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How can we get something done about BBC iPlayer? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by MrModius@alien.top to c/apple@hardware.watch

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The iPlayer app is still absolute dogshit on Apple TV. No UHD programs, no season selection, no subtitle support (which is insane for a supposed organisation that champions inclusivisty), still no redesigned app which launched on all other platforms I can think of over two years ago...

When I've got in touch with the BBC to complain about the lack of subtitling in the past they have just said "it's too difficult" and panned me off, even though literally every other app including 'BritBox' which is partially owned by the BBC has them.

So I'm just wondering (especially with Doctor Who back on Saturday, and next year) if there is anything more I/we can be doing to get this sorted?

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[–] -King-Nothing-81@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (19 children)

Over at avforums.com I've heard a while ago that a user was told by the BBC tech support that the app has all those limitations because of the lack of "MPEG-DASH" support on Apple TV.

So the solution would be that the BBC does some extra work to find workarounds for Apple TV or Apple would have to add support for "MPEG-DASH" in tvOS. I don't think any of this will happen.

I think this is similiar to Netflix not supporting interactive content on Apple TV because they say there is no support for "seamless branching". Or Spotify not rolling out their new "TV experience" to Apple TV because they can't use the same cross-platform code.

So to me it seems that we can also thank Apple for the state of some apps. Not supporting some standards and technologies in tvOS that are supported on many other devices. And I think it's understandable that some app providers don't want to do time and cost intensive extra work for the Apple TV device that has a relatively low market share.

[–] dropmiddleleaves@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

On this, I think it’s important to remember that the BBC are using a EU and UK standard, DVB-Dash, used in HbbTV platforms such as Freeview Play.

It’s really a case of Apple TV needing to properly support standards.

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