Advertisment
Advertisment
Promo

BBC iPlayer HD comes to Virgin Media

By Nate Lanxon on 01 May 2009, 11:58am

Televisions

A week after the BBC's catchup service went hi-def on the iPlayer Web site, Virgin Media customers can now stream HD iPlayer content through the Virgin V+ HD set-top box, absolutely free. You'll need to be a licence-payer, of course.

You can get access to HD iPlayer content over Virgin Media from today. If you don't have Virgin Media, however, you can still download HD content on your PC or Mac.

 

Concerning quality (warning: nerd content)

The standard-definition iPlayer content on Virgin Media uses a 3Mbps MPEG-2 stream, which is significantly higher than the 1.5Mbps stream used on the iPlayer Web site.

In fact, the iPlayer HD site only uses a 3.2Mbps H.264 stream -- a bit rate just 256Kbps greater than Virgin Media's standard-definition stream. Hopefully the new set-top box HD content will be higher-quality than that seen on the Web site, too.

We've not had a chance to test this out yet, so let us know your thoughts if you're a Vrigin Media customer.

You Might Like These

Anonymous User Avatar

To get an avatar and username, log in or register

Anonymous User

Your email address must be entered but will not be displayed

Copy the letters and numbers to prove you're a human being. If you can't read this image, get another one. If you don't want to do this each time, register.

Random characters

All submitted content becomes the sole property of CBS Interactive and may be used, edited or rejected at CBS Interactive's sole discretion. You acknowledge that you, not CBS Interactive, are responsible for the contents of your submission. -- see Terms of Use

Advertisment