To celebrate the fact that the BBC iPlayer is a couple of years old and is one of the best catch up tv systems around, we thought that we would share some great features it has that you probably dont even know exist:-

1. Restart a show you closed in the middle of watching

Its a little known fact that the iPlayer remembers where you finished watching a show. If you accidently shut down a window or your iphone battery goes half way through a show, just open the iplayer and go back to the show. It will continue streaming from where you last left it. Just dont play around with the show slider and move back to the start or end, because then you will have lost your place.

2. Watch movies and sports events on iPlayer

Did you know that you can watch full movies on iPlayer? Well you can, admittedly only for seven days after airing at present. Just take a look at the film category tab.As well as movies, you can also see full sports events including full soccer matches and F1 races amongst other sports.

3. Watch a show repeatedly

If you so desire, you can rewatch a show as many times as you want during the seven day time limit. Shows that you have already seen are shown on the right side of the iPlayer home screen.

4. Watch live tv on iPlayer

iPlayer lets you watch a lot of live tv (ie whats on right now across the channels). As it is a service still being worked on, it is not always available. You can however listen to all the radio stations live.

Watch iPlayer on TV

5. Watch iPlayer on big screen tv

Did you know the iplayer has a section for playing straight on your tv? They have a version of iPlayer which you can see on your pc as well, to use if you connect your pc up or have an internet enabled tv set.  It was designed for when your PC is plugged in to your television set. It gives a larger display and big chunky buttons to use for tv remote level of interaction. See the iPlayer tv version

6. Watch catch up straight after broadcast

In the old days you had to wait 24 hours before a show was available online. Now though, you can now begin watching items on iPlayer as soon as the show has begun broadcasting on television. Justclick the Today tab on the schedule to the left of the homepage and you will see new shows added.

7. Watch shows in HD

You can view a selection of shows in high-definition, and can be accessed from the link to BBC HD. However, as many viewers broadband connections cannot handle the amount of data needed to stream such high quality video, there is also the option to download these HD files using the iPlayer Desktop software. All the HD content can be watched in standard mode.

8. Watch a complete series of shows

A selection of shows are available as a “Series Catch-up” and are not limited to the seven day restriction, This lets you view an entire season whilst that series is being aired on normal tv. This option is not available on all shows, however but you can check if it is on offer by selecting the show and looking at the filmstrip below to see if other episodes are available.

9.Let iPlayer tell you when a new show is available

You can subscribe to your favorite shows RSS feed available below the programme guide on the left of the main screen and are split into categories to ensure that you are only updated with shows that you’re interested in. Click on the feed name, then click the subscribe button.

10. Download iPlayer streams to PC

Underneath each stream you can find a small button that lets you to download the video to your hard drive so it can be watched at a later time. You will need to install the BBC iPlayer Desktop software, and the stream is still only available to watch for seven days before it is disabled.

Of course project Canvas when available will expand on these features and probably revolutionise the way we watch tv. But for now the features available on iPlayer make watching online tv on computer or mobile phone a must.

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2. Dont Blinx or you might see BBC’s Iplayer
3. New BBC iPlayer Beta gets a makeover
4. BBC Iplayer blowing the competition away
5. Mobile Phone iPlayer Viewing Habits Revealed