Using rtmpdump,rtmpsrv,rtmpsuck,RTMPexplorer to download BBC iPlayer radio & TV shows

[hyc]

The problem is the tremendous duplication of effort in parsing the options, of which there are already 17 or so and will probably be more over time. There's no good reason to have to patch all of the apps every time we add a new option to librtmp.

[elch]

True, but is there really the need for XBMC etc. to support all of them? If the developers encounter a service that might require a 'special' parameter, they can add support for this particular parameter in the same breath (if not already done). The effort is worth it, if you ask me. The advantages are obvious: A much more flexible library with no need for the (mis)use of uncommon characters as separators as you'd suggested on the mailing list.

[Bodhi]

I tried using rtmpdump to record a radio show, and I keep getting an error saying handshake failed. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

This is the website with a link to the show:
_http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s7m2d

and this is the rtmpt link I found with URL Snooper:
rtmpt://bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net/a1414/e3/mp4:radio2/secure_auth/international/RBN2_radio_2_-_sunday_0000_b00s7m1y_2010_05_02_03_23_34?s=127277 3895&e=1272860295&h=cbffae1c0ea1f481fe0ded 6fab65653b

[Khrushchev]

Recently streams from BBC radio3 are failing in rtmpdump v2.2d, first flashaudio, now flashaac1 and flashaac2. We are receiving Command exit code 1 (raw code = 256). RTMPDump is being run by get_iplayer 2.76.

We presume BBC has altered something in recent streams that is causing this problem. flashaudio was the first to fail (more than a month ago), now flashaac modes are also failing.

Has this problem been reported elsewhere? Are there known workarounds?

Would debug output from RTMPDump be helpful? If so, what command line arguments would produce helpful debug logs?

[Khrushchev]

Here is debug output from from rtmpdump:

DEBUG: Protocol      : RTMP

DEBUG: Hostname      : bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net

DEBUG: Port          : 1935

DEBUG: Playpath      : mp4:radio3/secure_auth/RBN2_radio_3_-_thursday_1700_b00sbfmb_2010_05_20_18_44_23.mp4?as=adobe-hmac-sha256&av=1&te=connect&mp=radio3/secure_auth/modem/RBN2_radio_3_-_thursday_1700_b00sbfmb_2010_05_20_18_44_44.mp4,radio3/secure_auth/RBN2_radio_3_-_thursday_1700_b00sbfmb_2010_05_20_18_44_23.mp4&et=1274435234&fmta-token=e4a9bbd695df3263b8005b5b3d2943fe7793e01cfba682320d2a371a1dd69e78

DEBUG: tcUrl         : rtmp://bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net:1935/a1414/e3

DEBUG: swfUrl        : http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/10player.sw...on=14200_14320

DEBUG: app           : a1414/e3

DEBUG: flashVer      : LNX 10,0,22,87

DEBUG: live          : no

DEBUG: timeout       : 10 sec

DEBUG: Connect, ... connected, handshaking

DEBUG: HandShake: Type Answer   : 03

DEBUG: HandShake: Server Uptime : 1776136389

DEBUG: HandShake: FMS Version   : 3.5.2.1

DEBUG: Connect, handshaked

INFO: Connected...
Starting download at: 0.000 kB

DEBUG: GetNextMediaPacket, received: server BW

DEBUG: GetNextMediaPacket, received: client BW

DEBUG: GetNextMediaPacket, received: invoke 240 bytes

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., STRING:	_result>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., NUMBER:	1.00>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., OBJECT>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                    fmsVer, STRING:	FMS/3,5,3,837>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:              capabilities, NUMBER:	127.00>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                      mode, NUMBER:	1.00>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., OBJECT>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                     level, STRING:	status>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                      code, STRING:	NetConnection.Connect.Success>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:               description, STRING:	Connection succeeded.>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:            objectEncoding, NUMBER:	0.00>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                      data, OBJECT>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                   version, STRING:	3,5,3,837>

DEBUG: HandleInvoke, server invoking <_result>

DEBUG: HandleInvoke, received result for method call <connect>

DEBUG: sending ping. type: 0x0003

DEBUG: GetNextMediaPacket, received: invoke 21 bytes

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., STRING:	onBWDone>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., NUMBER:	0.00>

