Embedding iPlayer videos in CUK?

[NickFitz]

The BBC encourages you to embed its video and audio material on your website as long as you agree to a few terms

Not sure if this specifically means Iplayer or other BBC video - though I got the impression BBC was using iPlayer more and more for all video? Apologies if I got the wrong end of the stick... I saw one with an "embed" button but the code you get is HTML <object> gubbins:

<snip>

Hardly as neat as YouTube embedding

Shame, I think CUK members would like that video...

Legal stuff out of the way first: "2.2 Unless expressly permitted by the BBC in writing, the BBC Application and BBC Content is for personal non-commercial use only and may not be used for corporate or professional purposes (e.g. professional, commercial or marketing led blogs)."

As CUK is a commercial operation those Ts and Cs don't apply (unless expressly permitted in writing, etc.)

On to the technical stuff:

That's pretty much the code the YouTube embedding produces on CUK, but YouTube has straightforward identifiers in its URLs; the BBC's setup doesn't make it so easy as yet, though not for want of wanting to.

I haven't really looked into the vB video embedding code too much (although I'm keen on the idea of getting HTML5 video working, if only for my own sake) but it is in principle possible to use a BBC page URL to establish the necessary identifier for the iPlayer content and embed it; there's the fact that (I think) the Beeb sometimes have more than one video on a page to contend with, but if we're just talking video pages then in principle the UI could cope with that. It might even be possible to hook into the existing video embed code and accept pasted stuff like that above and make something useful of it. If admin thinks it's worthwhile, I can dig deeper and see what might be possible

About the BBC using iPlayer more: that's really to do with the transition from their old and unbelievably wretched RealPlayer/WMP embedded (or usually popup) player to the Flash based one that also powers iPlayer online and the Adobe AIR app (a wrapper around Flash) that is iPlayer Desktop. It's the same technology, but different uses thereof have different branding and licensing: you can embed a BBC News clip with a decent expectation of it staying there, but if you embed last week's Doctor Who it'll vanish shortly. I'm not sure how this might complicate (or even simplify) things without looking into it further.

FWIW, the BBC took a lot of flak over sticking with the RealPlayer garbage for so long, but I know some people on the iPlayer dev team, and it wasn't really the Beeb's fault. One of the fundamental problems they face is the way BBC expenditure is controlled in relation to Government decisions about the licence fee. When they see the need to switch to a new and better technology for an existing service (such as news clips) they often aren't allowed to do so because the terms of some previous agreement with the Government require them to continue to use the technology in place at the time. This even went to the level of basic HTML templating: they used unbelievably recondite SSI (server-side include) techniques that the rest of the world abandoned in the late 90s until very recently, because Government rules wouldn't allow them to do so much as stick something totally free like PHP on a server and use that instead, even though there would have been a massive cost saving in terms of developer effort. Investment in new technology, even free-as-in-beer technology, was simply forbidden by terms drafted by civil servants in the days before anybody had ever even seen a URL on a TV ad. Meanwhile, newer services were able to do useful stuff with XSLT and such, but even when they created something awesome it could only be used for things that were totally new, not to improve stuff that already existed, even if the people doing it all worked in the same office. It's crazy, and it's not the BBC's fault: it's the rules imposed by civil servants who have probably only just recovered from the shock of seeing their secretary's typewriter replaced with a new-fangled thing that looks like a television.

<nostalgia>I remember the first time something I'd done had its URL on both a telly advert and a poster campaign in 1997...</nostalgia>

[d000hg]

The BBC encourages you to embed its video and audio material on your website as long as you agree to a few terms

Not sure if this specifically means Iplayer or other BBC video - though I got the impression BBC was using iPlayer more and more for all video? Apologies if I got the wrong end of the stick... I saw one with an "embed" button but the code you get is HTML <object> gubbins:

<object width="512" height="400"><param name="movie" value="http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/external/player.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="config_settings_showUpdatedInFooter=true&config_settings_bitrateFloor=400&config_settings_showPopoutCta=false&config_settings_showPopoutButton=false&config_plugin_autoResumePlugin_recentlyPlayed=false&config_settings_suppressRelatedLinks=true&config_settings_skin=black&config=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Femp%2Fiplayer%2Fconfig%2Exml&playlist=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Fiplayer%2Fplaylist%2Fp009s5xp&config_settings_showFooter=true&"></param><embed src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/external/player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="512" height="400" FlashVars="config_settings_showUpdatedInFooter=true&config_settings_bitrateFloor=400&config_settings_showPopoutCta=false&config_settings_showPopoutButton=false&config_plugin_autoResumePlugin_recentlyPlayed=false&config_settings_suppressRelatedLinks=true&config_settings_skin=black&config=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Femp%2Fiplayer%2Fconfig%2Exml&playlist=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Fiplayer%2Fplaylist%2Fp009s5xp&config_settings_showFooter=true&"></embed></object>

Hardly as neat as YouTube embedding

Shame, I think CUK members would like that video...

[jimmy t]

You can potentially get permission to embed BBC News video from a limited number of areas. Not sure they'd agree after having had a look at General though

It seems that it's possible to embed iPlayer content too, but it seems to be a bit of a hack and the process isn't that user-friendly. In theory it might be possible to make a user-friendly version using a vB plugin. However, bear in mind that much iPlayer content expires after a certain period of time.

Hi folks, just joined this forum to contribute my tuppence hapenny - I wrote the post on embedding iPlayer in the link you posted.

The BBC's content provision is difficult: some are embeddable (all videos on bbc.co.uk/blast for example), and some are not.

To cut a long story short, the main reasons for this are performance fees (or rather re-performance), and expiry. The beeb doesn't really own any of the content they show: it's generally produced by third party companies such as Zeppotron, Endemol et al. Even their Natural History stuff is acquired by BBC Worldwide (the commercial, DVD-producing arm) to sell on. They could make it embeddable to further visibility of brand and content, but that would simply end in a load of dead links on blogs.

It's worth noting that the beeb are trying to provide their entire back catalogue to licence payers: there's currently a beta of an archive player doing the rounds on the beeb intranet that allows access to ALL content that has ever been redistributed in iPlayer. This goes back something like three or four years now, and it's pretty amazing.

So, the story is: use the hack to embed if you must, but be aware visitors to your site will not appreciate "sorry this content doesn't seem to be working right now".

[NickFitz]

Never seen iPlayer embedded anywhere, think it is against the Ts and Cs of the BBC. Unless they have changed recently? YouTube vids can be embedded though.

You can potentially get permission to embed BBC News video from a limited number of areas. Not sure they'd agree after having had a look at General though

It seems that it's possible to embed iPlayer content too, but it seems to be a bit of a hack and the process isn't that user-friendly. In theory it might be possible to make a user-friendly version using a vB plugin. However, bear in mind that much iPlayer content expires after a certain period of time.

[administrator]

Never seen iPlayer embedded anywhere, think it is against the Ts and Cs of the BBC. Unless they have changed recently? YouTube vids can be embedded though.

[d000hg]

I couldn't get it to work, is it supported?