Unable to download a pid

[Vangelis forthnet]

On Mon Feb 9 17:55:07 GMT 2015, Arthur Murray wrote:

> Trying to get this in HD:
> b04xw2x8
> (snip)
> It fails to get (404)
> (snip)
> How do I get gip to use it?

 Your issue has the same root cause as the one
discussed in recent thread
http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/get_iplayer/2015-January/007105.html

I'll assume you are running tag version 2.91
(you fail to indicate which...).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04xw2x8.rdf

produces no less than 5 "<po:version" entries, with
multiple vPIDs= b04xw2x6, b04zq2w0, p02gjlp6, b051c4lc, b0520nmw.
Your copy of GiP tries the second one, which fails;
URL sniffing has told you that the last one is the correct one.
Use the --playlist-metadata switch so that GiP uses
the older (but more reliable?) method of accessing
XML/JSON playlists to find the vPID:

C:\Program Files\get_iplayer>perl 
get_iplayer-291.pl --pid=b04xw2x8 --playlist-m
etadata --modes=flashhd --force --raw --subtitles
get_iplayer v2.91, Copyright (C) 2008-2010 Phil Lewis
  This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details 
use --warranty.
  This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under 
certain
  conditions; use --conditions for details.

INFO: Episode-only pid detected
INFO: Trying pid: b04xw2x8 using type: tv
INFO: Trying to stream pid using type tv
INFO: pid not found in tv cache
Matches:

INFO: 1 Matching Programmes
INFO: Checking existence of default version
INFO: flashhd1,flashhd2 modes will be tried for version default
INFO: Trying flashhd1 mode to record tv:  - -
INFO: File name prefix = The_Super-Rich_and_Us_-__b04xw2x8_default

INFO: Downloading Subtitles to 'D:\Vangelis\iPlayer 
Recordings/The_Super-Rich_an
d_Us_-__b04xw2x8_default.srt'
RTMPDump v2.4 GIT-2015-01-15 (Compiled by KSV)
(c) 2010 Andrej Stepanchuk, Howard Chu, The Flvstreamer Team; license: GPL
Connecting ...
INFO: Connected...
Starting download at: 0.000 kB
INFO: Metadata:
INFO:   duration                3539.04
INFO:   moovPosition            36.00
INFO:   width                   1280.00
INFO:   height                  720.00
INFO:   videocodecid            avc1
INFO:   audiocodecid            mp4a
INFO:   avcprofile              100.00
INFO:   avclevel                41.00
INFO:   aacaot                  2.00
INFO:   videoframerate          25.00
INFO:   audiosamplerate         48000.00
INFO:   audiochannels           2.00
INFO: trackinfo:
INFO:   length                  88476000.00
INFO:   timescale               25000.00
INFO:   language                und
INFO: sampledescription:
INFO:   sampletype              avc1
INFO:   length                  169873408.00
INFO:   timescale               48000.00
INFO:   language                und
INFO: sampledescription:
INFO:   sampletype              mp4a
23985.530 kB / 80.00 sec (2.2%)

And if you are still after the Level 3 HD version, as per your post:
http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/get_iplayer/2015-February/007108.html
then TOUGH LUCK! (that is if you are accessing L3 from overseas...).

I have solved the "flashhd2" mode "mystery":
In the previous week, (almost all) L3 streams were failing (if the servers
were accessed from non-UK IPs) with the infamous:
"ERROR: Closing connection: NetStream.Failed"
However, many of those were still failing even from within the UK...
It has now become evident the Beeb were messing with L3 CDN
servers configuration...

This week, L3 streams are failing from non-UK IPs with a related error:
"ERROR: Closing connection: NetStream.Play.StreamNotFound"
that would suggest the file hadn't been uploaded to the server;
however, the same L3 streams DO DOWNLOAD FINE from
within the UK (physically or "virtually").

 The Beeb have re-configured the Level 3 CDN servers and have
implemented some "new kind" of geo-filter; in contrast to the
geo-block on the Akamai CDN servers, where you are denied
access to the stream early on in the download attempt
([ AccessManager.Reject ] : Access denied!
shows up in a rtmpdump -V log), with this new geo-filter on
the L3 CDN you are allowed to connect to the server,
however "createStream" & "play" error out, hence the
"StreamNotFound" message...
 This new protection method affects uploads after Feb 1st;
older ones (while still available) do not suffer from it...
As Joey Tribbiani would have said:
"The Beeb's gotta do what the Beeb's gotta do!"

V.