get_iplayer currently broken...

[tellyaddict]

Unfortunately it's happened again and they have disabled the data sources. These may or may not come back again.

See Announcement: https://squarepenguin.co.uk/forums/announcement-6.html

> Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at 7:32 PM
> From: "Vangelis forthnet" <northmedia1 at the.forthnet.gr>
> To: get_iplayer at lists.infradead.org
> Subject: get_iplayer currently broken...
>
> Sadly, from ca. 16:00 GMT today (13/01/2016),
> GiP is belly up :-(
> 
> Manifestation:
> 
> 1. TV cache via the schedule feeds can't be refreshed
> (Radio cache refreshes normally).
> 
> The reason for the TV cache refresh failure is that URLs
> of the following pattern:
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/<channel>/programmes/schedules/this_week.xml
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/<channel>/programmes/schedules/last_week.xml
> 
> do not fetch expected schedule feeds, but the message posted already:
> 
> > This service is currently undergoing a period of downtime for essential 
> > maintenance.
> > Please be advised that the programme information service
> > which is currently available at this URL
> > will soon be replaced by a new service from the BBC,
> > at a new set of URLs.
> > Please contact the following email address for further information:
> > 'programmes-devel at lists.forge.bbc.co.uk'
> 
> Refresh of the TV cache was erratic, at best, during the
> last few days, now not working at all.
> 
> 2. Download attempts fail completely,
> even with the "--pid" method
> 
> This is because GiP loads URLs of the following template:
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/<pid>.xml
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/<pid>.rdf
> 
> to retrieve the vpid string (that grants access to
> available streams) and grab other available metadata;
> those URLs now also return the above message...
> 
> Over on the iPlayer site itself, using Firefox,
> both TV & Radio do seem to play OK;
> the TV programmes's vpid string is, I believe,
> buried deep inside page source, the default
> stream delivery method on desktop browser
> is AdobeHDS.
> 
> For radio, the JSON playlist is being used
> by the embedded player, which is of the template:
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/<pid>/playlist.json
> 
> that seems to load more reliably, but it does
> sometimes return (at least from my location)
> the infamous "downtime" message...
> Again, default stream delivery
> for audio is AdobeHDS.
> 
> The "--playlist-metadata" switch was "ignored" in 2.94
> (and removed in 2.95dev) in this commit:
> 
> https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/commit/116d272
> 
> "--playlist-metadata" was supposed to
> 
> > Force use of playlists (XML and JSON) for programme metadata
> > instead of /programmes data endpoints
> 
> however, after reverting the commit on my local
> copy of GiP 2.94 and issuing
> 
> perl 
> get_iplayer-294.pl --type=radio --pid=b06vf205 --playlist-metadata --modes=flashaac 
>  --force --raw -v
> 
> the script only tried the long-gone XML playlist :
> 
> ====================================
> INFO: pid found in cache
> Matches:
> 11363:  Greg James - Greg has the latest Chart Update, BBC Radio 1,
> 
> INFO: 1 Matching Programmes
> INFO: iPlayer metadata URL = http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlist/b06vf205
> INFO: Getting page http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlist/b06vf205
> ERROR: Failed to get version pid metadata from iplayer site
> 
> ERROR: Could not get version pid metadata
> ERROR: Could not get programme metadata
> ====================================
> 
> and not the JSON playlist that appears to still work...
> 
> If the XML/RDF metadata pages are gone for good
> (possibly to be replaced by Nitro URLs), this will
> constitute a major setback to GiP - the JSON playlists
> (not available for all VOD as I recall) could prove a stopgap,
> but their future may also be short (given that they, too,
> produce the "replacement" notice).
> 
> Another case where the existence of a "--vpid" switch
> in GiP could've proved a lifesaver; I can find manually
> the vpid (right-clicking the embedded player, via page
> source, via JSON playlist etc.), the mediaselector/5 URLs
> do still function normally, so stream access is still feasible
> in this emergency, alas not for GiP.
> Time to get back to composing manually rtmpdump/ffmpeg
> commands... and AdobeHDS.php is of invaluable help, too!
> 
> As tellyaddict (tvfan) advised, better keep an eye
> on the support forums for any developments:
> https://squarepenguin.co.uk/forums/
> No point in "me, too" posts either here in the
> list or the forums, though...
> 
> Let's hope this thing is just
> a temporary mishap on the beeb's side...
> 
> V. 
> 
> 
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