4 On Demand. Andy Duncan's saying they're the first broadcaster in the world to have a full 30 day on demand schedule. It's pretty impressive; I think the BBC was the first UK broadcaster to announce online availability of the full schedule, but C4's delivered it first. Very prettily, too.
Still, after registering, I'm told I need a 'DRM update'. For research purposes, I accept it, and I think it upgrades my Windoze Media Player. It's a little obscure; then, on downloading, I get this:
Now I know developing for multiple OSes, systems, installations and user cases is a nightmare. But I have to say it: Bittorrent is easier than this.
DRM. It's just not worth it...
I hate DRM.
But I have used 4OD without problems. Only free stuff mind you. The downloads seem a little sluggish at times.
But if it wasn't DRMed to the gills then I would be able to stream it to the TV via the XBox and THEN it would be ace.
Posted by: Tom | January 18, 2007 at 18:26
I find it annoying when I just want to get a video file and I'm told to use Windows XP, Internet Explorer (WTF?) and Windows Media Player 10. But when a publicly owned broadcaster does that, I'm _pissed_. Makes the DRM seem to be a minor issue, can't be too hard to strip that away.
Anyway, I don't live in the UK, so I'm looking forward to downloading the next season of The IT Crowd via BitTorrent or Google Video.
Posted by: nex | January 21, 2007 at 09:03
No broadcaster will be able to do anything different because of rights issues.... until Adobe come up with an effective DRM for flash that will work cross platform, the only pitiful sercurity broadcasters can offer is windows media DRM.
BitTorrent it is then
Posted by: g | January 22, 2007 at 10:24
g? is that you?!
Posted by: Alice | January 22, 2007 at 16:14
Not THE g? Surely.
Posted by: Tom | January 22, 2007 at 17:49
I've been looked in to 4oD and looks like its using bittorrent type client. So if you could find the links to the torrents then might be able to download the wmv's
Posted by: hmmm | January 22, 2007 at 18:45
Yes Alice it is me, older and balder (yes it is possible). I'd like to defend 4oD properly but I can't.
http://www.channel4.com/knife
Posted by: g | January 26, 2007 at 14:52
I've just been trying to download a sample programme - and have been told I have to have Windows Media Player 10. I've updated the codecs via MS's site, but it's clearly the player they're looking for.
A while ago, I took part in the beta testing for BBC's version - which *said* that you needed WMP 9 (or whatever was the latest at the time), but I was able to use it without. Both players (BBCs & C4s) are using the same base player - Kontiki (www.kontiki.com). However, it seems that in the past few months, they've made it harder to use if you prefer not to have WMP on your PC. :(
Posted by: Emma | January 27, 2007 at 17:31
Download Tunebite, free peice of software with which you can convert videos from both 4od and bbc iplayer into a range of formats including mpeg4 for ipod divx 3gp e.t.c. I have been using this for a few weeks now and it's pretty good. First series of skins on the ipod.
Posted by: 4od | March 05, 2008 at 10:46
This solved all problems for me
1. Uninstall Iplayer Download Manager and/or 4OD using Add/Remove programs.
2. Uninstall Kontiki by running KClean.exe http://static.sky.com/kclean/KClean.exe.
3. Then delete the remnants of the Kontiki folder in Program Files if it's still there.
4. Check the Services list again. KService should no longer be present.
5. Reinstall Download Manager and/or 4OD.
6. Check Services list. KService should now be present and "Started".
7. Both programs should now work!
Posted by: Rob | January 28, 2009 at 10:11