I want to watch Scotland Women play Spain tomorrow evening. This is
being shown on BBC Alba, which is not available in HD on Freeview. I
am wondering two things:

1. Will the iPlayer version be better quality than Freeview SD?
2. I understand the main commentary is in Gaelic with a red button
option for English. Is the red button available on iPlayer?

On Mon, 29 Nov 2021 18:47:51 +0000, Scott
<newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:

>I want to watch Scotland Women play Spain tomorrow evening. This is
>being shown on BBC Alba, which is not available in HD on Freeview. I
>am wondering two things:
>
>1. Will the iPlayer version be better quality than Freeview SD?
>2. I understand the main commentary is in Gaelic with a red button
>option for English. Is the red button available on iPlayer?

It seems the answer to my second question is yes:
https://mgalba.com/expanded-bbc-scotland-bbc-alba-sports-collaboration/?lang=en

On 29/11/2021 21:25, Scott wrote:
> On Mon, 29 Nov 2021 18:47:51 +0000, Scott
> <newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> I want to watch Scotland Women play Spain tomorrow evening. This is
>> being shown on BBC Alba, which is not available in HD on Freeview. I
>> am wondering two things:
>>
>> 1. Will the iPlayer version be better quality than Freeview SD?
>> 2. I understand the main commentary is in Gaelic with a red button
>> option for English. Is the red button available on iPlayer?
>
> It seems the answer to my second question is yes:
> https://mgalba.com/expanded-bbc-scotland-bbc-alba-sports-collaboration/?lang=en
>

The answer to your first one is "It depends".

It could be much better, but your internet connection may not be up to
it, or they may deliberately throttle it to keep their costs down.

Andy

On Thu, 9 Dec 2021 22:00:54 +0000, Vir Campestris
<vir.campestris@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>On 29/11/2021 21:25, Scott wrote:
>> On Mon, 29 Nov 2021 18:47:51 +0000, Scott
>> <newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> I want to watch Scotland Women play Spain tomorrow evening. This is
>>> being shown on BBC Alba, which is not available in HD on Freeview. I
>>> am wondering two things:
>>>
>>> 1. Will the iPlayer version be better quality than Freeview SD?
>>> 2. I understand the main commentary is in Gaelic with a red button
>>> option for English. Is the red button available on iPlayer?
>>
>> It seems the answer to my second question is yes:
>> https://mgalba.com/expanded-bbc-scotland-bbc-alba-sports-collaboration/?lang=en
>>
>
>The answer to your first one is "It depends".
>
>It could be much better, but your internet connection may not be up to
>it, or they may deliberately throttle it to keep their costs down.
>
Thanks. Back to Q1, I could not find any red button on the iPlayer
(or more specifically on my Roku remote control) and ended up watching
the SD version.

Before anyone says it, I know I should have watched England v Latvia
instead :-)

Re Q2, my Internet connection is fine but anything is possible with
the BBC. Does iPlayer show details of resolution, or do you mean the
BBC could have opted for a lower quality link from Spain to cut costs?

In article <sotuam$2af$1@dont-email.me>, Vir Campestris
<vir.campestris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 29/11/2021 21:25, Scott wrote:
> > On Mon, 29 Nov 2021 18:47:51 +0000, Scott
> > <newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> >> I want to watch Scotland Women play Spain tomorrow evening. This is
> >> being shown on BBC Alba, which is not available in HD on Freeview. I
> >> am wondering two things:
> >>
> >> 1. Will the iPlayer version be better quality than Freeview SD? 2.
> >> I understand the main commentary is in Gaelic with a red button
> >> option for English. Is the red button available on iPlayer?
> >
> > It seems the answer to my second question is yes:
> > https://mgalba.com/expanded-bbc-scotland-bbc-alba-sports-collaboration/?lang=en
> >

> The answer to your first one is "It depends".

> It could be much better, but your internet connection may not be up to
> it, or they may deliberately throttle it to keep their costs down.

I've not checked, but I assume the BBC Alba files should play via their
website in the same way as their other channels. That in turn should mean
that get-iplayer should fetch file versions much as it does with the other
channels.

Similarly, I assume their highest video quality will be as for their other
TV channels. gip lets you choose the video/audio options you prefer.

I've not seen any sign that the BBC are 'throttling' this. Video fetches
here from the BBC run at about my stated connection rate if I do them
before 9am.

FWIW youtoob *have* been throttling. But a fix has been provided for people
who have used yt-dl in the form of a fork into a new version that uses
multiple parallel fetches.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
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Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

In article <7e86rgh852cpnlti4i5n7jt8gcpn9a7h0b@4ax.com>, Scott
<newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:

> Re Q2, my Internet connection is fine but anything is possible with the
> BBC. Does iPlayer show details of resolution, or do you mean the BBC
> could have opted for a lower quality link from Spain to cut costs?

The level of picture quality may in some cases be limited by a copyright
holder. Hence some films, for example, may be lower resolution because the
copyright owners either refused to allow the max iPlayer 'HD' res, or
demanded too much extra payment for that compared with 'SD'.

I don't have any interest in 'sport', so can't say if that also crops up
there or not. But it may for the above reason.

The max may also be limited by the device/system you're using. Again, I
can't comment beyond that as I used gip and a Linux box for any BBC video
fetched via the net.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/intro/electron.htm
biog http://jcgl.orpheusweb.co.uk/history/ups_and_downs.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

On Fri, 10 Dec 2021 14:54:09 +0000 (GMT), Jim Lesurf
<noise@audiomisc.co.uk> wrote:

>In article <7e86rgh852cpnlti4i5n7jt8gcpn9a7h0b@4ax.com>, Scott
><newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Re Q2, my Internet connection is fine but anything is possible with the
>> BBC. Does iPlayer show details of resolution, or do you mean the BBC
>> could have opted for a lower quality link from Spain to cut costs?
>
>The level of picture quality may in some cases be limited by a copyright
>holder. Hence some films, for example, may be lower resolution because the
>copyright owners either refused to allow the max iPlayer 'HD' res, or
>demanded too much extra payment for that compared with 'SD'.
>
>I don't have any interest in 'sport', so can't say if that also crops up
>there or not. But it may for the above reason.
>
>The max may also be limited by the device/system you're using. Again, I
>can't comment beyond that as I used gip and a Linux box for any BBC video
>fetched via the net.
>
Thanks. An easier question then: is it possible to watch the iPlayer
in English or is it only in Gaelic?

On 10/12/2021 18:55, Scott wrote:
>
> Thanks. An easier question then: is it possible to watch the iPlayer
> in English or is it only in Gaelic?

Don't think so, but it is subtitled.

They've recently been repeating the 'Transatlantic Sessions' series, or
rather refashioned them into a new series of clips from them, introduced
by Julie Fowlis in Gaelic.

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk