Podcast sample rate

[RS]

>Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2017 12:56  I wrote
To: get_iplayer at lists.infradead.org
Subject: Re: Podcast sample rate

>I wish the BBC would think more about backwards compatibility of AAC. 
>There is no problem with software players.  HTML5 and recent versions of 
>VLC fully support HE-AAC v2 with LC (Low Complexity), SBR (Spectral Band 
>Replication) and PS (Parametric Stereo).  The problem is with hardware 
>players.

>I am not alone in this list in having had difficulties playing AAC-LC at 
>all.  When trying to find hardware players which support SBR and PS the 
>problem gets worse.

Obviously what I would like the BBC to do is off topic.  Even so, I hope I 
will be forgiven for saying that I would like to see a move towards at least 
128kbit/s stereo audio in preference to adding SBR.

What I would like get_iplayer to do is to include in the documentation a 
warning of the perils of SBR for players which do not support it and to 
include in the table in
https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/wiki/modesref
an indication of which modes use SBR and which do not.

Is the table up to date?  For HVF 50fps modes it shows the audio bit rate as 
128kbit/s or 320kbit/s and for HVF 25fps modes other than HVFlow it shows 
the audio bit rate as 96kbit/s or 320kbit/s.  I have not used the 50fps 
modes but I have occasionally used HVFxsd.  I have not seen 320kbit/s audio. 
Which programmes use it?

Is the radio table up to date?  I thought I had seen somewhere that there 
had been a relaxation of the 96kbit/s maximum bit rate when listening 
abroad.  I can't find anything about it on the BBC's website.  This page
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/Mobile_abroad
tells me under the heading, "Can I listen to radio abroad?"
"You can also listen to BBC radio outside the UK from a desktop computer at 
www.bbc.co.uk/radio."
There is no mention of bit rate.  If I go to that page in Firefox it does 
indeed play the programme I select, but it does not offer me a choice of bit 
rates, but automatically plays at 320kbit/s.  I have not tried doing it 
abroad.

Interestingly that 320kbit/s bit rate means the radio iPlayer offers the 
highest bit rate of any mode of delivering radio programmes.  Television is 
the poor relation in comparison.  Many broadcast programmes include a 
256kbit/s AC3 stream, but for most modes the iPlayer does not offer anything 
better than 96kbit/s stereo.