DEBUG: HandleInvoke, server invoking <onBWDone>

DEBUG: GetNextMediaPacket, received: invoke 29 bytes

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., STRING:	_result>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., NUMBER:	2.00>

DEBUG: Property: NULL

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., NUMBER:	1.00>

DEBUG: HandleInvoke, server invoking <_result>

DEBUG: HandleInvoke, received result for method call <createStream>

DEBUG: SendPlay, sending play: mp4:radio3/secure_auth/RBN2_radio_3_-_thursday_1700_b00sbfmb_2010_05_20_18_44_23.mp4?as=adobe-hmac-sha256&av=1&te=connect&mp=radio3/secure_auth/modem/RBN2_radio_3_-_thursday_1700_b00sbfmb_2010_05_20_18_44_44.mp4,radio3/secure_auth/RBN2_radio_3_-_thursday_1700_b00sbfmb_2010_05_20_18_44_23.mp4&et=1274435234&fmta-token=e4a9bbd695df3263b8005b5b3d2943fe7793e01cfba682320d2a371a1dd69e78

DEBUG: sending ping. type: 0x0003

DEBUG: GetNextMediaPacket, received: invoke 133 bytes

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., STRING:	onStatus>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., NUMBER:	0.00>

DEBUG: Property: NULL

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  no-name., OBJECT>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                     level, STRING:	error>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                      code, STRING:	NetStream.Failed>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:               description, STRING:	Failed to play  (stream ID: 1).>

DEBUG: Property: <Name:                  clientid, STRING:	^ytwIPwY>

DEBUG: HandleInvoke, server invoking <onStatus>

DEBUG: HandleInvoke, onStatus: NetStream.Failed


DEBUG: Writing data type: 00
Download may be incomplete (downloaded about 0.00%), try --resume

DEBUG: Closing connection.

DEBUG: Exit code:

[Garibaldi]

Hi Khrushchev, if you go to the get_iplayer website where the original author of the program (Phil Lewis) has kindly allowed users to continue to post comments on the final blog post, you will see that a user under the name 'fsck' has posted the two lines of code that you need to change in get_iplayer.pl:

http://linuxcentre.net/get_iplayer-d...#comment-22883 (Remember to change the quotes if you use it from the linuxcenter or just copy and paste from here):

Under the section ‘# Limelight CDN’ change these two lines:
From:

$conn->{playpath} = "$cattribs->{identifier}?$cattribs->{authString}";

To:

$conn->{playpath} = "$cattribs->{identifier}";

AND
From:

$conn->{application} = $cattribs->{application};

To:

$conn->{application} = "$cattribs->{application}?$cattribs->{authString}";

P.S. Thank you to whoever copied and posted the code from the comment at linuxcentre, I should have thought myself to copy it and paste it here as well, duh.

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

Read the following links for details of what you could have done at the time to solve your problem, how changes on the iPlayer website have since been made to block those solutions, and what other software exists to help you now -

http://streemeboxvcr.yuku.com/topic/2238:

You can record the BBC iPlayer (Radio and TV) using rtmpdump

Note: This post is optimised for Windows 98 / 98SE / ME.

Use RTMPdump v2.1d
(later versions don't work with Win98 / 98SE / ME)

RADIO SHOWS -

A. Download an MP4 file

MP4 files use AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), an audio format that gives better sound quality than MP3.


1. Open the BBC’s iPlayer website at the page that plays the radio show you want to download.

2. Note the 8-digit Programme ID (PID) contained in the page’s URL address. That address looks like the following, but has an 8-digit PID instead of 8 zeros:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/00000000

3. Type the following URL into the Address bar of your browser, replacing the 8 zeros with the eight-digit PID, to open an XML page in your browser:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlist/00000000

4. Type the following URL into the Address bar of your browser, replacing the 8 zeros with the 8-digit ID called "identifier" from the page you opened in step 3, then use the completed URL to open an XML page in the browser:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/4/mtis/stream/00000000

5. Copy-and-paste the string called HREF in the XML page you opened at step 4 (in the section marked "aac" and "bitrate=128") into the following command, in place of the string of zero's (but don't delete the quote marks):

rtmpdump -r "00000000000000000000000000000000000000000" -o filename.flv

You should copy-and-paste the completed command into a .BAT batch file; then put the batch file in the same directory (folder) as the program RTMPDUMP.EXE; then open an Internet connection; then run the batch file (i.e. double-click on it).


