secret history of our streets - sd or hd

[Vangelis forthnet]

On Wed Apr 29 14:18:21 BST 2015, Jim Lesurf (aka jim web) wrote:

> So, is episode 2 available as HD but I failed to fetch it for some reason?
> Or is this series 'mixed' for some reason?

Hi again, Jim :-)

 First thing, you typed your first pid wrong;
it's b01jt9bv (not b01jt96v)

For pid=b01jt9bv,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jt9bv/the-secret-history-of-our-streets-series-1-1-deptford-high-street

the playlist JSON file:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jt9bv/playlist.json

 reveals two versions;
default, with vpid=p02pq6ns &
editorial, with vpid=b05sst7v

The default version has only one stream available:
http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/select/version/2.0/mediaset/pc/vpid/p02pq6ns

which, in GiP terms is flashhigh, while
the editorial version has these streams:
http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/select/version/2.0/mediaset/pc/vpid/b05sst7v

<media bitrate="2800" is 720p, i.e. flashhd.

By contrast,
for pid=b01jzpm3,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jzpm3/the-secret-history-of-our-streets-series-1-2-camberwell-grove

the playlist JSON file:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jzpm3/playlist.json

also reveals two versions;
default, with vpid=p02q6yr9 &
PreWatershed, with vpid=b05tc2gc

Again, the default version has only one stream available:
http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/select/version/2.0/mediaset/pc/vpid/p02q6yr9

<media bitrate="796", i.e. flashhigh, while the
PreWatershed version has these streams:
http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/select/version/2.0/mediaset/pc/vpid/b05tc2gc

 Highest available bitrate is <media bitrate="1500", i.e. flashvhigh,
so no flashhd quality variant available there (yet?).
All the above URL queries are done internally in GiP -
you can see for yourself if you use the --verbose switch and save
terminal output to file...

If you strongly feel episode 2 should've been made available in HD,
feel free to contact the beeb and let them know...

Cheers,
Vangelis.