Blue Planet II Comes to iPlayer in 4K High Dynamic Range | Hacker News Reader

Blue Planet II Comes to iPlayer in 4K High Dynamic Range

bbc.co.uk

Great, another wonderful thing that’s nearly impossible to enjoy abroad because the BBC can’t figure out how to resolve their license issues and international offerings.

I really hope you do get to see it. This is yet another ground breaker (BP1 was amazing).

I nearly fell off my seat when they managed to show footage that must have [bbc.co.uk] b09hs07h: Downloading video page [bbc.co.uk] b09hs07h: Downloading playlist JSON [bbc.co.uk] b09hs074: Downloading media selection XML [bbc.co.uk] b09hs074: Downloading m3u8 information [info] Available formats for b09hs074: format code stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash-audio_eng=128000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash_https-audio_eng=128000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash-audio_eng=128000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash_https-audio_eng=128000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash-video=827000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash_https-video=827000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash-video=827000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash_https-video=827000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash-video=1570000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash_https-video=1570000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash-video=1570000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash_https-video=1570000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash-video=2812000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash_https-video=2812000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash-video=2812000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash_https-video=2812000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash-video=5070000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash_https-video=5070000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash-video=5070000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash_https-video=5070000 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_hls-1013 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_hls_https-1013 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_bidi_uk_hls-1013 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_bidi_uk_hls_https-1013 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_hls-1013 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_hls_https-1013 iptv_streaming_1500_akamai_hls_open-1496 iptv_streaming_1500_akamai_hls_open_https-1496 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_hls-1800 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_hls_https-1800 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_bidi_uk_hls-1800 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_bidi_uk_hls_https-1800 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_hls-1800 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_hls_https-1800 iptv_streaming_1500_akamai_hls_open-2413 iptv_streaming_1500_akamai_hls_open_https-2413 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_hls-3117 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_hls_https-3117 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_bidi_uk_hls-3117 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_bidi_uk_hls_https-3117 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_hls-3117 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_hls_https-3117 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_hls-5510 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_hls_https-5510 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_bidi_uk_hls-5510 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_bidi_uk_hls_https-5510 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_hls-5510 stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_hls_https-5510 been from a camera mounted on the back of a Sperm whale deep diving. They also got one on an Orca. David Attenborough is a legend and provides the usual authoritative voice over which instils a true sense of awe and wonder.

I wont go any further but it really is the new cutting edge of wildlife programming.

While interviewing some producers they showed how they got the camera on the whale's back. It involved a sucker (plunger style) and a crew member hanging off the side of a boat and sticking it on. After a day or two it falls off and floats to the surface where it's collected. Amazing stuff.

I hope my TV is capable of showing it in all its glory. HDR is complicated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_video#Stand...

The most criminal part of many nature documentaries is when they dub over Attenborough for the US audience with someone with a US accent. It's tantamount to sacrilege.

The word sacrilege is particularly apt in this context.

That sounds incredible, and I’ll find a way to see it soon I’m sure, for all of the reasons you’ve said.

I "only" watched it in HD. It's fairly low on "nature red in tooth and claw" which is quite welcome and very high on sheer wonder. Some of the colourscapes (that's the best word I can come up with) are simply amazing. You are often put within a few inches of fast moving fish, dolphins etc and can see muscles, scales, pincers, arms, fins all moving perfectly clearly. I have no idea how the heck they get cameras to work in amongst coral and hollows in rocks and follow swift action.

If my TV license fee goes towards turning out this sort of thing sometimes then I'm a very happy bunny.

The part where they zoomed out from the whale at the bottom of the ocean had to be part special effects or was it?

Well, the UHD Blu-ray is slated to be released in January (presumably world-wide) so there is that. And Blu-ray will be the ultimate version in terms of picture quality, if you are into that.

Maybe a silly question, but why would Blu-ray offer better picture quality than iPlayer? I mean, I guess it's the same 4k resolution. Is colour data more compressed / frame rate lower on iPlayer vs Blu ray?

