bbc.co.uk:Can't download rtsp:// RealMedia .rm and RealAudio .ra files from BBC radio

Hi. First post here, so be gentle..!

I'm trying to download a Real Media stream from the BBCs Listen Again pages (bbc.co.uk). I've got a link to the .rm file (rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk:554/radio2/r2_genesis.ra) but when I try to put it into WackGet (or any other download manager I've got) nothing happens or I get a message like "The requested download could not complete".

I'll admit to being new to this - I got the link to the file by using URLSnooper, but now I'm stuck.

Also, the BBC take the link away after one week, which is this coming Saturday!

Any help much appreciated.

Few download managers can capture Real audio/video streamed through the RTSP protocol. You may find ones as well as other stream recorders on the following pages:
All streaming media recording software
All streaming audio recording/ripping software

You may use stream recorders like WM Recorder, Replay A/V as well as doanload managers like NetTransport or even offline browser Offline Explorer Pro (if you need to download many audio streams as well as HTML pages with pictures,...),....

Dear Stream Recorder,

Originally Posted by BAW30s

I have taken a great interest in your site, as I do like to record streaming real audio from the BBC (I live in the UK) which has many excellent speech programmes.

Up to now, I have generally accomplished this through the sound card using Sound Forge for the recording. This offers many options and does produce good results, but naturally suffers from the disadvantages associated with using the sound card, i.e. having to record in real time and not being able to use the computer for anything else during the recording for fear of introducing extraneous sounds or interrupting the process.

I have therefore experimented with a number of downloaders and stream recorders with a view to making direct recordings, but mostly with poor or no results.
Downloaders, such as HiDownload , are quite useless. I have tried several.

Replay Radio (Replay AV) does work, but again it uses the sound card and offers less control than editing with Sound Forge.

I have tried your recommended program, WM Recorder, but with no success whatever, even if I open the .ram file in Notepad and use that text.

R7C does make a recording, but totally out of synch; furthermore, the problem of it exhausting the RAM memory is disruptive after 20 minutes or so. Curiously it does produce acceptable sound results if the sound is recorded to an avi video file. The right codec might help: I have the K-Lite Mega Pack installed, so I should be prepared.

If anyone has actually succeeded in using WM or R7C with BBC radio, I'd like to know how they did it.

Curiously, the only program I have found effective is BBC Radio Ripper, which does download the streaming audio and convert it to MP3. I am surprised, then , that you only give it 3/10 when it is the only one for me which works!
Anyway, I thought you might be interested in this.

Thank you for your opinion, Bernard. It is very important for our community.

WM Recorder is really my favorite stream recording software. Why would I prefer to use it with BBC? Because I record not only web radio, but also TV shows (like my favorite BBC hi tech show The Click).

BBC offers video streams in Real video and Windows Media format. Windows media is much easier to record so I prefer to save it to hd instead of Real Video.

WM Recorder has three different modes. You can try ADA Auto recording mode first. When you use it, you just need to play your stream and it will be captured automatically.


Replay AV (former Replay Radio) has two ways of recording: recording from your sound card and stream capturing. So you can try the latter.


I don't really use HiDownload, but another download manager called NetTransport is very good at recording both audio and video streams from BBC.


Why don't I recommend BBC Radio Ripper? Because it has too few features for the price it has. As for the low rating, it is that low 'coz BBC Radio Ripper supports Real Audio streams only and in the rating I try to reflect the amount of different stream formats that audio stream ripper can handle.

[BAW30s]

My deepest thanks for your prompt and considered reply at such a busy time of year to my observations regarding the recording of BBC Radio.

For me, WM Recorder does succeed in capturing the stream url, as you say, but then fails to make any recording even after the record button is pressed and the various options explored. NetTransport also fails.

Upon hearing that apparently you are succeeding with these programs, and seeing that WM failed to detect Real Player in my computer when I selected the "Reset Settings" option, I have begun to wonder whether the problem may be that I use Media Payer Classic with its Real plug-in rather than the offical Real Player for streamed radio. It works very well, and avoid's Real's barrage of advertising, etc, but perhaps WM and the others fail to detect it. If this is the problem, and anyone knows of a way round, I'd like to hear of it: otherwise, I'll try re-installing Real Player in the new year. BBC Radio Ripper does seem to cope with Real Alternative, though.

I was interested in the Replay Radio streaming option, which I hadn't noticed when I had the program installed, or perhaps my version was too old. I will give that one another try too when I get a moment, and also look forward to experimenting with WM and television.

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by BAW30s

For me, WM Recorder does succeed in capturing the stream url, as you say, but then fails to make any recording even after the record button is pressed and the various options explored. NetTransport also fails.

