Preparing for latest update - modes questions.

[SquarePenguin]

On 05/02/17 18:35, Budge wrote:
> Having read the Release Notes for 2.98 my understanding is that this is
> the default tv mode and it will use dash dvf as first choice and hls if
> dash not available and so forth degrading according to availability, so
> no tvmode setting is needed to achieve my objectives.

Release notes says:

For each video size, hvf streams are used in preference to dvf streams
for the present, but dvf will likely become the preferred format in a
future release, so it is in your interest to test it (use --tvmode=dvf).

So it won't use dvf (MPEG-DASH) as first pick, it'll use the hvf (HLS
(Apple HTTP Live Streaming)) by default.

There are other considerations to enabling dvf so read that section of
the release notes again to be sure you're happy:

https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/wiki/release298#4-dash-tv-support

> If this is correct please could somebody confirm and I shall remove all
> reference to tvmode from my prefs.

The above not withstanding, yes you are correct and can just use the
default without specifying to achieve the result you want.

> For radio downloads I want the best resolution available for music and
> opera and believe the radio 3 default of 320kbps would be the right choice.

I'm unsure what you mean exactly by the 'radio 3 default' part but the
default radio mode cascades down through:

dafhigh,hafhigh,dafstd,hafstd,dafmed,hafmed,daflow,haflow

and dafhigh = 320kbps AAC so you should get that as default and then
lower if that's not available.

> For spoken word such as book readings and drama, however, I do not need
> this resolution and believe 96kbps would be more than sufficient.
> 
> Most of my radio downloads are done by pvr as a nightly cron job.   What
> I am thinking therefore is that I should set my default radio mode in my
> prefs and then qualify it (degrade it,) when for a spoken word programme
> by including an appropriate  --radiomode in each relevant pvr job.

This sounds like a good way to go if the bulk of what you want is
non-spoken, that way you'll have to do the minimum amount of specifying
lower quality modes for the spoken stuff.

> Modesref gives me --radiomode
> default=dafhigh,hafhigh,dafstd,hafstd,hlsaacstd,dafmed,hafmed,daflow,haflow,hlsaaclow).
> 
> 
> I understand this to mean that if the pvr job is type=radio and I do not
> specify a radiomode I get the default as above.  What should I put if I
> wish to downgrade the radio in the pvr job to 96kbps but not have
> download fail if that mode is not available.  Sorry to be so dumb and
> grateful for all guidance given.

Correct and you can actually use the 'radiogood' shortcut to cascade
down through:

dafmed,hafmed,daflow,haflow

and dafmed/hafmed = 96kbps so you can specify '--radiomode=radiogood'
for those spoken word downloads get_iplayer will do the rest.

Hope that helps!