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BBC World Cup in 4K/HLG Announced

I’ve just received the following response with regard to updating the iPlayer app for Apple TV, there are no plans to do so at the moment, but they seem to be very feedback focused, so the more people that contact them, the more likely they will be to implement changes. Contact form: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/contact/return


Many thanks for getting in contact with the BBC iPlayer Support Team.


I understand you wish to know whether there have been any plans to allow Apple TV to view 4K content on BBC iPlayer.


At present, there doesn't appear to be any plans due to the focus being on making sure the World Cup UHD trials run smoothly.


However, that's not to say that there isn't going to be something put in place in the future.


I would assume when there is more news surrounding this, the information will be made available, here:


https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/latest-news


We build our service mainly using feedback from our audience members to try and make the service better.


I will certainly get your comments registered onto our Audience Feedback Report to be seen by BBC Senior Management and those of the BBC iPlayer Product Team to show that you have been expressing an interest for this matter.


Thank you again for getting in touch.


All the best,
 
HLG isn't supported on the Apple TV, and the BBC are not going to switch to another form of HDR (they actually co-developed HLG with NHK). They could theoretically provide an SDR 4K feed to the Apple TV, but their focus so far has very much been on smart TVs.

Also as others have said, iPlayer is basically dead on TVOS.
 
Sakurambo-kun said:
HLG isn't supported on the Apple TV, and the BBC are not going to switch to another form of HDR (they actually co-developed HLG with NHK). They could theoretically provide an SDR 4K feed to the Apple TV, but their focus so far has very much been on smart TVs.

Also as others have said, iPlayer is basically dead on TVOS.
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I may have imagined this, but I’m pretty sure that there was talk of HLG being supported in a future tvOS update, with this being confirmed with hlg being mentioned in some code. If anyone can confirm that I haven’t imagined this, that would be great
 
After a bit of reading, HLG format is more suited to the workflow for live broadcast HDR (getting the pics from the grounds of whatever event to your screen), more so than HDR10 etc. How many other broadcaster are going to pick this up?
 
BBC have lost a lot of sport, they do not have the deep pockets of the others. That drove HD a lot in the UK. I am not worried by this test now I understand it more, but will the others go for it in sport where the drive is. I bet Dolby blowing their trumpet in the places where decisions are made.

The iPlayer on Apple, I am none to worried about now (I was earlier). Guessing they want to test as many devices as they can, perhaps feedback from the apps on TVs give a greater data set to BBC rather than it hitting TVOS device that passes it on. Not sure what is different with the Virgin box though.

Upshot is my TV will not show HLG. Out in the real world when this starts working, it will not matter, I will still get 4K, it (iPlayer) will just strip off the HLG. Live 4K is still great on my set. I expect that when BBC start streaming on a regular basis it will be good for HLG and non HLG users.
 
Dunk the Lunk said:
Why? They added the sign in option months back and you regularly get a little blue dot by it indicating that it’s been updated.
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I've only ever seen it updated twice. Once to add recently played, and another more recently to add a bare bones sign in option (which became mandatory for all iPlayer apps about a year ago, with the ATV app one of the last to be updated). Despite adding sign in, they still haven't added favourites, local or linked to your BBC ID. Other iPlayer apps have had that for multiple years.

It also lacks a TV Guide, it lacks the more interactive, contextual UI standard to iPlayer elsewhere, and there's no 4K or HDR streaming at all. Even the ancient 4K test footage isn't included.

Try using iPlayer on a modern smart TV. It's clear where the BBC's focus is.

It's not quite as abandoned as Sky's miserably bad Now TV is on the ATV, but it's not far off.
 
BODYBUILDERPAUL said:
Owwwwww man, your fibre doesn't sound too good :'(
I believe it was indeed!
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I haven't tried it as i'd have to buy a damn TV licence at £150 a year if I wanted to watch their programmes. No thanks.
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If you’re in the UK then you have to buy a TV licence regardless of whether you watch the BBC or not. If you have the capability of receiving TV broadcasts, then you need a license.
 
