Recording BBC HD

Somewhat bravely, head of BBC HD Danielle Nagler takes on the thorny subject of Digital Rights Management in her latest blog on the BBC HD site. With Freesat Blu-Ray recorders appearing this summer from Panasonic and others (see post from a few days ago) the issue of copying restrictions with HD channels is now with us. Currently, you can record BBC HD and other high definition channels onto the internal disc of your PVR, but if you make a copy to a DVD recorder the quality takes a nosedive and is nearer SD than HD. With Blu-Ray the increased capacity of the discs makes copying a full HD recording to a single shiny disc a technical reality, but the copyright holders have other ideas. Danielle says that:

It will now be possible to make a single HD Blu-ray copy of one of our programmes, although not copies of copies. An HD connection to a protected home network will also be possible, although an HD connection to the Internet or portable devices will not work. The diagram below [click the link to see it] I think sums up the various paths you might want your HD content to take - and the extent to which that will be possible. I should add that the partial unlocking of some paths should also enable the high quality standard definition RGB outputs from some set top boxes.

It's a very interesting post, and one that's already collected a fair amount of comment from its audience. Great to see the ever-informative Andy Quested chipping in with some information too.

How to calibrate your TV for high definition

The BBC's Andy Quested has excelled himself this month; check out this BBC Blog post to learn how to best calibrate your TV to make the most of the new HD test card on BBC HD. This is quite, quite brilliant. Thank you sir!

BBC HD a disappointment?

From the poll run on this blog last month the majority of you feel that there's been little improvement in BBC HD over the past year. In fact the highest vote (38%) actually described the service as 'a disappiontment' - just 7% see it as "a triumph". Food for thought.
Personally, I wouldn't be so dismissive - it is still for me the best single HD channel currently available on any platform, even if it is still showing far too many repeats. What other channel offers such a broad range of original HD programming? In the next seven days we'll see new episodes of Wallander, Heroes, Strictly Come Dancing, Oceans, Apparitions, Lead Balloon, Little Dorrit and Survivors? It won't all be to everyone's taste, but there's pretty much something for everyone each week buried in there somewhere.
I don't disagree though that it could be a lot better, and here's hoping that the new promotion reel now being shown on BBC1 most nights heralds a new dawn for the service. Thanks for voting.
(Incidentally, Head of BBC HD Danielle Nagler has posted another BBC HD update on her blog here.)

Olympics coverage on BBC HD

It's difficult to see where the BBC's audience for its biggest-ever high definition extravaganza to date is going to come from; the live Beijing 2008 coverage starts around 1am each morning and runs through to mid-afternoon - hardly peak viewing times. The bigger audiences will be for the 7pm highlights show The Games Today, hosted by Gabby Logan and the 6am-9am breakfast coverage, but it's difficult to see these games really engaging the great British public, especially given the time difference. Mind you, the Australia games proved popular and they really were through the night, so I may be wrong. Anyone planning to record the Games in HD should remember that HD recordings take approximately four times more space on your V+ than regular BBC ones; your hard disc will fill completely overnight!
Anyway, starting on Friday, BBC HD goes 24 hours for a fortnight, and that can't be a bad thing :o)

Spooks in HD

Season six of the Beeb's excellent Spooks was disappointingly shown only in standard definition last year. But I've just noticed that Spooks is on the BBC HD schedules on Sunday 10 August at 11pm. I don't know what season this is, but it's good to see one of Auntie's finest finally becoming available in high definition.
Further good news: the BBC3 spin off, [Spooks] Code 9 is coming to BBC HD in August, too. The trailer and first ten minutes of episode one can be found here.
The fact that it's on BBC3 suggests a more teen-focussed storyline; Torchwood has shown the BBC can do spin offs successfully, but it doesn't always work. Should be one worth trying though.

BBC HD goes 24 hour with Olympic coverage

Saturday, August 9th, the first full day of Olympics coverage, boasts almost 24 hours of high definition broadcasts on BBC HD. Kicking off at 1.55am, coverage of the games continues right through the day until 7pm (when regular BBC HD programming takes over). The programme line up then runs through to 1.30am, when presumably the Beijing coverage kicks off again for the Sunday shift. Pretty awesome. How many will watch it through the small hours is debatable, and recording it in HD will soon gobble up what's left of your V+ hard disc, but well done BBC on really going to town with this.

New to BBC HD - Lost Land of the Jaguar

For me, the best programming in high definition is not always the stuff I would automatically set the V+ for. I'm not big on nature programmes, but the advent of high definition has really opened my eyes (I guess literally eye popping) to some great TV.
Following on from The Power of The Planet, Galapagos and Wild China comes Lost Land of the Jaguar, starting on BBC HD next Thursday at 8pm. It's about an expedition to the jungles of Guyana, featuring an international team of explorers, scientists and film makers discovering the plants and animals that inhabit the spectacular landscape of Guyana. From the trailer (currently showing on BBC HD and online here) it looks absolutely awesome. Time to be blown away again, methinks.

