Watch TV on your PC with iPlayer

Ask most people what the BBC does, and they will say “Eastenders” or talk about BBC One and BBC Two, and the well-known radio stations.

In fact your licence fee provides much more than just that. There are local radio stations, extra TV channels, not to mention the main BBC website.

And, of course, there is iPlayer – one of the busiest websites in the country. The BBC even makes it possible to access your favourite programmes on the move via your mobile phone.

But if you are just used to watching telly on, well, a television set, the idea of accessing programmes via your computer, let alone on a mobile phone, can be a bit daunting. So follow us as we explain some of the other features Auntie has to offer, and find out how easy it is to get better value from your licence fee.

It’s tricky to tune into BBC TV or radio without hearing a mention of the iPlayer, and its ability to help you catch up on programmes you may have missed. In fact it’s probably mentioned more often than some of the BBC’s less well-known TV and radio channels.

But what does it all actually mean when they talk about “making the unmissable unmissable”? What do you need to be able to access iPlayer, and how on earth do you do it?

First, it’s worth highlighting that there is more than one way to access iPlayer, but we are going to start off by looking at how to use your computer, which is the most popular way to do it.

We will mention some of the other options later on, but as you are reading Computeractive the PC seems an appropriate place to start.

If you have ever visited Youtube or seen a website with video clips on it, you will know that web pages can contain much more than just static pictures and words.

iPlayer is a bit like a version of Youtube, but instead of the videos being contributed by amateurs, they come from the BBC, with most of the programmes broadcast in the last seven days available to view.

And if the last time you saw a video clip on the internet it was the size of a postage stamp or a business card, you will be surprised at the quality.

You can also fill the whole of your computer’s screen with the programme, so it’s just like watching a portable TV, and the quality is at least as good as a video recording, and can be much, much better – providing you have a decent broadband connection, which we will explain in detail shortly.