How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

If I had access to a Windows OS that I could muck about with, I'd be all too happy to use BDL. I may save that for next week.

Since I'm using iViewFox, which is also a beautifully easy addon to Mac Firefox, I've had a look at the iv.jsm file, and notice that it calls the series list using:

req.open("GET", 'http://tviview.abc.net.au/iview/api2/?series='+seriesNum, true);

So, using the series number for Dr Who from the current ?seriesindex file, I called up the currently listed files, and notice that this listing includes the naming file format listed there that appears in the BDL cache (i.e. the "n" value "doctorwho_04_04.mp4", "doctorwho_04_03.mp4", etc)

Do you reckon there's a way to simply construct a url that can be entered in a browser that will point to that specific ("n" value) filename - and therefore also be able to be pointed to the logical (but unlisted) filenames - without having to use BDL?

I mean, the mpg4 file has to be physically stored somewhere doesn't it?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

It notes here:
http://iviewdownloaders.wikia.com/wi...es_JSON_format

that the url associated with the file can/should be listed in the json under "l", but I can't see an "l" value in any of the lists I've been able to access so far.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

No. The URLs are not "rtmp" but "http". I'm not aware of any browser that can read an rtmp URL and go to it. "rtmp" URLs are, of course, handled by Adobe's Flash or "equivalent" in a browser.

They sure are or sure aren't. Don't you think it would be easy to flip a file-access permission switch or even alias/link to a useless dummy file/link on the server making it appear to be gone? Once they've done that then you've got 2 chances of getting to the file - Buckley's and F.A. :(

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

:D I figured I'd either have asked an easy question, or I'd end up needing to go and brush up on rtmp protocol. No worries.

Okay, but if they are still accessible, although not publicised, it would be a matter of making logical alterations to the rmtp file path of 'current' episodes in order to guess and download the expired files (?)

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Hehehe... Yeah, it's never the "easy" one.

Yep. They do change the format of the names sometimes (but not enough to get hung up on it).

You'd need something flexible (something like the Windows batch script) so that you can easily mess around with likely filenames and paths.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

This relates to a program website and not to the path of the video files, eg http://abc.com.au/catalyst/ this tag is used to provide the "go to website" link in the episode description, where appropriate.

this can be further complicated by the fact there are 3 companies involved (ABC, Hostworks and Akamai) and as shown by the f and g tags in the json file a fair bit of automation in the access management, which may also extend to storage management.

For Example We don't know how much storage capacity ABC is renting(though if someone could be bothered adding up the size of all files on the server including unlisted we'd get a ball park idea...maybe), so files that appear to be "gone" may still exist on the akamai and/or hostworks servers and just be restricted (or simply have the extension renamed/deleted), or it may have actually been removed to make way for a new file.



They would certainly be stored somewhere in ABC at least for as long as their licencing allows, but as that is off the grid doesn't do us any good.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Hence, my earlier short reply recommending the procedure for using the (Windows) batch downloader - which Anywho taught me how to manipulate.
For the Dr Who series (S4), the earlier episodes 1,2,3 had been removed/renamed/made invisible to our downloaders.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Hi has anyone tested the SBS napper 20120328 recently as it no longer appears to work.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Hadn't used it in a long time, but it SBS OnDemand is (finally) having a rework, hopefully toward that true iView competitor they talked about ages ago.
If you want to follow progress on the situation go to The whirlpool SBS downloader forum thread

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Something that I should have indicated a few weeks ago - simultaneous downloads (ie, downloading one show, then another - before the first has finished its download) has a problem.

It just bit me when using the latest SBSNapper - it is the same with the iViewNapper.

Problem: the SAME show can be downloaded twice (or more), if you're a heavy clicker (or forget).

It seems that the client downloader process (curl.exe, or rtmpdump.exe) is invoked and runs, but at the file system level there is only a single FLV / MP4 file created.

I don't know how Windows and those executables managae that, but it happens.

The only problem that I can see is that you will use up your Quota from your ISP. The final video works OK.

I think this is the same with p7Napper, too.

(something for mce to do in his spare time :p )

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Iviewfox seems to have stopped working - at least on OS X. I have tried on three different systems - none open the save file dialogue and simply play the show. Anyone else finding this? I am using Firefox 12 on one system and 8 on another, and iViewfox 1.3.7.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I hope to update it sometime next week. :)

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Thanks Yansky!

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Very useful program thankyou!

