Goes to eleven ... | Hacker News Reader

Goes to eleven ...

bbc.co.uk

In case you're wondering, it appears that the volume control on the video player goes to eleven. There's a hacker somewhere in the BBC with a sense of humor.

This is the standard flash video player used across the BBC, most notably on the iPlayer but also as seen here on the news site.

It has always gone up to 11, ever since the flash version of the iplayer first started its beta. It makes me smile that they have still managed to keep it, this many meetings later :)

This is the kind of 'eccentric' stuff that british people self-consciously obsess over though. As a nation we think it makes us 'interesting.' I imagine if they did change it so it only went to 10, they would be inundated with more letters of complaint than they could open, both ironic and terrifyingly serious.

Please dont forget to mention that an official review will be ordered in order to satisfy the regulators that the transition from 11 to 10 will not affect civil liberties.

I noticed this myself just this week (having recently moved to the UK and, in a budget move, decided not to buy a TV or pay the TV licence).

Yes - the BBC iPlayer (which plays delayed or catch-up programs from the BBC TV channels) does have a volume control that goes to 11.

If that means nothing to you, you have a task for this weekend - it begins here http://www.spinaltapfan.com/

Note that legally (at least currently) you can't watch the live streams on iPlayer without a TV licence. Watching them later, or downloading them is fine.

http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/playing_tv_progs/...

That is correct. If you watch or record live broadcasts in any media (ie, a laptop needs a licence as much as a tv) then you're required to pay the licence fee. But since there's so much historical UK tv we hadn't seen before, we have plenty of free catch up to look forward to!

I'm no expert, but I suspect you will always get away with watching live streams online without paying for the license, certainly far easier to hide it than if you have an actual TV + aerial.

That said, I would encourage people to pay anyway, including people like JacobAldridge, if they can afford to - not because of the law, or because watching delayed TV isn't a good enough service, but because the BBC is something that ought to be supported.

Stephen Fry gave a great speech to that effect a year or two ago which you could watch at http://www.corincole.com/misc/Briefings_Stephen_fry.avi (ironically my hosting that BBC content is illegal, but somehow I feel the morality is on my side given it's a pro-BBC pro-license fee speech).

True - I probably should have described it as a "temporary budget move" while I build my business here in London. After all, even free legal downloads of great programs can create the same problem as illegal downloading in regards to the producers not having enough money to fund future great programs.

I have a Presonus Firebox audio interface, take a look at the headphone volume scale. I suspect it's capable of destroying low impedance headphones at even lower settings.

http://www.presonus.com/products/detail.aspx?productid=4

I'm guessing to see it one needs to use the BBC 'iPlayer' stuff and possibly it requires being inside the UK. Any chance of a screen shot?

It certainly doesn't need iPlayer, and I viewed items like this from Australia recently. However, I'll try to get a screenshot, or a photo.

Thank you, and I'm sorry but it seems I have most likely wasted your time due to my own self-inflicted wound of avoiding in-browser 'players' (flash, vlc, mplayer, iplayer, etc.).

http://current.com/entertainment/comedy/92921617_girl-falls-...

Couldn't find the youtube video but this will help.

Its like you read my mind! I only just noticed that on the iPlayer last night!

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