Which radio service for best bitrates?

[StuartC]

I'm trying to stream some BBC channels. If I find them through Staff Picks it says they're 48kbps although the show 65kbps when playing, RadioTime says 128kbps but also shows 65kbps when playing. So I'm trying to understand if there's an advantage to going one way or the other and I'm not sure if I need to use alienBBC or not, I think I only need that for the listen again/iplayer stuff don't I?

So briefly; which BBC streams should I use and why?

[bpa]

All BBC (except World Service) RealAudio is now at 64k - recently upped from 45k. I think the same is tru e for WMA streams which are UK only for R1-R4.

I think higher bitrate is only available in UK only and only using web interface (secure MP3 over Flash).

[James Cridland]

For BBC UK national radio, live radio is currently only available in Windows Media Player and Real Player. Current bitrates are up to 64k (Real uses a multiple bitrate). Some Windows Media streams are not available outside the UK (as a rule of thumb, 5 and higher are available).

More streaming formats will be available shortly; including an increase to the current streaming formats. I'd recommend using the Windows streams where you can.

The highest quality is actually hidden away at www.bbc.co.uk/multicast if your network is capable of that.

Finally, watch www.bbc.co.uk/radio/labs for the latest news; by the end of October there'll be plenty of changes.

James (BBC)

[StuartC]

Good information thanks. So should I assume it doesn't matter how I find the stream it's likely to be the same? I was wondering if sites like RadioTime transcode or resample the stream and reduce the quality somehow. The only advantage I can see to using those sites is the pretty icon they provide for the channel or am I missing something?

[norderney]

For BBC UK national radio, live radio is currently only available in Windows Media Player and Real Player. Current bitrates are up to 64k (Real uses a multiple bitrate). Some Windows Media streams are not available outside the UK (as a rule of thumb, 5 and higher are available).

More streaming formats will be available shortly; including an increase to the current streaming formats. I'd recommend using the Windows streams where you can.

The highest quality is actually hidden away at www.bbc.co.uk/multicast if your network is capable of that.

Finally, watch www.bbc.co.uk/radio/labs for the latest news; by the end of October there'll be plenty of changes.

James (BBC)

Can these "Multicast" feeds be accessed by my Transporter? I see that so far only the Real Player feeds at 128k are available. Do I need to waqit until the aacPlus becomes available to access these high bit rate feeds?

[bpa]

Can these "Multicast" feeds be accessed by my Transporter?

Can you play the "multicast" feeds using RealPlayer now ?

If so then test same stream with mplayer - personally I don't think mplayer support mulitcast but I'm not sure.

AACplus will only be available on SC if BBC do not stream it through Flash.

[Labarum]

I have just got Radio 3 at 128 and R4 at 96

Here

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/2008/11/bbc_testing_live_internet_streams.php

As far as I see Virgin Cable will not multicast.