Saving last streamed content

[makem]

I want to save each episode of a series which is currently 6 episodes long and not finished. I am starting the saving by starting the series from episode 1 and leaving the hummy unattended. I feel sure that in the past the streaming would stop after the first episode and I could then save it. I would then start the next episode and so on.

Lately I have noticed that once started the episodes continue streaming in this case from episode 1 and at the moment episode 3 is streaming. The save last streamed content file size id 587 MiB and is not increasing.

Does this mean the hummy has available for download the first episode only? What is the position nowadays?

Edit: It has just increased so maybe will be able to save all. However, what happens if I download now while it is still streaming? Must I wait until all streaming has ended or if I do download, can the remainder be added or will I have all of 1 and part of 2 and then need to restart 2?

 

[grahamlthompson]

You have to stream each episode one at a time (until the file stops growing), and save it before you start playback of the next one. If you have a fast net connection one hour of HD is complete in around 10-15 minutes. You can safely stop playback while you save the episode.

 

[makem]

How can the streaming be faster than the watching time? I set it to play and then switch the tv to something else but if I watched it it would take an hour to end.It is now streaming ep6 so is it available to save, if not why did the file size increase?

It seems very hit and miss.

 

[grahamlthompson]

How can the streaming be faster than the watching time? I set it to play and then switch the tv to something else but if I watched it it would take an hour to end.It is now streaming ep6 so is it available to save, if not why did the file size increase?

It seems very hit and miss.

Because the box has a disk buffer that is large enough to hold a complete episode (this remains intact until you start a new download). Once the whole episode is in the buffer you can save it (the time for this depends on how fast your download speed is). You don't have to watch it. I imagine after one episode the buffer resets to start again. Doing it your way you likely will only get episode 6. As it happens I forgot to record The Living And The Dead, so I recorded all 6 episodes, on my 70 Mbps connection and it took about 35 mins or so for all 6. Watching episode 1 now. I had to select each episode to watch one at a time, saving after the file stopped increasing every time. The duration of the buffer contents is shown when you elect to save.

It's not hit or miss, if you understand how it works.

 

[makem]

I am also downloading the same. Do you sit watching the file size grow and then download, then start next?

As you say I may only get ep6, it is a very big ep6!

As I said before, I feel sure eps stopped rather than going through all so you could come back anytime to download that ep. maybe I am wrong.

 

[grahamlthompson]

I am also downloading the same. Do you sit watching the file size grow and then download, then start next?

As you say I may only get ep6, it is a very big ep6!

Yes that's what I did. That way you at least get a seperate file for each episode and you do not have to wait for the next one to start. It's going to take around 6hrs (if it is possible to record all into the buffer) How large is your recording now ? One episode is around 800-900 MiB. I have already deleted EP01.

I don't sit and watch, it takes about 15 mins or so with my internet connection, so I pause what I am watching when the webif shows the download is complete, save it and start the next. Then I continue watching the other source.

 

[makem]

Well, I stopped the streaming and started ep 1 again. 3/4 minutes later I had the full ep1!

Thank you, I was totally unaware that could be done.

I didnt take note of the file size but it was to small to be all.

 

[MontysEvilTwin]

You are best to hit pause while downloading. A month or so ago iPlayer was updated, and unless you go in to the iPlayer settings menu and turn off autoplay it will automatically play the next episode, if there is one, when an episode finishes. This will overwrite the streamer down file, deleting the previous episode.

 

[grahamlthompson]

You are best to hit pause while downloading. A month or so ago iPlayer was updated, and unless you go in to the iPlayer settings menu and turn off autoplay it will automatically play the next episode, if there is one, when an episode finishes. This will overwrite the streamer down file, deleting the previous episode.

Mine only does that if you elect to play back the collection. If you select the individual episode (using search) it does not play back anymore.

 

[grahamlthompson]

Well, I stopped the streaming and started ep 1 again. 3/4 minutes later I had the full ep1!

Thank you, I was totally unaware that could be done.

I didnt take note of the file size but it was to small to be all.

Result

You must have a decent internet speed. Better half is enjoying the series . Presumably you exceeded the available disk space required to get the total content. Just occurred to me if you start the playback and then pause the playback, it's likely the buffer will still be filled. Must check that out tomorrow.

What a coincidence, both after the same content.

 

[makem]

You are best to hit pause while downloading. A month or so ago iPlayer was updated, and unless you go in to the iPlayer settings menu and turn off autoplay it will automatically play the next episode, if there is one, when an episode finishes. This will overwrite the streamer down file, deleting the previous episode.

I have turned off auto play to get control of the streaming. I will not pause to see what happens while we watch a movie on freesat.

 

[Black Hole]

Just occurred to me if you start the playback and then pause the playback, it's likely the buffer will still be filled. Must check that out tomorrow.

It does.

You are best to hit pause while downloading. A month or so ago iPlayer was updated, and unless you go in to the iPlayer settings menu and turn off autoplay it will automatically play the next episode, if there is one, when an episode finishes. This will overwrite the streamer down file, deleting the previous episode.

I didn't know about that.

See also Things Every... (click) section 11.

 

[MontysEvilTwin]

If you start playing a programme, then press pause and leave it, the download will continue until all of the file is saved. The partition which holds the streamer down file is 10GB. Starting to play a new epsiode wipes the streamer down file: this file only ever contains one programme/ episode at a time. If you have root access set up (e.g. ftp or samba) you can navigate to /mnt/hd3 and rename 'streamer_down_file' once an episode is fully downloaded (e.g. as 'file.mp4'): it will be recreated when the next episode starts. The one advantage of this is that you can quickly save multiple episodes on /mnt/hd3 and then copy them later to My Video in one go.

 

[Luke]

I want to save each episode of a series which is currently 6 episodes long and not finished. I am starting the saving by starting the series from episode 1 and leaving the hummy unattended. I feel sure that in the past the streaming would stop after the first episode and I could then save it. I would then start the next episode and so on.

Lately I have noticed that once started the episodes continue streaming in this case from episode 1 and at the moment episode 3 is streaming. The save last streamed content file size id 587 MiB and is not increasing.

Yes, the way iPlayer works has recently changed.

The change is that when an episode of a series is played to the end iPlayer will automatically start playing the next episode if it is available.
Nothing has changed concerning when the buffer is reset, or what it contains. It remains as described in post #13 by MontysEvilTwin.

 

[makem]

2 min download of an hour ep.

Much better.

 

[makem]

Another thing I noticed lately is that quite often on both of my humaxes they crash when starting a stream from iPlayer.

Maybe that is related to changes too?

 

[MontysEvilTwin]

Another thing I noticed lately is that quite often on both of my humaxes they crash when starting a stream from iPlayer.

Maybe that is related to changes too?

Same here, it has been like that for quite a while. Sometimes even just opening the portal is enough to cause a crash. The problem has also been reported on the HDR-1800T and 2000T. I imagine that Humax could fix it if they had the inclination.

 

[prpr]

I imagine that Humax could fix it if they had the inclination.

They have neither the inclination nor the people with the right skills to do so.

 

[Black Hole]

Ditto.

 

[NeilN]

Hi Guys

Regarding the Humax TV Portal crash.

Try the following as it seems to work for me every time.

Make sure that the WebIF is closed prior to starting an iPlayer stream.
Once it starts play the stream pause iPlayer as stated above. Then open the WebIF/Media browser and scroll to the bottom to wait for the file being created to stop growing, and once download has completed, save as normal.
When saved and if you are going to save another stream, exit WebIF first and repeat.

I've been downloading the Olympics and was getting the portal crash and reboot more often than not. So tried the above method as an experiment and it seemed to work ok. Not had a single portal crash since .

It would be great if others could try this to see if they get the same result and report back.

UPDATE: Have downloaded 20 oylpmics streams (30GB so far) using the above without a single crash.