Webbie

There is a website that is archiving British telly -->www.screenonline.net
But... in order for you to view the video you have to be a UK academic institution or library.

I did read somewhere that the BBC is planning similar - they want to take all the TV programmes they have the rights on* and put them online.
The amount of material and their archive is massive, would take a office block size building full of servers to store everything. (That is if they used the current media formats, such as mpeg,avi, QT or Real.

(*BBC programmes that they don't have the rights to are ones made by an outside production company, such as Hatrick with Have I Got News For You.)

..... think I'll go and claim that nerd hat from PA.

excpomea

This service is already out there, you just need to 'look' for it.
I watched the Feb 23rd episode of EastEnders this afternoon.
Not too bad, less than 24hrs after it went out in the UK.
Same goes for topgear, six nations ect ect.

Oh, www.suprnova.org might be a good place to start looking

tony_2003

I had this thought a while ago and it seems like a decent idea on paper. Problem is persuading family members to actually do it, it would be a MASSIVE pain in the arse to decode and send even just one episode on a regular basis. The only one who is computer savie enough to be able to do it is my brother and I know he'd get fed up after a couple of times. The BBC will probably offer some sort of online material but it will be slow taking off, they still make a killing on DVD's.

tony_2003

True. I downloaded a bunch of Eastenders stuff a couple of weeks ago, basically because I detest American TV and am starved of some UK stuff. I watched about 3 mins and suddenly remembered why I never watched it in Britain...it's extremly dull and depressing, same old stuff, riki still hangs out at the caf looking glum and pat still has an orange face. Neighbours sucked but at least it had some nice birds in it

Let the flames riiiiise!!!


p.s give me brookie with their over the top "body under the patio, gun toting single mother" storylines anyday.

mcjimbo

You could just do a constant live stream with Realplayer or another video streaming program. Then in the U.S. just set up your VCR to record at timed intervals, then hey presto! You wouldn't even need to encode or decode or any of that bollocks.

I'm suprised that no one offers this service.

unseen

Heh.. Thought about mentioning nova.. but everyone knows about that.. Right?

But I would probably bet not EVERYTHING you'd want is there.. So the idea is still good.. I also agree.. Getting said family to keep it up would possibly be a chore.. but incentive's like "Free Holiday" could work

And I thought I'd seen it mentioned somewhere.. the Beeb ARE planning on bringing all their content online! Apprently the rough (and we mean really rough) figures are 10TB a yr per channel in storage!! BBC Creative Archive is it's (current) name.. and they're already in discussions with the likes of EMC for the storage side.. and they're Tier1 (iirc) connected for the net so that's that sorted.. I reckon give it 6 to 12months max and you'll see something.. Just hope they use their nonce and use something like xvid or divx rather than Real or WinMedia.. :scared: The only thing that could kill off the Creative Archive is that Greg Dyke was the big push for it.. Will the new boss still see the light?

Rob

nathan barley

Am I too late to say the obligatory "Because it's the BBC?"

If they were more along the lines of BBC2, which is more indie in the types of show it broadcast, it'd be great.

Brit3964

I think there are 3 reasons why BBCA is the way it is.

1) It's a commercial venture so it has to make money (i.e. lowest comon denominator = maxiumum revenue)

2) I'm sure copyright issues are a problem. Recently the company that made Miami Vice back in the 80s weanted to bring the series out on DVD. But because of all the music used on the show, they couldn't strike a deal with all the different record companies so it'll probably never be released.

3) Most of the programming seems to be orientated towards women. I have been told many times by american women (I'm male btw) they find the british accent sexy. But I can't quite believe Alan Titchmarsh could be described as sexy

Just my .002 cents worth

jaytee

One of the reasons I like the news is because it is LIVE. Just about everything else is canned and boring. If they could get a live camera out on the street or do a fly-over of London.. anything that makes you feel more connected to the country.