Previously in Virgin Media Land...

I've been away for a week so apologies for being a little late with some of the following:

iPlayer on VM
The BBC iPlayer service on Virgin Media recorded more than 10m viewings in June, according to the first figures released by the cable TV company. That's half as many viewings as the BBC website in the first full month it was made available to cable TV customers. Pretty impressive. Top programmes watched were EastEnders and Doctor Who.

New Head of BBC HD
The BBC has appointed Danielle Nagler as the new head of BBC HD. She replaces Seetha Kumar, who is moving to another as-yet-unspecified senior role within the corporation. The BBC said Nagler would focus on growing the HD channel and lead preparations for its launch on Freeview, expected to launch in a year's time. Let's hope she posts regular blogs like Ms Kumar - the BBC's candour regarding it's birth pains with HD have been a revelation. Speaking of which...

The BBC talks about the challenges of HD ... and surround sound
Just appeared on the BBC Internet Blog is a fine post byAndy Quested the Principal Technologist at BBC Future Media & Technology. If you wondered exactly what went wrong with this year's Eurovision broadcast, Quested supplies a detailed, technical but amusing account of the trials and tribulations of broadcasting 5.1 sound. If you ever doubted the BBC took its HD provision seriously or questioned their passion and pride in getting it right, give this a read - it's a revelation. Find it here.

Bet they call it "Freesat+"
Those Virgin customers considering moving to Freesat for their HD fix once the PVR is available are going to have to wait a little longer for the fledgling service's V+ equivalent to launch. It may just make it onto the shelves for Christmas. According to Humax's Chief Technologist:

'Humax has assigned one of its top development teams to the Freesat digital television recorder and they have completed the first stages of software integration and finalised the hardware design. Once testing of this stage of development is complete the more advanced features for Freesat will be worked on and tested.

'Because of the complex nature of the development of such an advanced recorder product Humax will dedicate an appropriate period to ensuring the good operation and stability of the product before releasing to market. It is currently estimated that the product will be available suitably in advance of the Christmas 2008 season.
'The product will be a twin tuner satellite recorder with an appropriately large capacity hard disk, although the exact size has yet to be finalised. The connectivity will be identical to the FOXSAT-HD, but unlike the FOXSAT-HD it will not have an analogue component output.'

Reports elsewhere suggest ITV's first steps with HD on Freesat have been somewhat less than successful with news that Harley Street in high def had probs last week. Full story over on DS.

Bonekickers coming to BBC HD

Just a quick heads up that Bonekickers, one of the BBC's summer highlights will be shown in high definition, starting on Tuesday 08 July at 9pm. Starring Adrian Lester and Julie Graham and from the creators of Life On Mars, this really could be something. Here's the blurb from the Radio Times:

Archaeological drama series. The excavation of medieval soldiers from the Crusades leads to the hunt for the True Cross. Brilliant archaeologist Dr Gillian Magwilde and her team race to uncover the truth, as a fanatical right-wing Christian reawakens a force of violent modern-day crusaders.

Also, on Thursday, July 10th Criminal Justice begins on BBC HD for those who aren't planning to watch it on BBC1 this week - it's to be shown weekly on BBC HD, rather than the five consecutive night scheduling it's having this week.
And if that wasn't enough, how about both volumes of Tarantino's Kill Bill? Showing on Friday July 4th and Volume 2 on the 11th.

BBC HD - the longest day!

Almost 14 hour of BBC HD today (Saturday). Here's the full line-up:

12:10pm Football Focus
12:45pm Wimbledon 2008
9:00pm That Mitchell and Webb Look
9:30pm Glastonbury 2008
10:30pm That Mitchell and Webb Look
11:00pm Hotel Babylon
12:00-2am Glastonbury 2008

BBC HD update from the Head of BBC HD

Seetha Kumar, head of HDTV at BBC Vision, has posted another entry on her interesting blog on the challenges facing BBC HD. The latest entry can be found here
In it she talks of the challenges of doubling HD output in a relatively short space of time, gives more details on some of the summer programming such as Criminal Justice (which will be showing in HD from July 10th due to Wimbledon coverage) and talks openly about the Eurovision sound problems. Great stuff, and top marks to the Beeb for being so open on this.

New Drama on BBC HD - but when?

Starting on June 30th is a brand new drama by Peter Moffat Criminal Justice. It's showing on five consecutive nights on BBC1 at 9pm each evening and is also being touted on the BBC HD web site. Because of the wall-to-wall Wimbledon coverage though it is not listed as being on BBC HD that week but if the Beeb says its coming to HD chances are it will follow shortly. Watch in SD or wait for it on HD? I'll keep an eye on the listings and will post once it appears.
More details of the drama and its cast can be found here.

