[Moz]

I've just noticed that the BBC put a DOG on iPlayer but not on their linear channels, whereas ITV don't put a DOG on ITVX but do on their linear channels.

Odd.

[harshy]

Though I'd still take 720p50 over 1080p25 regardless.

I think it’s 1080p50 on iplayer unless media info has reported it wrong.

[JAS84]

I've just noticed that the BBC put a DOG on iPlayer but not on their linear channels, whereas ITV don't put a DOG on ITVX but do on their linear channels.

Odd.

It's only BBC One and BBC Two which lack DOGS. The other six channels all have them. 

And ITV probably can't burn a DOG into the streams on ITVX because STV Player probably uses copies of the same video files for ITV1 programmes.

[IanJRedman]

I've just noticed that the BBC put a DOG on iPlayer but not on their linear channels, whereas ITV don't put a DOG on ITVX but do on their linear channels.

Odd.

It's only BBC One and BBC Two which lack DOGS. The other six channels all have them. 

And ITV probably can't burn a DOG into the streams on ITVX because STV Player probably uses copies of the same video files for ITV1 programmes.

I think, on the old ITV Hub, an ITV DOG was added in software rather than being burnt into the source video. It was always markedly crisper than the underlying video. They've probably made a conscious decision not to use a DOG on ITVX.

[interestednovice]

I was slightly irritated that the BBC removed the “England” option in the regions drop-down well before launching the HD regions on iPlayer. I’d previously used that to stream BBC One HD (red screen version, of course) but lost the chance to do that around Christmas.

Not sure what device you are using iPlayer on, but when I access it through browser, the ability to choose England and get regionless HD stream is alive and well.

I watch on a variety of devices using the same BBC ID. Previously, the England option was available everywhere and synced across devices - so Youview, iOS and so on appeared to correctly stream HD BBC One. That syncing appears to have broken, and on Youview and iOS England doesn’t seem to be an option any more.

On a web browser, as you say, it is though.

[Neil Jones]

I've just noticed that the BBC put a DOG on iPlayer but not on their linear channels, whereas ITV don't put a DOG on ITVX but do on their linear channels.

Odd.

They (the BBC) used have them back in the early days of digital, on the digital outputs. It apparently generated a load of complaints:
625.uk.com 

Untitled

  Source: 625.uk.com

[VMPhil]

The BBC digital DOGs were removed in the very very early days of digital broadcasting when it would have been only early adaptors who had the technology, who were perhaps more technical minded and also more minded to complain about things like that. BBC Choice eventually reinstated their DOG.

There was a very vocal anti-DOG/bug campaign online for many years in the early 2000s, and it seemed to encompass both "normal" viewers and geeks like ourselves. I always thought it was a peculiarly British thing because no other country seemed to mind as much about DOGs, not even America who'd had them on their major terrestrial channels since the mid-90s or so.

But, we also had widescreen SD which most other countries didn't really have. This meant if the DOG was in the 4:3 safe area, as most graphics were until the late 2000s or so, on a widescreen set it would appear to be floating in the middle of the screen. And perhaps that was part of the reason why we complained more about it. But also the DOGs back then seemed to be a lot bigger, brighter and colourful.

I think, thanks to HD, nowadays they are a lot smaller and tucked away in the corner of the screen.

Personally, I can't say they've ever really bothered me. I think like most people I just tune them out. Which probably negates the whole point of them in the first place.

[Kojak]

The BBC digital DOGs were removed in the very very early days of digital broadcasting when it would have been only early adaptors who had the technology, who were perhaps more technical minded and also more minded to complain about things like that. BBC Choice eventually reinstated their DOG.

There was a very vocal anti-DOG/bug campaign online for many years in the early 2000s, and it seemed to encompass both "normal" viewers and geeks like ourselves. I always thought it was a peculiarly British thing because no other country seemed to mind as much about DOGs, not even America who'd had them on their major terrestrial channels since the mid-90s or so.

But, we also had widescreen SD which most other countries didn't really have. This meant if the DOG was in the 4:3 safe area, as most graphics were until the late 2000s or so, on a widescreen set it would appear to be floating in the middle of the screen. And perhaps that was part of the reason why we complained more about it. But also the DOGs back then seemed to be a lot bigger, brighter and colourful.

I think, thanks to HD, nowadays they are a lot smaller and tucked away in the corner of the screen.

Personally, I can't say they've ever really bothered me. I think like most people I just tune them out. Which probably negates the whole point of them in the first place.

I think the reason opposition to DOGs (or bugs) is so uniquely British is that we are (I think) the only country that historically never really had them on the main terrestrial channels. If you look at terrestrial channels from other countries, like France or Germany, they had them much earlier on.

[gottago]

The BBC digital DOGs were removed in the very very early days of digital broadcasting when it would have been only early adaptors who had the technology, who were perhaps more technical minded and also more minded to complain about things like that. BBC Choice eventually reinstated their DOG.

There was a very vocal anti-DOG/bug campaign online for many years in the early 2000s, and it seemed to encompass both "normal" viewers and geeks like ourselves. I always thought it was a peculiarly British thing because no other country seemed to mind as much about DOGs, not even America who'd had them on their major terrestrial channels since the mid-90s or so.

Yes it was very vocal, I remember it really dominating chat on both TV Forum and DS. DOGs have never been a thing I've been wound up by, I just don't notice them after a few seconds and I was always bemused by the sheer hatred for them.

[SunburntRock89]

I was slightly irritated that the BBC removed the “England” option in the regions drop-down well before launching the HD regions on iPlayer. I’d previously used that to stream BBC One HD (red screen version, of course) but lost the chance to do that around Christmas.

Not sure what device you are using iPlayer on, but when I access it through browser, the ability to choose England and get regionless HD stream is alive and well.

It seems to be on certain devices.  BBC London on the PC is only 720p when watched in full screen, but 1080p/50fps when using the Amazon Fire TV Cube.

I think everything on the PC is 720p or less, be that BBC London or newest Attenborough documentary. Not sure what it has to do with - is it the digital rights problem, the fear of pirating? But it is still 720p in DRM-friendly Edge. Fear for the servers to go down if everybody watching on a PC does that in 1080p50 instead of 720p50?

It's almost certainly done for DRM reasons. Last I checked, 4K and 1080p content was protected with sets of SSL certificates that were baked into supported devices. Since then, the BBC have been super selective on which devices can and cannot have high quality content.

PCs are super duper easy to defeat DRM on, even when done well, but at the same time, it's the same on streaming sticks, so I don't know who they're trying to fool.

Hell, you can download stuff straight off iPlayer with certain tools into MP4s.

I did find recently that there's a 4K test stream airing a loop of the end of the 1st half of the FA Cup Final 2019 (I think that's what it was, but I might be misremembering, nevertheless it does exist), but I've not had the chance to test any of the other links I've found to see if it's just this test stream that's unprotected.

They've clearly got the chains for it considering they do broadcast some stuff in UHD.