[solved] Efficient Live Recording?

[JonathanSagnella]

What would be the best way to get a high quality live recording?

For example, I'm currently use this for recording my daily fix of Murder She Wrote:

"get_iplayer --modes=flashnormal --type=livetv --get 80002"

I leave it on all day and when I come back I close get-iplayer and am left with a very long recording of all the days tv, which I can't convert without losing quality. Any tips for clean converting or better recording?

[linuxcentre]

What would be the best way to get a high quality live recording?

For example, I'm currently use this for recording my daily fix of Murder She Wrote:

"get_iplayer --modes=flashnormal --type=livetv --get 80002"

I leave it on all day and when I come back I close get-iplayer and am left with a very long recording of all the days tv, which I can't convert without losing quality. Any tips for clean converting or better recording?

Firstly, I think the --stop=<number of seconds> option will help a little as i should close get_iplayer after that duration.
Secondly, use the following to DEMUX (i.e. lossless conversion) the flv file:

Code: Select all

ffmpeg -i infile.flv -acodec copy -vcode copy -y outfile.avi

It should only take a minurte or two. If not then substitute avi for mp4.

[linuxcentre]

I forgot to mention: try using --modes=flashvhigh,flashhigh,flashstd,flashnormal
BBC One, specifically, has three different stream bitrates.

[NetworkNed]

--modes=flashhd,flashvhigh ??

[linuxcentre]

--modes=flashhd,flashvhigh ??

Nah, there are no flashhd BBC live streams yet AFAIK.

[macerg]

....................
I leave it on all day and when I come back I close get-iplayer and am left with a very long recording of all the days tv, which I can't convert without losing quality. Any tips for clean converting or better recording?

Here is my set-up-up for recording selected radio programs (Linux), firstly the crontab for timed recoding start:-

Code: Select all

SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
# m h  dom mon dow   command
59 18 * * mon recrad.sh 2 Paul_Jones 3720
59 18 * * wed recrad.sh 2 Mike_Harding 3720
14 23 * * tue-thu recrad.sh 3 Late_Junction 6420
59 22 * * sat recrad.sh 2 Bob_Harris 10920


Note the three parameters passed to recrad.sh are
firstly the BBC radio channel, then the program name (for naming locally) and then the
program length (in seconds).



Now the recrad.sh shell script that calls get_iplayer :-

Code: Select all

#Record BBC Radios 1-4 + World Service International
case "$1" in
"")
   # set channel to Radio 4 if blank
   dvb_channel="39"
   get_stream="35"
   channel_text="BBC_Radio_4_FM_"
   ;;
  1)
   # set channel to radio 1
   dvb_channel="36"
   get_stream="32"
   channel_text="BBC_Radio_1_live_"
   ;;
  2)
   # set channel to radio 2
   dvb_channel="37"
   get_stream="33"
   channel_text="BBC_Radio_2_live_"
   ;;
  3)
   # set channel to radio 3
   dvb_channel="38"
   get_stream="34"
   channel_text="BBC_Radio_3_live_"
   ;;
  4)
   # set channel to radio 4
   dvb_channel="39"
   get_stream="35"
   channel_text="BBC_Radio_4_FM_"
   ;;
  w)
   # set channel to world service international
   dvb_channel="40"
   get_stream="56"
   channel_text="BBC_World_Service_Intl_live_"
   ;;
  *)
   echo "usage: recrad.sh [1|2|3|4|w -(radio channel)] [program_name] [program length in seconds]" >&2
   exit 8
   ;;
esac
   
case "$2" in

"")
   # set program to ad_hoc if blank
   program="ad_hoc"
   ;;
  *)   
   # set program to value of $2 if non-blank
   program="$2"
   ;;
esac

case "$3" in

"")
   # set program_length to 1 hour 2 mins if blank
   program_length="3720"
   ;;
  *)   
   #set program_length to value of $3 if non-blank
   program_length="$3"
   ;;
esac

mkdir $HOME/radio/$program/ >/dev/null 2>&1
echo "recording "$channel_text" into "$HOME/radio/$program" for "$program_length" seconds"
#Try tuner first
if dvbstream -n $program_length -f 714166670 0 4$dvb_channel  >$HOME/Desktop/$channel_text-$program-from-tuner-report_`date +%Y-%m-%d@%H-%M-%S`.txt 2>&1 -o >$HOME/radio/$program/$channel_text`date +%Y-%m-%d_%H%M%S`.mpeg
   then exit 0
else
#Use internet if tuner fails
   if get_iplayer 801$get_stream --get --preset=liveradio --outputliveradio=$HOME/radio/$program/ --stop=$program_length >$HOME/Desktop/$channel_text-$program-from-internet-report_`date +%Y-%m-%d@%H-%M-%S`.txt 2>&1
   then exit 2
   fi
exit 4
fi


Note that the script tries my tuner first and then tries the internet.

The above is easily adaptable for TV.

[linuxcentre]

Just (probably a stupid) question.. Why not just use the get_iplayer PVR features to get the failed programmes after they are up on iPlayer?

[JonathanSagnella]

Just (probably a stupid) question.. Why not just use the get_iplayer PVR features to get the failed programmes after they are up on iPlayer?

Not all programs go up on the website afterwards. Expensive Imports such as Heroes and Little-Loved shows such as Murder She Wrote don't get added. Thanks for the help everyone.

P.S. Sorry for the dumb question, but what program do I put the "ffmpeg -i infile.flv -acodec copy -vcode copy -y outfile.avi" in?

[linuxcentre]

Heroes is on iPlayer I often record it. But I get your point!
Sorry, the ffmpeg line is just an example of the shell command used to demux flv to mp4/avi.

[JohnDinton]

It may be worth pointing out that for Windows users who used the version of the installer I used, to call ffmpeg from the get_iplayer prompt you need to type

ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg ...

I haven't yet used get_iplayer in Linux or the latest Windows installer, so I don't know if it's the same with them.