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Comment by QAPereo | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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 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.

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?

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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