BBC iplayer will need licence fee from September

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#1691064 16-Dec-2016 13:14

I wonder if this might not be used. It seems to be targeted at the us:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/12/britbox-bbc-worldwide-itv-streaming-service/

Previously known as psycik

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rb99

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#1691080 16-Dec-2016 13:40

Rikkitic:

The BBC is my main source of quality viewing. Because my RBI is not always reliable, I download the videos I want to watch for later viewing. I don't use the iPlayer downloader for this because of the restrictions. Instead I initially used IDM, which was brilliant, but then BBC changed something and it stopped working. Then I discovered that Any Video Converter worked almost as well, and I have been using that. Now it has also stopped working for most videos. So I switched to get_iplayer. It does still work, but is extremely slow. I posted about this on the get_iplayer site and got a snarky reply about being outside of Britain, which is a bit rich coming from someone running a site dedicated to bypassing BBC's download restrictions.

Anyway, since I couldn't get any help there, I had to figure out my own solution so here it is for anyone else who is interested. As far as I can tell, get_iplayer will only download one file at a time, at least from the command line. There is a graphic interface for the programme, but I haven't really explored that yet. You can instruct it to do multiple downloads, but it still does them one at a time, using only a small portion of available bandwidth and taking forever. My solution to this is simple: just run multiple instances of the programme. That seems to work well. I just open however many command line windows I need for the videos I want to download, then run a separate instance of get_iplayer in each window. This doesn't make the individual downloads any faster, but it does let me download multiple files simultaneously by using more of the available bandwidth, which makes it much faster per video.

A good and simple idea. Never thought of that. There is a recursive command for you to do a whole series in one go, but its still one episode after the other, not concurrent.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

robjg63

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#1691089 16-Dec-2016 14:06

If you want to speed up the downloads (one at a time) you would need to reduce the picture quality. Its not just your internet connection - we are not optimised for BBC uk traffic - so sometimes its just not that quick.

By default get_iplayer defaults to top HD quality. Around 2GB for 1 hour of content. It can take much longer than 1 hour to download a 1 hr program at that rate. If you are prepared to reduce the quality a bit it will download quicker.

Just run one of the command lines like "get_iplayer --prefs-add --tvmode=vgood" for example and subsequent downloads will be smaller, still quite good quality, and should download quicker.

Have a look here :

https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/wiki/modes#configuring-maximum-recording-quality

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rb99

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#1691093 16-Dec-2016 14:12

...personally I go for the 25fps option --tvmode=tv25fps half the size

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

Asmodeus

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#1698640 4-Jan-2017 23:28

Has anyone heard any more on this becoming restricted to license holders only?

blakamin

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#1698655 5-Jan-2017 00:10

It is... It asks you if you have a licence...

That's it.

CYaBro

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#1698660 5-Jan-2017 00:52

blakamin:

It is... It asks you if you have a licence...

That's it.

Haven't seen this yet.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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Asmodeus

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#1705344 18-Jan-2017 16:21

OK, I thought (from this thread) that they were going to actually enforce it somehow this year...

Long may it last anyway!

steve2222

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#1812333 4-Jul-2017 08:22

It's happened - overnight my BBC iPlayer apps are now forcing a login requirement.

Suspect you will also effectively need a TV licence as I had an old BBC account from when I lived there and I got an email the other month with new T&C's that said they would be sharing your BBC iPlayer login email address with the licencing authorities - so they can match it to a an email address associated with a TV licence.

Sad!

Rikkitic

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#1812356 4-Jul-2017 09:03

Still works for me.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

jat80

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#1812515 4-Jul-2017 12:53

Works for me fine as well.

shk292

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#1812520 4-Jul-2017 13:04

I recently went through the process of creating a BBC login, and then validating this to the TV on which we watch iPlayer. Seems to work OK so far, and haven't (yet) been asked for a TV licence. Would probably be happy to buy a licence if it comes to that

richms

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#1812524 4-Jul-2017 13:14

steve2222:

It's happened - overnight my BBC iPlayer apps are now forcing a login requirement.

Suspect you will also effectively need a TV licence as I had an old BBC account from when I lived there and I got an email the other month with new T&C's that said they would be sharing your BBC iPlayer login email address with the licencing authorities - so they can match it to a an email address associated with a TV licence.

Sad!

I guess that might work for people that use the same email address everywhere. I havent used iplayer for ages now since topgear became crap, might give it another shot sometime. I have a login that I made ages ago so I could favorite shows, recall some emails that I ignored about something with them.

Richard rich.ms

MurrayM

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#1812608 4-Jul-2017 14:30

shk292:

I recently went through the process of creating a BBC login, and then validating this to the TV on which we watch iPlayer. Seems to work OK so far, and haven't (yet) been asked for a TV licence. Would probably be happy to buy a licence if it comes to that

How much is the fee? About £150 a year isn't it? That's about NZ$270.

ScuL

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#1812635 4-Jul-2017 15:12

TV licenses are linked to the postcode in the UK. I am not sure if you can purchase one if you reside in NZ (unless you freely want to sponsor someone a license)

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