I don't have the ability to record TV programmes but I really would have liked to keep a copy of this years BBC Sports Personality of the Year so could anyone kindly tell me if there any way to download something using GIP, which is on iPlayer via streaming but isn't available for download?

Yes you can download anything that's on iPlayer with GIP. Have a look at the guides to see how to use it https://squarepenguin.co.uk/guides/tv-download-guide/

Unfortunately, even though the programme is still available on the website I'm having no luck so far with GIP.

Ideally, I would like to get the HD version but as that didn't work I have tried a few combinations of commands without success.

Initially the command line I used was
get_iplayer --modes=flashhd --subtitles --pid=b04v4ly7 (this is the correct PID)

This was the error returned by GIP
C:\Program Files (x86)\get_iplayer>get_iplayer --modes=flashhd --subtitles --pid
=b04v4ly7
get_iplayer v2.90, Copyright (C) 2008-2010 Phil Lewis
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details use --warranty.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain
conditions; use --conditions for details.

INFO Trying to stream pid using type tv
INFO: pid found in cache
Matches:
167: BBC Sports Personality of the Year - 2014, BBC One, Sport, default

INFO: 1 Matching Programmes
INFO: Checking existence of default version
INFO: No specified modes (flashhd) available for this programme with version 'de
fault' (try using --modes=flashaacstd,rtspaacstd)
ERROR: Failed to record 'BBC Sports Personality of the Year - 2014 (b04v4ly7)'

C:\Program Files (x86)\get_iplayer>

As that didn't work I tried --tvmode=best and I have also tried both the PID and index methods but no luck with any of them. Strangely, on one of my efforts it did download the subtitles but not the programme.

I'm only guessing but I suspected it wouldn't work because the website says the programme is not available for download, hence my question. Unfortunately, I cannot see anything in the instructions on here for getting around that so if anyone could suggest how to do it I'd be very grateful.

You need to update to the latest version of 2.90. This includes a lot of fixes for problems that have developed since the original 2.90 was released.

Have a look at https://squarepenguin.co.uk/wiki/install...itheadgit/ and if you are on Windows https://squarepenguin.co.uk/wiki/install...itheadwin/

Once you have updated, the programme should download.

Hi there.

First post in this forum so be gentle!

Just wanted to say that I was having the exact same issue with Sports Personality of the Year and a couple of radio programmes that all of a sudden had issues around no default available and becoming a right pain to download. I followed the above discussion and then went through adding in the GITHead adaption. Worked like a charm!!!

Thanks guys for a really helpful bit of kit - I love get_iplayer!!