I also noticed that the first episode of The Computer Programme has different edits at the start. The original mentions the year of Information Technology (1982), while the iplayer version seems to have an acting sequence. Was this used for repeat versions?
Yes, the programme was indeed re-edited at the end of 1982 for subsequent repeats, as it would be out of date.
I also noticed that the first episode of The Computer Programme has different edits at the start. The original mentions the year of Information Technology (1982), while the iplayer version seems to have an acting sequence. Was this used for repeat versions?
Yes, the programme was indeed re-edited at the end of 1982 for subsequent repeats, as it would be out of date.
I happily stand corrected, as this is a very welcome development. That said, I've been able watch 50i iPlayer on my Freesat HD box for years ("higher quality" mode, SD but smooth).
Yes - some of the Freeview and Freesat non-Connected Red Button iPlayer implementations that just use MHEG5 and an IP video stream appear to point to relatively low bitrate interlaced 50i streams, and have done since they started I think. I guess that there are "DVB friendly" streams for some set top boxes? Was a nice surprise on my mum's Freeview HD PVR when I showed her the Red Button iPlayer.
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And my "modern" YouView box is still getting 25p only...
Yep - so far it appears only web iPlayer streaming is getting the 50p stuff. (Ironic given most people will be watching at non-50Hz frame rates)
SD stuff looks very good at 960x540/50p 2.9Mbs. I guess 4:3 content is effectively 720x540 given the 12P16 pillar boxing, but that just gives more bits to the active video. Sure, we've lost a little bit of vertical resolution compared to the 575i origination, but it still looks very good indeed.
Well, I've been watching EastEnders through the internet iPlayer in 50fps, in fact it was watching it when I first noticed iPlayer had enabled 50fps playback!
Weird! I tried last nights and it was definitely flat 25! Must be specific to me.
50p for me. Did you switch to HD?
Lovely, this - or as lovely as it can be on a 60Hz display, which is still pretty smooth (although my particluar combination of graphics cards has its own issues with smooth browser video). I really wasn't expecting the BBC to do this, but then I also wasn't expecting YouTube to start supporting 60fps. Maybe James Cameron and Peter Jackson are onto something after all...
Of course they are, I thought the 48fps version of the Hobbit looked great. It's this obsession with sticking the "film look" on everything I don't get. We've got companies experimenting with frame rates up to 120fps to get things to look at smooth as possible, yet far too many people want to stick with 24/25fps. The idea that drama HAS to be "film look" and this recent obsession with filmising the non-studio inserts on programmes are two things on TV I've really grown to hate.
50p is definitely a "thing" on the iPlayer now if you stick it on HD. However I've had mixed results and don't always get it even though it's a studio based programme.
I think it's because the iPlayer had adaptive bitrates depending on your connection and presumably how busy the server is. The lower bitrates are still only 25p (I think only the 2.9mbps and above streams are 50p), so presumably you're getting the lower bitrate streams at that time.
Of course they are, I thought the 48fps version of the Hobbit looked great. It's this obsession with sticking the "film look" on everything I don't get. We've got companies experimenting with frame rates up to 120fps to get things to look at smooth as possible, yet far too many people want to stick with 24/25fps. The idea that drama HAS to be "film look" and this recent obsession with filmising the non-studio inserts on programmes are two things on TV I've really grown to hate.
It may just be 'what i'm used to' (said in an old guy voice) but when I watched the Hobbit in 48fps, it looked like a recording of a theatre production, especially when you got to the studio sets. The smoothness of the motion just seemed to remove the gloss for want of a better word. It was like a Making of documentary. Again, might be a generation thing. If a new viewer who'd never seen a film before in 24fps watched it, they wouldn't care. But for me, smooth motion = live, real life, news programme for example.
I've never really heard anything said against HFR which adds up to anything more than "it's not the way things have always been done". And with that mentality we'd still be making silent, B&W movies (and I'm sure back when they came in there were people saying colour & sound things make things seem more artifical too!).
And also the claims it makes "everything look like a 70s costume drama". But when even modern multicam, video-look stuff like EastEnders and Coronation Street visually looks quite different from Upstairs Downstairs and I, Claudius (in fact just compare the look of the studio work on a 70s Corrie compared to today's), why would a professionaly made Hollywood movie look like it (unless they wheel out the cardboard sets, EMI 2001s and Quad machines to make it of course)?
Last edited by james-2001 on 22 September 2015 8:54pm - 3 times in total
