FFmpeg-3.3-win32-static binary for XP/Vista+ users

[Vangelis forthnet]

 As you may already know (or have found out the hard way),
the maintainer has ceased supporting Windows XP & Vista OSes
since GiP v3.00+; this is declared (in bold) in Forum rule #2:

https://squarepenguin.co.uk/forums/thread-655.html

and also included (in bold, too) in the "Windows Installation" wiki entry:

https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/wiki/windows#windows-installation

Of course, both these OSes have been left orphan
by their vendor, Microsoft; XP SP3 was EOL'd April 2014
and Vista SP2 only a month ago, so noone can really
blame the maintainer for the decision taken...
It may also be (apart from lining himself up behind MS)
that he lacks those systems for testing purposes...

 As things stand, the latest supported Windows installer, available at
https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer_win32/releases/latest ,
does not impose a minOS version check
(I'm not putting ideas to the dev :-), so it can be
installed on both XP and Vista.

 The mini Strawbery Perl distribution provided by the installer
has also undergone some changes: an upgrade from Perl 5.24.0.1
to 5.24.1.1, plus some deprecated perl modules were removed
while new needed ones were added...
You can inspect recent changes to the win installer at:

https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer_win32/compare/2.99.0...3.01.0

AFAICT, the perl code itself in latest versions of
the scripts along with the provided miniPerl package
continue to be fully compatible with XP/Vista.

The one change that broke things for these OSes
was the move from the Zeranoe compile ffmpeg-3.0-win32
 to the Zeranoe compile ffmpeg-3.2.4-win32:

-!define FFMPEGDIR "${UTILSDIR}\ffmpeg-3.0-win32-static"
+!define FFMPEGDIR "${UTILSDIR}\ffmpeg-3.2.4-win32-static"

 The FFmpeg code itself has not stopped being
XP/Vista compatible, but the inclusion by Zeranoe
of some external libs that are either themselves by default
not compatible or have become incompatible at some
stage of their development is what broke recent
Zeranoe builds on XP/Vista.
E.g., --enable-libmfx breaks builds on XP, while
--enable-libx265 without the -DWINXP_SUPPORT=ON
flag breaks builds on both XP/Vista (and it's the reason
behind errors like:
https://squarepenguin.co.uk/forums/thread-1307.html ).

 FFmpeg on GiP is used, as you may already know,
for remuxing (repackaging) downloaded fragmented
(dash) .mp4(/.m4a) and .ts files to the standard
MP4 container. Min version requirement for hvf modes
is 2.5, while for dvf modes is 3.0.
So, v3.0 included with previous installer
"get_iplayer-2.99.0.exe" is fine for the job
- this is to be removed from the repo
on May 30th, so grab it while you can...
You can extract the above NSIS installer with a utility
like 7-zip (without actually running it);
"ffmpeg.exe" inside "utils" folder is v3.0.

 That version 3.0 originally came from the Zeranoe repo at:

https://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/win32/static/

HOWEVER, in another perfect demonstration of
Sod's Law, the repo was recently purged from any
content older than 07-Nov-2016, hence all currently
offered compiles won't run on XP/Vista.
Fortunately, VideoHelp site has an archived link of 3.0 at:

https://www.videohelp.com/software/ffmpeg/old-versions

(ffmpeg-3.0-win32-static.7z) that should become handy
when the above installer is withdrawn...

 The general idea to restore XP/Vista compatibility in GiP 3.00+
is to replace provided 3.2.4 binary with the 3.0 one (or newer,
see below...). On XP/Vista 32bit, default GiP installation dir is

%PROGRAMFILES%\get_iplayer (or C:\Program Files\get_iplayer);

head over to utils dir, rename existing ffmpeg.exe (e.g to
ffmpeg.BAK) and place within your v3.0 copy of ffmpeg.exe
(I won't be held responsible if you mess up your system...).
Alternatively, if you feel unconfortable accessing
your "Program Files" dir, you can use the --ffmpeg
GiP option (and set it permanently in options) to
point the script to the path of your v3.0 ffmpeg.exe binary.

 Although something more up-to-date is not strictly needed
by GiP, I have recently compiled a FFmpeg-3.3-win32-static
binary that is XP/Vista compatible and includes most
popular external libs (audio/video codecs, filters etc.).
It is a GPLv3 redistributable binary and I decided to share
it here with fellow GiP Windows users...
Together with source and licences, it's been uploaded to

http://www.datafilehost.com/d/3ddcd138

(Press gray DOWNLOAD button - you need 7-zip
or similar to decompress...).
This binary runs fine on XP+ Windows OSes. For
your other uses, run provided "ff-prompt.bat" and
type your ffmpeg commands there; for GiP inclusion,
binary (ffmpeg.exe) resides inside "bin" folder.

 You should not need to use this binary on Win7+
(it does run fine there), but if you do you won't be
eligible for support in the Forums, since the maintainer
only supports the specific v3.2.4 binary supplied by
the Windows installer.

I hope someone finds the (lengthy) above of value...

Regards,
Vangelis.