In WM Recorder click the Mode button and select "Internet connection test" to make sure WM Recorder can access internet.

Also please send me the URL where I can find such a problematic stream.

Originally Posted by BAW30s

Upon hearing that apparently you are succeeding with these programs, and seeing that WM failed to detect Real Player in my computer when I selected the "Reset Settings" option, I have begun to wonder whether the problem may be that I use Media Payer Classic with its Real plug-in rather than the offical Real Player for streamed radio. It works very well, and avoid's Real's barrage of advertising, etc, but perhaps WM and the others fail to detect it. If this is the problem, and anyone knows of a way round, I'd like to hear of it: otherwise, I'll try re-installing Real Player in the new year.

I haven't really tested the new URL finder of NetTransport 'coz the first version were too buggy. I use freeware URL Snooper to find stream URLs.
NetTransport definitely doesn't need Real Player or Real Alternative to record streaming Real Video/Audio/Media.

WM Recorder works with Real Alternative, however it is recommended to have Real Player for better support. Also IMHO its recording ability depends on WinPCap properly installed (proper version + correct installation).

And the developer of WM Recorder mentioned the following:

A Real recording may not start for the following reasons

1. Real Player does not accept downloading from a URL (the link was not clicked in the web page)
2. Real Player version is not 10 or higher
3. WM Recorder file rmrp.exe - RM Stream Recorder is blocked from accessing the Net by Internet security software (Norton, etc.)
4. When in PRO Mode the ports 7774 and 7775 are blocked
5. When AUTO recording from a web page WM Recorder is not in AUTO ON mode or the option "Include ram, smil" is not checked in Media Options.

Originally Posted by BAW30s

I was interested in the Replay Radio streaming option, which I hadn't noticed when I had the program installed, or perhaps my version was too old. I will give that one another try too when I get a moment, and also look forward to experimenting with WM and television.

There was no stream capturing feature in very old versions.

[BAW30s]

Thanks again for the very prompt reply. The Internet connection test says that the connection is ok and the URLs are being captured: WM is working well for You-Tube, for instance.

An example of a URL is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/rams/1200.ram

but none of the URLs work with anything other than Radio Ripper!
Auto-record is on, and the firewall is allowing WM. The options "Include ram, smil" are checked in Media Options, but as stated I have Real Alternative rather than Real Player 10. I believe that WinPCap is properly installed, but I don't know what IMHO means!

I would assume that these URLs don't accept downloads, only if BBC Ripper can get them, presumably they do! If any of the BBC7

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain

urls work with WM for others, I'd like to know! Greetings to all...

I have the same problem with WM Recorder. I don't really know how to solve it. May be I just need to reboot my computer. I have contacted the developer already.

However I had no any problem with two other stream recorders I have tried:
Replay AV captured rtsp:// .ra link without any problem and I was able to save the stream to hd successfully.

NetTransport works differently: it can process .ram metafile and start downloading from the URL immediately. The stream was also saved to hd successfully.

[BAW30s]

I am interested to hear of your success with Replay AV and NetTransport: I haven't been able to use the computer much in recent weeks due to a Trojan attack which prevented booting and to my having to be away from home to care for my mother, but today I've tried them both with Real Player 10.5 installed (I have Windows 2000 so 11 is not an option) and still found them both unable to save any BBC Real audio streaming links, even if I open the metafile.

I'm going to install a new hard drive soon with a fresh install of the operating system, but for some strange reason it seems that BBC Radio Ripper has to be the one for me!

I just repeated the experiment. I pasted

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/rams/1200.ram

into the new download of NetTransport. It processed the RAM metafile, extracted the stream URL and started downloading from it successfully.

I also launched the URL Finder of Replay AV before starting to download with NetTransport. The Replay AV found the RTSP stream URL successfully and I had no any problem recording from it.

Please copy the log of the download of NetTransport and PM it to me so that I can tell you more. You can also PM the log of Replay AV.

Please also be more specific when describing your problem. Can you find the URL with Replay AV? What kind of error message do you see when trying to capture stream?

The only problem I can think of is that your firewall blocks some applications.

[BAW30s]

Interesting: thank you for your time.

I have just tried with this url to which I am currently listening:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/friday/rams/0800.ram

Again, no downloads occurred with either Net Transport or ReplayAV, despite the programme playing and the firewall being switched off. I am using a router, but presumably port-forwarding is not required as I am receiving the show ("Dad's Army").