Glastonbury 2008 on BBC HD

Considering the BBC has been promoting Glastonbury 2008 as one of its high definition highlights for the summer, there are surprisingly few hours being broadcast in HD next weekend. Maybe, like many festival goers themselves, the BBC has had second thoughts about the mediocre line-up? Anway, those who are happy seeing the rain n mud in standard def will find blanket coverage on BBC3, whilst those watching on BBC HD get just

• Friday, 27 June 11:00pm - 2:00am
• Saturday 28 June 9:30pm - 10:30pm
• Sunday 29 June 11:45pm - 2:00am

The bizarre one is the Saturday; just an hour, with the rest of the evening featuring repeats of Mitchell & Webb and Hotel Babylon. If BBC has the equipment in position for an hour's broadcast, why not keep the cameras rolling for the rest of the evening? Very odd indeed.

Wimbledon week one on BBC HD

Details of the BBC HD coverage of Wimbledon have been posted up on the Radio Times website.

It'll be running from 1pm each day next week. On Monday and Tuesday it will run through to midnight; on Wednesday until 7.30pm (followed by a Euro 2008 semi); on Thursday until 9pm (penultimate episode of Heroes following - no BBC3 early preview of the season finale though) and Friday's coverage ends at 11pm (when the Glastonbury live broadcast takes over) . Saturday it runs to 9pm.

One would imagine BBC HD has plenty of repeats up its sleeve to fill the schedules if rain stops play ...

Euro 2008 on BBC HD - week two

The BBC have three matches next week showing in High Definition. These are:

Monday 16 June 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Austria v Germany

Tuesday 17 June 7:30pm - 10:00pm
France v Italy

Friday 20 June 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Live coverage of the second quarter-final (tba)

Picture and sound quality this week have been outstanding; here's hoping they continue to keep up the high standard for the rest of the tournament.

Heroes on BBC HD this week

This Thursday's simulcasts of Heroes on BBC HD are disrupted by the Euro 2008 coverage. Just the one this week, and I said in an earlier post it would be the BBC2 simulcast.
Wrong. Bad Nialli. It's actually the BBC3 episode (episode 9) that's showing on BBC HD at 10pm Thursday. The following week we're back to both the BBC2 and BBC3 showings, with the final episode of the season (just 11 thanks to the Hollywood writers' strike) to follow.
I've enjoyed this season, despite the poor reviews Stateside. I think they gave me low expectations, whereas it's been very similar to the first season - lots of promise but only limited delivery. Hiro's adventure in Japanese history was no duller than his and Ando's US adventure last season, but at least it looked spectacular in HD! Things have definitely picked up in recent weeks and I'm hoping for a strong finish. Fingers crossed.

BBC HD On Demand returns

Four pages of BBC programmes have returned to the On Demand High Definition listing. Around 28 programmes have reappeared - not everything, but a fair amount. No new stuff.

Those watching Band of Brothers are advised to wrap it up quickly: it's now showing just 2 days left for all episodes...except 6, which in my region is showing as 1036 days left!

And now that it's finished on SkyOnc, if season four of Lost appears in On Demand in the near future don't you miss it...an absolute cracking return to form...I promise you won't be disappointed.

Euro 2008 on BBC HD

As promised, Euro 2008 is getting the full treatment on BBC HD. Here are the matches being broadcast live in high definition in the first week:

Saturday June 7 4.30pm
Switzerland v Czech Republic
Sunday June 8
Austria v Croatia (4.40pm)
Germany v Poland (7.30pm)
Monday June 9
Romania v France (4.45pm)
Tuesday June 10
Spain v Russia (should have been England! 4.45pm)
Wednesday June 11
Switzerland v Turkey (7.30pm)
Thursday June 12
Austria v Poland (7.30pm - No Heroes BBC2 simulcast tonight - the BBC3 one is at 10pm)
Friday June 13
France v Holland (7.30pm - should be the best of the early games, on paper at least)

BBC HD On Demand Disappears

As predicted a few posts ago, the BBC HD On Demand programmes have now gone. No more Blue Planet (upscaled), Superstorm or Planet Earth - just a lone episode of Hotel Babylon remains.
[UPDATE: It's only temporary I've been told - see Comments]
BBC iPlayer though is now fully integrated into the Catch Up menus (look under Channels) and there's an impressive selection of BBC stuff available there, albeit none yet in HD.
BBC HD varies from the norm this weekend btw, with a film tonight and the Florence Nightingale drama tomorrow. And I know I keep going on about it, but Wild China on Monday night really is what HD was invented for!

BBC makes a hash of Eurovision in HD

I didn't watch it myself (preferring to spend my Saturday evening watching Indiana Jones) but there are reports on various forums, both cable and satellite, that the BBC made a right mess of broadcasting the Eurovision song contest in high definition. Digital Spy thread here. 5.1 sound was the initial problem, but there's speculation that the whole HD feed was knackered and ended up with standard definition being upscaled on BBC HD.
Given that this was the first big BBC HD broadcast for the fledgling Freesat service, there's probably plenty of red faces and head-rolling sounds over White City way. Whether the problem was with the BBC or with the services provided by the Serbian hosts, this was embarrassing.
Hopefully, they'll sort it out for the England game on Wednesday. Oh, hang on...they're not broadcasting that in HD...(cue gnashing of teeth)