BBC plugin not working anymore

rancor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Plugin for BBC not working.
>
> Example link from BBC iplayer site (HD file):
> bbc-ipd:download/p01wjnwh/b0414lt2/hd/standard/VGh
> lIEJpZyBBbGxvdG1lbnQgQ2hhbGxlbmdlIC0gRXBpc29kZSA1
>
> Direct link from BBC Iplayer Downloads:
> electradl.iplayer.bbc.co.uk/electra/cps/flv_avc1_h
> d_flashaccess/modav/bUnknown-4aa95324-643e-4c60-82
> 60-ce117e3ab841_b0414lt2_1399799893613.mp4 File
> is encrypted (DRM)

Can you describe the title of the video that you're trying to download? I have no idea how to convert link from BBC iplayer to browser.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2014 05:52PM by tong2shot.

Sorry for the poor translation from Polish (google translate)

@tong2shot link to site: [www.bbc.co.uk]

First link from button Downloads - Yes, Continue downloading - Download in HD (bbc-ipd:download/p01wjnwh/b0414lt2/hd/standard/VGhlIEJpZyBBbGxvdG1lbnQgQ2hhbGxlbmdlIC0gRXBpc29kZSA1)

Second link (mp4 file with DRM) from BBC iPlayer Downloads log

Download via UK proxy (transparent, anonymouse, elite) - results: 0 bytes dowloadning.

tong2shot wrote:

> Your feeling is right The new plugin is
> downloading from akamai, because at this moment
> streams from limelight are not downloadable. I
> tried several times with limelight, even tried
> rtmp-dump, but no luck, maybe I missed some
> parameters, or applied wrong parameters. We'll try
> to investigate this issue.
>
> If get_iplayer is working with UK proxy applied,
> FRD should also working with UK proxy applied. I
> used UK proxy to test the plugin.

Thanks for your quick response!
I have no problem downloading from the Limelight CDN;
Attachement "Get_iPlayer_info.txt" contains the get_iplayer command used and
the command prompt window output
from downloading successfully the program (quality 480p) linked to in my previous post;
notice that:
flashvhigh1 mode = Akamai CDN -> FAILURE, while
flashvhigh2 mode = Limelight CDN -> SUCCESS.

I also have no problem downloading from Limelight CDN via rtmpdump either;
By setting a UK proxy server in Mozilla Firefox 28.0 and then using rtmpdumphelper,
I got a working rtmpdump command (remember, this is working from my Greek IP!).
Attachement "LimelightCDN_rtmpdump_info" contains the correct rtmpdump command
(found by rtmpsrv) to download from the ll CDN, also included is the command prompt
window output by rtmpdump!
You can get renewed auth tokens (which usually are good to go for more than an hour)
by going to

mediaselector v5

from a UK IP.

So it seems to me that

>streams from limelight are not downloadable

has to do with something gone awry on your end...

Hope I have helped enough towards a quick resolution of the current "UK-only" status of the bbc plugin...
Feel free to ask for more details, if needed

Cheers!

rancor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> @tong2shot link to site:
> [www.bbc.co.uk]
>
> First link from button Downloads - Yes, Continue
> downloading - Download in HD
> (bbc-ipd:download/p01wjnwh/b0414lt2/hd/standard/VG
> hlIEJpZyBBbGxvdG1lbnQgQ2hhbGxlbmdlIC0gRXBpc29kZSA1
> )
>
> Second link (mp4 file with DRM) from BBC iPlayer
> Downloads log

Hello rancor

This file you are trying to download is not supported by FRD nor is it of any good to you.
First, in order to download it (via http protocol), you need to have a special BBC iPlayer
client program installed (called "BBC iPlayer Downloads"), which is only functional for UK IPs.
Even if you get that file on disk, it is unplayable because it is encrypted with Flash Access DRM.
"BBC iPlayer Downloads" downloads a special DRM licence which allows for the file to be played
back for the designated time window, usually a month, after which the licence expires and the DRMed
MP4 file is completely useless.
If you are aware of the above limitations but you want to use FRD as a download manager just to fetch that
DRMed file, then this is another matter.
There exists a method to reveal the direct URI to the file (for said programme this is:

HD DRMed MP4 file (warning: ~ 1.0GB ))

and you then have to download it with FRD by enabling direct downloads in the settings. But I fear this is not a feature that many would want or that should be implemented by the FRD devs...

FRD supports the DRM-free flash version of the programme (the one you can watch in the browser), which is an FLV file downloaded via the
rtmp protocol. Unfortunately, since you seem to be in Poland, this only works for now for people in the UK or by using a UK VPN (with default rtmp port 1935 open - most of the VPNs now have this closed and only 443, 80 open...) - see my previous posts in this thread.

Hope I've made things somewhat clearer...

Regards.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2014 08:13PM by TVjunkie.

Okay please try plugin v1.1.9.

Limelight sometimes produces strange behaviour with or without UK proxy, sometimes it get stuck at "connect" command, but after waiting for awhile (5 minutes), restart the download process then the stream is downloaded successfully.

