BBC iPlayer HTML5

[MikeL]

Cheryl

not sure if this is the right forum for this. I found out that the BBC are going to support HTML 5 streaming in the near future. I signed up for their beta program and find that it works well with Win 10 and the Microsoft Edge browser but unfortunately I cannot capture programmes using RMC 6.

Just in case your developers were not aware of this upcoming support, I was wondering if you could pass this along to them so they could be ready to support it when it officially rolls out.

More details can be found at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/internet/entries/19d875b8-c966-465b-880a-e38c71900c4c

and

http://www.bbc.co.uk/html5

Best Regards
Mike

[Cheryl Wester]

Thank you. I will pass it on for you.

[JohnB]

Mike

Pardon me for butting in but I also use RMC for recording from the BBC, mainly 4 and 4extra using the normal iplayer not the HTM5.

Suddenly I have found that the automatic naming of programs has failed for me. Is this just my setup or have the BBC changed something in the last week???

JohnB

[Cheryl Wester]

We are seeing that some people are having problems with bBC. Please do contact tech support as details will be needed. Thanks.

[Sool]

Something changed with the BBC last week, which confounded RMC. Was it the introduction of multiple streams, or have they always been an option that I was blissfully unaware of?

Anyway, simply playing a program to get the stream no longer worked for me. Instead RMC would open a second window and then hang.

I found that I could overcome this by pasting the program's URL into RMC. The second window would again open, but this time with options for selecting one of the multiple streams available. Once I'd done that, RMC would download and name the program as previously.

I tried to automate this by messing with the options to select FLV at Medium quality, but that would not work as intended, because RMC would always go for the Low quality stream.

[MikeL]

JohnB

the BBC changed something a few months ago that resulted in the names not being captured correctly. Sometimes it works but most times it does not. I tend to only capture one program at a time so I simply change the name of the captured file.

It appears that the naming issue exists with both audio and video files. Definitely a lot of changes going on at the BBC with respect to streaming. All for the better in the long run but frustrating in the short term.

Cheryl, - I would be happy to help out with any beta testing of RMC to help get to the bottom of these issues.

Sool, I just tried capturing a program from iPlayer and it worked fine (except for the file name issue). I used the Auto capture feature and selected the highest quality version of the program from the pop-up window. What settings do you have under Internet Downloads?

Mike

[Sool]

If you mean the settings for Preferred Download Quality and Preferred Download Format, these are both set to Prompt.

I have tried various other permutations, but these invariably lead to it selecting a low quality stream.

Until things recently went awry, I was blissfully unaware that such alternative streams were available, because RMC simply grabbed whatever I played.

[MikeL]

Sool

I assume you are using the existing supported iPlayer and not the Beta HTML5.
The option of multiple streams with different qualities has been around for a long time. Within iPlayer you only get the option to select either HD or SD and even that depends on the type of device you are using. Your device normally goes through a handshake with the streaming server and based on the type of device and the quality/bandwidth of your connection the streaming service will pick which quality file to stream to you. Supposedly with mobile devices the quality of the stream can be changed while you are watching the program if you move from a strong signal area to a lower signal area.

I'm not sure how RMC negotiates with the server and whether or not the server can (or does) override the quality chosen.

I like to think that if I select the HD option that is what I am capturing.

What kind of download speeds are you seeing with your computer? Have you run speedtest.net?

Mike

[Sool]

Hi Mike

I am in the UK using a desktop PC with a broadband connection that achieves downloads of 13 Mb/s on a good day.

Historically, I would fire up RMC, and go here... http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/schedules/fm

I would then select a program, click its Play button, and it would be automatically downloaded and converted to medium quality MP3 as per my settings.

What now happens instead, is that the program appears to commence streaming, but after a brief pause a second minimised RMC window opens, that says Multiple Streams Detected, but I am unable to access it. My only option is to right click and close both windows.

If I chose not select a program, but right click it, select Copy Link Location, paste that link into RMC, click the download arrow, after a pause a second RMC window opens, but this time it functions, and I can select a medium quality stream, which then downloads, converts, and becomes correctly named.

That said, something else has changed in the last 48 hours. I have just experimented with a few programs from Friday's schedule (News Quiz, Afternoon Play, Book at Bedtime), and it appears that each has a single medium quality MP4 stream associated with it.

When I carefully double click the single stream on offer, RMC downloads and converts 2 copies of the program, but only one of these becomes correctly named.