I'm suddenly getting this error as per the attachment. "Conversion from string " MB" to ttype "Double" is not valid. I reinstalled the latest version. Still no luck?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Version 20120514.

o Fix for wrong concatenation symbol.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Thank you so much for your prompt updates to 'Napper - it's been such an invaluable tool :)

I've noticed that the srt files are no longer being downloaded with the newest version - is this something that is happening to others too?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

A couple of shows have defective caption content (eg, the very long caption file for Q&A S5 E15), which may even cause downloaders to fail.

These erors occur from time to time, and the downloaders (like iViewNapper) are continually adjusted to cope with them.

Which SRT / sub-title / captions are you missing? Can you see them working OK in the iView player interface?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Subtitles downloads were accidentally removed when the multiple downloads version was released. I'll add it back in soon.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I just uploaded a new version of iViewFox (1.3.8), you can get it here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...wfox/versions/

(I had to drop support for PowerPC's cause the iview site requires flash 10, which doesn't work on PowerPC's).

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I have just clicked the download link and it downloaded version 1.3.6.

I greatly appreciate this add-on

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

The third download attempt loaded version 1.3.8.
It works perfectly.
Thank you

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I've uploaded a new version (1.3.9) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...wfox/versions/

I re-added support for Firefox 3.6 and PowerPC's.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I've just migrated to Win7 32bit from XP SP2.

Iviewnapper 20120206 was working fine under XP, but under Win7 it (and the newer 20120514) is giving an unhandled exception error "data invalid at root level line 1 pos 1".

Anyone know what might be the problem?

I've tried using XP SP2 compatibility mode and Run As Admin on the program properties, but it is still objecting.

Interestingly both SBSnapper and the CH7 equivalent are both working fine under Win7.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

It may be a malformed file at the iView end (it seems like an XML error - maybe the captions file). Which show is involved?

You can 'turn on' debugging in iViewNapper, in order to save those files, and then it is possible to give a more definite explanation.

Those actions should not affect, nor are they necessary, to the downloader or the things it uses and does.

But it is important that you have 'Napper.exe and rtmpdump.exe (the appropriate one for you version of the 'Napper), in a folder that is NOT under c:\program files\ or c:\program files (x86)\

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Napper and support files are not on the system drive at all, so should not be a problem there.

Only iviewnapper is giving this problem (SBSnapper is fine) and only under Win7-32: it doesn't even provide a list of programs, just says "initialising" for a long time then spits an unhandled exception.

Win7-32 came with .net4: would this cause an issue since iviewnapper uses .net3.5 I believe?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I understood that Windows 7 came with .NET Framework v3.5, pre-installed. But you can check in the Control Panel applet Programs and Features, or I can point you to a small application that will tell you all of the .NET Framework versions installed on your system.

I'm not sure that could be a problem, anyway. I'm not sure I can easily test if it would be, though.

[edit]
Something else is causing your problem (ie, not the .NET Framework version) as SBSNapper is based on .NET v3.5 too, if I'm not mistaken.

[edit2]
Aha - what you need to do is to look at the details, right-click and select all, copy, and paste that into an empty page in Notepad; then click Continue.

The selection just above the ********* down to the second lot of ****** is meaningful (the rest is not useful to mce or me, to understand what the problem is).

[edit3]
This link is to a very useful small utility, free, for showing each installed version of .NET on your system - both 32-bit and 64-bit (if you have Windows 64-bit operating system). http://www.asoft.be/prod_netver.html (It now supports up to .NET v4.5)

You can easily copy the info to a text file.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Hi darian,

The Nappers all require .NET 3.5 or better to work and because both sbsNapper and p7Napper work, then I see no reason iVN shouldn't work.

As far as I know the user base is using Windows versions from XP 32 bit to W7 64 bit (If anyone uses Windows 8 let me know please) with the key being the .NET version.

Please do the check that gxdata suggests but I suspect that ABC were having one of their bad server moments they have time to time in busy periods.

I just tried here now and both iVN and sbsN worked OK.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

It's not the ABC server as it's still causing unhandled exceptions and I also ran IVN on an XP system at the same time and that was okay.

