Anybody on the iPlayer trial?

[#1]

Anyone else here using the iPlayer?  What do you think?
Installed it a couple of weeks ago and thought the range of programming was fairly limited but they seem to have really improved the offering in the last week or so.
Plus, I can now get it work on Vista, thanks to Bob's handy guide. :-)
http://digg.com/software/How_to_install_the_BBC_iPlayer_on_Windows_Vista/ ; (Digg it yourself!)

[#2]

Bob republished this, so here's the new link
http://digg.com/software/How_to_install_the_BBC_iPlayer_on_Windows_Vista/

*Edit* Liam has edited the original link so both should work

[#3]

Edited the original link. Now that's bound to confuse!

[#4]

Edit: Post moved to http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php?topic=486.msg5062#msg5062

[#5]

I have still to work out what is in and what is not - can't give up on the video recorder yet! It would be nice to schedule the downloads as well. However the content that is available works fine for me 

[#6]

Nothing wrong with the good old VCR, whilst technology advances the VCR still offers pretty good convenience in terms of use. I wonder how long it'll be before we see a proper digital "VCR" with a HD-DVD writer that does Sky Plus, BBC iPlayer,  4OD, iTunes, Freeview and on demand or "from the archive" type stuff that connects to your broadband connection (wirelessly), Sky dish and TV aerial and sends the HD TV signal (again wirelessly) to all the TVs in the house and allowing them all to show different things at the same time whilst recording something else entirely.
In fact said box could even be the broadband router and phone base station (with a set of handsets that all do VoIP, mobile and landline) combined that also connects to your fridge to process the grocery shopping for you, acts as an X10 controller for the lights and security systems (including web cams), central heating controller and more...

[#7]

I finally had enough of the BBC iPlayer this afternoon when it refused point blank to log me in yet again for the umpteenth time 
This on top of the other problems ive had with it and the lousy content which as Dave points out can be recorded at any point anyway so its now uninstalled and good riddance
Good luck to those that are continuing but that's it im out and sticking with my FV HDD recorder

[#8]

Its working well for me, get the odd runtime error now and again -good for Dr Who!

[#9]

it may have been good while it lasted
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2856766.ece

[#10]

Also referred to at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/13/isp_bbc_iplayer_neutrality/
Are PN part of this 'Alliance'?
Barry

[#11]

I think compared to other isps, I like to think that PlusNet have got a their/our network - well managed. Maybe it will change places in it's priority, what band is it in at the moment?Works well, good 'bit of kit'!

[#12]

Dave posted this on his traffic mgmt blog a couple of weeks ago :--
http://community.plus.net/trafficmanagement/2007/07/24/were-ready-for-the-beebs-iplayer/

[#13]

Not that I know of. We've been preparing for the iPlayer for a while and did final testing to make sure that it worked OK before the recent phase of the trial was opened up. Obviously we're keeping tabs on the amount of usage that the iPlayer generates but personally speaking I'm not predicting doom and gloom.
I think a lot of people will use it but I don't think it will be used massively by most people. Let me explain why. The first is that the iPlayer is PC based rather than a set top box or similar and second the content is a catch up service. That being I think that most people will still record shows in advance (VCR, Sky+, etc.) rather than switching to the iPlayer and the most use the iPlayer will get is where someone forgot to record a show.
We'll have to see though, personally I hope the Beeb come up with a scheduler for the iPlayer as that should allay most bandwidth concerns. We already see a switch in P2P usage at 8am, 4pm and midnight as people start/stop scheduled downloads the same could easily be done with the iPlayer for shows you don't want to immediately watch, i.e. schedule them overnight.

[#14]

A scheduler would be nice.  Alternative would be (and don't laugh!) a Portal option (similar to Surf) that would block, or rate limit harshly, between 8am - Midnight and allow full steam ahead at other times.

[#15]

Quote from: LiamM

A scheduler would be nice.  Alternative would be (and don't laugh!) a Portal option (similar to Surf) that would block, or rate limit harshly, between 8am - Midnight and allow full steam ahead at other times.

Actually, that's a very good idea Liam - I'm sure there will be many customers who exceed their monthly usage without realising, due to the upstream bandwidth requirements.
Perhaps a portal option defaulted as 'On' for the low-end accounts (BBYW1 perhaps) that restricts OUTBOUND iPlayer traffic during peak time.
Barry