get_iplayer currently broken...

[CJB]

Thanks for the analysis. I have noticed that many of the major costume
dramas and also documentaries quickly appear on torrent sites usually
just days after first transmission. They seem to attract leachers and
seeders by the thousand. The MVGroup seems particularly prolific in
this.

Sadly the Beeb in changing things without notice will only increase
this illegal traffic. Better had they opted for a legal 'pay to view'
or 'pay to download' model. But then we pay enough for the licence as
it is. Why can't they allow free downloads for UK residents at least?

CJB


On 13/01/2016, Vangelis forthnet <northmedia1 at the.forthnet.gr> wrote:
> Sadly, from ca. 16:00 GMT today (13/01/2016),
> GiP is belly up :-(
>
> Manifestation:
>
> 1. TV cache via the schedule feeds can't be refreshed
> (Radio cache refreshes normally).
>
> The reason for the TV cache refresh failure is that URLs
> of the following pattern:
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/<channel>/programmes/schedules/this_week.xml
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/<channel>/programmes/schedules/last_week.xml
>
> do not fetch expected schedule feeds, but the message posted already:
>
>> This service is currently undergoing a period of downtime for essential
>> maintenance.
>> Please be advised that the programme information service
>> which is currently available at this URL
>> will soon be replaced by a new service from the BBC,
>> at a new set of URLs.
>> Please contact the following email address for further information:
>> 'programmes-devel at lists.forge.bbc.co.uk'
>
> Refresh of the TV cache was erratic, at best, during the
> last few days, now not working at all.
>
> 2. Download attempts fail completely,
> even with the "--pid" method
>
> This is because GiP loads URLs of the following template:
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/<pid>.xml
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/<pid>.rdf
>
> to retrieve the vpid string (that grants access to
> available streams) and grab other available metadata;
> those URLs now also return the above message...
>
> Over on the iPlayer site itself, using Firefox,
> both TV & Radio do seem to play OK;
> the TV programmes's vpid string is, I believe,
> buried deep inside page source, the default
> stream delivery method on desktop browser
> is AdobeHDS.
>
> For radio, the JSON playlist is being used
> by the embedded player, which is of the template:
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/<pid>/playlist.json
>
> that seems to load more reliably, but it does
> sometimes return (at least from my location)
> the infamous "downtime" message...
> Again, default stream delivery
> for audio is AdobeHDS.
>
> The "--playlist-metadata" switch was "ignored" in 2.94
> (and removed in 2.95dev) in this commit:
>
> https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/commit/116d272
>
> "--playlist-metadata" was supposed to
>
>> Force use of playlists (XML and JSON) for programme metadata
>> instead of /programmes data endpoints
>
> however, after reverting the commit on my local
> copy of GiP 2.94 and issuing
>
> perl
> get_iplayer-294.pl --type=radio --pid=b06vf205 --playlist-metadata
> --modes=flashaac
>  --force --raw -v
>
> the script only tried the long-gone XML playlist :
>
> ====================================
> INFO: pid found in cache
> Matches:
> 11363:  Greg James - Greg has the latest Chart Update, BBC Radio 1,
>
> INFO: 1 Matching Programmes
> INFO: iPlayer metadata URL = http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlist/b06vf205
> INFO: Getting page http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlist/b06vf205
> ERROR: Failed to get version pid metadata from iplayer site
>
> ERROR: Could not get version pid metadata
> ERROR: Could not get programme metadata
> ====================================
>
> and not the JSON playlist that appears to still work...
>
> If the XML/RDF metadata pages are gone for good
> (possibly to be replaced by Nitro URLs), this will
> constitute a major setback to GiP - the JSON playlists
> (not available for all VOD as I recall) could prove a stopgap,
> but their future may also be short (given that they, too,
> produce the "replacement" notice).
>
> Another case where the existence of a "--vpid" switch
> in GiP could've proved a lifesaver; I can find manually
> the vpid (right-clicking the embedded player, via page
> source, via JSON playlist etc.), the mediaselector/5 URLs
> do still function normally, so stream access is still feasible
> in this emergency, alas not for GiP.
> Time to get back to composing manually rtmpdump/ffmpeg
> commands... and AdobeHDS.php is of invaluable help, too!
>
> As tellyaddict (tvfan) advised, better keep an eye
> on the support forums for any developments:
> https://squarepenguin.co.uk/forums/
> No point in "me, too" posts either here in the
> list or the forums, though...
>
> Let's hope this thing is just
> a temporary mishap on the beeb's side...
>
> V.
>
>
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