I’ve been happily watching BBC iPlayer on my iPhone for a while now. It’s a shame the other UK channels haven’t followed suit in opening up their offerings to iPhone users, but it’s understandable given the problems that the Beeb have had with their shows being unofficially downloaded.
But what about live TV? Catchup TV is all well and good, but sometimes you just want to watch live. Unless you’ve streamed it yourself using Slingplayer, Orb or EyeTV, then you’ve been out of luck. That is, until a couple of days ago when TVCatchup opened up a beta of their new service.
TVCatchup.com streams over 30 UK Freeview channels live. Sounds too good to be true? Surely this can’t be legal? Well, it seems it is, at least according to their FAQ.
So with that out of the way, is it any good? Nope. It’s superb!
I’ve been trying it out tonight (having been alerted by James Burland), and it has worked exceptionally over Wifi. It also worked pretty well over 3G (just occasional drop-outs), and I’ve had a report that it works over EDGE too. And the quality? Eminently watchable. Here’s a screengrab of me watching The Daily Show on More4, simultaneously on both my iPhone and my TV:
As you can see, there is a difference in the picture, because there’s about a one to two minute delay in the TVCatchup feed. But unless you’re watching side-by-side, then this is irrelevant.
What do I need to watch live TV?
Live streaming is only supported in iPhone/iPod OS 3.0 onwards. So upgrade if you haven’t done so already (Geek note: Because the service uses playlists with the .m3u8 extension, you can tell that it’s using HTTP Live Streaming, hence iPhone 3.0+).
Then, open up this URL in the iPhone’s web browser: http://iphone.tvcatchup.com, and pick a channel.
That’s it! The TV channel will then load in Quicktime on your iPhone or iPod. You can pause live TV, and also skip forward to jump to the live stream. It works in portrait and landscape mode.
What else?
There are currently only 11 channels available with the iPhone beta, but more are on the way. The company has also submitted an app to Apple, and are awaiting approval.
Also, you may wonder about the name – TVCatchup – since they are offering a live service. It was originally intended to offer recording functionality, but that was postponed while the legal position is being worked out. But apparently it’s still on the cards. If that was included in the iPhone app, it would be, quite frankly, amazing.
Aside from the current limited number of channels (but it’s a beta, so fair enough), the only other downside it that it’s restricted to UK users. But if you’re smart, just use a VPN service that gives you a UK IP address, which will get around the geographic block. You can even use that VPN on your iPhone.
So I only have one question – do you think their servers are going to be able to handle the demand?!
Extra:
I just had to include this. I’m watching The Matrix Reloaded live on my iPhone. Surely that’s worth double geek points 
Amazing stuff like this highlights the need for some kind of HD output from the iPhone. The hardware is more than capable of playing back a 720p H.264 stream. In fact, I’ve even managed 1080p! Come on Apple, give us a new dock with HDMI output. I’m sure that the Beeb and TVCatchup would give us the HD (or iFrame!) streams.
I must admit, I too had to smile when watching Matrix Reloaded on my iPhone earlier this evening. I’m really impressed by the responsiveness and quality of these TV streams, it’s seriously impressive.
Remember when Steve Jobs proclaimed 2005 to be “The Year of HD”?
http://www.emedialive.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=9230
It’s taken a while but I think we’re getting there. 5 years later, I’ve a feeling that 2010 will be the year of iPhone HD
Shhh…. not sure how much load they can take and I have way too many friends who would love this service!!! Just give me 5 USA and I will be happy … !
Watching it on 3G is pretty awesome, I can see O2 putting a wifi only restriction on this in the future … but it shows that iPlayer should work on 3G!
Thanks for this. I’ve just had a look and am amazed at how good the streams are on my iPhone. I’d previously, a while back, had a look and it was a bit flakey and I dismissed it as a waste of time but this morning, while my kids hogged the Sky+ box to watch their programs, I was able to watch some “real” tv.
Here’s looking forward to a dedicated app. (and no legal issues putting a stop to the whole thing)
@Gerry
I hear you re O2 putting a stop to 3G use to this but here’s hoping they take a pointer from AT&T who seem to be slowly easing their restrictions on what can be streamed over their networks. Trouble is, with the O2 3G network being pretty rubbish and all the new Pre owners soon coming on board, chances of O2 playing ball are slim.
I could certainly see O2 objecting to the native app working over 3G, and they may restrict it via the web app as well. I’ll keep an eye on it.
However, that’s where jailbreak apps such as VoIPover3G and 3GUnrestrictor come in very handy!
Call me a an idealistic dreamer, but I don’t think O2 will restrict this web service. Last year perhaps, but not now, not with Vodafone and Orange getting the iPhone soon.