Hello,

I'm quite new to this so if anyone can help me I'd really appreciate it.

I have get_iplayer 2.95 on Linux Mint 17

I'm trying to download some of the Glastonbury programmes of which there are 96 available on the iPlayer website here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/p03z0qzk

I've tried using these commands:

get_iplayer Glastonbury
get_iplayer "Glastonbury"

But all I get is this:




The one I want is James which is this one on the iPlayer website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p03...p=p03z0qzk

If I use these commands:

get_iplayer James
get_iplayer "James"

All I get is this:



Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong please?

Thanks

OK, you made an account and posted here but for some reason you seem to have not seen the guides which are linked to in the top bar.

What do I need to do to make them more obvious?

This is a serious question as you aren't the only one who fails to find the guides.

Would a different word be better?

Sorry if I’m missing something obvious here but I did read the guides. I went through the example commands which is where I got what I posted here. That's why I'm asking what it is I'm doing wrong.

If the answer is out, there just give me a link and I'll find it. Thanks.

Let me help solve your problem. Searches using the programme name are only possible within one week of transmission and after that you need to download using the PID. For any programmes that were only available on Red Button or the web, you can only use the PID.

Now I'm not sure where you got the PID from but my best advice is that for an event such as Glasto or Springwatch or Wimbledon, your best bet is initially to find the programme page. If you are on any iPlayer page just type "Glastonbury" into the "Search BBC iPlayer" box. That gives you the programme page and scrolling down you will find the James concert which has the URL http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03y1k25, so from this the correct PID is p03y1k25.

All you need to do with v2.95 of get_iPlayer is type:
get_iplayer --pid p03y1k25
I've done this myself and the programme downloads successfully.

Enjoy the programme and see you on the mailing list. :-)

Alan

Thanks Alan. That worked a treat. I didn’t realise that these were any different from other TV programmes as I’d already watched them on TV and I assumed they were the same as any other TV programme.

Thanks again.

Steven

SquarePenguin, if you’re genuinely looking for ways to improve your guides and avoid repeatedly being asked questions such as mine, can I respectfully recommend that you include this advice provided by Alan here:

Quote:Searches using the programme name are only possible within one week of transmission and after that you need to download using the PID. For any programmes that were only available on Red Button or the web, you can only use the PID.

As far as I can tell, this advice is not in the guide or if it is, it isn’t in the search section. I was posting here because I thought I was doing something wrong with my searching and this little nugget would have solved the problem very quickly.

Excellent thanks. My question was genuine and not meant to be misconstrued.

That info is in the FAQ and release notes I think but the struggle with get_iplayer is there is a lot to read to know everything you need.

It's also an issue because it actually isnt 7 days now with the release of v2.95, it's capable of 30 days but a bit of a more complex way of caching that data.

If you want to know more about that then go to wiki > release notes > version 2.95.

I'll see about adding this sort of info into the guide as that's probably a more popular and readily seen section of the site.

Quote:Searches using the programme name are only possible within one week of transmission and after that you need to download using the PID. For any programmes that were only available on Red Button or the web, you can only use the PID.

Alan is only half right. I refer you to the latest release notes and the Searching section of the examples page in the guides section for a description of how get_iplayer supports searching for programmes up to 30 days from transmission. Red button and web-only programmes are still not searchable.

You're very welcome. As I said earlier, for that type of event always go to the programme page.

In the first seven days of transmission, you can do a search on the name, eg:
get_iplayer "Graham Norton"

If there are any programmes that correspond to the search they will have a number alongside them:

Matches:
1793: The Graham Norton Show: Series 19 - Compilation Show, BBC One, b07jcl75
INFO: 1 Matching Programmes

So you choose the one you want and type:
get_iplayer --get 1793
or
get_iplayer --pid b07jcl75

Note, every time your list is refreshed the number (in this case 1793) will change but the PID never does, that uniquely identifies the programme.

After 7 days the download always has to be using the PID, using the instructions I've already given.

You can download multiple programmes eg:
get_iplayer --get 1208,1345
or
get_iplayer --pid b07jcl75,b03ab234

with just a comma separating the programme identifiers and no spaces! :-)

If you want to download a whole series, you have to use PID so for example, the TV series "New Blood" has the programme page http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03vfqsq. If you click on Episodes near the top of the page, it shows that 5 programmes are available. Now you could download each one individually or the lot at once. To do that:
get_iplayer --pid-recursive --pid p03vfqsq

It's really useful for large series, for example I downloaded all of Wimbledon that way!

get_iplayer assumes you're downloading TV, for radio programmes the same as above but add type=radio in the command line (although I think I read that may be superfluous from this version where you're using the PID).

Enjoy using get_iplayer, it's a superb program.

Best wishes


Alan

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I stand corrected Dinky, LOL. But then I tend to use PIDs a lot of the time anyway! :-)