Radio 4 recordings

[Andy Bircumshaw]

On 19/12/2010, at 2:55pm, Alexis Huxley wrote:
> ...
>> You might like to try `get_iplayer --radiomode flashaudio`
> 
> torchio$ get_iplayer --radiomode flashaudio --flvstreamer rtmpdump --pvr xxx -o "/pub/incoming/alexis/podcasts"
> ...
> INFO: No specified modes (flashaudio) available for this programme with version 'default' (try using --modes=flashaaclow,rtspaaclow,wma)
> ERROR: Failed to record 'Twenty Minutes - Among Animals and Plants (b00wfy9s)'
> torchio$ 

Ha! I did immediately begin to doubt myself after committing myself to saying "I think rtmpdump will solve your problem".

>> If that gives the same "No specified modes" error, then please post output following this prototype:
>> 
>> $ get_iplayer --type radio "twenty minute" -i | grep modes
>> modes:          default: flashaaclow1,flashaacstd1,flashaudio1,rtspaaclow1,rtspaacstd1,rtspaudio1,wma1
>> modesizes:      default: flashaaclow1=7MB,flashaacstd1=19MB,flashaudio1=19MB,rtspaaclow1=7MB,rtspaacstd1=19MB,rtspaudio1=19MB,wma1=19MB
>> $ 
> 
> torchio$ get_iplayer --type radio "twenty minute" -i | grep modes
> modes:          default: flashaaclow1,rtspaaclow1,wma1
> modesizes:      default: flashaaclow1=5MB,rtspaaclow1=5MB,wma1=7MB
> torchio$ 

^ This command shows the versions that are available. I'll refer back this in a moment. 

> I'm not sure if my geographical location is relevent here; I'm in
> Germany.

Ah! I think that might be the problem. I assume so. I mean, I would be glad to troubleshoot this further if you relocate your computer to the UK and can still reproduce the download failure, but non-UK IPs are unsupported.

If you can find a UK-based proxy you might try that. I only condone doing so for testing purposes, to determine whether the BBC is deliberately blocking your IP or whether the problem is with your software.

> I have no problem downloading stuff in WMA format which I then
> convert, but, as per the original poster, I'd prefer MP3, but besides
> that everything works, so it's no big inconvenience, only a small one.
> ...
>>> 	torchio$ ~/get_iplayer/get_iplayer --modes=flashaaclow,rtspaaclow,wma --pvr xxx -o "/pub/incoming/alexis/podcasts"
>>> ...
>>> 	video:0kB audio:42044kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 2.512199%
>>> 	INFO: Recorded /staging/pub/incoming/alexis/podcasts/Twenty_Minutes_-_Among_Animals_and_Plants_b00wfy9s_default.aac
>>> 	
>>> 	INFO: id3 tagging aac file
>>> 	New radio programme: 'Twenty Minutes - Among Animals and Plants', 'Rober Chandler introduces the work of Russian writer Andrey Platonov.'
>>> 	torchio$ 
>> 
>> Out of curiosity: is this the version you normally download and have been transcoding?
> 
> No, I normally run:
> 
> 	get_iplayer --pvr xxx -o "/pub/incoming/alexis/podcasts"
> 
> without access to flvstreamer or rtmpdump and that downloads the
> WMA, which I convert to MP3.

You might find that the AAC files are better, one way or the other, than WMV. AAC is an open format, and open-source media software tends to like it, much better than WMV. I would tend to assume (rightly or wrongly) that the quality of the AAC versions would be higher, and lots of portable music players play them, too, now.

>> You would help me out a great deal if you're able to determine whether this file plays ok on a Mac or Windows. I would hazard that it plays fine on just about every Linux media player (although if you use speakers &/or a GUI in Linux and you've never tried double-clicking on one of get_iplayer's .aac files then I'd be grateful if you'd try that, too).
> 
> For MAC and Windows, I can get back to you tomorrow to confirm (no
> MACs or Windows at home).

Thanks. That would be very helpful.

(PS. "Mac" is only capitalised if you're talking about cosmetics or ethernet hardware ;)

> For Linux, I'm an XFCE user using Totem and
> double-clicking on the AAC files worked fine. I also tried loading
> it in Rhythmbox, MPlayer XFMedia; all fine.

That's what I figured.

> I'm unclear what component is responsible for producing MP3 format
> though.  I originally assumed that it was the BBC making (or not
> making) media available in MP3 format, but your original reply ("Have
> you tried `get_iplayer --radiomode flashaudio1` ?")  has confused me
> a bit :-)
> 
> You run a single command, a get_iplayer command that is, and you finish
> up with MP3s? What command do you use and I'll just try that here.

I'm using exactly the single commands I've shown you. The only minor differences are for file-saving path, other trivia like that, and if the option is already specified in my ~/.get_iplayer/options

Regarding the last point, if you wanted to make AAC your default mode you'd just do:

get_iplayer --radiomode flashaachigh,flashaacstd --prefs-add 

Then you could confirm this is set:

$ get_iplayer --prefs-show | grep mode
        tvmode = flashhd,flashvhigh,flashhigh,flashstd,flashnormal
        radiomode = flashaachigh,flashaacstd
$

Likewise `get_iplayer -o "/pub/incoming/alexis/podcasts" --prefs-add` will save you typing the path every time you run a download (and also set the preference for PVR use). 

You were, I believe, exactly right when you assumed that it was the BBC making media available in MP3 format. However it is, I believe, wrapped in a .flv container. I downloaded with literally `get_iplayer --type radio "Twenty Minutes" -o . --radiomode flashaudio` (the only reason I used "-o" was that I didn't want a programme that I'm downloading only for support purposes added to my media directory) and I got an MP3. The output doesn't say so specifically (I could check with --debug, I suppose) but I'm pretty sure that `get_iplayer` is just taking the MP3 data out of the flv container and remuxing it into an MP3 file. The reason the same command isn't working for you is that "flashaudio" isn't shown in the "modes*" sections when you run "-i" (see top of this message); I'm guessing this is a regional unavailability.

Weirdly, the file sizes for flashaudio (at least) seem to be shown wildly incorrectly:

$ get_iplayer --type radio "twenty minutes" -i | grep mode                modes:          default: flashaaclow1,flashaacstd1,flashaudio1,rtspaaclow1,rtspaacstd1,rtspaudio1,wma1
modesizes:      default: flashaaclow1=7MB,flashaacstd1=19MB,flashaudio1=19MB,rtspaaclow1=7MB,rtspaacstd1=19MB,rtspaudio1=19MB,wma1=19MB
$ ls -sh Twenty_Minutes_-_Among_Animals_and_Plants_b00wfy9s_default.mp3 
165M Twenty_Minutes_-_Among_Animals_and_Plants_b00wfy9s_default.mp3
$ 

However, this is not something I'm going to lose sleep over.

aB.