Since the beginning of time (actually 2 yrs ago this month) I started to use GiP for the first time & I worked my way through using it & I just took it for granted I suppose & I didn't ask or wondered too much about things that I had read about it on the Forum here like METADATA etc. But now with the problem that had arisen on Monday the 13th with the error 'Could not download programme metadata from....' I had stopped downloading but have tried since to see if it is OK again. But as time is getting on there are some News programmes that I download that will & have now expired. So before some have expired I just downloaded them even with the metadata lacking.

But now, as of typing this, the metadata problem is still there & I thought nto myself, 'What is the programme metadata anyway?'. In the back of my head & without doing a search on the Net I just took it as being info about the programme in question. What info about the programme that is downloaded, I don't know.

So, I got a couple of programmes I downloded last week, before the metadata problem, of the BBC News at Six & the one programme downloaded from last night with the metadata problem to compare them both.

I'm using Windows 8.1 & so I right clicked on the video files in question & then I clicked on properties for each one. With the headings General, Security & Details at the top I just clicked on Details to see what info is in each programme file to compare. I actually had the BBC News at Six programme from last night which was 28mins 54secs long & the one from Friday which was 28mins 59secs long.
From what I could see with these 2 programmes & from others from last week, is that the info is the same with just one exception. Under the heading Media & sub-heading Genre, with the programme from last night with the metadata problem, it said for Genre, 'get_iplayer' whereas the download from last Friday & others in the week it says for Genre, 'Weather'.

So can someone enlighten me & tell me how can I tell whether a downloaded programme has got the metadata downloaded or not?
Thank You.

EDIT: youtube-dl queries removed. It has its own site. This site is for get_iplayer support only.

Hi Mystic Merlin,
Metadata is info for the file like what the title is, what modes are available, the link to the thumbnail image which can be embedded into the file etc. Really all the data you get when you run --info on a programme is metadata.

At the moment with the ongoing metadata problems, the titles of downloaded programmes are wrong and embedded thumbnails are incorrect etc. However this has absolutely no effect on the file itself.

Hello again tvfan,
Thanks for your reply & I had read it about 15mins ago but since then I went looking at the programmes that I've downloaded earlier obviously with the metadata problem.
Now let me say that all the programmes I've downloaded have the correct titles & would I be correct in saying that the thumbnail is the image you see of the downloaded vid if you were to view it in Windows & you were to view your list of the downloaded files as Large icons for instance. Then all the programmes I've downloaded have an image or thumbnail showing relevant to the programme in question. So if I'm right then although I get the metadata error just before the programme I'm downloading begins, the final download seems to be fully intact & no different to a download before the metadata error began. So is there anyway I can check that my downloads are not complete i.e. missing the metadata?
BTW, I'm using GiP v2.97 (don't tell Dinky lol) & I use the URL with the CLI.

I think some slightly older version like 2.97 must use a different source for their metadata. I have also noticed this but currently 2.99 cannot get much in the way of metadata at all. If I try to download todays News at Six, it wants to call the file get_iplayer_-_b08ht6kp_b08ht6kp_default which is obviously not very helpful as a filename. 2.96 on the other hand will call this file BBC_News_at_Six_2017-03-14_-__b08ht6kp_default and --info picks up a tiny bit more metadata than 2.99 does.

Yes the thumbnail image is what's displayed as the "holding image" when you look at your downloads as a list. However if there is no thumbnail, Windows will create one for the file using the 1st frame of the video.

Not really sure on the best way to check for missing metadata. It depends if you actually use any of that metadata or not. If you don't use it then I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks again tvfan. I'm a bit more informed now with what you have said.
I suppose I did think that Windows would create an image for a particular file but then the question is how can you tell whether the image/thumbnail created is the first frame of the video or the thumbnail downloaded? I suppose if I were to view the vid & freeze it on the first frame & then compare it with the image showing for the file in Windows that could confirm whether it is a Windows generated image or not lol
But as you have rightly said that the metadata is only important to the people that need it & the lack of it does not interfere (I don't think) with the quality of the audio or video of the download.
I get using v2.97 what you have highlighted that you get using v2.96.

I bet Dinky will think I'm sad when I type this lol but I did do just what I had suggested I could do tvfan & that is to start & play a download & freeze the image right at the beginning & then compare that to the image shown in Windows for that file. The result of that is the image is different & so I think I can conclude that I did get the thumbnail downloaded with the vid including the correct title etc. Whether I got all the metadata or just part of it I cannot say. I can see & hear the programme/s & so perhaps I can't complain & at least I've got them before they expire tomorrow lol
At least people know that we are not all getting the same results/problems.

Usually a BBC generated thumbnail will be more descriptive so might have a person or something relevant in it. If its a Windows generated thumbnail it may well just be black or a picture of nothingness. If the thumbnail looks like the sort of thing they use on the iPlayer site when you load a programme then it's probably a proper thumbnail :)

The current metadata problems will not affect the file itself in any way.

Yes tvfan, you are correct. The image I have showing for my downloaded file is the image showing on the BBC iPlayer site for the programme series which is in my case the Art Of France. So I do have the correct thumbnail, thanks.

It's interesting that 2.97 does put the correct name on the file whereas 2.99 doesn't (while the BBC is in flux). 2.97 also recorded the HD version of a program whereas 2.99 recorded the LD version.

So, for now, I've gone back to 2.97 to capture those essential programs

Alan