BBC iPlayer - recent changes to their backend lowering max stream quality?

[LPMA]

It seems like BBC iPlayer might have implemented some recent changes to their backend; I used to be able to grab the Top of the Pops reruns at 720p easily through yt-dlp, but it now maxes out at 540p and 96kbps audio. So it got me looking into Devine - got everything up and running and using the .pem certificate from here.

The results, though, are inconsistent.
The 3 of the recent episodes (1999-02-26, 1999-02-19, 1999-02-12) are all stuck in 540p, suggesting the limitation extends to the Shield? (is 720p even still available?).
Audio downloading is inconsistent and fails roughly 25% of the time.
I also have to re-run the dl a few times for some titles, as it seems to be failing at the track-getting stage.

The 1999-01-15 episode is still available at 720p through yt-dlp and Devine is succesfully grabbing 1080p.

I'm using the most recent service from https://cdm-project.com/stabbedbybrick

Any pointers on if 720p is still possible and how to grab it? And how to make my downloads fail less/not at all?

[iamghost]

its old, some times it happen with other older tv series.

[LPMA]

its old, some times it happen with other older tv series.

It's old but the uploads are new, BBC4 is airing 2 re-runs every week and the episodes are uploaded after.

[mickmars]

It seems like BBC iPlayer might have implemented some recent changes to their backend; I used to be able to grab the Top of the Pops reruns at 720p easily through yt-dlp, but it now maxes out at 540p and 96kbps audio. So it got me looking into Devine - got everything up and running and using the .pem certificate from here.

The results, though, are inconsistent.
The 3 of the recent episodes (1999-02-26, 1999-02-19, 1999-02-12) are all stuck in 540p, suggesting the limitation extends to the Shield? (is 720p even still available?).
Audio downloading is inconsistent and fails roughly 25% of the time.
I also have to re-run the dl a few times for some titles, as it seems to be failing at the track-getting stage.

The 1999-01-15 episode is still available at 720p through yt-dlp and Devine is succesfully grabbing 1080p.

I'm using the most recent service from https://cdm-project.com/stabbedbybrick

Any pointers on if 720p is still possible and how to grab it? And how to make my downloads fail less/not at all?

For reasons, only they know, the BBC didnt put the Feb 1999 episodes on the iplayer at 720p or 1080p. The latest two March 1999 episodes are back at the better framerate

[LPMA]

For reasons, only they know, the BBC didnt put the Feb 1999 episodes on the iplayer at 720p or 1080p. The latest two March 1999 episodes are back at the better framerate

Yeah what's odd is that the older '70s/'80s episodes that were uploaded at the same time were also limited to 540p.