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 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 and XML::Simple modules

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 (all platforms)

See documentation:

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

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 BBC One TV programmes:

  get_iplayer --channel= "BBC One"

• List all Radio 4 Extra programmes:

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

• List all Radio 4 programmes:

  get_iplayer --type=radio --channel "Radio 4$"

  (The $ regular expression metacharacter matches "Radio 4" only at the end of the channel name, thus avoiding matches against "Radio 4 Extra")

• 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.