BBC drops DRM from iPlayer

[Paqman]

The BBC announced a version of their streaming iPlayer service for the iPhone on Friday. It's normally a Flash-based service, but the iPhone can't handle Flash, so the video is delivered as an MP4 if it sniffs that you're using one of Apple's shiny little machines.

It didn't take very long at all before some bright sparks realised you could use Firefox's User Agent Switcher extension to spoof the site and get Linux-friendly downloads from iPlayer.

User Agent details for the iPhone:

* Description: iPhone
* User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en)
* App Name: AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko)
* App Version: Version/3.0
* Platform: Mobile/1A542a Safari/419.3

Debate rages about how aware the BBC are of this, and whether it signals a change of policy (official or otherwise)

[meep_meep]

That's kinda cool but at the same I would prefer to watch the shows in linux without spoofing.

I dual boot linux mint and XP and whenever I watch something on the iPlayer I make sure that I boot into linux. To up the count of linux users using the site.

You can say that increasing the count by 1 will not make any difference but you can say the same thing about the vote and we all know that we'd prefer a democracy.

just my 2pence :)

meep

[thedon_1]

Does this let you download the video file or just stream it?

What's the quality like of the stream?

[tigerpants]

The BBC really are idiots over this. Considering that I can just record any program directly off my cable line onto my harddrive anyway, whats the point of sticking DRM on the iplayer content? The DRM will be cracked sooner or later anyhows. When will these companies learn?

[Daveski]

How do I use BBC iPlayer on the iPhone or iPod touch?

BBC iPlayer for iPhones and iPod touch is currently in a beta phase.

Ensure that you have a wireless internet connection for your iPhone or iPod touch, then go to BBC iPlayer homepage. You can Click to Play (stream) any of the programmes available, but you cannot download at present.

Sadly, no download without DRM.

[solitaire]

I don't see what the point is!

I can stream from the iPlayer site without changing the Agent Data...

as for downloading it why bother? i'e torrents for all that ;)

[IrregularShed]

Hello chaps. I'm (apparently) the "bright spark" who did this first, several minutes after I head that the BBC were doing this iPhone lark. There's a discussion about what's going on over on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twindx/2316284105/

Just to outline - iPhones stream these, but anything else ends up downloading the MP4, completely without DRM. Widescreen programmes are 480x272 which isn't going to be the highest definition you've seen, but is better than the Flash player and better than some of the DRMed WMV files that I've worked with. (A friend and I have been trying to free things up for a while!)

By far the easiest way of downloading MP4s is to use one of the scripts that other bright sparks have come up with over the weekend. My favourite right now is this one:

http://www.dracos.co.uk/play/bbc-iplayer-mp4/

because it spoofs the user agent on your behalf, and just gives you the MP4 link.

And the reason? It's because the BBC let us down with DRMed, proprietary tat every step of the way. The MP4 file plays happily on VLC, which plays happily on a 64-bit Linux box - something that the Flash stream doesn't. And there's no timebomb. Torrents, yeah, but this is coming from the source - the way it should've been when they buggered it up with that Kontiki rubbish last year. It's a principal thing.

[Daveski]

...because it spoofs the user agent on your behalf, and just gives you the MP4 link.

And the reason? It's because the BBC let us down with DRMed, proprietary tat every step of the way. The MP4 file plays happily on VLC, which plays happily on a 64-bit Linux box - something that the Flash stream doesn't. And there's no timebomb. Torrents, yeah, but this is coming from the source - the way it should've been when they buggered it up with that Kontiki rubbish last year. It's a principal thing.

Ha - works like a charm. Thanks.
Why do I think that this 'loop hole' is going to get shut down before long?

[Paqman]

as for downloading it why bother? i'e torrents for all that ;)

Torrent sites can be quite dodgy and are often blocked by corporate firewalls. This is a way of obtaining a trustworthy file directly from the source.

All up, nice work IrregularShed! Thanks!

[solitaire]

Torrent sites can be quite dodgy and are often blocked by corporate firewalls. This is a way of obtaining a trustworthy file directly from the source.

All up, nice work IrregularShed! Thanks!

Well that's why people find a reputable Torrent site and stick to it... as well as buying one if the IT staff a crate of Whisky every now and again..... ;)

worked for me!!

i was never wanting for a drink ;):lolflag:

[ubuntu-freak]

The BBC really are idiots over this. Considering that I can just record any program directly off my cable line onto my harddrive anyway, whats the point of sticking DRM on the iplayer content? The DRM will be cracked sooner or later anyhows. When will these companies learn?


Weren't the BBC forced to implement DRM? Companies refused to let them upload their programmes unless it was DRM protected. Also, even if the BBC make them, there are always other companies involved.

It is all nonesense though. Like I've said before, there were people actually trying to kill VHS before it took off, cos they didn't want us recording TV programmes.

Nathan

[Xbehave]

is the quality as good as the flash version, i dont really care about DRM, im not some GNU zelot and you have to acept that the BBC need to use drm to protect its copyright here.

BTW this is quite easy to fix, so i recon it wont last more than half a year.

[Daveski]

i dont really care about DRM, im not some GNU zelot and you have to acept that the BBC need to use drm to protect its copyright here.

No, the Copyright laws protect Copyrighted material. Technology should not be used to enforce laws like this - especially where fair use and other objective decisions should be made. Imagine how different the world would be if VHS cassettes automatically self-destructed if played in a different player, or once the recording of a broadcast has been watched twice.

[Paqman]

im not some GNU zelot


Neither am I.

I don't think it's about being a "GNU zealot". If you're a licence payer you've earned the right to watch any of BBC's content. We're allowed to record any normal TV broadcast we want and watch it whenever and wherever we like. Why are we having our service downgraded like this, just because of the format we choose to use? It doesn't make any sense.

[Paqman]

... as well as buying one if the IT staff a crate of Whisky every now and again..... ;)


Seems like a bit of an expensive option, compared to installing a Firefox extension ;)

[proalan]

I'm surprised by the outrage from linux users,
what does the bbc produce that is worth watching nowadays?

Or is it just the principle of DRM?

off topic but in the following clip since when would a parachute be effective in absence of an atmosphere on the moon?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzATi8Wuxao