The new iPlayer on the Nintendo Wii
Tuesday 17 November 2009, Editor's update: We've now been supplied images taken from the Wii so have taken down the designer's mock ups and posted five of the latest images at the end of the post. (PM)
We have just announced the release of a new version of BBC iPlayer for Nintendo Wii. The new version is a Flash based application using the newly released Video on Demand Framework (VODF) from Nintendo. From 18 November you can find and install the BBC iPlayer application from the Wii shop at no cost. This version replaces the previous browser based version.
There were multiple challenges on this project. The design challenge was to make the iPlayer work on the television screen in a simple way. The team streamlined the user journeys. We have used the rumble feature on the controller to give feedback. A search feature allows you to find the content easily. The design team went through multiple iterations; user testing and got to what I believe is an experience you would like.
The technical challenges were many. The technical teams had to optimise and innovate in every part of the technical chain to make iPlayer work on an embedded device. Due to the limited processing power and memory available on these types of devices, most of the effort went into optimising data requests, minimising client side processing, reducing network traffic and balancing the remaining processing power available for video decoding with interface and interaction features.
This release is part of a challenging programme to expand the reach of BBC iPlayer in the living room by syndicating it on television devices and platforms. I will keep you updated.
Rahul Chakkara is Controller, TV Platforms, BBC FM&T.
- Rahul's previous post: BBC iPlayer Standard Products on TV Platforms.
- Erik Huggers at Future Media on the iPlayer on the Wii and other new things from the BBC.
- BBC and Nintendo joint press release on the iPlayer on the Wii.
17 November 2009, new images from the Wii added below:
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~31~RS~)
Comments
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A few questions:
How will iPlayer on Wii deal with chapterisation, as we've seen on 5Live and some TV shows like Spooks?
Will future updates for the channel be delivered by redownloading the channel, or will it just load new stuff from the server?
What's the bitrate/compression/format/clever words etc of the video files streamed in this in comparison to the current browser based version?
And finally, you do realise Zane is on R1, right? :P
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Oh, and one more I forgot as I'm an idiot, is this currently only on-demand content, any plans for live streaming (even of just radio)?
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This is great news, I am looking forward to giving this a try. I do wonder though if there are any plans in the pipeline to possibly offer the BBC iPlayer on the XBOX 360 like Sky do with the Sky Player (it would be great to be able to watch HD content from the BBC without having to get Freesat, Sky HD or Virgin HD).
Rob
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This is a note in the Dot Life blog about mobile license payers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/ has a link in the page and there is a link on the blog list...this is a rather poor example of linking!
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What bitrate is this content? Is it the same as the Wii's browser version?
Have you considered the possibility of using WiiConnect24 to let people download shows, perhaps in a higher quality?
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Slightly disappointed with this and the press release. Both headlines suggest that I can watch the iPlayer on my Wii right now, but I need to wait until the 18th until this is actually possible.
Please get your tenses correct, and hopefully the 18th won't take too long to arrive.
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I used to own a Wii and the iPlayer via the browser was ok. I hope this is smoother and less prone to sluggish playback.
I use the PS3 for most of my iPlayer action now. So far it's been fantastic. Now if only I could access HD content ideally via download I would be over the moon. I'm sure it will be here soon, mayeb with the new Video store?
Finger Crossed!
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1. At 6:25pm on 13 Nov 2009, JonathanExplorer wrote:
"...And finally, you do realise Zane is on R1, right? :P"
Hi JonathanExplorer
Well spotted. I checked with Rahul this morning and the images in the piece are mock ups of the designs for the Wii rarher than actual screenshots. So either the designer got confused in flipping between layers in Photoshop or they know more about Zane's future than the rest of us. ;-)
Also hoping to be able to do a new post with answers to the rest of the questions shortly.
Cheers all
Paul
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As Sky has recently released a live and on demand service on the Xbox 360 how long will it be until the BBC offer the same service? Obviously it would require both the BBC and Microsoft to work together on this but has it been thought about?
I believe there was an article not so long ago that said that the BBC would be bringing the iPlayer service to any devices with over 600,000 users. This amount is easily covered by the Xbox 360.
It would be interesting to know if it is the BBC or Microsoft who are stopping this from happening and what the reasoning behind it is.
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Just watched a program on the new Wii iPlayer Channel and I am very impressed. The quality is much better than the old browser based iPlayer, roughly equivalent to watching a VHS video. I can't wait to try it on my main widescreen tv. Congratulations to all concerned.
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Great job iPlayer team...the Wii iPlayer works a treat!
Video is very smooth 99.9% of the time. Picture quality is fine for a catch up service too (watching on 37" plasma). I'm using a wired ethernet connection as I never found the Wii's wireless reception that good. I hope people don't suffer from constant buffering because of poor wireless and blame it on the application.
Beers all round for the iPlayer team!
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I had a quick play with the Wii iPlayer (WiiPlayer?) this morning before heading off to work. You can read my quick review here: http://aoakley.livejournal.com/246727.html
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To agree with the previous posters this is a great improvement, considering the hardware and bandwidth limitations. Looks pretty good on a 42" LCD TV, hats off to the BBC Engineering team.
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Thanks BBC. The promise of a fix for Wii users "by the end of the year" has been honoured, with six weeks to spare. Much appreciated.
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Clearly a lot of work has gone into this, so thanks to the relevant people for that. It's a definite improvement.
The fact that this is Flash-based makes me die a little inside, though. Flash is such inefficient, rubbish software -- is there no other way this can be done? Feels like the video quality could be so much better if Flash weren't part of the equation.
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I spent 15 minutes this morning testing the iPlayer - all I can say is what an improvment over the old version. It means the Wii will get used again now!
Would love to see the HD BBC iPlayer for the XBox360 - is there any chance??
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Looks great here! phantomgorilla - do you actually know what flash is or how it works or performs, especially in relation to streaming video.
(That was a rhetorical question - clearly, you don't).
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