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BBC iPlayer 4k support in time for the World cup?

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ajwool
Member

BBC iPlayer 4k support in time for the World cup?

So, will we finally get Bbc iPlayer support in time for the World Cup? Announcement coming imminently:

 

https://www.whathifi.com/news/bbc-4k-hdr-world-cup-confirmation-week-away

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bkmc47
Explorer

All the 2018 Sony XF9005 models are on the BBC's "whitelist". This is pretty amazing considering that these

 

  1. Run the exact same firmware (including the iPlayer app I presume)
  2. Are almost the same hardware!
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copicke45
Member

They did trial for the 2017 models a few weeks ago but there were issues evident on the live loop (I.e. it kept crashing).

 

we have had a further firmware update since but I suspect this has come too late for the regression testing required before putting the 2017 sets onto the trial.

 

The issue may have been fixed but they haven’t got the time / resource available to check.

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bkmc47
Explorer


@copicke45 wrote:

They did trial for the 2017 models a few weeks ago but there were issues evident on the live loop (I.e. it kept crashing).

 

we have had a further firmware update since but I suspect this has come too late for the regression testing required before putting the 2017 sets onto the trial.

 

The issue may have been fixed but they haven’t got the time / resource available to check.


But the XF9005s run the exact same firmware - including the same BBC iPlayer app - and most of the same hardware! Presumably if it is  tested to be now working on the XE9005s the BBC would need to add these system ID strings to their end!

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copicke45
Member

Just because a model has the same firmware doesn’t mean it’ll work - it’s the integration of hardware and software that matters.

 

We don’t know the reason why the loop crashed out on the 2017 models - it could well be some disagreement between the new code and 2017 hardware.

 

anyway the BBC are clearly not going to whitelist the sets until this testing is re-done, and it looks like we have timed out for the World Cup...

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BigUglyGac
Member

like i said copicke45, id just like to know if we will ever get the support or not. if its never going to happen just be honest with use stuck with overpriced sets so we can either sell up or at least know not to expect it. 

 

this whole keep watching the updates page bs is BS!! they could say yes they are working on it or no it wont be coming, rather than dancing around giving any sort of straight answer. 

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rgledhill
Member

The hardware isn't the same on the XF9005; they upgraded the graphics processor from the X1 to the X1 Extreme as well as changing the motrion processor, so I'm assuming that there's some incompatibility they didn't manage to solve with the graphics processor in the XE9005.  I reckon they will fix it, but most likely not in time for the World Cup.

 

XE9005 specs: https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/televisions-projectors-lcd-tvs-android-/kd-49xe9005/speci...

XF9005 specs: https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/televisions-projectors-lcd-tvs-android-/kd-49xf9005/speci...

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DAVIDJ152
Explorer

But that still doesn’t explain why certain 2016 models will have but not the XD93 which is one of the top models from that year nor does it explain the certain XE models will but not the XE9005. 

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copicke45
Member

The MPEG-DASH IP transmission method unfortunately, by its nature, puts a high load onto the hardware of the receiving device because it breaks the stream up into thousands of file chunks whick then need to be put back together again. It was designed for PC playback in mind, and as we know the processor in TVs doesn't have anywhere near the grunt of a PC. So great for the BBC, and PC users, but when it comes to TVs (which are designed for an international market) when one specific broadcaster decides to go it alone with a new standard it's going to cause support issues.

 

The same thing happened with Internet radios - Only a few high end models have been released that support MPEG-DASH, but the majority are built for SHOUtcast/ICEcast linear streams only just because that's what the whole world apart from the BBC uses. And so the BBC has had to keep legacy linear radio streams going just because MPEG-DASH is not taking off as fast as they hoped.

 

I have no doubt that the BBCs approach is technically very efficient, and could eventually take off (particularly if this World Cup trial is a success) but until it proves itself in the open market it will remain peculiarly British with limited support from manufacturers.

 

As for Sony, as they claimed to have released firmware that supported BBC iPlayer 4K I would hope that they follow through for 2017 devices to ensure that they get to a position where they can guarantee that it works reliably.

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rgledhill
Member

My money is that the XE93 having the same top-end processing engine as the XE9005 which has a bug in either the  X1 silicon or the software drivesr for it.  Lesser, and greater, models presumably don't have this bug, as they don't use this specific hardware graphics accelerator, and they simply haven't had time to work with Sony to fix it in time.

I also have a sneaking suspicion it's related to YouTube failing to do 50/60fps; I know the BBC iPlayer 4k streaming test of football was 50fps and it broke after a bit.  I think something chews up all the CPU time and it runs out of steam - which is ludicrous in a chipset of this power.

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copicke45
Member


@DAVIDJ152 wrote:

But that still doesn’t explain why certain 2016 models will have but not the XD93 which is one of the top models from that year nor does it explain the certain XE models will but not the XE9005. 


You can't infer that just because something is newer or higher spec it is going to work because an older platform does.

Software development doesn't work like that.

 

There could be any number of software and/or hardware architecture changes between the 2016 & 2017 model, or between the lower and higher spec 2016 models, that introduce a bottleneck in the efficient processing of the MPEG-DASH data. Android itself seems to be a possible common factor here.