Working via elite proxy (83.170.89.7:8888) Download one file:OK, second file with little problems, third file OK.

Thanks!

tong2shot wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Okay please try plugin v1.1.9.
>
> Limelight sometimes produces strange behaviour
> with or without UK proxy, sometimes it gets stuck
> at "connect" command, but after waiting for awhile
> (5 minutes), restart the download process then the
> stream is downloaded successfully.

Hi again and apologies I couldn't get back to you sooner!
Updated manually to new version 1.1.9 of bbc.frp.
I did not set a UK proxy in the prefs, since tor.frp is working nicely
with bbc.frp for me...
I just tried again the same sample link, i.e.

The Sky At Night: How Gravity Shapes The Universe

now FRD reached "Downloading" status very quickly and began fetching the file on disk!
(see attached screengrab). I usually download the 480p quality variant,
313 MB downloaded fine in less than 5mins...
I have not observed any "strange behaviour" with regards to the Limelight CDN,
it appears it is readily accessible from my physical location...

Huge congrats tong2shot, the fixed plugin is yet another specimen of a sterling job of yours...
and another triumph over the Beeb's recent malevolent changes...

All the best!

TVjunkie Wrote:
> Huge congrats tong2shot, the fixed plugin is yet another specimen of a sterling job of yours...

I second that. I don't know how tong2shot does it, but I'm glad he does. This is all rocket science to me!

> I usually download the 480p quality variant,

What other HD variants are available? Up to, and including Version 1.1.7, when I view .m4v files on my Apple TV1 and TV2 (converted by Handbrake from .flv to .m4v), they are shown as being HD. Do you know what level of HD they are? What is the maximum HD quality that FRD can download (seeing as many Beeb programs are (I presume) broadcasted in 1080p)?

Many thanks.

I'm not too familiar with BBC, so correct me if I'm wrong. From what I tested, it seems that akamai CDN provides higher quality video (> 480p) than limelight CDN. For example using @rancor test link : [www.bbc.co.uk] , the highest quality from akamai is 720p, while from limelight the highest quality is 480p. But streams from akamai can only be downloaded by users in the UK (or using UK proxy). I can't find test link with 1080p, can anyone provide one/some, so we can test it?

Edit (1) : At this moment BBC plugin (v1.1.9) can only download streams from limelight, maybe in the next plugin release it can also download from akamai, by auto detecting user IP address. So that higher quality video (> 480p) can be downloaded by users in the UK.

Edit (2) : from @rancor test link I can download 720p from level3. I was wrong when I said : "BBC plugin (v1.1.9) can only download streams from limelight". The correct one is BBC plugin v1.1.9 prefers limelight and skips streams from akamai. So from this limited test, users from UK and non-UK can download 720p after all.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2014 10:54PM by tong2shot.

mls wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> > I usually download the 480p quality variant,
>
> What other HD variants are available?

480p (actually it is 468p) is not considered HiDef
but rather StdDef (SD);
If the pixel-height >=720, then the video file is considered HD.

> when I view .m4v files on my Apple TV1 and TV2
> (converted by Handbrake from .flv to .m4v),
> they are shown as being HD.
> Do you know what level of HD they are?

What type of conversion are the FRD-downloaded video files
undergo in Handbrake?
FRD downloads the video files in their native format, in the way they
were prepared by the BBC iplayer encoder chain; it is the same format in
which they are being played back by the Adobe Flash plugin in your browser.
The video stream of the file is encoded with the h264 AVC codec, while the
audio stream with the AAC LC codec.
Both streams are muxed inside an FLV container.

The wise thing to do is to remux losslessly from the FLV to the MP4 container,
something that can be done in mere seconds with FFmpeg:

ffmpeg -i VideoFile.flv -c copy -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc VideoFile.m4v

Then your i-device should play the file in the same resolution the original flv possessed.
If, on the other hand, you are actually RECODING the files with Handbrake, then your
i-device will report the definition set inside Handbrake's settings prior to the conversion;
you can tell if you are recoding or not by the duration of the actual conversion process
(< 1min -> lossless remux, > ~10 mins -> recoding).

> What is the maximum HD quality that FRD can download
> (seeing as many Beeb programs are (I presume)
> broadcast in 1080p)?

As already stated, FRD can download the quality variants available on the
iplayer/tv site; if you go

Options -> Preferences -> Plugins -> Settings -> bbc.co.uk -> Options -> Preferred quality level

you can explore the available quality variants for download. The default setting is: "Highest available".
In practice, this means that a specific TV programme on the iplayer site should, in theory at least, be available
in the (only) HD format (which is 720p) if it was broadcast on one of the HD TV channels, else it should always
be available in the highest SD format (i.e. 480p).
You cannot get 1080p HD files with FRD; if you want those, you should search in torrent sites - the files offered there
are 1080p transcodes of actual HD TV rips.

(since this is the FRD forum, you can find answers for more specific video format queries
on google or on one of the many specialized audio-video forums... )

Regards