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We're making some changes to BBC recordings

JordanTA — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 12:14:49 GMT

From Tuesday 27th August, any BBC recordings made while in Internet Mode on the TV Box Pro will play from the iPlayer app. Recordings made before this switchover will play from your box as normal.

You may have seen that this was originally going to go ahead on the 21st August. Our plans have now changed, and this will appear on your box from the 27th August.

What you need to know:

There’s no change to how you make the recording, or where you find them
You’ll need an account with the BBC to watch your programme
Not all programmes are on BBC iPlayer. This includes regional news, films, and sports events. If a recording isn’t available on iPlayer, it will be shown as unavailable after the program has aired
It can be up to 15 minutes until your programme is available after it’s finished. This depends on whether the programme was pre-recorded or broadcast live
Programmes will expire and availability may vary. News bulletins may expire after 24 hours. Dramas and documentaries will be available for up to 365 days. The status of your recording will update when there are 2 weeks or less until it expires
Majority of recordings made in HD will be watching in HD on the iPlayer app
A BBC recording will still count as a recording slot. In internet mode, you can record 2 programmes at a time as it relies on the available broadband speeds. See our TV Modes help page for more information on Internet mode

Why is this change happening?

The way we watch TV is evolving, and EE TV is evolving with it. That’s why our TV Box Pro features Internet Mode, which enables customers to watch their favourite shows without needing an aerial installed.

Our TV channel partners (like the BBC) are adapting with this change and exploring new ways to give customers the best possible viewing experience when watching over the Internet.

As a part of this evolution, the BBC have asked TV providers for any future BBC programmes that are recorded to now play through BBC iPlayer. This will make sure that when our customers playback the content they watch it in the highest quality, pick up where they left off if watching on additional devices, get the most informed content recommendations and have the best overall experience when in Internet Mode.

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

graybag — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 12:49:32 GMT

A BBC recording will still count as a recording slot?

Instead of "recording" BBC programme and then being taken to BBC iPlayer to watch,thus taking up one of the Recording Slots,would it not be possible to go to the BBC iPlayer App to watch when convenient and still be able to Record two other (non-BBC) Channels?

Graham

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

Debbie_G — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 14:39:41 GMT

Hey @graybag

You are correct, you can use BBC iPlayer to watch past content, which would free up your slot. You can continue to record using BBC and this would continue to use your recording slot, this option is being left in place to support ease of use.

Debbie 🙂

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

Hooba — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 16:20:26 GMT

Question: How is iPlayer going to be the highest quality, and provide the best overall experience, when iPlayer lacks 5.1 audio?

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

zulu17 — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 19:13:35 GMT

Will all BT/EE customers with the Box Pro be informed as I understand some have emails but not others and only a small number will access the community and notice any changes in BT/EE webpages ?

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

zulu17 — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 19:20:28 GMT

A prtactical question.

How is change to be implemented on 27th August and what happens to any recordings in progress at the time of implementation . For example are they playable because they started before implementation or are you directed to iplayer because they completed after implementation ?

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

gomezz — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 20:05:10 GMT

I would guess that they would be subject to the new regime as it would be part of the recording finalisation to mark the recording for streaming playback. And otherwise, how else would you be able to chase-play an active recording? Or is that another loss of functionality or relies on the iPlayer's Play from Start functionality?

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

zulu17 — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 21:06:16 GMT

Another question

Who is responsible for the data that links the Box "recording" to the IPlayer programme and is the process for maintaining that data considered to be robust ? I ask that as I have experienced that both the Youview universal search and the backwards EPG guide do appear not to link to a programme in iPlayer at times (ie programme apparently not available) but if I actually open iPlayer myself and use iPlayer own search the programme is there ?

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

LucyfromTV — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 05:55:02 GMT

Hi @graybag - you can still use the Watchlist feature which is essentially 'bookmarking' BBC iPlayer content. As this won't be recording, it won't be using the recording slots.

Hope this helps.

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

LucyfromTV — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 05:56:10 GMT

Hi @zulu17 - They will yes. Additional comms are due to be sent throughout this week.

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

LucyfromTV — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 06:01:30 GMT

Hi @zulu17 - if you see any issues with deep linking, please let us know as this has been extensively tested. If there's problems, then we'll work urgently with YouView and BBC to rectify any issues.

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

zulu17 — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 09:33:54 GMT

@LucyfromTV I had a quick look last night at the backwards EPG for BBC channels and found instances of (no play) symbol on some programmes expanded using info and no watch on demand option and not found in universal search (for iplayer).

For 3 instances two films and one Signed documentary I opened up IPlayer and found all 3 programs there in iPlayer available to play ( and found in IPlayer own search.

Not at home currently but one way to spot any potential issues is a quick whizz through the backwards EPG for a few days ago and look for BBC programs that don't have play button showing then check whether the programs that the EPG indicates is not available on demand is actually there in IPlayer. The BBC data is normally good but not in my viewing experience always perfect.

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

LucyfromTV — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 09:58:03 GMT

Hi @zulu17 - first off, thanks for your comment and checking this.

The play icon is unrelated to this change and can't be used to indicate if something will / won't be available on iPlayer post recording. This icon is to show what is currently available on iPlayer (either live or on demand). When you click on a programme that has the icon, it will open iPlayer for you to watch.

Programmes that don't have the icon does not mean that it won't be available after the broadcast.

Hope that helps.

