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Blue Planet II comes to iPlayer in 4K HDR

Now that's interesting as the iTunes box set is 1080p only and on the reviews page, every customer is complaining that it's not in 4K HDR.
I didn't know that iPlayer is in 4K as the BBC tend to be very slow with tech.
 
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But there are still notable exceptions - neither Apple nor Amazon's latest set-top boxes offer compatible versions of iPlayer, and Sony's top-end ZD9 and A1 sets are also currently excluded.
 
Donfor39 said:
But there are still notable exceptions - neither Apple nor Amazon's latest set-top boxes offer compatible versions of iPlayer, and Sony's top-end ZD9 and A1 sets are also currently excluded.
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Having worked for the BBC, that really does not surprise me! I remember the whole place running on the most disgusting old Dell windows computers. It was like going back in time after being a Mac user. I wasn't impressed and didn't stay for long! I still can't believe that in 2017, people are charged £150 a year for a damn licence to watch their programming without a choice! To me, the BBC is very last century along wit the old and very hateful media moguls.
Thank God Apple and others changed that landscape!
 
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BODYBUILDERPAUL said:
Having worked for the BBC, that really does not surprise me! I remember the whole place running on the most disgusting old Dell windows computers. It was like going back in time after being a Mac user. I wasn't impressed and didn't stay for long! I still can't believe that in 2017, people are charged £150 a year for a damn licence to watch their programming without a choice! To me, the BBC is very last century along wit the old and very hateful media moguls.
Thank God Apple and others changed that landscape!
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Despite that, they still manage to produce amazing documentaries and what is now the most watched show ever.
 
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oneMadRssn said:
Despite that, they still manage to produce amazing documentaries and what is now the most watched show ever.
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Maybe they do and so they should with the billions of money they get BUT also look how amazing the young independent film makers are like MSP etc. For me, they better the old BBC.
The BBC also makes billions from selling its series across the world. Sorry, just does not impress or inspire me. And if a show is the most watched, that usually would turn me off 🙂
For me, the young, independents truly rule!
 
BODYBUILDERPAUL said:
Maybe they do and so they should with the billions of money they get BUT also look how amazing the young independent film makers are like MSP etc. For me, they better the old BBC.
The BBC also makes billions from selling its series across the world. Sorry, just does not impress or inspire me. And if a show is the most watched, that usually would turn me off 🙂
For me, the young, independents truly rule!
Click to expand...
Dude, MSP isn't even in the same league as BBC in terms of quality and impressiveness. It's like a white suburban high school basketball team versus the 1996 Chicago Bulls.

Don't get me wrong, I love MSP and have a ton of respect for them. But putting a 10k camera at the bottom of the ocean, in a river in the deep jungle, or at the top of a mountain higher than a helicopter can fly and capturing species that have literally never before been filmed is quite a lot more impressive than filming near ski resorts or from helicopter access.

Also, for what it's worth, I think MSP peaked with Yearbook and have gone downhill since. Claim was good, but everything else lately is so so. Same with Teton. Faction Collective, which also happens to make the skis I like, made their first full length ski movie this year and it beats most of what I've seen from MSP over the last few years.
 
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It's been the one programme we've tuned every time to the HD channels for (1080p) on our 43" LG. The additional clarity has been stunning. Most programmes we don't even bother with that.

I wish all TV was as high quality as Blue Planet has been. Amazingly beautiful right the way through. I can't believe what it would look like in 4K.
 
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I watched the first episode of Blue Planet 2 last night in 4K HLG via my 65" LG OLED. Truly breathtaking stuff, by some margin the best streamed 4K content I've seen. Obviously no match for UHD BD, but it would be unfair to expect that.

The bitrate is 28mb, which is higher than both iTunes 4K and Netflix 4K, and the HLG HDR looked beautiful. There was some banding on extremely dark scenes, but it was pretty minimal.

Compared to regular 720p 5mbit iPlayer it's truly a revelation. The only fly in the ointment was the lack of 5.1 audio. Sadly it's just the usual 2.0 channel stereo.

Shame it's limited to just smart TVs, but it's early days yet. I don't believe many 4K boxes, such as the PS4 Pro, Xbox One X, ATV, Fire TV, and Shield actually support HLG, so who knows how the BBC will solve that one.
 
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