Re: Overwriting lower quality files
On 01/10/2023 21:31, MrBrunes wrote: For encoding rates I appreciate the theory with historical programmes but I've found in practice that there are noticeably fewer blocky video artefacts with dashfhd1 vs SD. It depends very much on the type of SD. Some more recent encodings are using XSD as opposed to SD, and they're awful - in wildlife programmes rivers flow stop-start, etc - but the older SD encodings to which I was referring were fine. It also seems to depend on who does the encoding, some occasional individual programmes were done really badly, and for them any re-encoding, even just again as SD, is likely to be an improvement, and that's probably what you're seeing with HD or FHD. Comparing audio, MediaInfo says: hlshd1AAC LC SBR96kps 48kHz dashfhd1AAC LC128kbps 48kHz i.e. there is a difference with HD encodings, and I'd assume that given a lossy encoder then a higher bitrate is to be preferred. I suspect the 96kps is probably a one-off error. For some time now, the BBC have been using 128kbps for everything (except possibly xsd, as I never download those I wouldn't know). ISTR that there was a time in the past when they tried higher audio bitrates for HD, but people complained that their equipment couldn't play them back, so they lowered them back to 128. ___ get_iplayer mailing list get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer
Re: Overwriting lower quality files
Tx to all for the valuable insights and some useful options that I'd not seen before. For encoding rates I appreciate the theory with historical programmes but I've found in practice that there are noticeably fewer blocky video artefacts with dashfhd1 vs SD. Comparing audio, MediaInfo says: hlshd1AAC LC SBR96kps 48kHz dashfhd1AAC LC128kbps 48kHz i.e. there is a difference with HD encodings, and I'd assume that given a lossy encoder then a higher bitrate is to be preferred. Also on the older SD versions the BBC logo is on the black left vertical border, but in dashhfd1 it's a semi-transparent BBC FOUR ident in-screen. So it appears that it is not just a re-encode. If there were no benefit then why would the Beeb reencode them? With storage being relatively cheap, I've just opted to go with the Wildean 'simplest tastes' option. With YouTube resolutions, then I've discovered that YT often thin out videos with higher encoding bit rates. Stuff that used to be available in HD is now only at SD! So I now grab them in HD while I can. As for TOTP generally, I find the episodes to be entertaining historical documents, albeit with the various redactions, with classic renditions just not available elsewhere. On Sat, 30 Sept 2023 at 23:17, MacFH - C E Macfarlane - News wrote: > > On 30/09/2023 12:05, MrBrunes wrote: > > > > I've just realised that some of my historical downloads of TOTP are in > > SD or non-50fps HD but the download history doesn't seem to note the > > quality, so I need to force download them again. Since new programmes > > are currently made available each week (for 30d) I thought I could add > > "force 1" to the PVR search for that programme, but then this will > > obvs download files that are already in 50fps. Also it will keep > > downloading files each time they are made available. > > > > I thought of deleting all the TOTP lines in download_history as that > > at least would prevent them from being downloaded again subsequently, > > but I don't know if this is an easy thing to do (can't see if my text > > editor can do this (Notepad++). > > > > Is there a better, more efficient method of doing this? > > I've refrained from replying before because I thought you might not > welcome my advice, which is simply: don't waste your time! > > Remember that ... > > As far as video resolution goes, TOTP2 dates from analogue days, which > IMS at its best was roughly equivalent to the 720 x 576 of a DVD, but > often when rebroadcast digitally was worse, for example ITV broadcast at > 544 x 576 for a long time, and I have a series of programmes about > Stonehenge recorded, IMS originally onto VHS, variously from UK TV and > Ch 5 for which the resolution width is often actually less than the > height, though whether that's down to the original broadcast or the VHS > I can not now recall. Currently SD downloads as 960 x 540 & HD as 1080 > x 720, so there's really little to be gained by HD over SD given the > source material is not likely to be much if at all better than the former. > > Secondly, as far as the audio resolution is concerned - and call me > old-fashioned if you must, but I thought the most important thing about > music is, well, the music, not the video - both SD & HD have only 128k > stereo @ 48k, so there can be no improvement there, either. > > However, if you insist on allowing the devil to make work for idle > hands, I will point out that you don't need a special program to sort > your download history, merely a spreadsheet. Depending in which flavour > of Office that you use, import the file as text specifying the vertical > bar '|' as the field separator character, and perhaps also specifying > the duration to be a numeric field and everything else as text. That > will enable you to sort by column within column, etc. > ___ get_iplayer mailing list get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer
Re: Overwriting lower quality files
