like 2Mbs H264 for 576/50i (note that they don't use MPEG2 for SD) The killer for me is that interlaced content is delivered interlaced, not de-interlaced at half the temporal resolution. (Some Red Button iPlayer implementations also have access to 1080i and 576i streams - but at significantly lower data rates)
Sky's system is definitely better suited for fast broadband connections - but equally the download rather than streaming also means you avoid buffering (stuff just takes longer to become "available" - which in Sky terms means enough has been downloaded for the entire programme to have downloaded by the time you reach the end assuming the download rate continues to be the same. For SD stuff on a fast broadband connection this takes very little time, and for HD often only a minute or two)
What's neat is the integration between VoD and Catch Up - you can download iPlayer programmes or a Sky Movies film, or a Sky Atlantic box set from the same user interface and all at a quality I've not seen any other streaming provider match. (I haven't seen Netflix 4K but by all accounts it isn't as stunning as you'd hope)
noggin
Founding member
Though other than the Sky+HD implementation the picture quality of iPlayer isn't great (720/25p at best these days and a pretty low bitrate) Certainly not a patch on Freeview HD, Freesat HD or Sky HD. They are more convenient - but I couldn't watch them unless there was a compelling reason to. (Though the Sky+HD version is as good if not better than broadcast off-air quality - and incredibly useful)
Yes, I noticed that. I don't have Sky+HD, but my brother-in-law does, and I was astounded at the quality, as you say, it could well be better than off air. It's very data hungry though (of course !)
AIUI for the Sky CDN delivered content (which I believe includes the BBC iPlayer stuff) I've heard rumblings of 8Mbs H264 for 1080/50i and something like 2Mbs H264 for 576/50i (note that they don't use MPEG2 for SD) The killer for me is that interlaced content is delivered interlaced, not de-interlaced at half the temporal resolution. (Some Red Button iPlayer implementations also have access to 1080i and 576i streams - but at significantly lower data rates)
Sky's system is definitely better suited for fast broadband connections - but equally the download rather than streaming also means you avoid buffering (stuff just takes longer to become "available" - which in Sky terms means enough has been downloaded for the entire programme to have downloaded by the time you reach the end assuming the download rate continues to be the same. For SD stuff on a fast broadband connection this takes very little time, and for HD often only a minute or two)
What's neat is the integration between VoD and Catch Up - you can download iPlayer programmes or a Sky Movies film, or a Sky Atlantic box set from the same user interface and all at a quality I've not seen any other streaming provider match. (I haven't seen Netflix 4K but by all accounts it isn't as stunning as you'd hope)