[access-uk] Victor Reader Stream: Response from Humanware
- From: Pele West <pele.west@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: victorstreamuk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Access UK <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, BCAB Discussion List <bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Uk Radio Listeners <uk-radio-listeners@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 09:34:53 GMT
Hi Everyone
Apologies for the cross-posting, but I think there has been discussion
about the problems with the new BBC MP3 Shoutcast streams on all these
lists.
I wrote to Humanware yesterday to find out if they have any plans for
accessing the Audio Factory streams in the future. As you will see from
the conversation below, I am particularly concerned about the lack of
sports commentaries.
I have edited the e-mails so that they appear in the correct order. The
whole conversation took place yesterday.
I have also contacted Wireless for the Blind about the Sonata radio and
spoken to the BBC, but have had no response as yet.
Pele West
From Pele West to Humanware Technical Support
Hi
As you know, the BBC have recently changed their radio streams from WMA
to MP3. The new victor reader stream's playlist has been amended to cope
with this change. I understand from reading various blogs that this is
only a temporary measure and these Shoutcast streams will be deleted as
well. Smartphones and tablets and PCs will be able to use the Audio
Factory streams.
Unfortunately, the new streams for Radio 5 and Sports Extra do not allow
the BBC to broadcast most sports commentaries. This is rather sad as I
often use my VR stream for this purpose. I am particularly concerned
that we won't be able to hear next season's Cricket County Championship.
Last year the BBC used their Event Streams to broadcast these matches.
At that time the VR stream could not receive them, but there was an
update in September, just before the end of the season, that meant the
broadcasts were available.
Do you know if there are any plans to update the VR stream so that it
can receive the Audio Factory streams used by smartphones and tablets?
Will they be available on Ootunes?
Pele West
From TomBurton to Pele West
Hello Pele
Hope you're keeping well. Thanks for your email.
I can indeed confirm that our development team have been maintaining and
updating the HumanWare Playlist links to accommodate for the recent changes to
the BBC Radio station links. I am not sure about the Audio Factory streams, so
I will pose your question to the developers today and I'll let you know what
they say. I'll get back to you as soon as possible on this.
Kind Regards
Tom
From Tom Burton to Pele West
Hello Pele
As mentioned, I asked the developers about this and they came back to me with
an answer, see below where I have copied in the information that they sent to
me:
"BBC has indicated that those MP3 links will be available for a year or two
which satisfy us for now. (Actually this is longer than any links they have
used so far). Of course, we will be modifying the list as needed. We have tried
to find detailed technical information about AudiioFactory without success, so
it's hard to know for now how we can do something different on the Stream.
OOtunes is only a data base so it will not make any Station more accessible
(and if it does, it means they have another link which we can use as well in
our list)."
I hope this information is helpful. To summarise, I think the current BBC
playlist links will be fine for at least a year or two. Audio Factory is
something that will probably become more relevant in time.
Kind Regards
Tom
From Pele West to Tom Burton
Hi Tom
Thank you for writing.
Whilst I appreciate that the BBC MP3 streams will be around for some
time, this does not address the problem of the live sports commentaries,
which are no longer available. Will we just have to do without them?
Pele
From Tom Burton to Pele West
Hi Pele
Thanks for your email. For the moment, unfortunately, I think it will be the
case that the live sports commentaries, or any other streams that use the new
Audio Factory format / protocol, will not work on the Stream. I am sure that
once the developers are able to obtain more technical data about the Audio
Factory system, they can then look into implementing support for the format
into the Stream.
Sorry that I can't give a more positive answer at this time. This is
unfortunately one of the limitations of relying on content that is hosted
externally, as is the case with the Stream, as well as other devices. I shall
certainly let you know if I hear of any news in this area on the Stream.
Kind Regards
Tom
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