WMV file download using the download manager DownThemAll

[Krautland]

This might prove useful for those who find it impossible to stream programmes or are using and unsupported version of Windows.

I use FireFox and have done so for ages.

But with the correct add-on installed, such as DownThemAll (available at the FF website for free) you can maximise the download speed for your connection.

At some point I discovered that when I was downloading a WMV file to my machine, the downstream would still lag well behind the theoretical speed that I could achieve on my connection, which on a really good day is about 200KB/sec. Instead of those 200KB/sec, I noticed that using the direct download option on the BBC website I would hover around say 50-80KB/sec.

That was until I began using DTA.

This is how it is done...

Open iPlayer page containing the programme you wish to download
Click on the 'Download Options' link below the streaming player window
Click on the link for the Windows Media Player Download
In the popup window that appears right click on the download button, this then gives you the option to add the download to the DTA queue

I found that 3-4 segment parallel downloads now yield the full speed that my line is capable of, said 200KB/sec.

It appears that the BBC is limiting the download speeds per file and DTA gets around this by starting serveral streams simultaneously. I tried that at a friends house, he's got a 50MBit Virgin cable connection and the speed just skyrocketed to almost 5.5MB/sec, though I did have to set DTA to use more simultaneous streams to once again get around the limitations set by the BBC.

DTA is easily incorporated, quick to set up, has an abundance of intuitively understood options and the latest versions come with a scheduler.

A brilliant piece of kit if you asked me.

I hope this will be useful to others experiencing similar problems as me or those who just want to grab stuff a lot quicker then before.

If you need some screenshots, let me know and I will post them here to make things clearer.

Enjoy