Digital Concert Hall.

[marvin]

Has anyone here subscribed to the Berliner Philharmoniker's Digital Concert Hall experience? Having just recently bought a Sony Smart TV that features, as one of its Apps the easily recognisable Pentagon of the Philharmonie, I thought that I would visit their website and see how much it would cost.
At first I just paid for a 7 day ticket, at a cost of ca £10 but have have now subscribed for a 30 day 'ticket' costing about £23. It's a fabulous experience as one has as one's disposal over 230 concerts from their archive filmed at the Philharmonie in Berlin. They also have live events which you can also watch on your Smart TV, computer, tablet etc.

[amateur51]

Has anyone here subscribed to the Berliner Philharmoniker's Digital Concert Hall experience? Having just recently bought a Sony Smart TV that features, as one of its Apps the easily recognisable Pentagon of the Philharmonie, I thought that I would visit their website and see how much it would cost.
At first I just paid for a 7 day ticket, at a cost of ca £10 but have have now subscribed for a 30 day 'ticket' costing about £23. It's a fabulous experience as one has as one's disposal over 230 concerts from their archive filmed at the Philharmonie in Berlin. They also have live events which you can also watch on your Smart TV, computer, tablet etc.

Like you I've tried the seven-day option and I really enjoyed it, wonderful variety and good sound/picture and I don't have anything fancy by way of equipment (steady!).

[pastoralguy]

Like you I've tried the seven-day option and I really enjoyed it, wonderful variety and good sound/picture and I don't have anything fancy by way of equipment (steady!).

Mrs. PG gave me a annual subscription for Christmas last year and it's fantastic! So much great stuff (an incandescent performance performs of the Dvorak 'cello concerto from Isserlis being one of the highlights). And lots of great stuff in the archive as well as interviews with top artists.

Tremendous resource!

[Petrushka]

I've tried it several times (it's pre-loaded on my Samsung Smart TV) but had a few technical issues and haven't been back. Unfortunately, the one hour time lag is enough to render it impossible for this particular wage slave to catch the live concerts particularly anything on a weekday. I've since had a new router so may well give it another shot.

[jayne lee wilson]

I'll never forget my first visit to the Berlin DCH in September 2009. Rattle live in DSCH 4, 256 kbps AAC at 5 on a Sunday afternoon. I was stunned into stillness. Wide-eyed. At the beginning of the 3rd movement - disaster! Every few seconds the music dropped out. Didn't know enough then to try reducing video resolution which might have got it back. Ended in defeat, heartbroken for days.
Fast forward to Autumn 2010, broadband upgrade and better educated, I listened every week at a Radio 3-level 320 kbps AAC, perfect live transmissions. Just in heaven through Berio's Coro, Boulez doing Song of the Nightingale and Explosante-fixe, Alessandrini in Beethoven 2, Nelsons in DSCH 8... I'm in heaven when Sarah or Emmanuel smile...

Then they go and reduce back to 192, then 256 kbps max. Hmm. OK for Lutoslawski, Bartok etc., Not so good for larger Classical/Romantic string sections. But then I'm infamously fussy-eared so...
...Drifted away after that, reflecting on the irony: Berlin has the concerts, Radio 3 has the sound...

[muzzer]

My freebie that came with the Sony Bravia has just run out but I made the most of it. I thought it was fantastic.

[Dave2002]

jayne

Does your mention of 256 kbps AAC etc refer only to the audio part of the online experience? I'd expect the video to be at least 500 kbps as well, or preferably over 1 Mbps (maybe considerably more) for decent quality. A video I recently watched with decent quality is around 4 Mbps using MPEG-4 AAC.

I have recently tried another video source - Qello http://qello.com - which appears at first sight to be only for pop, rock music etc., but on further investigation does have some rather decent classical material - not just concerts, but some with a useful commentary as well. You do have to look rather hard at the interface to find it though.

I rather enjoyed the video with Abbado's version of the New World symphony, with some suggestions about how Dvorak absorbed black and American indian music into his works.

The video quality is unfortunately nothing like a Blu Ray, and suffers from problems similar to those you mentioned. On a good day our broadband via newly installed BT Infinity 1 will now do over 20 mbps, which is capable of giving very good quality if there is no other data traffic, but there are obvious problems - firstly due to the level of quality in the encoding, and secondly due to network or server glitches, which bring viewing/listening to a complete halt while the data stream catches up.

I haven't tried medici.tv recently, which is yet another similar system. Some video based services work with streaming, and others with downloads. Downloads of course take time to download, which may prove inconvenient, but then the quality is probably not going to be compromised so much by the network. Some videos downloaded via iTunes can be really good, and do achieve quality similar to Blu Ray.