On 30/09/2023 12:05, MrBrunes wrote: I've just realised that some of my historical downloads of TOTP are in SD or non-50fps HD but the download history doesn't seem to note the quality, so I need to force download them again. Since new programmes are currently made available each week (for 30d) I thought I could add "force 1" to the PVR search for that programme, but then this will obvs download files that are already in 50fps. Also it will keep downloading files each time they are made available. I thought of deleting all the TOTP lines in download_history as that at least would prevent them from being downloaded again subsequently, but I don't know if this is an easy thing to do (can't see if my text editor can do this (Notepad++). Is there a better, more efficient method of doing this? I have a small script which uses ffmpeg to report what the frame rate is, and another similar script to report the resolution. You could use these in another small script of your own to conditionally re-download only those that aren't in your desired quality: https://github.com/DrHyde/shellscripts/blob/master/fps https://github.com/DrHyde/shellscripts/blob/master/ffres -- David Cantrell ___ get_iplayer mailing list get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer
Re: Overwriting lower quality files
... he might be a fan of Pan's persons and wanting the best quality video he can to spark youthful memories. but your point is correct, of the few I have watched I never saw what I would call HD quality output and you can often get better music quality on Spotify or even Youtube - of course they won't be the TOTP versions with DLT or Kid Jensen's commentary drowning out the end of the song. On 30/09/2023 23:17, MacFH - C E Macfarlane - News wrote: On 30/09/2023 12:05, MrBrunes wrote: I've just realised that some of my historical downloads of TOTP are in SD or non-50fps HD but the download history doesn't seem to note the quality, so I need to force download them again. Since new programmes are currently made available each week (for 30d) I thought I could add "force 1" to the PVR search for that programme, but then this will obvs download files that are already in 50fps. Also it will keep downloading files each time they are made available. I thought of deleting all the TOTP lines in download_history as that at least would prevent them from being downloaded again subsequently, but I don't know if this is an easy thing to do (can't see if my text editor can do this (Notepad++). Is there a better, more efficient method of doing this? I've refrained from replying before because I thought you might not welcome my advice, which is simply: don't waste your time! Remember that ... As far as video resolution goes, TOTP2 dates from analogue days, which IMS at its best was roughly equivalent to the 720 x 576 of a DVD, but often when rebroadcast digitally was worse, for example ITV broadcast at 544 x 576 for a long time, and I have a series of programmes about Stonehenge recorded, IMS originally onto VHS, variously from UK TV and Ch 5 for which the resolution width is often actually less than the height, though whether that's down to the original broadcast or the VHS I can not now recall. Currently SD downloads as 960 x 540 & HD as 1080 x 720, so there's really little to be gained by HD over SD given the source material is not likely to be much if at all better than the former. Secondly, as far as the audio resolution is concerned - and call me old-fashioned if you must, but I thought the most important thing about music is, well, the music, not the video - both SD & HD have only 128k stereo @ 48k, so there can be no improvement there, either. However, if you insist on allowing the devil to make work for idle hands, I will point out that you don't need a special program to sort your download history, merely a spreadsheet. Depending in which flavour of Office that you use, import the file as text specifying the vertical bar '|' as the field separator character, and perhaps also specifying the duration to be a numeric field and everything else as text. That will enable you to sort by column within column, etc. ___ get_iplayer mailing list get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer ___ get_iplayer mailing list get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer
Re: Overwriting lower quality files
Here's my ten penn'th. Hopefully some of it might spark methods for you. Rgds. If you have set gip to download the best quality then that's what it will do. The PID normally remains the same for all versions of the programme: quality, signed, etc.. Force will tell gip to override blocking of already downloaded files whatever PIDs you specify. However if you are downloading them to the same directory as where they are stored, then you will need to also set overwrite. If you are after the easiest way to refresh higher quality and there's no data volume issues, then make sure the quality settings are as high as possible and download them all. If they are only available for 30 days then at the end of that time they will stop being downloaded. then follow whatever process you are using to move these to your storage area, assuming it's separate. I've not really had to deal with large numbers of files for a program, the closest for me was gardener's world for a year (around 30) that I wanted to ensure a refresh of at highest quality. I always use a command line anyway and I get the PID from the iplayer website for individual programs or series (best way for series is usually to head over to the programme website using the link from the iplayer programme page and the series PID is there somewhere in the url or on the page) Then I simply use get_iplayer --pid-recursive --force --PID=zyxwvuts ( actually I have pid recursive permanently set in my options) Then in my case I use 2 windows of a file manager that can show file size and video resolution as columns and I can see at a glance what needs to be to copied/moved over. 30 files takes 2 - 3 minutes plus copy time, it's simply select all that need to