yes it might be viewable in firefox now, but who in there right state of mind would want to go and use the bloated overpriced (its not free, its been payed for by us mugs) pos that is iplayer to watch the 7 day old crap that the bbc are currently putting out, (excluding top gear)

not only do about 90% of people in the uk have a Cap/Bandwidth Limit/FUP/and whatever the hell else its known under, its more than likely a very inadequate one, and if i am gonna miss Top Gear, i will simply schedule my dvd recorder, or leech it from one of the multiple different sources available that is also faster, less cumbersome, and likely better quality than some crappy stream or limited time download.

Its time the license fee was bloody capped or improve the programming, 95% of what i watch is on other channels.

From work I've done with IPTV Services, I understand the fine print to be if you use any device to watch broadcast television, regardless of if its a PC or TV (remember most new PC's come with the ability to capture and play TV signals) you need a license.

That's what Universities tell students in halls that have IP TV services, if you want to be legal, you need a license, of course there is no way of enforcing it, but thats a different question!

Missed a few programs now and then. I must admin to being a sceptic but was actually impressed by the performance and quality.

Bet you didn't know you can't use it abroad either, it geo locates your ip and won't let you watch outside the UK.

The BBC tech people have written a p2p plugin for Firefox. Is that really news?! Why didn't it work with Firefox in the first place anyway??

They really didn't think about standards at all when they development this albatross. DRM is one thing, but developing an online app which only works with IE that's just idiocy.

The flash version is excellent. They should work on improving that.

Man and I stupidly went and bought one anyway. bastards.

paris.. cause I feel like her right now :(

Just to put the stuff on iTunes rental?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/01/ip_to_tv_how_1.html

"Linux and Mac versions have been promised within two years."

Two fricking years?!

The flash version works on firefox in linux, if i want to download stuff i use torrents or usenet.

Top Gear == impotent mans tv.

The DRM on the files downloaded by iPlayer is broken anyway... One quick search on the Web will throw up a number of applications that can remove the locks from any WMV file...

That aside, I've found iPlayer very simple to use and VERY fast. It's nice to see the BBC have done something good for a change, even if they haven't really finished the job properly.

(It's also a shame that Little Miss Jocelyn is the only thing on there I actually watch...)

"Quite why illegally leaching shows off the internet is better than being able to watch them legally is beyond me."

Because I do not have a computer that runs Windows XP SP2 32 bit (I trust you've seen the comment from the poor soul inflicted with 64bit XP)-- my computing requirements dictate the specifications for the OS that I use on my computer (and Windows XP SP2 32bit does not meet those requirements).

Had the BBC chosen to go the standards based route then at least they would have to only worry about the server software and hardware, and trust that there will be good client applications for the viewers, regardless of the platform they run on... and they need not have wasted all this money on the iplayer client application.

My current choices are: buy another computer just to use iplayer, go the illegal route, or just not watch the programs (in practice I seem to have taken the last choice).

"Still no support for XP x64 "

Well, you shouldn't use a non-mainstream platform. I don't see why BBC money should be poured into developing a plug-in for XP x64 before Linux, Mac or Acorn RISC OS

The asbestos boiler suit please. And the welder's helmet, thank you.

wasn't there something about people watching a football match on the internet requiring a TV license a while ago..? I need to stop getting stoned and sort my memory

@AC "Top Gear == impotent mans tv"

Viewing figures would suggest otherwise.

there aint that many people that are impotent

@Paul Fleetwood

you must watch news, news,bitchy anne robinson, neighbours and crappy east enders then?

and you cant mention bbc2 showing heroes, because its US, and i viewed it months before they got there arse in gear to finally show it.

As one of the "vanishingly small number of peoplke who have broadband and no TV", I used this for the first time tonight to watch Torchwood - streamed.

Not bad.

The BBC website is very upfront that no TV licence is required, as this is on demand, not Broadcast.

Whilst I imagine the majority of people who use this service will have a licence, I personally know of 4 households in the same position as me; normally I watch DVD or video, but now I can watch and decide whether to buy the DVD when it comes out.

Personally, I think that when Digital was introduced, the opportunity should have been taken to kill the licence fee and make all tv pay per view. No compulsory subscriptions to channels, or even just programmes, you don't want (almost everything), just pay as and when for any item you do watch.

