The HLS Streams seem to download at a reasonable speed most of the time but I have noticed that if I try to download multiple programmes across 2 or 3 windows then all instances slow right down. With RTMPDump running it across a few windows didn't seem to have an impact on the speed too much so is this something to do with FFMpeg or something else?
I'm not seeing this. I tried with 5 concurrent streams and I seem to get about a constant 1.3MB/s download per stream on a 150mbps cable connection. Are you trying any particular set of programmes?
Though I did just see something I wasn't expecting. With
get_iplayer --modes=hlsbest --pid=b069b0lt I noticed the following:
get_iplayer Output:
192904.447 kB / 658.00 sec (18.5%)
ERROR: RTMP_ReadPacket, failed to read RTMP packet header
192904.447 kB / 658.00 sec (18.5%)
INFO: Connection timed out, trying to resume.
Resuming download at: 192904.447 kB
Should there be RTMP errors when using an HLS stream?
No particular programmes. We are on a 60mbps connection but it should still have the power to run a few concurrently. A 1 hour programme run on its own takes about 6 minutes.
Also you seem to be getting output in percentages. I'm getting it like this:
get_iplayer Output:
frame= 151 fps= 42 q=-1.0 size= 1920kB time=00:00:06.04 bitrate=2604.5kbits/
frame= 175 fps= 42 q=-1.0 size= 2409kB time=00:00:07.00 bitrate=2819.7kbits/
frame= 191 fps= 40 q=-1.0 size= 2634kB time=00:00:07.64 bitrate=2824.2kbits/
frame= 195 fps= 34 q=-1.0 size= 2683kB time=00:00:07.80 bitrate=2818.1kbits/
I've always got a percentage reading. I was wondering why people were talking about frames per second on the mailing list. Perhaps it's because I'm using the PPA version?
get_iplayer Output:
get_iplayer 2.94-ppa23
SP: For some reason, you're not downloading HLS . That progress display is from rtmpdump, not ffmpeg.
For me the problem is --modes=hlsbest. That simply gives me the RTMP stream. I have to use --tvmode=hlsbest and then I receive the HLS stream.
Do you experience this behaviour?
Example commands...
Receive RTMP:
get_iplayer --modes=hlsbest --pid=p02z83jc --force
Receive HLS:
get_iplayer --tvmode=hlsbest --pid=p02z83jc --force
No. Do you have tvmode set in preferences?
Oops...
get_iplayer Output:
tvmode = best
fileprefix = <nameshort><-senum><-episodeshort>
type = tv
Are you still able to run 5 concurrent HLS downloads at a good speed?
Yes. I get a lower reported frame rate per stream (around 300fps) compared to when I run a single download (around 650fps) but looking at the network I see I'm pulling down about 19MBps (megabytes per second) when running 5 streams which is maxing out my connection.
A single stream seems to max out at around 10MBps for me, though it is fairly unstable and drops down to about 600fps by the time the download is complete.
Yes the fps reading does seem to be quite unreliable compared to the actual MB/s.