get_iplayer Forums blog

It's taken slightly less time than reddit but still over a year since I first wanted to implement SSL here at get_iplayer Forums and today I'm happy to say the deed is finally done!

From today all connections to both the front end and user admin areas will be encrypted. You'll see the padlock icon in your address bar (except for ie6, in which case you'll probably see nothing and won't even be able to read this!) and you can view squarepenguin.co.uk's SSL report here: 

https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=squarepenguin.co.uk

This is a vast improvement in security, particularly for user passwords during the log in process, and the implementation of support for PFS should mean that in the unlikely even of a breach an attacker won't be able to decrypt all previous sessions.

As ever, my recommendation is that you use unique 25+ character passwords using case-sensitive letters, numbers and special characters for EVERY single site you use. If that sounds like too much hard work, get a password manager and let Lastpass, Dashlane, Roboform or KeePass do the work for you.

I've been testing the site for a short while before it went live but with any new feature and a switch to a new IP address there exists the possibility of unexpected behaviour and unforeseen problems. The current configuration will likely be updated to respond to server/visitor behaviour so I ask that if you notice anything wrong or experience a problem please let me know via the contact form link in the site footer.

Squarepenguin.co.uk will be going down for maintenance at 1530 2014-6-26 for approx 30 minutes in order to carry out emergency maintenance.

Apologies for the inconvenience and short notice.

get_iplayer has been updated to version 2.86.

A full list of changes can be found in the get_iplayer 2.86 Release Notes.

Summary of changes:

• Fix for missing thumbnails
• Support for iPlayer Radio Site URLs
• Zero-padding in `episodenum` and `seriesnum`
• AVI container option for DivX files
• Trim download history
• New options: --hfsfilename and --tag-id3sync
• Other minor bug fixes and improvements

The BBC iPlayer site is experiencing technical issues tonight. This is preventing get_iplayer from downloading content and presenting the general error 'no specified modes'.

Technical issues We are looking into a known fault with iPlayer at the moment. In the meantime, apologies for the disruption.

— BBC iPlayer (@BBCiPlayer) March 19, 2014

Keep an eye on the BBC iPlayer twitter feed for further updates.

Over the past few days some of you are being falsely rejected from this site by an over aggressive spam plugin. I apologise for the hassle and have identified the problem to be with Akismet integration with certain aspects of the site.

The various anti-spam methods in place here on the site have been reconfigured and all incorrect lockouts removed.

If you are still having trouble, you may get in touch through the contact form and I'll take a look at your individual case.

Changes in get_iplayer 2.85

Internet Explorer 11 Compatibility

The primary purpose of this release is to propagate a change in the Windows installation that is required to make the Web PVR Manager compatible with Internet Explorer 11. The change is explained in this page.

Other Changes

• Added support for additional subtitle format
• Fixed CR-LF handling for programme descriptions
• Patched to work with Perl on Synology NAS

get_iplayer has been updated to version 2.84

A full list of changes can be found in the get_iplayer v2.84 Release Notes.

Summary of changes:

• Subtitle fixes and new formats
• Restore embedded video download
• WMA removed from Recording Mode shortcuts
• New Metadata fields
• Other minor bug fixes and improvements

Installation

Installation information for all platforms may be found here and here.

Please note that it may take some time for get_iplayer 2.84 to be packaged for your particular system.