move from source, move them to destination, then delete the rest. If you have hundreds and have a low/limited bandwidth link then you will probably need some automation. I don't use PVR, so not sure if you can do it there or whether you need a more programmatic approach. You can of course using a batch/command file approach in the collecting of your TOTP rather than rely on PVR, which I have done for my Granddaughter's favourite programme (well, this months). For some reason the BBC was broadcasting them in an odd order and only releasing a few new ones a week while retaining them on Iplayer for 30 days. My options use highest quality anyway, so I created a very simple batch file get_iplayer --pid=zyxwvuts where the PID was the programme PID (the one above the series PID, so all episodes of any series would be collected) then set the system scheduler to run this once every day from my desktop when I knew it would be on and logged in. then every few days I'd copy new episodes from the download directory to the directory I store them in for her to access via Plex. Anything that I'd already downloaded was of course not re-downloaded so if there are no new episodes it takes seconds to run. Took a while but we now have all episodes available. ... Yes, she's 1.75 years old and can identify the correct remote, turn on the TV, select Plex, log in as herself (with PIN) and get to her cartoon characters. When she's bored of it I'll delete them and I'm sure we'll be with something else. That way she's not trying to access other streaming services (tho' we've already protected them anyway) relevant options file entries from my setup are: tvmode fhd,hd,sd,web,mobile whitespace 1 fileprefix subdir 1 excludesupplier bidi outputtv V:\Holding\iP\TV subdirformat pidrecursive 1 On 30/09/2023 12:05, MrBrunes wrote: I've just realised that some of my historical downloads of TOTP are in SD or non-50fps HD but the download history doesn't seem to note the quality, so I need to force download them again. Since new programmes are currently made available each week (for 30d) I thought I could add "force 1" to the PVR search for that programme, but then this will obvs download files that are already in 50fps. Also it will keep downloading files each time they are made available. I thought of deleting all the TOTP lines in download_history as that at least would prevent them from being downloaded again subsequently, but I don't know if this is an easy thing to do (can't see if my text editor can do this (Notepad++). Is there a better, more efficient method of doing this? ___ get_iplayer mailing list get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer On 30/09/2023 12:05, MrBrunes wrote: I've just realised that some of my historical downloads of TOTP are in SD or non-50fps HD but the download history doesn't seem to note the quality, so I need to force download them again. Since new programmes are currently made available each week (for 30d) I thought I could add "force 1" to the PVR search for that programme, but then this will obvs download files that are already in 50fps. Also
Re: Overwriting lower quality files
On 30/09/2023 12:05, MrBrunes wrote: I've just realised that some of my historical downloads of TOTP are in SD or non-50fps HD but the download history doesn't seem to note the quality, so I need to force download them again. Since new programmes are currently made available each week (for 30d) I thought I could add "force 1" to the PVR search for that programme, but then this will obvs download files that are already in 50fps. Also it will keep downloading files each time they are made available. I thought of deleting all the TOTP lines in download_history as that at least would prevent them from being downloaded again subsequently, but I don't know if this is an easy thing to do (can't see if my text editor can do this (Notepad++). Is there a better, more efficient method of doing this? I've refrained from replying before because I thought you might not welcome my advice, which is simply: don't waste your time! Remember that ... As far as video resolution goes, TOTP2 dates from analogue days, which IMS at its best was roughly equivalent to the 720 x 576 of a DVD, but often when rebroadcast digitally was worse, for example ITV broadcast at 544 x 576 for a long time, and I have a series of programmes about Stonehenge recorded, IMS originally onto VHS, variously from UK TV and Ch 5 for which the resolution width is often actually less than the height, though whether that's down to the original broadcast or the VHS I can not now recall. Currently SD downloads as 960 x 540 & HD as 1080 x 720, so there's really little to be gained by HD over SD given the source material is not likely to be much if at all better than the former. Secondly, as far as the audio resolution is concerned - and call me old-fashioned if you must, but I thought the most important thing about music is, well, the music, not the video - both SD & HD have only 128k stereo @ 48k, so there can be no improvement there, either. However, if you insist on allowing the devil to make work for idle hands, I will point out that you don't need a special program to sort your download history, merely a spreadsheet. Depending in which flavour of Office that you use, import the file as text specifying the vertical bar '|' as the field separator character, and perhaps also specifying the duration to be a numeric field and everything else as text. That will enable you to sort by column within column, etc. ___ get_iplayer mailing list get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer
Re: Overwriting lower quality files
