So today there has been a huge update to the BBC iPlayer, the On Demand TV and radio Service from the BBC has now got personal!

So far the BBC iPlayer team have focused on getting the technical aspects of the iPlayer working bug free and improving reliability. Also iPlayer Version 2 focussed on creating a complete cross platform player which now works not online  but across many desktop platforms, mobiles, iPhone, TV Sets, Consoles (more than 40 devices actually), a list of compatible devices can be found here.

Version 3

So version 3 makes the iPlayer more personal by introducing many new features plus a fantastic new sleek design.

• Favourites – So one of the big new features are favourites. You can now select your favourite programs be it radio or TV and they will appear right at the top of the iPlayer page. This makes it really easy now to find the programs that interest you the most and they will appear right at the top as soon as they are available. This is one Feature I have really been waiting for so its great its finally here!

BBC iPlayer - New Favourites feature.

• Roaming – One of the problems the BBC say is with many sites is you have to register for everything. So they have made it so you don’t have to register for any of the features to work unless you want to access your favourites etc using another device. So if you want access to your settings on another device then you just do a quick registration however if you only access iPlayer from one place then you don’t need to register at all!

BBC iPlayer - New Roaming feature.

• Personalisation – The iPlayer now not only shows the featured and most popular videos but also adds what your friends are watching and what it recommends for you based on what you have watched all in a brand new sliding drawer system. The friends system links with your twitter and facebook stream in order to get your friends recommendations! The drawers will remember there last position and you will be returned to the same state when you return to iPlayer!

BBC iPlayer - New Drawer feature.

BBC iPlayer - New Personalised feature.

• My Categories – The my categories feature allows you to subscribe to categories from iPlayer. So if your a fine of Classic Music or Science and Nature you can subscribe to these categories and you will be updated as soon as there is a new program that falls into this category.

BBC iPlayer - New My Categories Feature

• Live TV Just Got Better! – The live TV feature from BBC iPlayer I always found was a little lacking and not very well integrated well now it has its own dedicated page which is far better! Plus the quality is great.

BBC iPlayer - Better Live TV

• Radio Console – The radio side of the iPlayer has lacked a little and didn’t fit in very well with the whole iPlayer site now there’s a brand new Radio Console.

BBC iPlayer - New Radio Console

• Recommend to Friends – You can recommend programs via twitter and facebook and add a message from within the iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer - New Recommendations Feature

• Watch iPlayer with your Firends – Sounds crazy I know but if you are using Windows Live Messenger and there are others also using iPlayer you can talk to them and even watch the same program at the same time right from within the website. you can invite others to watch with you aswell and talk about those epic moments in TV like was the right one fired in Apprentice!

BBC iPlayer - New Windows Live Feature (Image rights BBC.co.uk)

• Better Video Quality – One great new feature is Video Quality. Using new Adobe Flash features the video can adapt based on your bandwidth along with giving H.264 hardware acceleration and less CPU usage.  You can also create a larger size screen without going into full screen mode which is great for those on dual screens!

BBC iPlayer - Better Quality, Bigger Size

• Finally New Desktop App – The desktop app is cross platform and is designed mainly for those who want to download a program for viewing up to 30 days later rather than the max 7 days online for many programs. Also this is preferred by those on lower speed connections who want good quality but do not have the speed to stream at this quality.  The main new features for the desktop player are live TV and Radio and scheduled series downloads.  The desktop client will now automatically download future episodes in a series for you preventing you from missing any episodes! You can also set the desktop player to download at specific times of day in order to not use your internet when all the family is and slowing down your overall connection.

How to get it!

Head over to http://beta.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ and you will get to use the new features. Remember they are still in BETA but so far I have not experienced any problems at all!

I give the new iPlayer a rating of 5 Clouds!

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