get_iplayer suddenly relatively slow

[Kevin Reilly]

I've been using get_iplayer on Windows 7 64bit for a while now, primarily
to download programmes to watch later on an iPad. This is great, because
the 'flashhigh' versions of shows are a great compromise between size and
quality and will drop straight into iTunes as mp4s for sync to the tablet.

A bonus is that they download very quickly over my VirginMedia 20Mbps
connection, with a half-hour show normally available in no more than a
couple of minutes or so.

I say normally, because occasionally I will notice from the RTMPDump
output that the download is proceeding relatively slowly, around 0.1% per
second for a 45-60 minute show. In the past whenever this has happened
I've quit get_iplayer, deleted the temporary flv file from the download
directory, and started the download again. This normally restarts the
download at the faster rate; on very rare occasions I've had to do this
twice in succession before a fast speed is obtained.

But this evening it is crawling permanently. I have re-started downloading
the latest Top Gear a dozen times and it is refusing to download quicker
than 0.1% per second. As a test I also tried an omnibus of Eastenders and
the latest Newsnight and they're exactly the same.

Could this be something that's changed at the BBC end? It's always
concerned me that since iPlayer is designed to buffer and play in real
time the Beeb might one day introduce some sort of throttle for those
connections that are clearly pulling data faster than normal streaming
would require.

Alternatively, it's not out of the question that VirginMedia might be
doing some tweaking to iPlayer traffic from their end. That would not be
without precedent. They appear to do all sorts of weird peering and
transparent caching with other services; sometimes YouTube slows to a
crawl on even their fastest connections.

Input from other users, especially those on Virgin, would be appreciated
before I start pulling my installation apart looking for a problem that
might not be local.

For the record I'm using get_iplayer 2.79, installed using the Windows
installer, in conjuction with RTMPDump 2.3. The video mode is normally
'flashhigh1'.

-- 
Kev
__________________________________________________________________________
	  "A lot of actresses have complained that as they get older their
 	   parts dry up."				       Jimmy Young