The above instructions will download a 34MB .FLV flash file, containing an MP4A (MP4 Audio) file encoded in AAC audio format, at a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, with an average bitrate of 128 kbps.

The FLV file plays in GOM Player v2.1.21.4846, and in Applian FLV Player v2.0. For Windows 9x, I recommend GOM Player.


If you'd prefer a smaller file, copy instead the href string in the "aac" section marked "bitrate=48" in the Media Selector page at step 5 above.



An Example -

This is for an imaginary radio show with the Programme ID (PID) b00s6492

A. The iPlayer page URL (contains the PID):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00s6492

B. The Playlist page URL (contains the PID):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlist/b00s6492

C. The Media Selector page URL (contains the "identifier"):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/4/mtis/stream/b00s630l

D. The RTMPdump command:
rtmpdump -r "rtmpt://bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net/a1414/e3/mp4: bbc7/secure_auth/RBN2_bbc7_-_wednesday_0130_b00s630l_2010_04_28_01_38_20?s=127 2518768&e=1272605168&h=6faf8376fbf02 ec82b0db6035ddb4653" -o filename.flv

Paragraph D is only an example. The string of characters between the quotation marks will be different every time, since this is the address of the particular file.



You can, optionally, then extract the mp4 audio file from the Flash wrapper -

A: Download and install the program FFMPEG which you can get from this link
(the file to download is the one called ffmpeg-r16537-gpl-shared-win32.tar.bz2
or get the latest version) - you’ll need an unzip program to open it called 7-zip

B: Once unzipped, the installer program will install FFMPEG.exe and five .DLL
files it needs (avcodec-52, avdevice-52, avformat-52, avutil-49 and swscale-0)
and it’s best to copy all those files to C:\ (the root directory of your hard disk)

C: Type this command to extract the mp4 audio stream from the Flash file -

C:\ffmpeg.exe -i "filename.flv" -acodec copy "output.mp4"




B. Download a WMA file

A 96 kbps file in Windows Media Audio (.WMA) format


1. Install the program RTMPdump.exe as detailed above, and also install the program SDP v2.0.0 (SDP Multimedia) by the Streaming Download Project.

2. Follow steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Part A above ("Download an MP4 file").

3. Find the section marked encoding="wma" in the XML page that opened in that last step. Then copy the asx link in that section (that link is called the href), and paste it into Windows Media Player 7: start that program, go to FILE > OPEN URL, then paste in the link, then click "OK".

That asx link will look like this example, but must be all on one line -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/4/asx/b00s378s/

iplayer_intl_stream_wma_uk_concrete

4. Start the radio show playing, then save its url address in a playlist: go to
FILE > EXPORT PLAYLIST TO FILE and save a .asx playlist file to the Desktop.

5. Open that playlist file with a text editor (e.g. Notepad), and look for a link similar to this:

mms://wm-acl.bbc.co.uk/wms/bbc7coyopa/bbc7_-_monday_0000.wma

6. Copy-and-paste the link you've found into the program SDP Multimedia v2.0.0, to download the radio show as a .wma (Windows Media Audio) file:

(1) Start the SDP program
(2) Go to FILE > OPEN and paste in the mms string, then click "OK"
(3) Click "GO", type a file name in the box that opens, then click "save"



C. Download a RealAudio file

A 44 kbps file in RealAudio (.RA) format


1. Install the program StreamboxVCR

2. Follow steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Part A above ("Download an MP4 file").

3. Find the section marked encoding="real" in the XML page that opened in that last step. Then copy the ram link in that section (that link is called the href). The link will look similar to this example, but must be all on one line -

[codel]http://www.bbc.co.uk//iplayer/aod/playlists/s8/73/s0/0b/RadioBridge_intl_2300_bbc_7.ram[/code]

4. Copy the link, and paste it into Streambox Vcr, to download the radio show as an .ra (RealAudio) file:

(1) Start the program called StreamBox VCR 1.0 beta 31smf+ turbo
(2) Go to EDIT > PASTE LINK and paste the link in the 'Location' box, & click "OK"

http://www.google.com/search?q=bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net/a1414/e3/

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

http://beebhack.wikia.com/wiki/IPhone_H.264_version:

On the 7th of March 2008 the BBC launched an iPhone compatible version of their web-based iPlayer service. Visitors to iPlayer site using an iPhone would be presented with a slightly tweaked interface, but crucially where users of the site using a desktop web browser, iPhone users would see an embedded Quicktime player streaming H.264 video (referred to on iPlayer as MP4) over a normal HTTP protocol. This is the current method used by download scripts.