It essentially comes down to bitrate. Even with 1080p, there's still a noticeable bump in quality when you go from the "just enough" streaming bitrate to the "here just have the whole thing" version from a local disk.

Both versions still decode to a 1080p (or 4k) frame, but the local version means you don't have to compress it quite as much.

4K Blu-Ray can have bit rates in excess of 100 mbps. There's likely a lower bit rate (and far more compression) with most streaming services.

Streaming is definitely more compressed, and with movies the audio formats are not always the best since they need compatibility. If you want the best picture quality, get the UHD bluray.

I’ve watched lots of films on AppleTV using iTunes and Netflix, I’ve not noticed any jarring artefacts.

The BBC iPlayer though has banding and images of light glistening on sea waves are horribly blocky.

I had assumed this was done to save money. A programme like Blue Planet II being a flag ship show, no doubt showing how good things can get.

Sounds like the ideal demo to show off UHD TVs in shops.

The BBC has another whole set of constraints on it when it comes to it's commercial services.

Other content creators and such aren't operating under royal charter, funded by a license fee that every person in the UK watching (or recording) any live tv (not just BBC) or using iPlayer is obligated to pay.

The BBC can certainly engage in commercial services, but it's balancing act will be different to most other content creators.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/about/h...

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one

It’s not like US and other countries all have it figured out, it took HBO years to make it so we could all watch GoT at the same time and if it weren’t for that show I doubt HBO would have gotten it sorted at all.

HBO definitely hasn't solved that yet. They don't have online service in many major markets, such as Germany.

In Germany Sky has been given rights to HBO shows donno why

I have the same problem. I tried to find any subscription option but none exists. But it still works with VPN. I don’t have a 4K TV though! Just 1080P projector.

I would pay to access BBCs original content as it is broadcast. Now a VPN provider gets the money instead. A real shame.

UHD Blurays are region free.

Don’t have any blue ray reader or DVD drive. I went entirely streaming two years ago.

Anyone know how the 4K feature detection works? For example, can a certain user agent be spoofed to enable the higher-res version?

I ask because I use youtube-dl to watch iPlayer shows and it only grabs standard HD versions. If anyone else UK based has figured this out I'd love to learn how.

Wondering this also. Could be that the modes we see are all that's currently available.

Looks like the 4K streams won't be available for another 24+ hours:

> The BBC plans to release the special edition of Blue Planet II immediately after the final episode is broadcast on BBC One on Sunday.

The version of iPlayer which I worked with had a setting to enable "beta features", this includes 4K UHD videos. So you'd probably need to spoof a TV/STB UA and set a cookie.

`-f bestvideo+bestaudio/best` might work: https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl#format-selection

Isn't that the default, with no other arguments?

Is get-iplayer still used?

I suspect it'll need an enhancement from youtube-dl in your case.

I did look at all the file options, and there was a 2.2Gb download, but the standard download was about 130Mb.

The 2.2GB download is a 1280x720 50FPS MP4, definitely a long way from 4K HDR.

Testing with the --list formats option does not identify any higher resolution. Here is an example for the most recent episode:

