2008/10/21 Christopher Woods <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > This one's a late night, in-the-kitchen thought. I turned the radio on > while > I was making a cup of tea and of course, after R4 closedown the WS is > simulcast. On FM, you get a wonderful, crisp stereo feed. On DAB, the WS > feed is fine when listening to the Radio 4 simulcast, 128kbps stereo, but > its own dedicated slot is naff: a 64kbps mono stream. On the web, it's even > worse - only streamed at 32kbps WMA/RA. AsianNetwork is 64kbps mono on DAB > - > even 5Live has a better bitrate (80kbps mono).
It is probably worth pointing out that the World Service, unlike all other BBC services is paid for out of direct taxation. Thus the service has an even more limited budget than License Fee services, it is down to the FCO http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/what-we-do/funding-programmes/public-diplomacy/world-service > > > While I'm not a big Asian Network listener, I do live in Brum so take a bit > of an interest in Asian community goings on. However, I'd quite like to > listen to the WS during the daytime, either via the web or via DAB - how > come the bitrates haven't been upped for these stations on the web streams? > They're dragging behind the other BBC radio stations' online streams. Are > there any plans to ever up the bandwidth of these neglected stations, > either > on DAB, on the web or both? I'm under the impression that the maximum > bitrate for the multiplex is 1184kbps useable. According to > DigitalRadioTech > [1], the pre2002 bitrates were significantly higher (which I remember), and > I can understand the reasons for lowering the bitrates to fit in the newer > channels. The web's a different matter entirely though. What's stopping the > Beeb from upping the bitrates for all the online streams to the same > bitrate? > > (and will the bitrates ever go above 128kbps? I'd love a 192kbps or 256kbps > stream, particularly for... Well, all of the radio stations!) > > > And also, as a final question - how come the iPlayer pages for *all* of the > radio stations are currently reporting each one as being currently off-air? > Have the boxes doing the encoding and streaming been taken offline for work > overnight or something? If someone aboard the HMS Sceptre is browsing the > Radio 4 iPlayer site and sees that it's currently offair, they might think > Britain is under attack and launch some Tridents at the Soviets. Wouldn't > *that* be an interesting one for Gordon Brown to try and explain! > > - > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please > visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > Unofficial list archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > -- Brian Butterworth http://www.ukfree.tv - independent digital television and switchover advice, since 2002