Earlier this week, I successfully downloaded Just a Minute, which was broadcast at 18.30 on Monday. At the time there were a a number of streams on offer, but there is currently just a single MP4 stream listed for that show.

This latest behaviour is probably best ignored for now.

Sool

[MikeL]

Hi Sool

I tried emulating what you did. I am in the US but connected to the BBC via a VPN.

Using the BBC4 Schedule page and selecting a program to play normally RMC did start to capture it and the second window popped up but I was able to select the stream I wanted it to capture. It downloaded in FLV format and successfully converted to MP3. However the name of the mp3 file was not correct.

Trying to use the Copy link method also worked but this time the converted file was named correctly.

I tried the above processes for the Just A Minute program but didn't see an option for an MP4 stream - just something called MPD (which didn't work).

If you would like to go back to normal operation without the pop up windows for selecting a stream - try the following:

Under settings select a Preferred download quality (e.g., Medium) and a preferred download Format (e.g., MP3). The program still appears to download as an FLV file but you wont get prompted to select a stream.

Mike

[Sool]

Mike

It is probably just as easy for be to deal with the pop-up screen as rename the file, particularly if I download several streams. That said, within the last 48 hours, pasting in the URL results in 2 copies of the program being downloaded, which is slightly annoying..

Although the pop-up currently suggests that only one stream is available, my experiments suggest otherwise. Purely out of interest, I thought I would show you what I am seeing.

If I leave RMC set at Prompt and Prompt, then paste in the URL for Just a Minute, I get to see this...

https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/00a7/3i4kj768avy32m64g.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/3i4kj768avy32m6/JAM1.jpg)


If I then double click on what appears to be the only stream available, I end up with this...

https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/78a5/7q6c66ceyk7gyd14g.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/7q6c66ceyk7gyd1/JAM2.jpg)


If I set RMC at Medium quality and MP3, then paste in the URL for Just a Minute, I see no stream selection pop-up, and end up with this...

https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/46f0/jz4nrd49w0tt1cn4g.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/jz4nrd49w0tt1cn/JAM3.jpg)
Note that the files are of the same size as above, but the superfluous downloaded files are named differently.


If I leave RMC set at Medium quality and MP3, and simply play Just a Minute, I end up with this...

https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/0771/hg894jiuenoka2j4g.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/hg894jiuenoka2j/JAM4.jpg)
Note that RMC has found an FLV file, that was not listed when the available streams were listed, as per my first example.


As things stand, I am able to get RMC to do what I want, albeit not perfectly. The way forward currently seems to be to leave it set at Medium and MP3, but then paste in the URL. I don't download enough stuff for the extra downloads to be much of an issue.

I have only posted the above in the hope that you may find it informative.

Sool

[MikeL]

Interesting. When I paste that same URL and hit download I get a completely different pop up screen selection. Just an FLV file and an MPD file. No sign of an MP4. So my downloads whether using the paste/download method or the listen and Auto capture method results in the same FLV file being captured.

The other interesting thing is that the FLV file is only 12.1MB in size as opposed to your being 77.6MB in the last screen shot. However converting to MP3 medium quality results in the same 30.4MB file that you have.

I don't get any superfluous files. We must have some other settings that differ.

For some reason I can't seem to figure out how to paste the screen image into these forum messages. Every time I try the screen greys out and I loose everything. Is there a trick to it?

Mike

[Sool]

Mike

Until a few days ago, the pop-up screen was giving me a choice of 6-8 avaialable streams in various file formats. That behaviour stopped, without me changing anything at my end.

A week prior to that, RMC had automatically been grabbing the FLV of any radio program I played, by simply using the audio capture method. It simply just worked, and it was only when it stopped working, that I discovered the URL pasting method, which introduced me to Prompt and Prompt settings.

Prior to that, I never had any need to delve into RMC's deeper settings, which were all essentially set at their defaults.

Something clearly changed at the BBC a couple of weeks back, and there have been further changes since then. For the moment, I can get RMC download what I want, so I am content to bumble along.

Hopefully, things will eventually settle down, and RMC may be adapted to suit.

As for pasting photos, I found it equally impossible, so inserted them using the http://www.mediafire.com/convkey/fb41/ewgexfd96zqaqgl4g.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/ewgexfd96zqaqgl/URL.jpg) method (see what I did there :o)

In reality I cheated, through uploading my images to MediaFire, which under More Sharing Options, writes the URL for me.

Sool