using Perl to process XML files?

[LJackson]

Hi all,

i have been learning php for a while now and have been using it to add xml(datafeeds) to my sql database to create a price comparision function on my website.

however i have run into a few problems with php
the larger feeds over 4000 items caused errors relating to 30 second timeout. and only the items read in that time were added to the database

so i asked mlseim if a CRON job would rid those problems but the answer was no so he suggested that i come here and ask about the limitations of pearl and if it would be better to use perl instead of php.

here is my php code

 $xml=("http://www.kernow-connect.com/feeds/bench.xml");


$xmlDoc = new DOMDocument();
$xmlDoc->load($xml);
$channels=$xmlDoc->getElementsByTagName('prod'); 

$merchant = $xmlDoc->getElementsByTagName('merchant')->item(0);
$merchant_name = $merchant->getAttribute('name');
print $merchant_name;

for ($i = 0; $i <  $channels->length; $i++) { 
$channel = $channels->item($i);//get elements from "<channel>"

$channel_title = 
mysql_real_escape_string($channel->getElementsByTagName('name')->item(0)->childNodes->item(0)->nodeValue);

$channel_image = 
mysql_real_escape_string($channel->getElementsByTagName('mImage')->item(0)->childNodes->item(0)->nodeValue);

$channel_link = 
mysql_real_escape_string($channel->getElementsByTagName('awTrack')->item(0)->childNodes->item(0)->nodeValue);

$channel_desc = 
mysql_real_escape_string($channel->getElementsByTagName('desc')->item(0)->childNodes->item(0)->nodeValue);

$channel_promo = 
mysql_real_escape_string($channel->getElementsByTagName('promo')->item(0)->childNodes->item(0)->nodeValue);

$channel_id = 
mysql_real_escape_string($channel->getElementsByTagName('pId')->item(0)->childNodes->item(0)->nodeValue);

$channel_cost = 
mysql_real_escape_string($channel->getElementsByTagName('buynow')->item(0)->childNodes->item(0)->nodeValue);

$sql = "INSERT INTO product_database (pID, store, storeLink, productTitle, productLink, productIMG, description, price) VALUES ($channel_id, '$merchant_name', '$channel_link', '$channel_title', '$channel_link', '$channel_image', '$channel_desc','$channel_cost')";
$query = mysql_query($sql);

} 

any help would be appreciated
p.s unfortunatly i know nothing of perl so please bear with me

cheers
Luke