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I guess it goes some way to show that the BBC do listen to other techies. You may have also spotted that they are developing a free video codec called Dirac (Open Source, MPL, uses patents, royalty free) which is as yet not completely usable but comparable to (I'm assuming) Mpeg-4 Simple Profile. It is quoted as being better than Ogg Theora, quality wise.
Ruairi trewornan wrote:
I just recieved a response from the BBC about an email I sent them suggesting that the Real Audio Codec (as a closed format) was unsuitable for public service broadcasting - in particular, for webcasting of the various BBC radio stations. Although the response wasn't everything I could have hoped, I was nevertheless pleasantly surprised. The BBC seem to be much better informed than I was expecting and the reply reveals a good understanding of the issues. I'm convinced they are genuine in their desire to consider these matters in future development of their services. I sent the message from an OpenBSD system but did not state this and was very surprised that they picked up it (presumably from the email headers) - quite savvy really. The only major area of concern I have is the passage where he mentions Windows Media Player as an alternative to Real Player (yuck). Admittedly it doesn't change the situation now but overall it seems very positive. Anyway, I thought some people on this list might be interested and include the reply below. TrewornanThank you for your e-mail. I understand you feel the BBC should not use RealPlayer for its audio streams and note that you did not receive a response to your previous correspondence. For your reference, all complaints can be sent via: http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/ All comments, suggestions, praise and questions can be sent at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/contactus/form.shtml I acknowledge that you use BSD Unix at home and are therefore unable to install RealPlayer. However, I am sure that you can appreciate that this applies to a very limited number of bbc.co.uk users. When the BBC first wanted to launch audio and video on its website, 'streaming' technology was fairly new and, at the time, RealPlayer was predominantly used. Consequently we entered into an agreement with Real to provide the software (for free) to users of the BBC site. This free download and help isavailable at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/audiohelp_install.shtml.Since that time, streaming has become more popular and the number of applications using streaming has increased, including video streaming on our www.bbc.co.uk/broadband site. As a result, you and other users have asked that we consider supporting other software. The issue faced by the BBC is that we must add infrastructure for each type of software supported, and increasing the number of software applications means an increased cost to license fee payers. We are constantly looking to strike a balance between what our viewers and listeners wouldlike and spending the licence fee wisely.Having said that, we appreciate that the current situation is not ideal. Indeed, we are currently offering the content of our 'Digital Only' radio channels, and most of our News and Sport clips and streams on both Real and Windows Media Player(http://www.bbc.co.uk/digitalradio/index.shtml?digitalradio).Regrettably, due to the considerable amount of content we offer, we currently cannot offer this across the board. We have ensured that versions of Real player are available as free downloads for virtually all types of hardware and operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux and more), so that everyone can have access to our content regardless of the equipment that they choose to use. For your information, we conduct ongoing feedback reviews into what software and applications we use across the BBC site. Doing so ensures that we listen to what our audience wants and your feedback will be used as part of this process. Whilst I realise this is not very helpful in the short-term, I hope it goes some way to assuring you that we are taking your feedback seriously. We ask that you bear with us, as we hope to offer more content across more platforms in the not-too-distant future. We do find that the opinions of our website users are an invaluable source of feedback. Styles and policies are continually being assessed and changedbased on feedback from the general public.Please be assured that your views have been made available to senior BBC management as well as the website owners. Thank you again for taking the time to contact the BBC. Regards Gary Sullivan BBC Information ______________________________________ http://www.bbc.co.uk/ - World Wide Wonderland___________________________________________________________ To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com-- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe. FAQ: www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html
-- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe. FAQ: www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html