FW: [backstage] Problems with iPlayer video - how to report?
Resending this as it doesn't appear to have made the list. -Original Message- From: Christopher Woods [mailto:chris...@infinitus.co.uk] Sent: 22 February 2011 13:36 To: 'backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk' Subject: RE: [backstage] Problems with iPlayer video - how to report? Chris, Can't speak for my colleagues elsewhere in radio, but WS doesn't transcode between codecs anywhere in our longform workflow and never has done. I did a quick bit of testing and it appears that WS Listen Again material is only available through /iplayer as 64kbps AAC+, so it all sounds a bit sub-par compared with domestic channels' 128kbps AAC. Perhaps it's ingested in a different way or do you encode internally then deliver to the iPlayer team? I have noticed the PIDs for WS material have a different range (p*** as opposed to b***)... To show you what I mean about the MP3 vs AAC quality difference, here's a quick quality comparison (randomly chose an episode of The Archers, from Radio 4 the other day). The first time is the MP3 encode, the second is the AAC encode (served by default through the Flash player): http://bit.ly/bbciprtest1al (~3.8MB) Even on average speakers you should be able to hear a difference - the MP3 is rumblier, warbly and speech is distinctly less clear with noticeable distortion under the main frequency of the speaker's voice. If you use headphones or good monitors you should be able to clearly hear the inferior quality of the MP3 version. Comparing the two clips spectrally also shows a visible difference, there's less 'cohesion' in the MP3 clip, what appears to be double-encoded noise and the frequency ranges containing the speech energy are less distinct. Neither speech nor musical content comes off well in the MP3 versions - either the iPlayer's using an *AWFUL* MP3 codec (because both the AAC and MP3 files are 128kbps) or the MP3 version is being transcoded from the original AAC source, which would explain a lot. - 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/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
RE: [backstage] Problems with iPlayer video - how to report?
Chris, You can find links to service status and a contact form from here: http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/using_bbc_iplayer/tech_report Comments about World Service content do get through to me, so filling in the form does work. Cheers, -- Gareth Davis | Production Systems Specialist World Service Digital Delivery Team - Part of BBC Future Media Technology * 500NE Bush House, Strand, London, WC2B 4PH * bbcworldservice.com -Original Message- From: owner-backst...@lists.bbc.co.uk [mailto:owner-backst...@lists.bbc.co.uk] On Behalf Of Christopher Woods Sent: 20 February 2011 23:35 To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk Subject: [backstage] Problems with iPlayer video - how to report? Watching the AV Referendum Speeches there's a LOT of picture sound breakup, looks like a bad OB sat feed. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00zb198/House_of_Commons _AV_Referendum _Speeches/ To whom should this problem be reported and what's the best way to report technical problems in future if/when this backstage list gets closed? Cheers Chris - 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/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ - 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/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
RE: [backstage] Problems with iPlayer video - how to report?
Chris, You can find links to service status and a contact form from here: http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/using_bbc_iplayer/t ech_report Comments about World Service content do get through to me, so filling in the form does work. Super : Whilst I have your eye as such, are the MP3 versions of iPlayer radio content still transcodes from AAC or are they encoded from the source feed in parallel? I always noticed in the past whenever I used get_iplayer to grab some radio shows for my DAP the MP3 versions (via flashaudio etc) were noticeably poorer quality than the original raw AACs; warbly, burbly sound, what sounded like transcoding artefacts and distortion of the stereo imaging. Has the MP3 encoding workflow for radio programmes changed at all since last year? - 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/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
RE: [backstage] Problems with iPlayer video - how to report?
Chris, Can't speak for my colleagues elsewhere in radio, but WS doesn't transcode between codecs anywhere in our longform workflow and never has done. Cheers, -- Gareth Davis | Production Systems Specialist World Service Digital Delivery Team - Part of BBC Future Media Technology * 500NE Bush House, Strand, London, WC2B 4PH * bbcworldservice.com -Original Message- From: owner-backst...@lists.bbc.co.uk [mailto:owner-backst...@lists.bbc.co.uk] On Behalf Of Christopher Woods Sent: 21 February 2011 17:24 To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk Subject: RE: [backstage] Problems with iPlayer video - how to report? Chris, You can find links to service status and a contact form from here: http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/using_bbc_iplayer/t ech_report Comments about World Service content do get through to me, so filling in the form does work. Super : Whilst I have your eye as such, are the MP3 versions of iPlayer radio content still transcodes from AAC or are they encoded from the source feed in parallel? I always noticed in the past whenever I used get_iplayer to grab some radio shows for my DAP the MP3 versions (via flashaudio etc) were noticeably poorer quality than the original raw AACs; warbly, burbly sound, what sounded like transcoding artefacts and distortion of the stereo imaging. Has the MP3 encoding workflow for radio programmes changed at all since last year? - 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/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ - 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/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
[backstage] Problems with iPlayer video - how to report?
Watching the AV Referendum Speeches there's a LOT of picture sound breakup, looks like a bad OB sat feed. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00zb198/House_of_Commons_AV_Referendum _Speeches/ To whom should this problem be reported and what's the best way to report technical problems in future if/when this backstage list gets closed? Cheers Chris - 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/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
