How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

The batch file version creates a download log version. You can queue up multiple downloads and then execute. At the end, you can skim the download.log file for "Saved successfully" for each file. If you are having problems you may be able pinpoint what it is, eg file not found, error in connection-retrying, etc. from the info in the log file.

You can even queue up the downloads and schedule the downloads for later (offpeak times) using iViewLater, in case your ISP is having dropouts during peak times.

I had one file that I had queued last night, fail, " Error in connection. Retrying...".
That is unusual... I checked the file. and yep, it was incomplete. So threw it away. Will download it again later.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

One for Anywho:
A "missed" episode of "round the Twist" (e10) is actually downloadable, via editing the download_list.xml file created by Batch Downloader, but I can't see any episode details (description, etc) for that episode in the JSON that iVBD creates in \cache\. It's there for ep9, ep12, etc.

Does this mean that iView staff never entered that info - or, can it be located somewhere on the server?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

If it isn't in the JSON index then none of the downloaders will see it. So yes, that's just the ABC iView staff being slack as usual. In those cases you have to go onto their forum and complain. If you're lucky it will get fixed up but I think you need to do it quickly or else it gets shelved with a "technical problem".

Not easily - except by the trial'n'error method you're doing now. Unfortunately, with the way the server(s) are set up you can't just do a ftp "ls" (list files) command. :(

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

What's worse (in terms of anything but an ad hoc arrangement, for any of the videos that they present), is that things like video/audio out of sync and worse, are detected by the quality control minions who watch iView and report the problems on the Message Board (ie, general public).
I gather - from reading responses from the iView Mod - that the files they get come from various sources, and the QC is non-existent up to that point.
Add to that, the metadata creation is hit and miss ... as we all know (which is how I have picked up the odd long-past episode remaining somewhere on the servers).

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Has anyone compiled rtmpdump.exe from sourcecode with Visual Studio?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Is the current version of iViewFox (1.1.8) working for anyone on a Mac, Snow Leopard?

I'm watching ABC in Melbourne. My ISP is TPG.

I've just installed iViewFox and it just plays the video. No offer to save.

Have downloaded the rtmpdump, but there's no .exe in the files. I'm not at all familiar with the code flying around here that many others seem to be fine with.

Was rather hoping the firefox extension would work.

From something I read while searching for an answer, it seems ABS have just changed their settings again. Will iViewFox be updated to cater for that?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

If iViewFox has installed properly, there should be an "ABC icon" in the status bar (lower right) of Firefox - like the one that iView uses when it is loading into your browser . If you click on that then a "preferences" dialog should pop up. Make sure that iViewFox is set to "enabled" (see attached screengrab).

Disclaimer: Not using Mac here ;)

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Forgot to mention...

Yes the icon is there; it says it's enabled.

Have tried closing down Firefox and restarting - no joy.

There was a message when I first installed it, to copy some command and put it in Terminal - which I did.

??? Am at a loss to know what else I can do.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Perhaps try the terminal command again. Put the following address in Firefox to bring up that page again: chrome://iviewfox/content/ohHai.html

It's possible that my code for checking whether or not the extension is being updated or newly installed could be borked.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I put the code into terminal again,
restarted Firefox,
went to abc.net.au -
the little icon appears.
Clicked on "Watch Program" -
it went to full-screen and started playing the video.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Just to confirm, you're not on OSX 10.5, but OSX 10.6+ yeah?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

OSX 10.6.4 Snow Leopard

ISP is TPG

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Unfortunately my version of rtmpdump (which is the downloader within iViewFox) is only compiled to run under OSX 10.6.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

@Yansky

Any chance you'll be upgrading it soon?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

(rtmpdump usage question)

I have this stream URL (from StreamTransport, which can download it OK, but in its full playing time of course) -

rtmp://pub-fz.cdn.iinet.net.au/public//mp4:waso/waso/waso-rib-ep001-hq.mp4

I am using rtmpdump with -r URL -o filename.mp4 but get this error -
OR

Can someone tell me what is this indicating?

[Edit]
eliminated the problem due to having a 0-byte output file, due to earlier failed attempts. Now, my simple test batch file deletes the output file.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I have been using IviewFox successfully for some time. I upgraded successfully to the new 3 November version, but it stopped working on 12 November. Like kharisma, I stopped getting the save box and the program continued to download and play. Thing is I am also with TPG. I have also tried to run IviewFox on my old lap top where I have successfully run the application before, but with the same (non) outcome.

Could it be that TPG has blocked the application form working?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

RTMPdump actually starts after the save dialog has opened - not before. It's not RTMPdump that makes the save dialog appear. If you're not getting the save dialog then something else is blocking it before RTMPdump gets a chance to begin :(

No. RTMPdump does not identify itself in any way that TPG could know that you were using it. If you can play the video directly from the ABC iView site then RTMPdump should work.

What OS are you using? Also, what version of Firefox?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

A few people have reported this but I can't seem to replicate the issue. I don't think it's ISP specific as I'm with TPG too and it seems to work ok for me.

I asked another user who experienced this problem to post any error messages he received, but he said there were none: http://mycoffeelounge.net/forum-repl...26217&r=11#r11

Anywho, here is my code for the iViewFox extension FWIW: http://pastebin.com/JDx6dg5T - can you see any issues?