  tom@desktop:~$ youtube-dl --list-formats https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09hs07h/blue-planet-ii-series-1-6-coasts extension  resolution note m4a        audio only [en] DASH audio  128k , mp4a.40.2 (48000Hz) m4a        audio only [en] DASH audio  128k , mp4a.40.2 (48000Hz) m4a        audio only [en] DASH audio  128k , mp4a.40.2 (48000Hz) m4a        audio only [en] DASH audio  128k , mp4a.40.2 (48000Hz) mp4        704x396    DASH video  827k , avc3.4D401E, 25fps, video only mp4        704x396    DASH video  827k , avc3.4D401E, 25fps, video only mp4        704x396    DASH video  827k , avc3.4D401E, 25fps, video only mp4        704x396    DASH video  827k , avc3.4D401E, 25fps, video only mp4        704x396    DASH video 1570k , avc3.64001F, 50fps, video only mp4        704x396    DASH video 1570k , avc3.64001F, 50fps, video only mp4        704x396    DASH video 1570k , avc3.64001F, 50fps, video only mp4        704x396    DASH video 1570k , avc3.64001F, 50fps, video only mp4        960x540    DASH video 2812k , avc3.64001F, 50fps, video only mp4        960x540    DASH video 2812k , avc3.64001F, 50fps, video only mp4        960x540    DASH video 2812k , avc3.64001F, 50fps, video only mp4        960x540    DASH video 2812k , avc3.64001F, 50fps, video only mp4        1280x720   DASH video 5070k , avc3.640020, 50fps, video only mp4        1280x720   DASH video 5070k , avc3.640020, 50fps, video only mp4        1280x720   DASH video 5070k , avc3.640020, 50fps, video only mp4        1280x720   DASH video 5070k , avc3.640020, 50fps, video only mp4        704x396    1013k , avc1.4D401E@ 827k, 25.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        704x396    1013k , avc1.4D401E@ 827k, 25.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        704x396    1013k , avc1.4D401E@ 827k, 25.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        704x396    1013k , avc1.4D401E@ 827k, 25.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        704x396    1013k , avc1.4D401E@ 827k, 25.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        704x396    1013k , avc1.4D401E@ 827k, 25.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        832x468    1496k , avc1.77.30, mp4a.40.2 mp4        832x468    1496k , avc1.77.30, mp4a.40.2 mp4        704x396    1800k , avc1.64001F@1570k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        704x396    1800k , avc1.64001F@1570k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        704x396    1800k , avc1.64001F@1570k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        704x396    1800k , avc1.64001F@1570k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        704x396    1800k , avc1.64001F@1570k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        704x396    1800k , avc1.64001F@1570k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        1280x720   2413k , avc1.640029, mp4a.40.2 mp4        1280x720   2413k , avc1.640029, mp4a.40.2 mp4        960x540    3117k , avc1.64001F@2812k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        960x540    3117k , avc1.64001F@2812k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        960x540    3117k , avc1.64001F@2812k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        960x540    3117k , avc1.64001F@2812k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        960x540    3117k , avc1.64001F@2812k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        960x540    3117k , avc1.64001F@2812k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        1280x720   5510k , avc1.640020@5070k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        1280x720   5510k , avc1.640020@5070k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        1280x720   5510k , avc1.640020@5070k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        1280x720   5510k , avc1.640020@5070k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        1280x720   5510k , avc1.640020@5070k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k mp4        1280x720   5510k , avc1.640020@5070k, 50.0fps, mp4a.40.2@128k (best)

That is what I thought, I got my thoughts tangled up, the one I downloaded was 1.1Gb, which seems standard for an hour of 720p.

Mind you there is the option for other Attenborugh fans to download the audio only track

This show is pretty amazing in 720P.

Ya, when it comes to BBC's top-flight documentaries, and anything Attenborough, the resolution is very much beside the point. The imagery is amazing for what it is, for how much effort and research is necessary to gather it. I'd rather watch Attenborough talk about snails in black and white, on an airport TV, than anything produced by the history channel in high-dynamic 48k. That said, if any production deserves the absolute best it is a BBC nature doc.

You should add "on a mobile device or small screen."

On a large display, 720p is soft. Even with sharpening, the detail isn't there.

It's a natural choice now that there are quite a lot of devices that support HLG.

The Grand Tour is in HDR and the picture quality is amazing. Looking forward to seeing more HDR content around as its way too scarce.

Amazon's "The Man in the High Castle" is also HDR. Its the first HDR show I watched, and it is amazing as well.

Many recent Netflix Originals (eg, the Marvel stuff) is in HDR as well.

Does the AppleTV 4K BBC iPlayer app support UHD yet?

The BBC doesn’t seem to prioritise it. The iPlayer seems to play 720p for the most part; perplexed as to why it’s not 1080p, an easy win.

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