4od - what a crock - anyone else tried it?

[johnnyblue]

Tried to watch the latest episode of Southland last night on 4od. Very blocky and pixillated on both the tv and the laptop. Tried the faqs to see if I could fix this somehow, but 4's position is basically that streaming video is very compressed so it's likely to be very poor quality - or in other words, tough. My response is, if you can only stream very poor video which is worse quality than your average porn clip (so I'm told) then why bother to stream it at all.

As the programme is not repeated on any 4 channel and isn't available on dvd,because 4 are showing it, we basically have the choice of watching an extremely poor quality streaming video, complete with ads, or missing an episode. Great. I don't know why so many people pick on the bbc when Channel 4 must be the most arrogant broadcaster on tv.[]

 

[professorhat]

But then, they're offering this to you for free aren't they? And previous to 4OD, you wouldn't have had any choice - you would have just missed it and that would be it. So surely having the choice of being able to watch it (albeit in pixellated format) is better than nothing?

Or am I missing something?

 

[margetti]

Watched The Inbetweeners on the PC at work (ahem) yesterday and didn't have any complaints myself - ok, didn't watch it full screen, but that wasn't a priority on this occassion...

 

[Anonymous]

It is very poor when compared to say BBC`s i player, but like the other poster said,it is free.

Would be nice if CH4 invested a bit into improving the quality though, they make some great programs and films,it seems a bit of hash job to have a catchup sevice that displays them so poorly.

 

[SpiceWeasel]

The quality is pretty poor compared to the iPlayer, but the beeb have lots of money to throw at it so it is no suprise really. Is it just me or is finding the link to the actuall program a complete nightmare to find. For instance I have just watched the first two programs of Jamie Oliver in America, so I go onto the site and try and search for the program. A few minutes later with a bit of blind luck I find the link for the first program buried away on the right side of the screen, after trawling through a few pages of usless info.

On the iPlayer you just type in the search bar and voila as if by magic all the episodes are there, it takes two seconds not two minutes. I must admit it is only the 2nd time I have used 4od but it doesn't seem very user friendly.

 

[johnnyblue]

Professorhat,

what you're missing is the fact that if Channel 4 weren't showing it I could rent the dvd and watch that episode for approximately 50p and not have to put up with adverts, so free - big deal, I'd rather pay the 50p and watch it in good quality.

The BBC might have a lot of money, but Channel 4 is subsidised by ITV, but nevertheless mostly produces a seemingly endless stream of rubbish reality shows and lifestyle programmes.Most, not all, the good stuff is bought in from the US.

 

[daveh75]

johnnyblue:The BBC might have a lot of money, but Channel 4 is subsidised by ITV,Channel 4 hasn't been subsidised by ITV for years. It's funded by advertising revenue and the selling of broadcasting rights/content (of content it has the sole rights to) to other countries, and like the other commercially funded PSBs, cash strapped atm...

 

[professorhat]

johnnyblue:what you're missing is the fact that if Channel 4 weren't showing it I could rent the dvd and watch that episode for approximately 50p and not have to put up with adverts, so free - big deal, I'd rather pay the 50p and watch it in good quality.

Still confused... where would you rent it for 50p from? And why would this be an option if Channel 4 weren't showing it? And why isn't it an option because Channel 4 are showing it?

Plenty of programmes shown on TV appear on DVD / Blu-Ray. I tend to wait for things to come out this way in fact as I prefer watching all episodes at leisure rather than having to wait each week for the next episode.

 

[johnnyblue]

Well, prof you seem very easily confused for an educated hat. If you rent a disc, depending on how much your rental plan is an how many episodes there are on the disc, an individual episode can cost about 50p.

As for waiting for tv shows like this to come out on dvd - uh, that's my point. Because it's being shown on tv the dvd release is held back until the tv channel has finished showing all the episodes.

As it happens we watched Southland yesterday and the quality was on a par with a pirate video from the early Eighties. Dreadful. Many characters were simply unrecognisable. Still judging from some of the reactions here, the dear old prof's in particular, everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds so I guess large companies like Channel 4 will continue to feel that they can treat their viewers with contempt.

 

[professorhat]

johnnyblue:Well, prof you seem very easily confused for an educated hat. If you rent a disc, depending on how much your rental plan is an how many episodes there are on the disc, an individual episode can cost about 50p.

Okay, I understand now - thanks for clearing that up.

johnnyblue:As for waiting for tv shows like this to come out on dvd - uh, that's my point. Because it's being shown on tv the dvd release is held back until the tv channel has finished showing all the episodes.

But if Channel 4 hadn't bought the rights, does that guarantee it would be released on DVD in the UK sooner (if at all)? Would have thought it was less likely to be released to be honest as there would be little to no demand for it as likely no one would have heard of it in the UK. Have you had a look to see if you can buy the DVDs directly from the US through the likes of MovieTyme or PlayUSA?

EDIT - here you go. Or here. Or here.

johnnyblue:As it happens we watched Southland yesterday and the quality was on a par with a pirate video from the early Eighties. Dreadful. Many characters were simply unrecognisable. Still judging from some of the reactions here, the dear old prof's in particular, everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds so I guess large companies like Channel 4 will continue to feel that they can treat their viewers with contempt.

I guess it depends on how you look at these things. Personally, I think Channel 4 offering the 4OD service for free so they can watch things they've missed is excellent for consumers - I certainly can't see or understand how doing this means they want to treat their viewers with contempt. However, you clearly do, so fair enough.