PVR switch syntax - help please

[Alastair]

Hi Andy
[snip]
>Message: 4
>Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 10:45:57 +0100
>From: Andy Bircumshaw <andy at networkned.co.uk>
>To: get_iplayer <get_iplayer at lists.infradead.org>
>Subject: Re: PVR switch syntax - help please
>Message-ID: <D53CD1D0-151F-4F45-B084-990A839100C5 at networkned.co.uk>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
>On 9 April 2012, at 09:57, Alastair wrote:
>>> 
>>> I just add `get_iplayer --pvr` to my user crontab to run every morning at 2am. This will 
>>> execute all PVR searches and download any new shows that match the search and any 
>>> that have been individually queued up (using --pvr-queue).
>>> 
>>> aB.
>> 
>> Hi Andy,
>> Many thanks.  Yes my example was not correct and should have referred to a radio 
>> programme. I shall do some trials using your approach.  
>> It would also be good to know how  --pvr-sceduler worked in due course.
>
>
>I've never used it, but this looks self-explanatory to me:
>
>$ get_iplayer --longhelp | grep pvr-sch
> --pvr-scheduler <seconds>        Runs the PVR using all saved PVR searches every 
><seconds>. Synonyms: --pvrscheduler
>$
>
>I imagine you'd want to put it in a wrapper script that checks the hasn't died, restarting it if 
>necessary. You'll need to handle the case that the download has stalled and get_iplayer 
has 
>sat frozen for hours or days - personally I wouldn't recommend this approach.
>
>Putting `get_iplayer --pvr` in a crontab allows you to schedule the downloads for 
off-peak 
>&/or unmetered hours.
>
>Note that the various different versions of a program (flashhd, flashvhigh, flashhigh, 
>flashstd &c) are NOT certain to posted to the iPlayer site simultaneously. It may be that 
the 
>standard or high versions are posted before the vhigh or hd versions, perhaps by as much 
>as several hours.
>
>You probably need to account for this, which is easy using crontab - you just use the 
>extended `get_iplayer --pvr --before 24` your actual crontab entry. 

Many thanks for this.  You raise an issue which had not yet occurred to me.  My cron job 
worked OK last night using default resolution.  I shall try the --before switch as you suggest 
but this seems a bit arbitrary.  How do you get the highest resolution available in your 
command?

I do not know the BBC policy on resolution but it would be better if, having delayed 
download for 24 hours, get_iplayer could try hd and step down through vhigh and high.  I 
assume you do this somehow?
   

>The cron daemon software supplied by your distro can easily be configured to email you a 
>log of each job it completes. So, using the crontab approach, you are notified that there 
>may be download problems if you wake up in the morning and you don't have an email of 
>the completed get_iplayer output. Admittedly these emails are annoyingly long to scroll 
>through - it takes perhaps as long as 20 seconds each day to scroll through one and check 
>to see whether any downloads have failed halfway through.

I am trying to get MAILTO in crontab to work now.
Many thanks for your help and guidance.
Alastair.