isisdl

A downloading utility for ISIS of TU-Berlin. Download all your files and videos from ISIS.

Features

It is fast

Once all files are downloaded it takes about 5s to synchronize your files with ISIS.

It downloads everything

All the files from all of your ISIS courses are found and downloaded. Also, if a link to a file is posted on the ISIS page, it will get downloaded. This might work depending on the link. Links to Google Drive and TUBCloud supported, and there is planned support for youtube, prezi, doi and some more libraries.

Note: If you have a specific url you would like to have downloaded, feel free to submit an issue.

Compatibility

isisdl will run on any python interpreter that is ≥ 3.8.

If you do not have access to Python, there is also a standalone executable, which will run on any Linux distribution and Windows version (with their respective binaries).

There are also a variety of tests that ensure everything is working properly across all platforms.

Compression of videos

isisdl also includes a very convenient frontend for ffmpeg.

If you execute isisdl --compress, ffmpeg will be executed and compresses all of your downloaded videos into the H265 codec. Read here why it is superior to the H264 codec.

The compressed files will be transparently recognized by isisdl. This means that you could lose the central database and be able to recover the files.

Read in the wiki for further details on how it is implemented.

Support for prioritizing downloads

Once you open any file in the ~/isisdl directory, this download will be prioritized, if it isn't downloaded already. This is especially useful, if you either don't want to download all video files, but still be able to view them with vlc (see the --stream option), or if you want to start watching videos while the download is still running.

Installation

Linux

pip install isisdl

If you are running an Arch based distro, the standalone executable of isisdl is also available in the AUR:

yay -S isisdl

Windows

The recommended installation is by downloading the latest standalone executable from here.

There may be a Windows defender / smartscreen warning about this executable not being recognized. This is due to the fact that there are few Windows users. Simply ignore the warning.

Troubleshooting

If you are having problems see the troubleshoot guide for solutions.

Additional options

isisdl ships with a few different modes of operating:

• --help: Displays a helpful message.
• --init: Will guide you through the base configuration.
• --config: Will guide you through additional configuration.
• --sync: Will synchronize the local database with ISIS.
• --compress: Launches ffmpeg and compresses videos.
• --stream: Launches isisdl in streaming mode.

Future Ideas

Sharing of compressed videos

Compressed videos could be saved and distributed from a central server. The access would be restricted, so there is no copyright infringement. If you want to participate in that you can soon™ request access.