get_iplayer currently broken...

[Alan Milewczyk]

On 17/01/2016 23:38, Vangelis forthnet wrote:
> On Sat Jan 16 03:32:29 GMT 2016, Alan Milewczyk wrote:
>> Sorry for the delay in responding...
>> (snip) I should clarify what I did to provoke my "error message" 
>> posting.
>
> Many thanks for your follow-up reply; it most certainly cleared up 
> things for me, my sanity now restored :-)

Send me some sanity please, I need it, LOL!
>
>> so I drilled to the "ffmpeg" and then the "ffmpeg-1.2-win32-static" 
>> folders and tried again, forgetting that in fact the executable was 
>> in the "bin" sub-folder! 
>
> ... So d4x's guess was spot on! But it would appear you are still on 
> an older version of FFmpeg for Windows. As stated in d4x's post (BTW, 
> many thanks for your kind words... ) and as is apparent in the latest 
> GiP configuration file:
> http://www.infradead.org/get_iplayer_win/get_iplayer_config_latest.ini
>
> had you upgraded to GiP 2.94 via the Windows installer, you should 
> have been on version 2.2.3 by now, not 1.2!
> (the last version of the config file to install ffmpeg-1.2 was dated 
> 03/01/2014: 
> http://www.infradead.org/get_iplayer_win/get_iplayer_config_20140103.ini 
> ) Of course you could've updated manually the binary inside "bin" 
> subfolder, in which case please disregard...

I can't honestly remember now how I'd upgraded, I thought it was via the 
installer, but these things happen so infrequently. I can't recall if 
the update mechanism has provision for selecting which elements are to 
be updated, in which case maybe I deselected some options, who knows? 
;-) It's funny, but after 30 years of using Microsoft products (CP/M, 
DOS and Windows) and my frustrations in getting to grips with Linux, I 
have to admit I like the way the latter caters for software updates, via 
a central facility, rather than the piecemeal way Windows works. 
Grudging words, LOL.
>
> If everything still functions OK with ffmpeg 1.2, then I guess you can 
> still stay with that...
> If you choose to upgrade to 2.2.3, then simply rerun the windows 
> installer and opt to update only ffmpeg from the settings...

I'll make a note to do that when I get back to the UK at the beginning 
of March. I'm a bit nervous trying to do updates on a machine in the UK 
accessed via a painfully slow internet connection here in the 
Philippines - 0.6Mbps compared to my 200Mbps back in the UK :-(
>
> Additional info: Next release of GiP (2.95) will by default use a pure 
> Perl HLS downloader, doing away with the need for ffmpeg for that - 
> however, a new switch called "--hls-ffmpeg" has been introduced to 
> allow for a fallback to using FFmpeg for dumping HLS streams - the 
> ffmpeg version required for compatibility with the "new" Video Factory 
> HLS streams is >=2.5 ; despite the native Perl HLS downloader, FFmpeg 
> is still required if you want to end up with m4a (for audio) or mp4 
> (for video) files...
>

I have to say that, in my first decade of using PCs, I was very much a 
"nuts and bolts" engineer on a big learning curve with the technology 
but there's so much going on that these days I've become a "black box" 
engineer, relatively content to use the tools (albeit in a more advanced 
way than the average PC user) without needing to know too much about how 
they work. Having said that, I am actively looking at transitioning 
(partly at least) to Linux (probably Mint) from Windows, so I guess 
that's going to be the largest quantum leap for me since I first got my 
Amstrad PCW in 1985. Mind you, three years ago, I resolved to learn 
Tagalog (the national language of the Philippines) but I'm no nearer 
that objective! :-(

Anyway, I appreciate the discourse on these pages and I am grateful for 
technology that allows me to do so much, especially from such a long 
distance from home. To think I can sit here in the Philippines and set 
up which programmes I want to download onto my home computer and also to 
be able to control my Humax satellite digibox/PVR while I'm away from 
the UK and then copy over recorded shows to my home PC network, is a 
testimony to the way the technology has moved on and the tremendous 
skills of the millions of people involved in all aspects of it.

*********
> OT discussion:
>> It's the heat and this blasted cold/cough folks!
>
> "Funny" the antithesis in that sentence, Alan! One would migrate to 
> hotter climates during the winter to escape the cold weather back 
> home, only to be pestered by "cold" there, too! Be careful of highly 
> conditioned closed premises and of drinking very cold/iced drinks!

Yes, a curious mix, I agree. I went for a haircut in the local mall just 
after Christmas, the barber was coughing and sneezing and as a result 
both my gf and I got his cold. After 3 weeks, I'm just about getting 
over it but my gf still has a hacking cough. I guess germs pay no 
attention to the climate! I note your comment about air-con and 
iced-drinks - so true, we have air-con in the bedroom and I've taken to 
wearing a t-shirt at night.
>> Hope you feel better soon, dear friend
>
> I feel priviledged being regarded as your friend; your wishes and 
> recommendations for speedy recovery are wholeheartedly reciprocated :-) !

Thank you, you're very welcome!
>
> *************************************
>
> Many regards (from cloudy and cold - 5C - Greece), Vangelis.

Ouch, that's cold. 30+ here. Today I need to set up my get_iplayer 
download list for the next 5 days, we're off to Cebu tomorrow until 
Saturday for a short break.

Τις καλύτερες ευχές μου ο αγαπητός φίλος μου (courtesy Google translate, 
LOL)


A