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Suggested Iplayer features/ upgrades/ updates/ bug fixes

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• Message 1. Posted by Graeme Blackstock (U14212658) on Thursday, 12th November 2009 permalink

  I'm new here so apologies if this is the wrong section. Also, if someone from BBC is reading this I'd appreciate a reply (not read the other forums as yet, not sure how it all works) or a link to the answer to each of my questions/ suggestions. Thanks.
  
  Whilst the Iplayer is good at what it does, I feel it could be so much better if it had a few more options such as the following which are included as standard in most recording/ downloading formats;
  
  1. Staggered downloads:
  I download a lot of stuff to my laptop to watch whilst I'm out and about, sometimes I only have half an hour or so to get things. It'd be advantageous to be able to select the order that programs are to be downloaded so the bandwidth could be concentrated on 1 programme at a time, meaning rather than downloading 50% of 2 programmes, I could download 100% of 1 programme, watch that and download programme 2 later on when I'm back online.
  
  2. Download timer:
  I don't want to slow down my network during the day, so I manually stop the downloads on iplayer then manually resume them in the evening. It would be good if I could tell it what times it can/ cannot download automatically, thus removing my need to remember to do it.
  
  3. Series Link:
  I'd like to automatically download the earlier/ later programmes in a series, or other series' as I tend to watch things in blocks (e.g. 6 episodes in a row as opposed to 6 episodes of differing programmes). It would be good if there were a series link option like you have on majority of recording media nowadays. This would remove the time consuming and sometimes painfully slow process of manually looking for a programme that isn't there, or a programme that is there but only shows up via searching, not in the listing (I had it several times with dragons' den a few months back).
  
  4. HD Playback tester & Cookie:
  I have, from time to time, downloaded things in HD. They never play properly, the frame rate is much lower than that of a normal programme, I can only assume the spec of my laptop isn't good enough for it. I forget this from time to time though and end up downloading another ~1GB programme, wasting 1GB of bandwidth and storage space until I invetably go to play it, remember then delete it. If you could stick a tester video on and a cookie to remember your choice of yes or no to a playback quality question, it would save everyone time, bandwidth and hassle they needn't go through, such as myself getting HD programmes as a little reminder would pop up double checking you want to download it (in addition to any other std messages, otherwise this message may be mistaken for a std one and not creating a very good solution).
  
  5. Iplayer remembers where it was.
  I've had this many times now, 2 different laptops too. I finish downloading a programme (says complete), there could be no other, or there could be many other downloads paused or downloading, regardless of what state the downloads are at, when I go to play the new download after taking the laptop out of standby Iplayer seems to forget and every file on there is @ 0% again, even if it's a full file. Unless it's been downloaded in a previous session (I'm unsure at which point it separates the sessions I tend to do it daily, put it in standby then go and watch it late at night a few hours later, does happen within mintues too though.). So I cannot watch anything until it gets connection to the internet, then it works as it should. This problem never seems to occcur twice to a particular file that has finished downloading. As soon as it's figured out that a file has finished I'm ok to put it into standby, etc and use it fine after.
  
  6. Download Radio shows.
  You may be able to do this already but I haven't found it for the shows I like (mainly Moyles, Mills and the D&B shows). It'd be nice to be able to get them, even if they have the 7 day limit like they do to stream them to listen to offline. I like these shows but miss them normally and cannot stream stuff when I'm at college due to IT policies, etc. So if I already have them from home then problem solved!
  
  I do have plenty of other constructive criticism but I reckon this'll do for now.
  Thanks.

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• Message 2. Posted by John99 (U13871221) on Thursday, 12th November 2009 permalink

  Hi Graeme,
  
  BBC does reply or comment on some posts, hope you get lucky
  
  Congratulations you posted in a suitable section, unlike some.
  
  Other than the point about a tester for HD I think most of the points may have been discussed previously, pity that frustratingly the messageboard is not easily searched or indexed. I sometimes resort to adding links between thread myself.
  
  John (just another poster)
  

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• Message 3. Posted by Jon iPlayer Host (U8557168) on Friday, 13th November 2009 permalink

  Hello Graeme,
  
  Do you have a Windows machine? If so I think that selecting the Windows Media Player download option is worth it - these work on direct downloads and you could use one of many download management programs to control and schedule your downloads.
  
  Series link has been asked for before and the BBC Trust would need to approve this, but we are aware of demand.
  
  There are many factors that affect HD playback so I don't know how this could be automatic - have you tried a post-it note to the monitor saying not to download HD?
  
  I'm not sure what's happening with Desktop, you should try a clean reinstall iplayerhelp.external...
  
  More Podcasts are again something that would have to be approved by the Trust.
  
  Jonathan

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• Message 4. Posted by Graeme Blackstock (U14212658) on Wednesday, 25th November 2009 permalink

  Yes I'm on vista(32) business. I guess by your post-it-note comment you never carry out hurried/ day-to-day tasks "on autopilot"?
  
  Is there a petition or anything I could put my name forward for to support any of the suggestions above? Is there anywhere else I could contact to try and get something moving on this? The BBC Trust? Who are they- I assume they're effectively the bosses over spending?
  
  I think you misunderstood the HD question, or I don't understand your reply; The automatic function I was referring to was the series link download option (whereby you click on download and a pop up asks if you'd like the other programmes in the series that have been released/ yet to be shown- downloading as and when they become available but adhering to the download constraints as I already mentioned). The HD playback is probably to do with my gfx drivers or something, although it'd be nice to be able to get a lower quality version of the programme (I agree this would negate the original point, but ultimately it's better to watch something than to watch nothing!)
  
  Thanks.

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• Message 5. Posted by Did_I_Say_That (U14172075) on Wednesday, 25th November 2009 permalink

  The series link like what you can do on Sky+ is not available due to it being rejected by the BBC Trust. A google search will answer any questions you may have about them.
  
  Series linking was rejected because of the way ISP's provide internet services with download caps etc. This could potentially put users at risk of incurring costs of going over the limits on their internet plans.

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