Log Message:
get_iplayer: update to 3.29

                         get_iplayer 3.29 Release Notes

Changes in 3.29

   There is a breaking change in this release

     * Fixed bug that caused searches to fail when target episode title in
       cache contained vertical bar (|) characters. Vertical bars now
       converted to hyphens.

     * Adjusted stream classification to accommodate BBC changes

          * 960x540@25 streams are apparently no longer provided for
            programmes first broadcast after approximately 2021-12-05. The
            are still available for older programmes, including recent
            repeats.
          * 960x540@25 streams for new programmes have been replaced by
            960x540@50 streams with the same bit rate. get_iplayer now
            detects these lower-bitrate 50fps streams and classifies them
            appropriately. Use --tv-lower-bitrate to prefer those streams if
            they are available. The file sizes should be roughly the same as
            the previous 25fps streams. You do not need to change your
            preferences.
     * Restored BBC Three schedules to the programme indexing to accomodate
       its return as a broadcast channel. Perform a full rebuild of the TV
       programme index cache if you want to ensure it includes all supported
       BBC Three programmes:

   get_iplayer --rebuild-cache

       Ignore these warnings, as there were no BBC Three schedule listings
       for that week:

   WARNING: Got 0 programmes for BBC Three schedule page (HTML): \ 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl95/2022/w01

   WARNING: Failed to parse BBC Three schedule page: \ 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl95/2022/w01

     * Options related to recording quality have been changed

          * Some command iine parameters have been renamed:

            Old          New                Option Key
            --modes      --quality          modes
            --tv-mode    --tv-quality       tvmode
            --radio-mode --radio-quality    radiomode
            --fps25      --tv-lower-bitrate fps25

            The old command-line option names are scheduled for removal in
            the next release. The option keys (used in preferences, presets,
            and PVR searches) remain the same, so recording quality settings
            in existing preferences, presets, and PVR searches will continue
            to work.

          * The possible recording quality settings have been reduced to:

           Type  Quality Settings     Aliases                   Default
           TV    fhd,hd,sd,web,mobile 1080p,720p,540p,396p,288p hd,sd,web,mobile
           Radio high,std,med,low     320k,128k,96k,48k         high,std,med,low

            In the next release, it will be a fatal error to enter an invalid
            quality setting on the command line. Aliases can be used
            interchangeably with their corresponding alphabetic codes. The
            two substantive changes are that TV "high" quality is now \ 
"web",
            and TV "low" quality is now "mobile". This makes \ 
TV and radio
            quality settings distinct sets that can be mixed unambiguously
            for --quality and the Web PVR Manager. All recording quality
            settings that cannot be translated into values from the lists
            above are discarded. See Recording Quality for further
            information. See below for more information about the "fhd"
            quality setting.

          * BREAKING CHANGE: Existing quality settings (or recording modes)
            saved in preferences, presets, and PVR searches will be
            translated into new quality settings in a backwards-compatible
            manner, with one exception. If your saved values have prefixes
            denoting stream format (hls,hvf,had,dash,dvf,daf), or numeric
            suffixes for specific streams, those prefixes and suffixes are
            now stripped and ignored. You should never use numeric suffixes
            since they are non-deterministic. In the unlikely event you need
            to restrict the stream formats to record, use the new
            --exclude-format option. --exclude-format=dash will exclude
            MPEG-DASH streams, and --exclude-format=hls will exclude HLS
            streams.

          * If you have not specifed at least one of sd,web,high with
            --tv-quality when downloading an audiodescribed programme,
            get_iplayer will now insert those quality settings to ensure a
            stream is available. HD is not available for audiodescribed
            programmes.

     * Changes to programme metadata fields

          * No longer included in XML/JSON metadata files: durations,
            geoblocked, modes, modesizes, unavailable, verpids, versions. Use
            --info to see available version-dependent metadata values.
          * Now included in XML/JSON metadata files: quality, verpid
          * No longer displayed with --info unless --verbose is also
            specified: modes, modesizes
          * Now displayed with --info: qualities, qualitysizes
     * Changes to application options

          * --purge-files has been removed.

          * --trim-history and --no-purge are now ignored and will be removed
            in the next release. You can remove them from your preferences
            with:

   get_iplayer --prefs-del --trim-history=0 --no-purge

            get_iplayer will no longer issue a warning to remove downloaded
            programmes more than 30 days old.

     * EXPERIMENTAL: Full HD streams (1080p)

          * Before anyone asks: UHD 4k streams are still not available to
            get_iplayer.

          * get_iplayer now attempts to generate 1920x1080@50 ("fhd") \ 
stream
            URLs for every programme that has 1280x720@50 ("hd") \ 
streams (so
            no audiodescribed programmes). The purpose of these 1080p streams
            is not known. They may be used for some smart TVs or set-top
            boxes, or they may be a BBC experiment.

          * It is not a bug if "fhd" streams are not available for a
            programme. Do not depend on the presence of these streams. They
            may disappear at any time. They are provided solely for you to
            experiment with if you find them useful. You may decide that the
            video quality of "fhd" streams does not justify their extra
            download and storage requirements.

          * The "fhd" streams are not included by default, nor are they
            included when expanding the obsolete "best" shortcut if it is
            saved in your preferences, presets, or PVR searches. You must
            request "fhd" downloads specifically with --tv-quality=fhd or
            --tv-quality=1080p. This is done in part to avoid resource shock
            for the presumed majority of users who don't read release notes
            and documentation, but also because the quality of "fhd" \ 
streams
            varies greatly. If you wish to include "fhd" in your default
            settings, save it in your preferences:

   get_iplayer --prefs-add --tv-quality=fhd,hd,sd,web,mobile

          * The bit rates for the "fhd" streams can vary quite a bit \ 
between
            programmes. The maximum appears to be around 10 Mb/s (though most
            are far lower), so output files could be up to ~90% larger than
            their "hd" equivalents, in the region of 3.8 GB/hr for video.
            Most will have far lower bit rates, sometimes lower than their
            "hd" equivalents, likely due to more sophisticated compression
            techniques being employed.

          * Because of the method used to access the "fhd" streams,
            get_iplayer can't estimate their actual bit rates, so it assumes
            8 Mb/s, the value advertised in iPlayer metadata. Consequently,
            file size estimates and download progress reports may be quite
            far off.

          * It has been observed in initial testing that MPEG-DASH "fhd"
            downloads are much faster than HLS equivalents, so MPEG-DASH
            streams are tried first, while the opposite is true for \ 
non-"fhd"
            streams. This makes no difference to the output. The extra
            post-processing time required for MPEG-DASH is more than offset
            by the faster download. You can test the difference with
            --tv-quality=fhd --exclude-format=hls and --tv-quality=fhd
            --exclude-format=dash.