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

Midnight_Voice — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 12:20:20 GMT

@LucyfromTV

@zulu17 was talking, I think, about past, not current programmes. I can see where a current programme may be recordable, but not playable live in iPlayer - i.e. not a programme you can watch on the iPlayer at the same time it is being broadcast - (but are there any such)?

But assuming there are, then shortly after the programme it either will or won’t be available on iPlayer. And if it’s available, it should get the play icon. And if not available, IP Mode users won’t be able to replay the recording.

There should therefore be a 100% correlation between the presence or absence of a play icon for any programme that finished more that 15 minutes ago as to whether we can watch it on the iPlayer or not, and also whether we can ‘play a recording’ of it made in IP mode.

And if there isn’t, then either the play icon is missing, although it should be there (as per what @zulu17 was saying) or there are going to be programmes on iPlayer that can be ‘played back’ if you have made a recording of them, but not if you just go into the iPlayer for them.

And I don’t think there are going to be any such.

Or is there a flaw in my logic somewhere?

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

LucyfromTV — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 16:44:58 GMT

Thanks @Midnight_Voice & @zulu17 ! To confirm the Play Icon does signify whether that programme is available on iPlayer:

Looking forwards - will show what is available on iPlayer currently, but doesn't show what will / won't be made available after broadcast
Looking backwards - what is currently available on iPlayer

@zulu17 I'll privately message you to get the details of the programmes you're referring to.

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

chrisjp — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 22:10:47 GMT

I know that broadcasters have a long term plan to get us all off aerials and instead getting our TV service via broadband streaming. However, at the moment a pretty full list of channels are available over the aerial and these you can record on your own equipment without a problem, and play them back whenever you want, AND fast forward through all the ad breaks.
What's not to like? Why mess around with streaming your TV when this simple alternative is still available?

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

Andy005 — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 07:50:50 GMT

It's all about money @chrisjp . The broadcasters such as ITV don't like ads being skipped and now the likes of Sky have taken the Ryanair approach of charging add ons for everything such as ad skipping.

The BBC have always been restrictive with such things as not allowing their channels to be streamed on SkyGo and no +1s, it's use iPlayer or go without. This is probably another attempt to try to steer users more towards using iPlayer directly.

Another reason for doing it is they know who's watching what and when, do they watch something new because of a tile they've seen etc. I'd guess that EE have no choice but to go along with everything because they have insufficient clout when it comes to numbers of subscribers.

It's just my thoughts but these changes aren't coming in for the fun of it.

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

Midnight_Voice — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 13:27:25 GMT

@chrisjp

Adding to what @Andy005 says:-

IP Mode is great for people who don’t have a broadcast aerial, or have only a Freeview Lite transmitter they can get, or who, like us, have a room with no TV point and where an indoor aerial won’t cut it. We had a point put in, £150, not bad, but a Box Mini would have solved it.

Other than that, yes, from the customer point of view, why go away from the aerial and a box that can record it?

But you need to look at it from the supplier’s point of view, in this case EE TV. The Pro box is actually the last OTA holdout, as well as the last recording holdout; the Box Minis only come in IP Mode, with no provision for an aerial, and needing none of the tuning gubbins that goes with it.

Likewise the Apple TV box, which also coincidentally(?) frees EE TV from the shackles of YouView, with its independent development agenda, and all its limitations, like a particular set of apps you can’t change, much less add to.

The Apple box is expensive of course, but the Box Mini is cheap as chips, as it’s just an internet streamer from the hardware point of view.

What next? A Box Mini based round the EE TV app on the Apple TV, independent of YouView? An IP Mode-only Pro box? Or does it all stop here for the Pro box, with no further hardware iterations of any sort?

And lots of straws in the wind for IP Mode, like the new Freely service; IP Mode is still in its infancy and has a way to go, buts it’s the future. Unless the broadcasters overreach themselves, of course, like the BBC seem to be doing, and strangle it at birth.

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

zulu17 — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 11:42:15 GMT

A further issue relates to BBC live broadcasts that are longer than. 2 hours. As I understand for live broadcasts the BBC iPlayer allows watching the current On Now. programme from live. , or from start (if less than 2 hours ago) or from a point 2 hours prior to current time (if the programme started over 2 hours ago).

Thus it appears that taking away the playing back recording and routing to IPlayer for playback will mean that the full programme will not be available to view until after the programme has finished its live broadcast ( or possibly a further 15 minutes).

Some EE customers I believe experience this on programmes such as BBC Breakfast.

I suspect that further instances will occur on BBC live sports programming that lasts over 2 hours and other live programming eg live House of Commons

These are limits that IPlayer have and presumably the BBC could opt to address the buffer time limit on live programming but it will impact some EETV Ip Mode customers if they don’t.

Re: We're making some changes to BBC recordings

Midnight_Voice — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 16:35:26 GMT

I think we’ve also found a flaw in Freely lately. Their literature can be interpreted to say that ‘hybrid mode’ is a mode where the full Freeview channels array can be obtained by tuning in broadcast Freeview to fill in the entries missing when the channel isn’t available in IP Mode; but actually, if you tune in broadcast mode, you get all, and only, broadcast channels, and nothing from IP Mode.

And hybrid mode, as this is called, is hybrid only in the sense that the EPG channels are broadcast, but the player apps come over the internet. i.e. like any smart TV, or YouView box in broadcast mode.

Perhaps EE TV might like to beat Freely to the punch by offering a true hybrid mode on the Box Pro, with the gaps in the IP Mode channel array being filled in from OTA broadcast?