The Net Transport log reads:

18/01/2008 22:13:08.296 Connecting to rmv8.bbc.net.uk:554
18/01/2008 22:13:08.316 Connecting to 212.58.252.8:554
18/01/2008 22:13:08.336 Connected.
18/01/2008 22:13:08.336 OPTIONS rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk:554 RTSP/1.0
18/01/2008 22:13:08.336 CSeq: 1
18/01/2008 22:13:08.336 User-Agent: RealMedia Player (HelixDNAClient)/10.0.0.0 (win32)
18/01/2008 22:13:08.336 ClientChallenge: a39e466cdc050029de5b81a9828fbda1
18/01/2008 22:13:08.336 PlayerStarttime: [18/01/2008:22:13:08 00:00]
18/01/2008 22:13:08.336 CompanyID: PgGzKfy1kWIfd1dflC5OMA==
18/01/2008 22:13:08.336 Pragma: initiate-session
18/01/2008 22:14:08.342 Timeout.
18/01/2008 22:14:08.342 Awaiting 5 seconds to retry.
18/01/2008 22:14:13.360 Connecting to 212.58.252.8:554
18/01/2008 22:14:13.390 Connected.
18/01/2008 22:14:13.400 OPTIONS rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk:554 RTSP/1.0
18/01/2008 22:14:13.400 CSeq: 1
18/01/2008 22:14:13.400 User-Agent: RealMedia Player (HelixDNAClient)/10.0.0.0 (win32)
18/01/2008 22:14:13.400 ClientChallenge: 96326ebb474b6a51db40dbc27c3ad5c4
18/01/2008 22:14:13.400 PlayerStarttime: [18/01/2008:22:14:13 00:00]
18/01/2008 22:14:13.400 CompanyID: fEv4FA5LpV0qJpXGalG9WA==
18/01/2008 22:14:13.400 Pragma: initiate-session
18/01/2008 22:15:13.426 Timeout.
18/01/2008 22:15:13.436 Awaiting 5 seconds to retry.
18/01/2008 22:15:18.453 Connecting to 212.58.252.8:554
18/01/2008 22:15:18.483 Connected.
18/01/2008 22:15:18.493 OPTIONS rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk:554 RTSP/1.0
18/01/2008 22:15:18.493 CSeq: 1
18/01/2008 22:15:18.493 User-Agent: RealMedia Player (HelixDNAClient)/10.0.0.0 (win32)
18/01/2008 22:15:18.493 ClientChallenge: 051293c855d2432a99821e7e6163006e
18/01/2008 22:15:18.493 PlayerStarttime: [18/01/2008:22:15:18 00:00]
18/01/2008 22:15:18.493 CompanyID: ydCGZG9mnscJrs3fyL0EXg==
18/01/2008 22:15:18.493 Pragma: initiate-session
18/01/2008 22:16:18.520 Timeout.

The Replay AV log reads:

Recording log for All Shows
Replay A/V Version 8.04
Reg code: [will be revealed to the support of Applian only]

Fri Jan 18 10:15:48 PM Windows OS = Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional 
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM Enhanced Sound Card Driver DLL not found.
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM Setting callback window
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM No Wake up timer set.
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM Selected Sound Card:  Crystal SoundFusion(tm)
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM Mixer Data for Crystal SoundFusion(tm)
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM likely good source:  Analog Connector
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM other source:  TV Tuner Audio
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM other source:  CD Player
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM other source:  Line
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM other source:  Microphone
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM other source:  Phone Line
Fri Jan 18 10:15:51 PM likely good source:  Wave Out Mix
Fri Jan 18 10:15:52 PM Unable to open URL:  http://www.applian.com/user/check_av...p?version=8.04
Fri Jan 18 10:16:35 PM List Adapter: HP NC3121 Fast Ethernet NIC
Fri Jan 18 10:16:39 PM Loading IE Cache
Fri Jan 18 10:16:41 PM Loading Firefox Cache
Fri Jan 18 10:16:41 PM Done Loading Caches
Fri Jan 18 10:16:56 PM Loading IE Cache
Fri Jan 18 10:16:56 PM Loading Firefox Cache
Fri Jan 18 10:16:56 PM Done Loading Caches
Fri Jan 18 10:17:11 PM Loading IE Cache
Fri Jan 18 10:17:12 PM Loading Firefox Cache
Fri Jan 18 10:17:12 PM Done Loading Caches
Fri Jan 18 10:17:27 PM Loading IE Cache
Fri Jan 18 10:17:28 PM Loading Firefox Cache
Fri Jan 18 10:17:28 PM Done Loading Caches