Also, I just noticed that a user posted some info in a review here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...90505/reviews/
Something about private browsing mode. Perhaps there's a setting that's getting messed up or summin.

P.S. - slightly off topic, but if anyone could test out my new version of this extension that'd be great.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/56803/
The new version is 0.2.4 - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...6803/versions/

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Nope. Seeing as they're not getting to the SAVE dialog, this seems to suggest that the checks on prefs.getBoolPref("enabled") aren't working - or they are but Firefox isn't passing the correct value back to you (damaged user profile?)
In private browsing mode you do get a "new" user profile, don't you? This would suggest an issue with the user's profile. A test, I guess, would be to see if a new vanilla user's profile has the same issue as well. Other possibilities - other add-ons interfering?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Yanksy...

Thinking some more about the iViewFox.prefs.getBoolPref("enabled") - if that wasn't working then they would get a "light" ABC icon not the "dark" ABC icon in the status bar wouldn't they? Perhaps a screencap of the status bar would help you to see if that is being picked up properly.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I am using windows XP and firefox version 3.6.10 with all updates

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I have this idea of making use of the last-chance.xml file in order to add menu choices to a GUI downloader, for those expiring today, in 2 days, a week, etc - akin to the Last Chance choice at iView. That page has only today, tomorrow - but the RSS feeds give longer-term information.
But I'm not sure that the RSS is the way to go, since their information is derived from the episode metadata anyway.
Any advice?

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Answered your own question I think.

I see getting another file from the server as just another file to: load, go missing, be corrupted, have to parse for info, when you already have the info you need (expiry date).

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

ys, i think parsing the index/catalog json is the way.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Hi,

Has anyone else been having trouble using V15.80 of the batch version?

I have had trouble ie. getting a 'not found' error whenever I try to download anything eg. Cosmic Quantum Ray. Iviewfox and Napperlite are working as normal however.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Actually, you'll find that the iView site is broken. The index on their site doesn't load fully - hence why the batch file is choking.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

And as soon as I wrote that - 5 minutes later it's fixed! Someone's watching us :eek:

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Looks like the iView site is messed up again. Broken sometimes at the "Loading iView" (gets to 68%). If you get to the home page then sometimes the "All Programs -> A-Z Index" doesn't work...

The trained monkeys must have stopped hitting keys on the keyboard again :D

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Oh well, sorry for the false alarm. It just seemed weird that Iviewfox and Napperlite were working. :o Everything seems OK now.

Thanks

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Very odd show-stopping behaviour has been exhibited today.

Unusually, I have been able to test this over some time - instead of doing some work - and have found both iViewNapper and iView Batch Downloader have been hit with parsing errors in the JSON files.

Strangely, it clears up sometimes a few minutes later.

I'm going to test whether I have a disk problem (It could be a disk read when the catalog.json / index.json is read - but I'm not convinced of that).

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Yeah, that's what I found was happening yesterday.
Nah, I wouldn't blame your disk. iView has been having issues as you've found out. The main index(es) are sometimes loading completely and sometimes they're are not. This is what is causing the JSON parser errors.

I know the batch file version will either give you a menu with all the index or else you get a menu with just "0. Go back to Main Menu" when the index doesn't completely load.

I've found that if the index loads when you use ABC's iView website, then you'll often find that the index loads for the batch file version properly (and I'm guessing similar for iViewNapper). Luck of the draw I'm thinking :rolleyes:

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Yes, parallels my experience. I don't have disk errors, anyway ;)

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Off-topic, re VLC media player (v1.1.5) -
When a .TXT file with the exact same (primary) filename as the video (.mp4) file is in the same folder, VLC seems to regard it as a sub-titles file even if there is a .SRT file there.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Does anyone have an iPad to see where the new iPad app gets it's videos / API from? The iPad doesn't (usually) support RTMP so an iPad suggests that there may be a http delivery method now. I can't see any obvious urls in the binaries, but objective-c binaries aren't that obvious.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

Slightly OT: this new GUI for rtmpdump on the mac looks pretty neat

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

OK, I checked the VideoLan forums and there's some flux and discussion about the various subtitle formats, including a future version allowing 2 different subtitles per show. Numerous CC formats use the .TXT extension (though quite different internally), so my description files will have to use .DES or something else.

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I was away for 9 days so missed Insiders for last Sunday.
Anywho, can you suggest how I can construct a suitable set of xml control files for the Batch Downloader? I don't have a "model" or template to guide me.
The download index does not currently list Insiders (though Inside Business is still there).

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

I'm not sure you can download it. Kind of strange seeing as it was the final one.

I've tried various permutations and each one comes up as "not on the server".

:(

(edit: Don't forget to delete the zero-byte file after each attempt ;))

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

This works -
Using your suggestion, I did what was obvious I guess and that was to see what the format was for other "news" programs, in particular Inside Business. The essential part was the path, of course.

Zero-byte files always trap me. Thanks for the reminder!

Re: How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

 

iViewNapper says "Fetching Episode" quickly when I try to download, however, the menu then disappears and the download doesn't commence. :mad:

Running out of ideas. 7mateNapper and SBSNapper both work fine.

Also, anybody know of a way to save downloads to another drive/directory?