Removal of BBC recording feature

[MoorCowbell]

As reported on the Cordbusters website, pro boxes will soon no longer record BBC channels, instead redirecting customers to the appropriate iPlayer instance - subject to it still being within the iPlayer retention period and it being available.  This means a sizeable chunk of HD channels will no longer be recordable and, imho, devalues the EETV proposition considerably and creates further disparity between customers accessing TV via Freeview and customers using EE's IPTV solution.

The article above reports that advisory letters have started going out to IPTV customers; has anyone received a letter, and does it offer a charge reduction or the opportunity to exit the contract with EE?

[Chris_B]

@MoorCowbell   I can not see how this would get you a reduction in price and I very much doubt you’ll get of the contract because of it.     It’s also only applicable to internet mode not aerial  mode. 

“As you’re watching EE TV in Internet Mode (without an aerial), the way you watch your BBC recordings will change.

From August 21, your BBC recordings will launch through the BBC iPlayer app. There’s no change to how you’ll record a programme, or where it will be stored.”

This will be a BBC decision not an EE decision.  The BBC can impose what ever rules they want with their service and EE have to stick to those rules. 

[Lee14801]

Also 

A Puzzling Implementation

Here’s where things get a bit strange. BBC programmes will still be “recorded” to the box’s hard drive and take up storage space.

However, users won’t be able to watch these recordings directly from the hard drive. Instead, when you try to play a recording, it’ll stream from iPlayer.

[Midnight_Voice]

@Lee14801 

My theory, mine…..

https://community.bt.com/t5/EE-TV-YouView/Changes-to-BBC-Recordings/m-p/2401136#M80628

Though I don’t think the suggestion of ‘technical debt’ the next poster has added quite applies.

[SwannyD2]

Bless EE for trying to put a positive spin on this one. There really isn’t one - especially if you’re still going to be using space for ‘recordings’ you’re actually watching from iPlayer. Who thought of that one? Not particularly eloquent.

I’d be interested to hear more from the BBC in why they’re implementing this change now. ITV at least have a commercial reason.

There was a time when the BBC was platform agnostic - offering the same services and functionality whatever the platform. I wonder how they’d justify allowing the broadcast version to record, but not the IP version… on the same device.

Does IP recording create more risk of piracy than broadcast? Does the way EE has implemented multicast create problems with content providers?

There’s no reason why expiration makers couldn’t be added to broadcast content - Sky have done this for years. Why are they penalising viewers who use IP now? 

Maybe a FOI request would shed some light. 

[Midnight_Voice]

@SwannyD2 

But IP users are allowed to record BBC programmes - they are just not allowed to watch those recordings 😛

[Weerab2024]

The recordings are going to be more of a watch list I am guessing, similar to the playlist function on Sky Stream, especially if other channels begin to do the same.

This will probably reduce the difference between the pro box and the Apple TV box. 

[gryffe1888]

Find this change quite annoying. When recording BBC programmes before you could fast forward through programmes and still see what was on screen which made it easier to know where to stop fast forwarding, with iPlayer you cannot.  eg I sometimes record BBC breakfast and the old method of recording was great for fast forwarding but now it suffers from what I described above. Also the pause function doesnt seem to work. The other issue is the 'recording" of BBC Breakfast does not start at 6am, usually it's about 25 mins later. Even if you go straight to iPlayer itself the programme start is missed.

Hope this doesn't mean other channels do the same and we end up with similar to Sky Stream where "recordings" just direct you to the app, eg ITVX, All4 etc. I had Sky Stream and hated it for this reason, and moved to EE TV.

[Midnight_Voice]

@gryffe1888 

I’m guessing you are watching the recording while the programme is still ongoing?

I’ve not seen this while ‘recording’, as IP Mode wouldn’t ever be my thing, but I do know that if we watch Homes Under the Hammer, on iPlayer, from the start, while it’s still running, you don’t get the thumbnails at the bottom of the screen that show you where you are, whereas if we watch it on iPlayer after the live broadcast is finished, we do get the thumbnails. Which, as you say, makes it much easier to skip the bits you don’t want to watch.

But we don’t have a problem with pause when doing the above - it works fine - so that looks like a difference when watching a ‘recording’. What time are you usually watching? I’d guess about 8:25, so you have encountered some two hour max buffer thing?

It looks like the BBC have some work to do, if they hope to emulate the true recording experience 😢

Oh, and what happens if you go back to the ‘recording’ later in the day, say in the afternoon or evening?

And could you go back to Aerial Mode, where this nonsense doesn’t happen?

[gryffe1888]

Aah, well spotted, thanks. Yes I usually start watching between 8 and 8.30 so it's still recording.. I'll check it later when programme has finished, will also see if it can pause and begins at 6am. Even if watching when programme finishes irons out these issues it's still not ideal, because I quite often watch programmes that haven't finished broadcasting yet - eg MOTD, Breakfast. 

We use IPmode as we no longer have an aerial cable going into living room as for reasons I cannot remember (lol)it now goes into the TV in our bedroom. Ideally I'll need to address this and try to come up with a plan to get a cable into the living room. I'm not really up on these things, will that involve soome guy having to go onto roof and run another cable? Or perhaps there is a box that can be used that allows more than one cable connection?