Any way to get this in the states? I don't really care about non American football, but I would love to watch a live sporting event in 4k
 
Just been watching the England game in 4K/HLG. My line can't cope with the stream so kept stopping every 15 seconds. Looks nice and bright compared to the UHD version, which you'd expect. Maybe just a 4K stream would have been better, HGL doesn't add hugely to the experience imho.
 
570934 said:
I was more excited that Sky were test broadcasting F1 in 3D a few years back, never happened, are any football matches broadcast in 3D anymore, in fact, not sure even if Sky's 3D channel is running anymore.

What I'm getting at is all this HDR rush for broadcasters may fall by the wayside, new broadcast tech wows people in the short term, they then just become nonplussed about it. When watching TV broadcasts in 4K, I don't sit there thinking this is unbelievable, I'll never go back to watching 1080 ever again. But, when you do watch a HD program you don't sit there think, this is so terrible, you hardly notice if you are honest.

On another note, not sure what HDR will really add to football or most sport. The lighting for clarity is fairly limited in the contrast range. As in 4K Rec709 is perfect for most sports. Unless they are wanting to start light football pitches in such a way you have greater contrast, put all the corners in pitch black for instance :D
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The real jump was SD to HD back 12+ years ago. That was a legit jump in quality. I can still remember watching a football game on it as one of my first experiences and watching the snowflakes fall during the game was very cool.
 
fathergll said:
The real jump was SD to HD back 12+ years ago. That was a legit jump in quality. I can still remember watching a football game on it as one of my first experiences and watching the snowflakes fall during the game was very cool.
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I know what you mean, didn't seem quite a leap. Although, I work with 4K and even moving onto 8K footage at work so I'm a bit spoiled with it all now. And of course recorded footage is way higher quality bitrate wise than broadcast rubbish :D
 
God my cable company stream looks like rubbish. Even the FS1 app looks bad. Wish I had a way to access the 4k stream. Don't have a Hisense TV, or satellite though.

Not sure why they degrade the picture so much over my isp, since I have a fiber line there is no reason why it couldn't handle 4k.
 
570934 said:
F1 in 4K is nice, but it’s soon forgotten about while watching.
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I don't have Sky but F1 lost its appeal for me some years ago. Rugby for me. Dull times in the summer though waiting for the season to start again.
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mellofello said:
God my cable company stream looks like rubbish. Even the FS1 app looks bad. Wish I had a way to access the 4k stream. Don't have a Hisense TV, or satellite though.

Not sure why they degrade the picture so much over my isp, since I have a fiber line there is no reason why it couldn't handle 4k.
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Cannot help but the ISP I use also film the sports they transmit and one of the things they needed to do was make sure it got to the viewer as good as possible (that good grammar?). I expect there are a lot of network fixes behind the scenes to allow this and manage traffic for others. They will also not let me have 4K if my VDSL speed is too low.
 
I missed bbc iPlayer 4k trial
Though World Cup games have been nice HD-Skyq or Sony t.v. Upscaling to 4K.
Can never remember how to establish which is handling upscaling as iplayer app is via sky q box.
Both q and Sony are set to handle 4k
 
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JasonHB said:
If you’re in the UK then you have to buy a TV licence regardless of whether you watch the BBC or not. If you have the capability of receiving TV broadcasts, then you need a license.
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Not for me as I don't watch TV broadcasts live. I only use video on demand from Netflix and with film from iTunes / Vimeo :) And that's enough TV time for me :) - I'm only in my home / country maybe 3-4 month maximum a year. Life is short - millions of other things to do :)
 
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Donfor39 said:
to *install* OR use television receiving equipment
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You forgot the rest of the sentence that covers the purpose of the install or use that requires a licence.

To make it even clearer, look at the next paragraph that covers what is an offence.

And to make it totally certain, read the third question "Is a TV Licence required to own a television set?".

We do have a TV licence in this house, but I know several people who don't because they only watch streaming services such as Netflix. They are law-abiding people who checked carefully on the issue before not renewing their licence.
 
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