BBC iPlayer - how big is a download?

hc25036

Might be a daft question - couldn't find the answer on Google or the BBC site. Junior hc is off to college and wants to watch fav BBC shows on iplayer. The college limits downloads to 7Gig per term and then hits you with high charges (which is fair enough). Any idea how much a one-hour show will use of that 7Gigs?

MothballsWallet

I've downloaded 30 min and 1 hr progs so far, and you're talking about 300 and 700MB respectively. It can take a while depending on the time of day, and how many iPlayer sites it can find (it uses peer-to-peer/P2P file sharing but under licence from the BBC. Your PC will only become a member of this if you enable the option to do so).

Marty_J

I would guess a half hour show would be anywhere between 100 - 200 MB, but I don't actually know; they haven't made an iPlayer application for Macs yet.

7 GB per term isn't really a lot. If he does much more than general browsing, he'll reach that limit fairly quickly.

ETA: 300 MB for a half hour show? Do you happen to know what codec they use?

lee634

Marty_J wrote: »

I would guess a half hour show would be anywhere between 100 - 200 MB, but I don't actually know; they haven't made an iPlayer application for Macs yet.

Have just tried the Iplayer downloader from http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/28733/bbc-iplayer-downloader

just downloaded a 30 min edition of the real hustle and it is 114MB in size and its a avi file

MothballsWallet

If you watch the show straight from the iPlayer website (streaming), the quality's (supposedly) lower than if you download it to your PC first. Unfortunately, I don't have any shows downloaded at the moment, so I can't check my figures.

The iPlayer settings say that 22MB is 30 mins of TV, and mine can hold 27.5 hours at the current settings, with a maximum of 34 hours.

The channel idents (the little things before each programme) are saved by the iPlayer program so you don't have to keep downloading them each time. Also, does the college allow internet access to iPlayer?

ETA: Windows XP PC download of 30 mins show is 149MB, so a 1 hr show will probably be 298-300MB or so. Also, I've never really noticed any difference between watching it online and offline. As to the codec, mine's set to use my default media player (Windows Media Player 11), so it will use one of the video codecs from that I think.

hc25036

Thanks guys. Looks like a plan B might be needed!

MothballsWallet

Also, hc, iPlayer automatically deletes downloads after a certain period of time; I think it's as follows:

* 7 days after 1st viewing
* or 30 days after downloading if not viewed

I could be wrong on these.

lm07

i-player will delete a downloaded program within 7 days of your first play but some programs will disappear sooner and the only notice you get will be on the icon itself when downloaded which will show how many more days you've got left to watch it.
W.R.T download space....(all are approx figures and program dependent)
30mins program = 189-199MB
45 mins = 204-297MB
50 mins = 281MB
60mins = 378-584MB (then again Dragons Den was 296MB one week!!)
95mins = 289-527MB!!
I've taken this figures from different programs I've downloaded.
Each program will, under the 'more info' section, show you when the program will expire. So you are meant to have up to a month to first watch it but the time may be less than this.