Error free HLSHD

[Vangelis forthnet]

On Sun Aug 28 15:04:17 BST 2016, RS wrote:

> this is not the problem with HLS which has
> been plaguing us for the last month or so
> (snip)
> You are downloading HVF, hvfhd1, and not HLS.

 Precisely! But to be fair, "hls" and "hvf" tvmodes
both represent AppleHLS (segmented) streams,
hence the confusion caused to some users...

> I had understood that in v2.96 an error of this type
> was to cause the next mode in the list to be tried.
> That has not happened.

That seems indeed to be the case, which is weird; and

>> ERROR: Failed to record 'David Attenborough's Zoo Quest in Colour - - 
>> (p03qxfsg)'
>> Recording complete

are contradictory! (???). If the recording failed,
how could it be "complete" ?
Marking it as "complete" might be the clue
why subsequent tvmodes weren't tried...
But from Simon's log it's clear that only a partial
file had been recorded up to the point when the
"ERROR: Failed to download segment (265)" occured.

>From the log it does not appear as though GiP
tried to re-fetch that missing segment (maybe more
verbosity is needed for that), but instead it RETRIED
to record the very same tvmode (hvfhd1), it failed
and produced the
ERROR: Cannot instantiate streamer for class=Streamer:: version=editorial 
mode=hvfhd1

Like you, I'd have expected the partial file to
have been  deleted and GiP move on to hvfhd2.
Maybe we're in front of a new bug in 2.96...

> I was surprised at the list of modes listed to be tried.
> I had understood the default in v2.96 was to be HVFSD.
> In your case it has defaulted to hvfhd1.

A misunderstanding on your part... See below...

> I had also understood in v2.96 that HLS was to be removed
> from being a default, yet hlshd1 appears
> in the third position of modes to be tried.

The commits responsible for this "new" behaviour are:

https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/commit/aeb81ac

https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/commit/afbd83d

You can read about their effects (in plain English)
in the relevant wiki entry:

https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/wiki/release296#2-combined-hvf-and-hls-modes-now-default-for-tv-programmes-hvf-preferred

> Another curiosity is that it has attempted
> to download the editorial version.
> You'll have to ask someone else the significance of that.

No curiosity at all; from 2.95+ there is no
"default" version as such - I'll refer you again
to a full reply I sent to Alan when 2.95 was first out:

http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/get_iplayer/2016-July/009202.html

Happy Bank Holiday!
Vangelis