Fri Jan 18 10:19:36 PM Windows OS = Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional 
Fri Jan 18 10:19:38 PM Enhanced Sound Card Driver DLL not found.
Fri Jan 18 10:19:38 PM Setting callback window
Fri Jan 18 10:19:38 PM No Wake up timer set.
Fri Jan 18 10:20:05 PM No Wake up timer set.
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM 
Download Capture Summary:
  Version 8.04
  URL = http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagai.../rams/0800.ram
  Days= 
  Next = Sat Jan 19 22:20 - 23:20 (1x)
  Capture Type = Stream Capture
  Record-to Format = Stream Capture
  Convert-to Format =  Nothing - Leave As Is

  No Eliminate Dead Air
  No Create New Track after silence option
  No Split Tracks after time
  Automatic retuning enabled
  Mute while recording disabled

Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Download capture type: Stream Capture
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Recording : New Show
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM URL : http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagai.../rams/0800.ram
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Filename : C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Recordings\New Show\New Show Jan 18.cap
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM URL : http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagai.../rams/0800.ram
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Starting Job #4
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM No Wake up timer set.
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Looking up host www.bbc.co.uk...
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Connecting to host www.bbc.co.uk...
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Host www.bbc.co.uk connected. Waiting for http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagai.../rams/0800.ram.
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: GET /bbc7/listenagain/friday/rams/0800.ram HTTP/1.0
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Accept: *.*, */*
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Host: www.bbc.co.uk
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Accept-Encoding: gzip
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Transferring data from http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagai.../rams/0800.ram.
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Received data for 36446044
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:20:25 GMT
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Server: Apache/2.0.59 (Unix)
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Set-Cookie: BBC-UID=243719618206e2f91991208980009fa5f880b399309090238b9a4cc88bb5bd090Mozilla%2f4%2e0%20%28compatible%3b%20MSIE%206%2e0%3b%20Windows%20NT%205%2e1%29; expires=Tue, 17-Jan-12 22:20:25 GMT; path=/; domain=bbc.co.uk;
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Accept-Ranges: bytes
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Cache-Control: max-age=1
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Expires: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:20:26 GMT
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Content-Type: audio/x-pn-realaudio
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Connection: close
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Session Started
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Download complete. Status: 200 OK.
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36446044: Session Ended
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM MPDL ended
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Filename : C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Recordings\New Show\New Show Jan 18.cap
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM URL : rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/bbc7/0800_fri.ra?BBC-UID=243719618206e2f91991208980009fa5f880b399309090238b9a4cc88bb5bd09_n&SSO2-UID=
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Starting Job #8028
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: Looking up host rmv8.bbc.net.uk...
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: Connecting to host rmv8.bbc.net.uk...
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: Host rmv8.bbc.net.uk connected. Waiting for rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/bbc7/0800_fri.ra?BBC-UID=243719618206e2f91991208980009fa5f880b399309090238b9a4cc88bb5bd09_n&SSO2-UID=.
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: OPTIONS rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk:554 RTSP/1.0
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: CSeq: 1
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: User-Agent: RealMedia Player Version 6.0.8.1649 (win32)
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: ClientChallenge: c0157933aef7a60918e1de5feddf9996
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: PlayerStarttime: [05/08/2002:14:08:53 03:00]
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: CompanyID: bIiTbEtEphx7i07QEFdl+A==
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: GUID: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: RegionData:
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: ClientID: WinNT_5.0_6.0.10.505_RealPlayer_RN9GPD_en_686
Fri Jan 18 10:20:06 PM Status 36460544: Pragma: initiate-session
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM Status 36460544: Connecting to host rmv8.bbc.net.uk...
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM Status 36460544: Host rmv8.bbc.net.uk connected. Waiting for rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/bbc7/0800_fri.ra?BBC-UID=243719618206e2f91991208980009fa5f880b399309090238b9a4cc88bb5bd09_n&SSO2-UID=.
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM Status 36460544: GET /bbc7/0800_fri.ra?BBC-UID=243719618206e2f91991208980009fa5f880b399309090238b9a4cc88bb5bd09_n&SSO2-UID= HTTP/1.0
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM Status 36460544: Accept: *.*, */*
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM Status 36460544: User-Agent: RMA/1.0 (compatible; RealMedia)
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM Status 36460544: Host: rmv8.bbc.net.uk
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM Status 36460544: Accept-Encoding: gzip
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM Status 36460544: Transferring data from rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/bbc7/0800_fri.ra?BBC-UID=243719618206e2f91991208980009fa5f880b399309090238b9a4cc88bb5bd09_n&SSO2-UID=.
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM Received data for 36460544
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM Status 36460544: HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM Stopping DL Recording
Fri Jan 18 10:22:51 PM MPDL ended
Fri Jan 18 10:22:53 PM No Wake up timer set.

Thank you again for your interest. I'm planning to reinstall Windows 2000 on a new hard drive shortly, but having done it before doubt whether it will make any difference.