Inconsistencies

[Alan Milewczyk]

On 29/08/2015 12:45, Jim web wrote:
> In article <55E1921C.3070308 at soulman1949.com>, Alan Milewczyk
> <alan at soulman1949.com> wrote:
>> On 29/08/2015 09:50, Jim Lesurf wrote:
>>> I've been using gip to fetch various 'versions' of Proms and am often
>>> puzzled by inconsistencies. I'm not sure if this is down to the BBC
>>> system/team not working in the same way all the time or something down
>>> to the way I use gip, or what!
>>>
>>> Two examples. The Barenboim/WEDO prom, and the Whitacre Prom.

>> I've tried a few times to refetch to check that. Tried it up to 10 
>> days later. But for each Prom file I've tried this on I get the same 
>> results. I've also tried experimenting with supplier exclusion 
>> without getting a change. In the past for non-Proms trying again did 
>> sometimes get a better result. But it doesn't seem to help here for 
>> the Proms. 

Ah so that rules out that option
>> I've found this to be the case when specifying --tvmode=best whereas
>> --modes=hlsvhigh gets the 1280x720 version when it's available. Is it a
>> case of server loading?
> Ah! Now I've not tried hls. That's worth an experiment. Can I just
> substitute  --modes=hlsvhigh for tvmode=best ?

Yes, I was originally alerted to this option by Vangelis when I was 
having problems with looooong programmes, such as Wimbledon.

Also, if you specify the following command line:
     get_iplayer "programme name" --option
you will get a list of the various options available. I forgot to say 
that I check this switch before I go down the hslvhigh route. At least 
the output alerts you to an HD version being available when you are 
initially only able to download the SD option.

> This morning I wrote a simple drag-and-drop ROX app to let me use ffprobe
> so I can tabulate the file details.[1] Aim to collate results for some
> example Proms to see if I can recognise any pattern. But if someone else
> finds they can get *all* the Barenboim/Whitacre files as 1280x720 it would
> show immediately that I'm doing something wrong/sub-optimal.

I'll try for you tomorrow if I get a chance.
> Cheers,
>
> Jim
>
> [1] One sad result is to see the audio bitrates and how much lower they are
> than for Radio 3 or DVB-T2 ! :-/ Oh well, at least I've been capturing
> those as well for comparisons. ;->
>

It's encouraging that the bit rates for Radio 3 are pretty sensible, 
recognising the content requires a decent rate to do it justice but it's 
obvious here that they regard TV viewers as a different breed, 
irrespective of the content! :-(  It's interesting that DVB-T2 has 
different bit rates, every medium seems to have its own standards. I 
used to have a couple of Topfield 5800 receivers but they gave up the 
ghost a few years back and from memory they only did SD anyway so these 
days I use the Humax Foxsat-HDR.

Best wishes

Alan