how to specify download folder with get-iplayer

how to specify download folder with get-iplayer

I am making a gui for get_iplayer. (Code here)
According to the man page for get-iplayer, I can specify a download
destination with
get-iplayer -g `index` --output="/some/desired/folder/"
This works, if I type the absolute path, i.e
--output="/home/severin/Videos/", I get the desired result. However, I
want to specify a path, that would be viable for other users too, i.e.
--output="~/Videos"
Unfortunately, this does not work at all. It creates a new folder in my
current directory, for example, if I'm in directory "~/Pictures/", the
above command will create a new directory
"/home/severin/Pictures/~/Videos".
Is this a bug in get-iplayer or am I doing it wrong?