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Ascoware / get-iplayer-automator

The goal of Get iPlayer Automator is to allow iTunes and your Mac to become the hub for your British Television experience regardless of where in the world you are. Currently, Get iPlayer Automator allows you to download and watch BBC and ITV shows on your Mac. Series-Link/PVR functionality ensures you will never miss your favourite shows. Programmes are fully tagged and added to iTunes automatically upon completion. It is simple and easy to use, and runs on any machine running Mac OS X 10.7 or later. And since the shows are in iTunes, it is extremely easy to transfer them to your iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV allowing you to enjoy your shows on the go or on your television.
GNU General Public License v3.0
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Issue template suggestions #38

Open neeklamy opened 7 years ago

neeklamy commented 7 years ago

Just a few things that would sharpen up the ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md.

If you place the entirety of the opening instructions inside an HTML comment block, it will automatically be removed from the submitted issue, it won’t even be in the page source. No need to ask for it to be removed and no risk of editing errors.

We can also make use of HTML comments for the question notes at the end.

The Markdown is out of place, in the writing view it just adds noise, links aren’t clickable, text isn’t bold. The Markdown only renders (of course) in the preview, and none of the content is wanted in the submitted issue.

Adding some clear titles make the flow of the guide clearer. Capitalising the titles makes them stick out and indenting each section makes it distinct.

Re-order the items, the first bit of filtering should be whether the person asking is in the UK or not.

One minor thing, progamme (British English spelling).

All that said, the instructions with the current ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md is 389 words, my proposed version is 305 words.

<!-- 1. UK ONLY DO NOT submit a ticket if you are reporting that you are unable to download a programme from outside the UK. https://github.com/Ascoware/get-iplayer-automator/wiki/No-Support-for-GiA-Outside-the-UK If you ignore this instruction, your ticket will be closed with no further action. You can fib about your location if you like, but you will only be wasting your time. 2. NOT A DISCUSSION FORUM If you wish to discuss the BBC, iPlayer or anything else not related to a problem with GiA, post in an appropriate forum, not in this issue tracker. 3. SEARCH EXISTING TICKETS Search the open and closed tickets to see if your issue has been reported. Use the search box at the top of the page. You can also use the links below to view open and closed tickets in list form. Open tickets: https://github.com/Ascoware/get-iplayer-automator/issues Closed tickets: https://github.com/Ascoware/get-iplayer-automato/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aclosed If you create a ticket for an issue that has already been reported, your ticket will be closed with no further action. 4. SUCCINCT TITLE Create a succinct title describing your issue in the Title field above, then provide the information requested below. If you do not provide the requested information, your ticket will be closed with no further action. 5. PROBLEMS DOWNLOADING A PROGRAMME? If you cannot download a programme, provide a verbose log of the attempt: https://github.com/Ascoware/get-iplayer-automator/wiki/Verbose-Log Your verbose log should show the results from downloading ONLY ONE programme. DO NOT post a massive log covering multiple multiple programme downloads. IMPORTANT: DO NOT paste your verbose log into your issue report. If you do, expect it to be deleted. 6. CRASHES If GiA crashes, provide the OS X crash log by copying the information from Crash Reporter into a file or locating the crash log in $HOME/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports. For instructions see: https://github.com/Ascoware/get-iplayer-automator/wiki/Verbose-Log IMPORTANT: DO NOT paste your crash log into your issue report. If you do, expect it to be deleted. --> *What steps will reproduce the problem?* <!-- Be specific, and provide as much detail as possible --> *What is the expected output? What do you see instead?* *What version of GiA are you using? On what version of OS X?* *Are you using a web proxy? DNS proxy? VPN? VPS?* *What programme are you attempting to download?* <!-- Full title, series and episode, provide only ONE programme as an example --> *Any additional information below.*
Vangelis66 commented 7 years ago

the first bit of filtering should be whether the person asking is in the UK or not.

Just some personal comments on proviso 1:

The person who first made GiA possible (Thomas Wilson) is a guy from the US; he said at the time that GiA was your way to British TV no matter where you lived in the world and did provide the means (HTTP proxy) to support that claim; since then, many things have changed; Ch4 and Ch5 encrypted their contents and their support was removed, while during recent years the BBC tightened to a great extent their geo-filtering schemes (all RTMP/HTTP TV streams are now geo-blocked at CDN server level).

The person (dinkypumpkin) who then took over as the major maintainer of the GiA code until recently, when he retired, is well known for having what I can describe as a fixation for not allowing overseas access to BBC TV - having said that, I don't want to sound impertinent, his contributions to the GiA code have been really valued by all users, I'm sure...

