get_iplayer: BBC iPlayer Indexing Tool and PVR

Features

• Downloads MP4 streams from BBC iPlayer site with better quality than Flash player streams
• Downloads Flash AAC/MP3 and WMA streams for radio programmes
• Allow multiple programmes to be downloaded using a single command
• Indexing of all available iPlayer programs
• Caching of Index (default 4h)
• Regex search on programme name
• Regex search on programme description and episode title
• PVR capability (may be used from crontab)
• Full HTTP Proxy support
• Runs on Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, openSUSE and many others), OS X (10.5+) and Windows (XP/Vista/7/8)
• Requires perl 5.8.8+ with LWP module

NOTE: get_iplayer can only search programmes broadcast within the previous 7 days, even if they are available for 30 days on the iPlayer web site. See FAQ #1.

Documentation

https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/wiki

Support

https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/wiki/help

Installation (Linux/Unix/OS X)

• Download latest release:

  https://raw.github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer/latest/get_iplayer

• After downloading the script make it executable:

  chmod 755 ./get_iplayer

  The script may optionally be installed to a location in PATH.

• You can set the default download directory by putting the following in your shell environment (e.g. ~/.bashrc):

  export IPLAYER_OUTDIR="/path/to/my/output/dir"

• The first time you run the script it will create a settings directory (~/.get_iplayer) and download plugins. It will then access the BBC website and create an index of all TV programmes currently on iPlayer.

Installation (Windows)

See documentation for Windows installation information.

Usage

get_iplayer --help
get_iplayer --basic-help
get_iplayer --long-help

Examples

• List all TV programmes (--type=tv set by default):

  get_iplayer

  Search output appears in this format:

    ...
    208:  Doctor Who: Series 7 Part 2 - 1. The Bells of Saint John, BBC One, Drama,SciFi & Fantasy,TV, default
    209:  Doctor Who: Series 7 Part 2 - 2. The Rings Of Akhaten, BBC One, Audio Described,Drama,SciFi & Fantasy,TV, default,audiodescribed
    210:  Doctor Who: Series 7 Part 2 - 3. Cold War, BBC One, Audio Described,Drama,SciFi & Fantasy,TV, default,audiodescribed
    ...
  

  Format = index: name - episode, channel, categories, versions

• List all TV programmes with long descriptions:

  get_iplayer --long

• List all radio programmes:

  get_iplayer --type=radio

• List all TV programmes with "doctor who" in the title/episode:

  get_iplayer "doctor who"

• List all TV and radio programmes with "doctor who" in the title/episode:

  get_iplayer --type tv,radio "doctor who"

• List all TV programmes categorised as "comedy":

  get_iplayer --category=comedy

• List all BBC One TV programmes categorised as "sport":

  get_iplayer --channel= "BBC One" --category=sport

• List all Radio 4 Extra programmes categorised as "drama":

  get_iplayer --type=radio --channel "Radio 4 Extra" --category=drama

• Record programme number 208 (index from search results) in SD:

  get_iplayer --get 208

• Record programme number 208 in HD (if available), with SD fallback:

  get_iplayer --modes=best --get 208

• Record programme number 208 and download subtitles in SubRip (SRT) format:

  get_iplayer --get 208 --subtitles

• Record all TV programmes with "doctor who' in the title/episode:

  get_iplayer --get "doctor who"

• Record a programme using its iPlayer URL:

  get_iplayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01sc0wf/Doctors_Series_15_Perfect/

• Record a programme using the PID (b01sc0wf) from its iPlayer URL:

  get_iplayer --pid=b01sc0wf

• Refresh the cached index of available TV programmes:

  get_iplayer --refresh

• Refresh the cached index of available TV and radio programmes:

  get_iplayer --type=tv,radio --refresh

Notes:

• Sometimes you may not be able to download a listed programme immediately after broadcast (usually available within 24hrs of airing). Some BBC programmes may not be available from iPlayer.