Overview of video request process


The process for requesting the H.264 video is as follows:

1. Video page is requested and a "BBC-UID" cookie is set, containing the URL-encoded User-Agent string of the browser.
2. Find a version PID for the episode PID from

   http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlist/

   . This is found in the form of

   <item kind="programme" duration="[duration]" identifier="[version PID]" ...

3. Request

   http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/3/auth/iplayer_streaming_http_mp4/[PID]?[RAND]

   where [PID] is the programme version ID and [RAND] is a random number, although the random number is apparently unused by the service. This URL (and all subsequent requests) must have:
   • The Quicktime User-Agent header: "Apple iPhone v1.1.1 CoreMedia v1.0.0.3A110a"
   • The BBC-UID cookie
   • A "Range" header of "0-1"
   • "Accept" header of "*/*"
4. The video URL then 302 redirects to a much more complex URL . Store this URL.
5. Initially, request this URL with "Range" of "bytes=0-1" to get the "Content-Range" header back containing the full byte length of the video.
6. Step through the video length using the "Range" header from zero (or from the existing size of a partially downloaded file) in steps of under 70MB until the download is finished, appending to a file with a .mp4 extension.

The finished file should be a playable, unencrypted video.

Alternative Method

Follow the above steps replacing steps 3 and 4 as follows:

3. Request

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/4/mtis/stream/[version PID]

where [version PID].

4. In the resulting XML find the media element that contains the attribute

service="iplayer_streaming_http_mp4"

then find the href attribute of the connection child element. The is the URL. e.g.

<media kind="video"
        width="480"
        height="272"
        expires="2010-01-01T22:59:00+00:00"
        bitrate="516"
        service="iplayer_streaming_http_mp4"
        type="video/mp4"
        encoding="h264" >
        <connection                         
                priority="2"
                kind="securesis"
                server="http://download.iplayer.bbc.co.uk/"
                identifier="iplayer_streaming_http_mp4/5421531205075963289"
                authString="iVXZx55%2FTNMmb1BzHh0nO6835iCiAPOU6K2ofDUx9limC26%2Bqowh8666zL5G9U7neJxvdfGgSRuU%0A%2F86r%2BxAGs4sbRmkZclq9%2F9h%2B3brWmr6fsuKhi4DosbXOUg59b%2FGGNBdQKl0%3D%0A"
                href="http://download.iplayer.bbc.co.uk/iplayer_streaming_http_mp4/5421531205075963289.mp4?token=iVXZx55%2FTNMmb1BzHh0nO6835iCiAPOU6K2ofDUx9limC26%2Bqowh8666zL5G9U7neJxvdfGgSRuU%0A%2F86r%2BxAGs4sbRmkZclq9%2F9h%2B3brWmr6fsuKhi4DosbXOUg59b%2FGGNBdQKl0%3D%0A&pid=b00pm1h6"                                                                       
        />
</media>

Example HTTP headers sent by an iPhone session

GET www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/3/auth/iplayer_streaming_http_mp4/b009gbsn HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
Cookie: BBC-UID=74a79c638cbe4c2d416e453f70f0dcf063d0b78d20c0c1d4843ffaaf85b17c9c0Mozilla%2f5%2e0%20%28iPhone%3b%20U%3b%20CPU%20like%20Mac%20OS%20X%3b%20en%29%20AppleWebKit%2f420%2e1%20%28KHTML%2c%20like%20Gecko%29%20Version%2f3%2e0%20Mobile%2f4A93%20Safari%2f419%2e3
User-Agent: Apple iPhone v1.1.4 CoreMedia v1.0.0.4A102
Connection: close
Range: bytes=0-1
Host: www.bbc.co.uk

This is then followed by a redirect response and the client creates another request to the actual media location:

GET download.iplayer.bbc.co.uk/iplayer_streaming_http_mp4/120535810311891748.mp4?token=iVXfwJl4SNsma1ByHhlxO%2FVjsCCjA%2FSSsqr6KzU2p1ymDTC%2Bq94kpfjpz%2BlMpki3epI%2BcfHySRmU%0Aos7y%2BxQGsdNDF2UeI124qoN%2F3b7QmLqZtOuii4bpt7jOVQp7b%2BbFKVM%3D%0A HTTP/1.1
Cookie: BBC-UID=74a79c638cbe4c2d416e453f70f0dcf063d0b78d20c0c1d4843ffaaf85b17c9c0;
User-Agent: Apple iPhone v1.1.4 CoreMedia v1.0.0.4A102
Connection: close
Host: download.iplayer.bbc.co.uk
Range: bytes=0-

Timeline of BBC updates to iPhone interface

This seems to have stabilized and the current method of requesting video is at the top of the page.

View the page history for this section if you want to see all the fun hoops the BBC made us jump through for a while.


Various methods for downloading from iPlayer have been developed, including get_iplayer which has versions for Windows 95/98/ME/XP, Linux/Unix, and Mac OSX.

As of March 10 2010, get_iplayer has been withdrawn and is no longer available on the linuxcentre.net website. It has been forked here: http://github.com/jjl/get_iplayer

http://www.google.com/search?q=bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net/a1414/e3/

[elch]

By the way, there is also a fork of get_iplayer integrating various patches. http://git.infradead.org/get_iplayer.git

Would somebody be so kind and provide a working command or could tell me what I'm doing wrong with putting the parameters together? Example:

rtmpdump --port 1935 --protocol 0 --playpath 'mp4:iplayerstream/secure_auth/1500kbps/The_Cut_Series_2_Episode_5_b00skndd.mp4' --host bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net --swfUrl http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/10player.sw...on=14200_14320 --tcUrl 'rtmp://bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net:1935/a1414/e3' --app 'a1414/e3?as=adobe-hmac-sha256&av=1&te=connect&mp=iplayerstream/secure_auth/1500kbps/The_Cut_Series_2_Episode_5_b00skndd.mp4,iplayerstr eam/secure_auth/800kbps/The_Cut_Series_2_Episode_5_b00skndd.mp4,iplayerstr eam/secure_auth/480kbps/The_Cut_Series_2_Episode_5_b00skndd.mp4,iplayerstr eam/secure_auth/400kbps/The_Cut_Series_2_Episode_5_b00skndd.mp4&et=1272914 612&fmta-token={THE_TOKEN}' --timeout 10 -o '/mnt/usb/Series/The Cut/Series 2/5. Confidence/iplayer_streaming_h264_flv_high.flv'

Yes, I am aware of the The_Cut_Series_2_Episode_5_b00skndd.mp4 appearing several times but how would I do it right? Just use the first one and skip the others to finally continue with et and fmta-token?

Thanks!

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

This is the new format of the command for RTMPDUMP 2.2d -

rtmpdump -r "rtmp://bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net:1935/a1414/e3?as=adobe-hmac-sha256&av=1&te=connect&mp=bbc7/secure_auth/modem/RBN2_bbc7_-_friday_0930_b007r4y0_2010_05_28_09_30_02.mp4,bbc7/secure_auth/RBN2_bbc7_-_friday_0930_b007r4y0_2010_05_28_09_26_32.mp4&et=1 275070833&fmta-token=20f39f70bfa163a2f61ba534b732bdcb036683e3ab4f 7b013e698554ac5516d1" -a "a1414/e3?as=adobe-hmac-sha256&av=1&te=connect&mp=bbc7/secure_auth/modem/RBN2_bbc7_-_friday_0930_b007r4y0_2010_05_28_09_30_02.mp4,bbc7/secure_auth/RBN2_bbc7_-_friday_0930_b007r4y0_2010_05_28_09_26_32.mp4&et=1 275070833&fmta-token=20f39f70bfa163a2f61ba534b732bdcb036683e3ab4f 7b013e698554ac5516d1" -f "WIN 9,0,260,0" -W "http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/9player.swf?revision=18182_20020" -p "http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b007r4yr" -y "mp4:bbc7/secure_auth/RBN2_bbc7_-_friday_0930_b007r4y0_2010_05_28_09_26_32.mp4" -o RBN2_bbc7_-_friday_0930_b007r4y0_2010_05_28_09_26_32.mp4


The following instructions enable you to find the URL address of an RTMP stream, i.e. the real address of a BBC iPlayer radio or tv show, using a program called RTMPSRV.EXE, and you then use that address with the main program (RTMPDUMP.EXE) to download that show -