However, it was he who added the proviso about not submitting any issues at all if you're not actually inside the UK. I see two major problems with that:

  1. BBC Radio is available worldwide, albeit in lower bitrate for overseas users.
  2. What if a GiA user stumbles upon a genuine bug, but happens to be an overseas user? Even in the case said user has taken his/her measures to access TV programmes, shouldn't he/she be allowed to report such a bug if the resolution of the bug itself will benefit all users (UK+overseas)?

Having frequented the former GiA issues tracker as a silent visitor (but did post some comments there, too), I can assure current maintainer(s) that GiA sports quite a big overseas userbase, most of them loyal ones right there since its inception.

I do agree that some self-moderation by users should be applied, in a way that verbose guides to circumventing TV providers' geo-blocks shouldn't be posted here, let alone because BBC/ITV will quickly blacklist whatever means is publicly mentioned, but ab initio blocking an overseas user from this tracker doesn't look as the right thing to do, at least to my eyes...

What I propose is that physical location be a mandatory info when submitting a bug (perhaps accompanied by the answer to the "Are you using a web proxy? DNS proxy? VPN? VPS?" query") but not be a basis for excluding the issue reporter.

What do other people and/or the devs think?

Sircam19 commented 7 years ago

THANK YOU!!! Your post perfectly describes my thoughts. I have also posted issues previously and would like to still be able to contribute. There are a lot of overseas users whose expertise should be valued, individuals such as Vangelis come to mind :-)

robincm commented 7 years ago

@Vangellis66: I quite agree!

skovatch commented 7 years ago

Well, given that I'm in California, it would be pretty hypocritical of me to refuse reports from anyone outside the UK. Given that, I do think it's reasonable to make it clear that if it simply doesn't work you need to first make sure you are either in the UK or that you know how to make it look like you are. I won't provide support on setting up proxy/smart DNS -- that's your responsibility.

I appreciate the help with the issue template -- I'd like to get rid of the boilerplate in the reports too. If you're comfortable with git, feel free to make edits and post a pull request and I'll have a look.

neeklamy commented 7 years ago

Thank you @Vangelis66 for your very thoughtful response, I assumed that the content of the template had been nailed down over time and that it was non-negotiable.

Apologies to everyone else outside the UK – you’re all honorary Brits!

Okay, so we remove the ‘you must live in the UK’ bit. Is it replaced with the statement that the submitter either needs to be in the UK, know how to work around the country restrictions or find out how to?

And I see now that this project’s wiki didn’t come along with the project, the Verbose Log revision from 11 July 2016 looks good. Will the wiki be added?

@skovatch, thanks, I’ll make the changes and submit a PR when we have some consensus.

Vangelis66 commented 7 years ago

@robincm wrote:

the whole idea of GiA is to access TV programmes abroad!!

People should refrain from making such public statements! Do realise this is copyrighted audio/visual digital content which is discussed here... The BBC/ITV make those streams available on their platforms (BBC iPlayer/ ITV Hub) under very strict "T & C"s, and people should try to respect them as much as possible...

Those "T & C"s include geographic restrictions for stream availability, due to negotiations made with rights owners; and even when one meets those geo-restrictions, both the broadcaster and the rights owners do not want you to save those streams locally, else they'd have provided direct (progressive) download links! By their exact nature, all stream-downloading apps tread on very thin lines... Add to that the fact that, since last September, all TV streams on BBC iPlayer (but not on ITV Hub) imply the use of a valid UK TV licence (£ 150 annually) and you get how "delicate" the matter is...

Pretty soon, legitimate access to BBC iPlayer, beit Radio or TV, would require a mandatory login - noone really can tell beforehand how this will be implemented under the hood; for UK users, a valid UK postcode + a valid UK e-mail address are required for registering and it is openly admitted on their site that they check this data against the TV Licensing database, for eventual law infringments... The above announced scenario does pose (serious?) challenges to the maintainers of GiP/GiA, I don't want to sound ominous but it may be in the end that "accessing TV programmes abroad" might become a thing of the glorious past... :disappointed:

hugofalkman commented 7 years ago

This is what BBC has announced will be implemented in the next week or so: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/may/11/iplayer-catchup-service-will-require-user-login-within-weeks-says-bbc-tv-licence-fee-evasion So if you haven't got a BBC login, register, you will be asked for a valid UK postcode.

Lordsnooty05 commented 7 years ago

Does anyone know what effect this will have on GIA? Will this mean that it wont work? or will we just need to log in with our post codes?