Get_iPlayer, Easy setup on Windows for GUI

[MrArtist]

Hi, all Get_iPlayer users and programmers,

Can we please have some simplified update to the instructions at 
http://www.infradead.org/get_iplayer/html/get_iplayer.html?

On finding Get_iPlayer a couple of years ago, I haven't seen a change in 
the initial infradead.org page (or in Phil Lewis's page at 
http://linuxcentre.net/getiplayer) in all that time. Back then, (and 
now!) as an experienced Windows user (and Mac) it read as very 
complicated and seemed it's all about running complex scripts and stuff 
for each recording session from the command line interface.

But actualy, for Windows (and maybe others), it's incredibly simple and 
the whole thing just runs in an attractive and easy web page in your 
browser. Just find the link to install the Windows package and, Bob's 
your Uncle, a nice web page style interface in your browser via 'Web PVR 
Manager' and start visually selecting what you want to download.

I prefer visual ways of running things and Web PVR Manager (installed 
with Get_iPlayer) gives me a useful interface to, once a week, run the 
Web PVR Manger icon (forget the other two icons) and see what's 
available on BBC TV (and Radio but haven't tried) to download and view.

The forums and various confusing and somewhat dated mailing lists that 
exist all over the place do not indicate the simple steps it takes to 
get Get_iPlayer up and running (on Windows at least).

It's actually really simple for Windows users who want a really easy GUI 
interface, record individual programmes, record a series, or use 
keywords to find anything such as "Doctor Who" to record all that 
includes that phrase.

The 'Patch' notifications system for the latest improvements at first 
seemed really difficult to find and understand, but basically it's just 
two text files that need updating on your system by the latest revisions 
linked to from 
https://github.com/dinkypumpkin/get_iplayer/wiki/instructions. I wish 
I'd discovered this earlier but the complex way anything to do with 
Get_iPlayer is described makes it seem like a nightmare to do.

Basically, for Windows user's:
(This may be the same for Mac and Linux, but I haven't tried, from what 
I seen, it all sounds even more complex without any indication anywhere 
that the same GUI exists).

1. Install the brilliant (Win) installer at 
http://www.infradead.org/get_iplayer_win/get_iplayer_setup_latest.exe

2. Go to:
http://git.infradead.org/get_iplayer.git/blob_plain/HEAD:/get_iplayer
and
http://git.infradead.org/get_iplayer.git/blob_plain/HEAD:/get_iplayer.cgi
to see if there's an update to two important scripts (you will need to 
save these as text files, see below).
(Check patch log info for latest changes here: 
http://git.infradead.org/get_iplayer.git/log)

Save these two patch pages as appropriately named text files and 
overwrite them (back up your old ones) in your Get-iPlayer installation 
folder (follow the advice at 
https://github.com/dinkypumpkin/get_iplayer/wiki/instructions if unsure)

3. To get things going, double click the 'Web PVR Manager' icon that got 
installed, your browser will open or show a new tab showing the Web PVR 
Manager interface.

4. Use the 'Refresh Cache' tab to get a list of all current programmes. 
This will open a new tab in your browser which, when done can be closed 
or click back to your original tab and then click the browser's refresh 
button. This should then show you all currently available programmes to 
start selecting from.

5. Before selecting things to record, you need to think about what your 
end use will be. To ensure you get the best quality recording available, 
in the box named "Recording Mode" under the "Recording" tab, enter 
"best" (no quote marks). It may already be there for you, but it wasn't 
for me. This took me ages to discover, but basically, Get_iPlayer will 
then try to record the best quality available which, for current BBC HD 
quality, seems to often be 832 x 468 pixels sometimes greater, but don't 
be surprised if this size isn't available for everything. However if 
you'll only ever want to record things for a small screened mobile 
phone, you may want to do some further research to find other options to 
put in that box, or use some converter computer program later once the 
file is downloaded. Bear in mind that an HD TV file can be over 1GB in 
size per hour of TV so expect longish downloads on standard UK ISP 
systems for HD downloads.

6. Once decided on the Recording Mode quality, from the left hand side 
of the web page, select 'Queue' to add a particular program to record, 
or select 'Add Series'  to record the whole series. If you want to 
change things, delete choices, alter options, you can do this from the 
"PVR List" tab where you can easily delete things or by clicking on an 
entry edit the options associated with that entry.

7. Alternatively, in the search box (top left) enter something you want 
to see (you can overwrite/delete the wildcard ".*"), e.g. enter "Doctor 
Who" (no quote marks and doesn't have to be accurate capital letters), 
you will then be presented with anything that is currently available 
that fits that description, e.g. any series, episode, old film, 
confidential, in fact anything that ever includes those words. If you 
then want to always record anything that fits that search, just click on 
the "Add Search to PVR" tab (towards the right above your listings).

---------------------------------
There are a few other things to tweak of course, most things have good 
tooltips when you hover over them.

Hope the above helps someone out there, I hope I've covered the basics. 
It's all actually quite simple and the people who have made this have 
done a wonderful job. Thanks to you all for keeping the original 
creator's work alive and ongoing.