BBC downloads changed in GiA

nrj53 commented 5 years ago

GiA 1.15.1 downloads BBC radio and ITV well, as it has almost always done. Two problems just started. First, if I stop a BBC tv download and then try to restart it, it refuses to restart or continue the download stating it has already been downloaded, but it does not appear in the download file. Therefore I cannot delete the entry to try and restart the download. Second, BBC tv downloads have changed so that the audio file is downloaded, taking about 10 mins for a 1 hour show, and then the video downloads, taking about an hour for a 1 hour show. It has always been the same as ITV, downloading a 1 hour show as a single event in about 20 mins. The log for one of the BBC downloads is below.

skovatch commented 5 years ago

The ERROR: Response: 403 Forbidden means that the BBC has detected you are outside the UK and is blocking downloads. The errors are coming from get_iplayer -- it keeps trying different content hosts, though it's interesting that eventually finds one that gives you the show in DVF format. get_iplayer downloads the audio and video separately and then combines them into an MP4.

For what it's worth, when I download this show I get a lot of 404 errors before it eventually finds a provider.

nrj53 commented 5 years ago

Thanks very much for the quick explanation. Glad that it is not GiA. The onus is on me to find a different vpn.

Ross.

Sent from my iPad

On Apr 27, 2019, at 2:51 PM, Scott Kovatch notifications@github.com wrote:

The ERROR: Response: 403 Forbidden means that the BBC has detected you are outside the UK and is blocking downloads. The errors are coming from get_iplayer -- it keeps trying different content hosts, though it's interesting that eventually finds one that gives you the show in DVF format. get_iplayer downloads the audio and video separately and then combines them into an MP4.

For what it's worth, when I download this show I get a lot of 404 errors before it eventually finds a provider.

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

hugofalkman commented 5 years ago

@skovatch Would it be possible to test for the 403 message, and then issue a GiA message saying BBC/ITV has blocked your VPN/SmartDNS provider? It would keep a lot of stuff out of our mail inbaskets.

nrj53 commented 5 years ago

I appreciate that these sort of issues must be a nuisance. Simply knowing the meaning of the error code means that now I can look at the log and see the problem. If there is somewhere I can look at a list of error codes that would be great and possibly save you both a lot of aggravation. The only problem with flagging 403 is that GiA kept looking and eventually finds a working link, and that might be cut off by a warning. I have simply moved to a different vpn and downloaded the next episode normally and in a few minutes. But even with that success, GiA ran through several attempts and 403 errors before proceeding. Thanks again.

skovatch commented 5 years ago

This reminds me that get_iplayer used to print out a message about the BBC blocking you, and GiA would display it in the Solutions window. I think that message changed at some point, and GiA now just says "Unknown Error". I can update for that, and also see if that was the last error message received. It won't apply in this situation, but some improved error handling will be helpful in the future.

skovatch commented 5 years ago

Closing, as this is VPN-related.

michaelrcowie commented 5 years ago

I referenced this post this evening, to solve this problem with help from my VPN support folks.

I suddenly found my GIA downloads were ridiculously slow, and checked my log to find the same string of 403 (and 500!) warnings posted above. After a LONG pause at the end of multiple attempts to connect to something, GIA would start downloading a show and tell me that the 1 hour show would take 3 hours to download. Everything was fine a few days ago, so I knew it was probably the VPN and not the app.

I contacted ExpressVPN, and they said they had clients complaining via live chat all night about some of their servers, specifically when using BBC steaming. EVPN's first piece of advice was to change servers - which made no difference to GIA, or made the problem worse. Then they asked how I was connecting to the BBC, and I confirmed that I had no problem watching in a browser on the new server connection, but the app I wanted to use was still stupidly slow.

Since they didn't know what GIA was (or were not allowed to admit they did) they were stumped. After some flailing around, they then suggested I change connection protocol - and that solved the problem.

I was on an UDP or TCP OpenVPN protocol, and as soon as I changed over to L2TP - IPSe in the app control panel, my downloads immediately went back to the speed I expected. In the time it has taken me to post this, I've got the Craig Charles shows for the weekend, a film, the Line of Duty finale, QI:XL and the last two episodes of Follow the Money, all in HD. The log still shows multiple connection attempts and is downloading multiple files (which it was not doing the other day), but is way faster than earlier this evening.

I can see why a VPN might not see this kind of thing as their problem to solve, and I'm lucky the fellow I was dealing with decided not to give up on me. You may want to do some checking into what settings you can change in the sort term before you spend your time searching for a new VPN.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some TV to watch...

stoney27 commented 5 years ago

Quick question Michael what platform are you running your ExpressVPN on? I have the ExpressVPN router setup, and unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have that connection setting.

Michael if you want to respond via Email

Thanks.

PS. Scott sorry to use this as a VPN debug session I would have sent Michael email, but GitHub doesn't have that as an option.

michaelrcowie commented 5 years ago

Mac, on Hackintosh.

I should point out that this solution is not perfect. I logged in this morning to grab one small show, and had to try a few times before I got the same result. I also noticed that two of the UK servers my VPN uses were removed since last night. They may be doing what I suggested, and getting some new UK IP addresses to use.

Ascoware / get-iplayer-automator

BBC downloads changed in GiA #243