Here is the exception text:

************** Exception Text **************
System.Xml.XmlException: Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1.
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(String res, String arg)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseRootLevelWhitesp ace()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent( )
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Read()
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.Load(XmlDocument doc, XmlReader reader, Boolean preserveWhitespace)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.LoadXml(String xml)
at WindowsApplication1.Form1.ProcessiView()
at WindowsApplication1.Form1.Form1_Shown(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnShown(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.CallShownEvent()
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallba ckDo(ThreadMethodEntry tme)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallba ckHelper(Object obj)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.runTryCode(Objec t userData)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.Exe cuteCodeWithGuaranteedCleanup(TryCode code, CleanupCode backoutCode, Object userData)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(Exec utionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionCon text executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallba ck(ThreadMethodEntry tme)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallba cks()


************** Loaded Assemblies **************

If you need the Loaded Assemblies, just ask.

Win7 does come with .NET3.5 loaded, but it also seems to have .NET4

IIRC, each version of .NET also installs the previous releases for compatibility, so it's not that.

I will try downloading IVN again, in case it became corrupted somehow [Edit: still no go with fresh downloads].

I have dotnet 2.0 SP2, 3.0 SP2, 3.5 SP1 and 4.0 Client installed under Win7-32 Pro according to netver.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

The problem is with downloading an XML file from their server.

Please confirm for me the following things:

1. What version of iViewNapper are you using?
2. Are you in Australia?
3. Are you using a proxy server? (Uni, Work etc..)
4. Have you disabled all Anti-Virus Suites or similar during testing?
5. With a web browser can you download the following URLs?
http://www.abc.net.au/iview/xml/config.xml
http://tviview.abc.net.au/iview/api2/?seriesIndex

I'm suspecting that an anti-virus suite or similar is blocking access.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Okay, I disabled the firewall temporarily and suddenly IVN started working.

I re-enabled Win7 Firewall Control and it opened a dialogue to add IVN.

It seems Win7 FC uses a single reference name of WindowsApplication1 for these type of programs and since there was already a rule for WindowsApplication1 for SBSN, I guess it just ignored it.

I'm coming from a very easy to use Kerio Personal Firewall 2.1.5 with XP and finding nothing equivalent for Win7. The closest recommended freeware was Win7 FC, but that is proving to be a pain. Anyone have better suggestions?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I used to go through the AV shuffle nightmare, now I just use Microsoft Security Essentials (and at work) and I've had no problems what so ever.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Yes, I used AVG for several years and for th last 18+ months have had peace and quiet with Security Essentials. I thought AVG was a vast improvement over Norton, McAfee, etc but MSE is what all the others had the chance to be - and failed.

It would probably be a good idea for the 'Nappers (and any other downloader) to become a little more unique, in terms of the project naming etc etc. I think that could allow firewalls to discriminate better (and troubleshooting might be easier).

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I just use the WIndows Firewall and Microsoft Security Essential,s these days.

I was going to ask what the show was that caused the unhandled exception in .NET - for the XML file - thinking it was malformed XML file from iView's server. That may still be so? Was there a show that you got to try to download - or did you just get as far as the main index?
But the firewall seems to have been the major impediment.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

The firewall was the major impediment as it didn't allow downloading the first XML list.

I'm using Windows Firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials, but it's a different learning curve. The firewall seems to be quite slow in displaying a dialogue to permit/deny access.

Whilst on the subject of firewalls, should one EnableAll or just EnableOutgoing for most programs?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

iViewNapper cann't download from outside AU
can rtmpdump download from outside AU through Akamai server

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

No. It's a GeoIP block. You can only download/view through an Australian proxy server (or similar).

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Anyone else having issues downloading Q&A this morning? The & looks like it's causing a problem. Hopefully it fixes itself...

134 = Q&A

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Thanks for the heads-up! Unfortunately it won't fix itself up... I (or someone else) will have to do something about it. This was accounted for in the original instance of when it was "Q & A" (note the spaces), but it appears to be another attempt to thwart the D/l'ers - although it should be OK on mce's IViewNapper or Yansky's iViewFox (yes/no?).

I'm a little scant on time for this stuff ATM, but I might have it fixed in the next day or two (hopefully) ;)

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

My firefox extension got reject because of some false-positives with antivirus software, so looks like I'll have to just host it on dropbox.

Here's the email I received:
I guess that's fair enough to err on the side of caution.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

So which version of RTMPdump is the "virus-total scan" against? I've run the one mce & I use (the one I compiled) and that one doesn't come up with any issues.

Result:
https://www.virustotal.com/file/7854...4648/analysis/

If it's the Mac one, then I don't understand what the issue is :confused: How on earth can you run a Mac executable from within a Windows OS? And the test was using a Windows virus checker :eek: