Hi, I just downloaded, Extinct - A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs (2011), using the command:

get_iplayer --pid b014vy60 --modes=best

Get_iPlayer showed that the file was 811.31 MB and that shrank to 763MB when converted to MP4.

Is that really the best file available?

I used the command:

get_iplayer --pid b014vy60 --info

which seemed to suggest that it is:

Quote:index:           2408
longname:        Extinct: A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs
modes:           original: hvfxsd1,hvfxsd2,hvfxsd3,dvfxsd1,dvfxsd2,hvfhigh1,hvfh
igh2,hvfhigh3,hvfxhigh1,hvfxhigh2,hvfxhigh3,hvflow1,hvflow2,hvflow3,dvflow1,dvfl
ow2,subtitles1,subtitles2
modesizes:       original: hvfxsd1=826MB,hvfxsd2=826MB,hvfxsd3=826MB,dvfxsd1=709
MB,dvfxsd2=709MB,hvfhigh1=810MB,hvfhigh2=810MB,hvfhigh3=810MB,hvfxhigh1=456MB,hv
fxhigh2=456MB,hvfxhigh3=456MB,hvflow1=270MB,hvflow2=270MB,hvflow3=270MB,dvflow1=
193MB,dvflow2=193MB,subtitles1=105kB,subtitles2=105kB [estimated sizes only]
name:            Extinct: A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs
nameshort:       Extinct: A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs
pid:             b014vy60
player:          https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b014vy60

but I'm not really sure if there's another way to access a better quality HD version.

TIA!

It may well not have been made in HD back in 2011, so there wouldn't be an HD version to download.

In 2011 the BBC were broadcasting some stuff on the Freeview HD system, but they were a long way from doing everything in HD I think.

Thanks for the reply.

That was what I assumed but when I Googled:

Extinct - A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs (2011) HDTV

the results included a file that claimed to be a "720p HDTV" version, which they must have got from somewhere - unless, of course, it's a fake.