Tx to Michael I think I've eventually found a way to do this. A quick search in download history shows TOTP quality varying with: hvfxsd1 hvfhd1 hlshd1 dashfhd1 https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/wiki/modesref/a1db796dfe2a447d5e917f25a6a8b5deb0bfef9e#tv-modes helped decode these, meaning that I needed to re-download all the non-dashfhd1 programmes as they are just 540/720 rather than 1080. I then used NP++ Search, Mark / Bookmark line /Mark All functions to bookmark all the lines matching a certain title, then cut and pasted all bookmarked lines into a separate file. Edited that file to leave just the 1080 lines, and then pasted them back into the download history file. On Sat, 30 Sept 2023 at 12:41, Michael Gregory wrote: > > You can use NP++ to sort your download_history starting at column 10 to get > all the TOTP together to help. > Should have quality there too, in the field after pid, eg: hvfhdq1, dashfhd1, > (HQ which you want to leave) > But some in my file do not have that field populated... I think they are ones > I downloaded before broadcast. > > 30 Sept 2023 12:08:36 MrBrunes : > > > I've just realised that some of my historical downloads of TOTP are in > > SD or non-50fps HD but the download history doesn't seem to note the > > quality, so I need to force download them again. Since new programmes > > are currently made available each week (for 30d) I thought I could add > > "force 1" to the PVR search for that programme, but then this will > > obvs download files that are already in 50fps. Also it will keep > > downloading files each time they are made available. > > > > I thought of deleting all the TOTP lines in download_history as that > > at least would prevent them from being downloaded again subsequently, > > but I don't know if this is an easy thing to do (can't see if my text > > editor can do this (Notepad++). > > > > Is there a better, more efficient method of doing this? > > > > ___ > > get_iplayer mailing list > > get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org > > http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer > Cheers, > Mike > -- > Michael Gregory > I recommend Octopus Energy: Get a sign-up bonus at > https://share.octopus.energy/pure-rhino-141 ___ get_iplayer mailing list get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer
Re: Overwriting lower quality files
You can use NP++ to sort your download_history starting at column 10 to get all the TOTP together to help. Should have quality there too, in the field after pid, eg: hvfhdq1, dashfhd1, (HQ which you want to leave) But some in my file do not have that field populated... I think they are ones I downloaded before broadcast. 30 Sept 2023 12:08:36 MrBrunes : > I've just realised that some of my historical downloads of TOTP are in > SD or non-50fps HD but the download history doesn't seem to note the > quality, so I need to force download them again. Since new programmes > are currently made available each week (for 30d) I thought I could add > "force 1" to the PVR search for that programme, but then this will > obvs download files that are already in 50fps. Also it will keep > downloading files each time they are made available. > > I thought of deleting all the TOTP lines in download_history as that > at least would prevent them from being downloaded again subsequently, > but I don't know if this is an easy thing to do (can't see if my text > editor can do this (Notepad++). > > Is there a better, more efficient method of doing this? > > ___ > get_iplayer mailing list > get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org > http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer Cheers, Mike -- Michael Gregory I recommend Octopus Energy: Get a sign-up bonus at https://share.octopus.energy/pure-rhino-141 ___ get_iplayer mailing list get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer
Re: Overwriting lower quality files
On Sat, 2023-09-30 at 12:05 +0100, MrBrunes wrote: > I've just realised that some of my historical downloads of TOTP are in > SD or non-50fps HD but the download history doesn't seem to note the > quality, so I need to force download them again. Since new programmes > are currently made available each week (for 30d) I thought I could add > "force 1" to the PVR search for that programme, but then this will > obvs download files that are already in 50fps. Also it will keep > downloading files each time they are made available. If you want to keep the SD files but also have HD files, why not simply specify that you want the HD files to be stored in a different folder to the SD files? See my comments below regarding your comment "Also it will keep downloading files each time they are made available". > I thought of deleting all the TOTP lines in download_history as that > at least would prevent them from being downloaded again subsequently, > but I don't know if this is an easy thing to do (can't see if my text > editor can do this (Notepad++). Haven't you got that round the wrong way? The download_history file contains PIDs of the files you've downloaded so if you delete those PIDs then it wouldn't prevent them from being downloaded again, it would in fact force them to be downloaded again if you specify the PID of the TOTP programme or the name as your search term. The download_history file is a simple text file and can easily be edited in Notepad++. Just be aware that the lines of text for each pid are long. > Is there a better, more efficient method of doing this? -- __ __| |_ __ __ .. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:cdw_pcm...@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ || ___ get_iplayer mailing list get_iplayer@lists.infradead.org http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer
