iPlayer on demand in HD Sound now, says Penny Gore.

[Bryn]

Great news, but how does one access this facility? I see no mention of it via either the schedule or the iPlayer pages. Anyone yet found a way in?

[Panjandrum]

"Helpfully" the Radio 3 FAQ page states that "we are not extending the service to cover audio on demand."

[Bryn]

For those who missed it, the announcement by Penny Gore is just after the start of:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b013m2d0

Sorry, probably only available in the UK, or via a proxy.

[David Underdown]

If you access the Proms via the links from the web page for an individual prom, the branding of the popup player does suggest you are getting an HD stream. I have no means at my disposal to verify this however.

[Bryn]

Could you be a bit more specific re. your comment that "the branding of the popup player does suggest you are getting an HD stream", David. When I access by that route, I get the standard 192kbps aac stream or, if I opt for "Low Bandwidth" I get 48kbps. The HD Sound link to the top right of the programme page leads to the live stream, not the on demand one.

[Panjandrum]

My reply from the good people at the BBC Proms twitter account tell me that: " hiya, if you click through the Prom event page on our website you will find listen again links which should be in HD audio "

Good to know.

[Bryn]

They "should be" but are not. Last night's Brahms, which starts with Penny Gore's announcement, is difinitely in a choice of 192kbps or 48kbps. There is currently no 320kbps audio linked to there except the live stream already mentioned.

I am not on Twitter, Panjandrum, and don't really want to be. Could you perhaps advise them that there is currently no such HD Sound link for the on demand facility, and maybe advise them of the existence of this thread?

[french frank]

If you access the Proms via the links from the web page for an individual prom, the branding of the popup player does suggest you are getting an HD stream. I have no means at my disposal to verify this however.

I couldn't find that, if this is the page you mean. I just found the choice of 'Low bandwidth' or 'Normal bandwidth'.

[Bryn]

Ah, but Frenchie, that's not last night's Prom. However, the same situation does apply to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013m2d0

which is.

[Panjandrum]

Have advised them of the problem and their response was: "from our web guys: 'the bit rate should be HD quality but the bit rate labels are proving difficult to update' - which Prom?"

I have replied that so far it appears that all proms are only at normal bandwidth and that HD is only available for live broadcasts. Don't hold your breath...

[Bryn]

Hmm, I would just say that I am not relying on the iPlayer rate labels. I have accessed the files and checked them both via playback in Winamp (which indicates the data rate by the flow of data, not by relying on labels) and by checking the file sizes. The aac file for last night's "Brahms" linked earlier, occupies 154.152KB and last 110' 42". Do the arithmetic yourself if you want.

By the way, the "Brahms" linked to runs on to include the following Prom Composer Portrait of Volans, and beyond.

[Bryn]

Once the techies get the on demand HD Sound sorted, this will be a great boon. I very much look forward to being able to express my thanks to Rupert Brun and his team. It's just a bit silly of them to get Penny Gore to make the announcement before they had tested that it all worked as intended.

[Bryn]

The new HD Sound logo in the top right corner of the Radio 3 iPlayer on demand pop-up notwithstanding, the highest data rate currently on offer there remains at 192kbps aac. It really does not reflect well on the iPlayer teams competence.

[Bryn]

Still no sign of HD Sound being implemented as claimed for the on demand iPlayer, and still no reply to my communication regarding the problem. Anyone got a useful or meaningful response from the Beeb re. this matter?

[Bryn]

I have now received a reply from the iPlayer support team. It is rather curious:

Thank you for contacting the BBC iPlayer Support Team.

I understand that you’re unable to access the Proms in the HD audio format.

We broadcast the HD audio format live but I was unable to locate a listen again facility for this.

I have also forwarded your comments regarding what Penny has said to our Development Team as all feedback we receive, whether positive or negative, is always appreciated and can help us with future decisions on how to improve the service we offer.

I hope this has been helpful, and once again thank you for contacting us.

So why did Penny Gore make the announcement, and why does the on demand iPlayer pop-up for Radio 3 now carry the HD Sound logo in its top right corner?

Of course, the reply came for a source which is closed to further response. As I don't have his BBC email address I guess it will have to be a snail mail communication to Rupert Brun to enquire as to just what is going on.