BBC iPlayer

ess1 said:

iPlayer required me to sign in having replaced my old comp. No problem as I live in UK. However, I am now only allowed to stream as usual but not download to the computer.
I received notification that I had to obtain an app through Windows Store! There are none there.

Trying to get my very old brain around Edge, now this.

Assistance appreciated.

Thanks.

I'll check it out later and revert.

You have to get it from here, not the Store


https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/install

Hi there

@cereberus.
@ess1.


use a very nice app quite legal called get_iplayer.
100% legal and will retrieve BBC iPlayer content without expiry dates. You have to be in UK (or UK VPN) for access to some BBC TV programmes and to get best quality Radio feeds.

get_iplayer Windows installation guide | get_iPlayer • Forums • Guides • Help


The best way to use it though is forget about any GUI.

Use it from the CLI --works also exactly the same on Linux.

for Radio type : get_iplayer --type=radio --pid=xxxxxxxxx
for TV type: get_iplayer --subtitles --pid=xxxxxxxx

(I like subtitles as some of the British accents get a bit "Wonky" if they are from outside London !!!!!).

To get PID simply start the standard BBC Iplayer app

You'll see something like this



Then the 8 alphanumeric number is the PID which is what you should use in the pid=parameter in the CLI.
In the above example it's the number after episode/ in the url of the screenshot but should be easily identifiable.
Expand the screenshot I've shown as the url probably isn't too clear on a lot of smaller monitors / tablets.Just click the image and use the + sign !!.

No need to logon ( i.e sign in) to the actual BBC Iplayer itself. Just use it to get the PID like I've shown above

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Hi there

@cereberus.
@ess1.


very nice app.

The best way to use it though is forget about any GUI.

Use it from the CLI --works also exactly the same on Linux.

for Radio type get_iplayer --type=radio --pid=xxxxxxxxx
for TV type get_iplayer --subtitles --pid=xxxxxxxx

(I like subtitles as some of the British accents get a bit "Wonky" if they are from outside London !!!!!).

To get PID simply start the standard BBC Iplayer app

You'll see something like this



Then the 8 alphanumeric number is the PID which is what you should use in the pid=parameter in the CLI.
In the above example it's the number after episode/ in the url of the screenshot but should be easily identifiable.
Expand the screenshot I've shown as the url probably isn't too clear on a lot of smaller monitors / tablets.Just click the image and use the + sign !!.

No need to logon ( i.e sign in) to the actual BBC Iplayer itself. Just use it to get the PID like I've shown above

Cheers
jimbo

I have been downloading like this for years using aimersoft video converter ultimate. However I will try this as I like subtitles too especially for US programmes where they have a really bad tendency to have background music louder than the speech!

If you think accents outside the Smoke () are wonky, try towns north of Aberdeen where they speak a dialect called Doric. A friend of mine married an Aberdonian lass, and he said he could barely understand 30% of her granny' Doric speech.

He said what was really weird was when he came back from Norway after several years and was fluent in Norwegian, he could now understand 70% of her Doric. In fact Doric is really a corruption of Norwegian, and is not really based on English, but over the years it has become a sort of hybrid dialect.

Everybody calls Doric a dialect of English but I think it really a language in its own right.

jimbo45 said:

Hi there @cereberus

just tested latest version of get_player on Linux Neon (ubuntu kde GUI ) Version 3.17 -- works 100 fine.

Also works on W10 Pro. Note if on Linux you need to install perl-mojolicious -- on ubuntu and derivatives just follow install instructions in the "Manual" install documentation from the git hub link..

I've updated my OP to provide the git hub link.

It's 100% legal BTW.

I agree with you about "Doric" --even though to me Norwegian is not that impossible to understand (just their incredibly expensive prices)--even for us poor Icelanders !!).

Cheers
jimbo

Just used it - very quick. I will need to write a simple batch file so I do no have to remember command syntax/

Actually I used to use this years ago but it was flakey then - definitely improved.

jimbo45 said:

Hi there @cereberus

just tested latest version of get_player on Linux Neon (ubuntu kde GUI ) Version 3.17 -- works 100 fine.

Also works on W10 Pro. Note if on Linux you need to install perl-mojolicious -- on ubuntu and derivatives just follow install instructions in the "Manual" install documentation from the git hub link..

I've updated my OP to provide the git hub link.

It's 100% legal BTW.

I agree with you about "Doric" --even though to me Norwegian is not that impossible to understand (just their incredibly expensive prices)--even for us poor Icelanders !!).

Cheers
jimbo

Hey pal, I created a batch file to download five episodes of a radio programme, and I had to add --force and --overwrite so I could test batch file fully to stop it coming up with error messages.

It downloads the first fine but immediately stops. I think it is because get_player is itself a batch file and when it get to end, it does not return execution to this parent level batch file. Any way to get this to execute a series of commands?

EDIT: I sussed it - just need to add CALL as below.

Change my user name MW to yours and run this and enjoy the downloaded programmes. I give you a clue - 42.

del C:\Users\MW\.get_iplayer\download_history
call get_iplayer --type=radio --force --overwrite --pid=b09th4hf
del C:\Users\MW\.get_iplayer\download_history
call get_iplayer --type=radio --force --overwrite --pid=b09v734q
del C:\Users\MW\.get_iplayer\download_history
call get_iplayer --type=radio --force --overwrite --pid=b09w16mn
del C:\Users\MW\.get_iplayer\download_history
call get_iplayer --type=radio --force --overwrite --pid=b09wvpbp