1. Use Get_iPlayer to download the RTMP stream info for the BBC radio or tv show which you want to record: insert the 8-digit PID (Programme ID) number from the URL address of the iPlayer page for that show, in place of the 8 zero's in this command -

perl get_iplayer.pl --type=radio --streaminfo PID:00000000 > BBC.txt

2. All you need from the text file which the previous step creates is the HOST address, but that step is unnecessary 99% of the time because for the BBC iPlayer the host address is normally this:

bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net

3. Edit your computer's HOSTS file, as follows:

(a) Go to START > RUN and type this in the box, then click OK:

C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ATTRIB.EXE -R -S -H C:\WINDOWS\HOSTS

(b) Go to START > RUN and type this in the box, then click OK:

EDIT C:\WINDOWS\HOSTS

(c) Disable the line in the HOSTS file that reads "127.0.0.1 localhost" by putting a # at the start of that line

(d) Type in the following line, immediately underneath that line:
127.0.0.1 bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net

(e) Save the changes: File > Save

NB: When it's all over, put your HOSTS file back to normal by reversing all these changes.

4. Download the program RTMPDUMP version 2.2d from this link:
http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu/downloa...2d-windows.zip

The .zip file includes RTMPSRV.exe as well as RTMPDUMP.exe, so run RTMPSRV.exe (by double-clicking it).

5. Open the iPlayer page that plays the radio or tv show you want to download, and start it playing. This is an example of the page URL address (you must substitute the show's 8-digit PID number for the 8 zero's in this example) -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/00000000

6. Now look at the window in which RTMPSRV is running. It will start displaying the true RTMP address of the tv or radio show that the iPlayer is trying to play in the other window.


Command Format:

rtmpdump -r "rtmp://[server]:[port]/[application]?[authString]"
-a "[application]?[authString]" -f "[Flash Version]" -W "[swfUrl]"
-p "[iPlayer page URL]" -y "[mp4: to .mp4 playpath]" -o file.flv


Command Example:

rtmpdump -r "rtmp://bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net:1935/a1414/e3?as=adobe-hmac-sha256&av=1&te=connect&mp=bbc7/secure_auth/RBN2_bbc_-_thursday_1930_b00sg0w7_2010_05_20_19_26_38.mp4&et =1274934408&fmta-token=2b4b12633bfd205b3d7f3060c0f827c37ae180808836 97444853b3c7866b40ee" -a "a1414/e3?as=adobe-hmac-sha256&av=1&te=connect&mp=bbc7/secure_auth/RBN2_bbc_-_thursday_1930_b00sg0w7_2010_05_20_19_26_38.mp4&et =1274934408&fmta-token=2b4b12633bfd205b3d7f3060c0f827c37ae180808836 97444853b3c7866b40ee" -f "WIN 9,0,260,0" -W "http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/9player.swf?revision=18182_20020" -p "http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00sg1gl" -y "mp4:bbc7/secure_auth/RBN2_bbc7_-_thursday_1930_b00sg0w7_2010_05_20_19_26_38.mp4" -o filename.flv


7. Write a batch (.BAT) file called RTMPSRV.BAT to run RTMPSRV.EXE and to pipe its output into another .BAT file, that can be used then to actually download the iPlayer show -

This is the content of RTMPSRV.BAT -

rtmpsrv > rtmpdump_run.bat

If you run RTMPSRV.EXE by double-clicking on the batch file RTMPSRV.bat, it will save all its output into RTMPDUMP.bat - but remember: it is saving the URL address of the iPlayer show, not the actual show itself!

Note: You can NOT run RTMPDUMP_RUN.BAT to download the iPlayer show until you have re-edited your HOSTS file back to its original state (or you'll get an error message).

Note: There will be *many* copies of the download command saved into the batch file RTMPDUMP_RUN.BAT so you must *delete* all except one! Otherwise the batch file will keep deleting (i.e. overwriting) the download every time it completes it!

8. Finally, you must change the file extension of the downloaded file from .MP4 to .FLV because it really is a Flash FLV file!

A Flash audio or video file will play in GOM Player or in Media Player Classic.

There are tools to extract the MP4 file from inside the FLV if you want to do that (e.g. FFMPEG.EXE).