[marvin]

I have had a steady connection to the DCH with my BT BB connection of ca 15Mbps and only once did it disconnect as I was having trouble with my phone line over the Christmas period what witht he gales and incessant rain playing havoc with BT's system somewhere.
However, I have noticed some variation in visual quality from some archived material but whether this is my end or the way the concert was recorded, I know not.
Probably the worst concert or at least disappointing for me was a Russian conductor, Kirill Petrenko and the BPO playing Elgar's 2nd Symphony. Was it too much to expect a Russiaon and a 'German' orchestra to get the true spirit of such and English piece as this?
Another outstanding one was Leila Weilerstein playing the Elgar Cello concerto with Baremboim conducting.
I also watched, live, Lang Lang playing the Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto (one of my favourites) and one cannot help but marvel at his technical prowess allied with his showmanship of course - but I forgive him this.

[Stanfordian]

jayne

Does your mention of 256 kbps AAC etc refer only to the audio part of the online experience? I'd expect the video to be at least 500 kbps as well, or preferably over 1 Mbps (maybe considerably more) for decent quality. A video I recently watched with decent quality is around 4 Mbps using MPEG-4 AAC.

I have recently tried another video source - Quello http://quello.com - which appears at first sight to be only for pop, rock music etc., but on further investigation does have some rather decent classical material - not just concerts, but some with a useful commentary as well. You do have to look rather hard at the interface to find it though.

I rather enjoyed the video with Abbado's version of the New World symphony, with some suggestions about how Dvorak absorbed black and American indian music into his works.

The video quality is unfortunately nothing like a Blu Ray, and suffers from problems similar to those you mentioned. On a good day our broadband via newly installed BT Infinity 1 will now do over 20 mbps, which is capable of giving very good quality if there is no other data traffic, but there are obvious problems - firstly due to the level of quality in the encoding, and secondly due to network or server glitches, which bring viewing/listening to a complete halt while the data stream catches up.

I haven't tried medici.tv recently, which is yet another similar system. Some video based services work with streaming, and others with downloads. Downloads of course take time to download, which may prove inconvenient, but then the quality is probably not going to be compromised so much by the network. Some videos downloaded via iTunes can be really good, and do achieve quality similar to Blu Ray.

Hiya Dave, Your link to Quello seems incorrect.

[Petrushka]

The first live DCH relay I watched (Rattle/Mahler 2) was breath-taking and entirely trouble-free. After that, however, the technical problems just multiplied with serious picture break up and frequent loss of connection. I completely lost confidence in the whole thing though catching an Abbado programme in the archive a while back was without problem.

I have an entirely new router now (Talktalk) and may try again soon, perhaps an archive programme to see how it behaves. I don't feel like wasting money if problems occur.

[Dave2002]

Hiya Dave, Your link to Quello seems incorrect.

Thanks - just knock out the 'u' - I've updated the posting.

[jayne lee wilson]

Hi D2002 - yes, I was just referring to the audio. As has been noted, you see the video resolution varying from decent HD to rather less (!) as you watch. I corresponded a few times with Christoph Franke, one of their creative directors, and he said they'd arrived at the fixed 256kbps sound plus auto-switching of video resolution as the best compromise to maintain continuity for all the viewers round-the-world, cinemas included!
Oh - BTW, the bit/sampling rate is 24/48khz, so if you switch to this (unless your DAC does it for you, many computers default to 44khz) you'll hear a sweeter sound...

[johnb]

I *think* most Windows PCs are set by default to 16/48 though this can be changed on Windows 7 (Vista?) and probably on W8 to 16/44 (or other bit depth/sampling rates) for individual devices by (in W7) going to Control Panel/Hardware and Sound/Sound

Select the device and click on Properties

Then click on the Advanced tab and select the default format

[Dave2002]

jayne

Makes you realise just how reliable, on the whole, R3 broadcasts are. Although Internet delivery of video can be good, when it's not it's really frustrating. I would want to be sure of good video quality as well as good sound if I were to subscribe to a channel such as the Berlin one. For me life is too short to spend time fixing things which are just not up to snuff, as someone I knew used to say. I certainly don't want to spend even moderate amounts of money on services which only deliver mediocre quality.

[Petrushka]

Decided to try it again after a two year gap to listen to the BPO in Bruckner 4 with Haitink via my Samsung Smart TV but it is utterly useless. There are frequent break ups and attempts to reconnect.

I won't be back.

EDIT: Just having typed that it suddenly sprang into life and has been fine ever since! Now watching...