I notice you say "video"; if this is a video recorder that has a TV tuner built in; or you are using a television that has a tuner built in; you ARE liable to pay the TV license, even if you say you do not watch broadcast TV. This HAS been contested in court and the people lost; the equipment must be unable to receive broadcast signals, either because it has no tuner or because the tuner has been permanently disabled by a qualified engineer.

How big is the fine these days???

I've been running Vista64 and Firefox for ages and I've watched loads of 4 ondemand (it opens in its own window so I don't know if it's an IE window or not) without a problem, and I finally watched 1 BBC prog yesterday on it's streaming website, (a docu about gravity), and it appeared to work fine.

What I dislike about these services is the proprietary software you have to install to watch the stupid things - Oh yea, and the license fee as it's basically extorted money (pay this or go to jail advertising).

Tony F Paulazzo

After all the twaddle about not supporting non Windows systems, I find that the streaming iplayer works perfectly on my Linux box every time, and even works on my N800(linux web tablet). but every time I try to use it on my Windows box, it crashes in both IE and Firefox. Nice to see the streaming version is more popular though.

I have just watched "Have I got News for you" full screen on my TV through my Linux PC. Brilliant. BBC has finally got it's act together. Quality isn't the best, but then thats streaming for you.

I remember trying the download service ages ago on XP and it took forever and the quality was poor. Much better to get stuff from the torrents if you want to keep it.

I just wish that they could put match of the day on it......

"Quite why illegally leaching shows off the internet is better than being able to watch them legally is beyond me."

Oh, I don't know. Better quality, not having to have that Kontiki process continually running unless you manually stop it (yes, it still does it even when you turn it off), system resources being your own again, no limit on how long you have to watch the episode, better choice in programming, none of that 'The BBC iPlayer service is unavailable, please try again later'...the list goes on. I've tried both, and frankly I wouldn't let iPlayer anywhere near my PC again.

Learn about proxies

for funding the BBC, as I don't have a license, and just leech anything I want to watch off the interweb.

to all other non-licensees: don't let/inviteTV Licencing in without a warrant:

1/ they're no longer the TV License authority, they're TV LIcensing Ltd, a subcontracted bunch of goons who get paid for harassing old ladies and students, and have very little authority

2/ they have no right to invite themselves in for inspections, the burden of proof is on them, NOT on you, to prove you are or not watching *broadcast* TV

3/ LCD panels and computers and digital receivers do not emit the signals that old CRT and analogue tuners emitted that their detector vans and handheld equipment could detect. a small DVB-T USB dongle is easily hidden, and if attached to a laptop operating on battery that belongs to a visitor who DOES have a license, then it's legal!4/ make the bastards go through the headache of getting a warrant. most of the time they won't bother unless you are taking the piss and watching broadcast TV in your front room when visible from the street.

5/ TV licensing don't necessarily even have the right to venture on your property, not even to walk up to the front door, if you right to them and explicitly deny them the right to step one foot on your land, they must obey unless they get a warrant.

don't succumb to the tv tax!

As a landlord of several student houses if you're a student living in a shared house here are some TV Licence tips for you:-

*) If you have a joint tenancy agreement (i.e. there is one tenancy agreement for the house with everyones name on it) then you only need ONE licence for the property, end of story. If you are receiving any TV Licence mail addressed to "Room 1", "Room 2" and such like then contact the TVL to have these "addresses" removed as they do not exist. Stuff about locks on internal doors is an urban legend.

*) If you have an individual tenancy agreement (i.e. Room x, Name n) then you need a seperate TV licence for each tenanted room which has a TV set. If a TV is supplied in the lounge/common room then the landlord must have a licence which covers this TV ONLY! (and the kitchen/any other common area if one is in there).

*) As mentioned in the post above, should a TV licence person knock at the door you are not obliged to let them in and advised to politely decline to answer of the questions or engage in any kind of dialogue with them.

I've seen students in a seven bedroom house shell out £948.50 for TV licences due to nasty letters from TVL when legally they only required one licecne. Above all make sure you are covered but dont get FLEECED!

The article is wrong, unfortunately. The BBC Trust's *interim* conclusions of the Pubclic Value Test for the iPlayer mandated this, but the final report was watered down to a "review" every six months.

Would be nice if the BBC would work on a version that would work on TV-connected network media players and/or games consoles such as the Wii, PS3 and XBox 360. Who wants to sit in front of their PC watching a programme they missed? I'm sure they'd rather be in front of the TV that said games machine or media player is connected to.