plugins.svtplay: Stream selection

Checklist

• This is a bug report and not a different kind of issue
• I have read the contribution guidelines
• I have checked the list of open and recently closed bug reports
• I have checked the commit log of the master branch

Streamlink version

Latest stable release

Description

SVTPlay live streams usually have 2 different 720p streams. One of them is a h264 main profile ~2500kbit/s. The other one is a h264 high profile ~4000kbit/s.

If I start a stream with the “best” stream selector it picks the low bitrate main profile stream. If I want the higher bitrate high profile stream I have to manually select the “720p_alt” stream.

Debug log

streamlink.exe --loglevel debug https://www.svtplay.se/video/33017618/vinterstudion/vinterstudion-28-nov-10-45 best
[cli][debug] OS:         Windows 10
[cli][debug] Python:     3.9.8
[cli][debug] Streamlink: 3.0.2
[cli][debug] Requests(2.26.0), Socks(1.7.1), Websocket(1.2.1)
[cli][debug] Arguments:
[cli][debug]  url=https://www.svtplay.se/video/33017618/vinterstudion/vinterstudion-28-nov-10-45
[cli][debug]  stream=['best']
[cli][debug]  --loglevel=debug
[cli][debug]  --player="C:\Program Files\MPC-HC\mpc-hc64.exe"
[cli][debug]  --ffmpeg-ffmpeg=C:\Program Files (x86)\Streamlink\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe
[cli][info] Found matching plugin svtplay for URL https://www.svtplay.se/video/33017618/vinterstudion/vinterstudion-28-nov-10-45
[plugins.svtplay][debug] Path=/
[plugins.svtplay][debug] VOD ID=KqyyXXg
[utils.l10n][debug] Language code: sv_SE
[stream.dash][debug] Available languages for DASH audio streams: sv, sv-x-tal (using: sv)
[cli][info] Available streams: 234p (worst), 360p, 540p, 720p_alt, 720p (best)
[cli][info] Opening stream: 720p (dash)
[stream.dash][debug] Opening DASH reader for: 3 (video/mp4)
[stream.dash][debug] Opening DASH reader for: 5 (audio/mp4)
[stream.dash_manifest][debug] Generating segment numbers for dynamic playlist (id=0)
[stream.dash_manifest][debug] Generating segment numbers for dynamic playlist (id=1)
[utils.named_pipe][info] Creating pipe streamlinkpipe-8368-1-1664
[utils.named_pipe][info] Creating pipe streamlinkpipe-8368-2-9097
[stream.ffmpegmux][debug] ffmpeg command: C:\Program Files (x86)\Streamlink\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe -nostats -y -i \\.\pipe\streamlinkpipe-8368-1-1664 -i \\.\pipe\streamlinkpipe-8368-2-9097 -c:v copy -c:a copy -copyts -f matroska pipe:1
[stream.ffmpegmux][debug] Starting copy to pipe: \\.\pipe\streamlinkpipe-8368-1-1664
[stream.ffmpegmux][debug] Starting copy to pipe: \\.\pipe\streamlinkpipe-8368-2-9097
[cli][debug] Pre-buffering 8192 bytes
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-a0/a0-init.mp4 complete
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-v3/v3-init.mp4 complete
[stream.dash][debug] Waiting for segment: a0-3937.mp4 (2.9s)
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-a0/a0-3936.mp4 complete
[stream.dash][debug] Waiting for segment: v3-3937.mp4 (2.8s)
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-v3/v3-3936.mp4 complete
[cli][info] Starting player: "C:\Program Files\MPC-HC\mpc-hc64.exe"
[cli.output][debug] Opening subprocess: "C:\Program Files\MPC-HC\mpc-hc64.exe" -
[cli][debug] Writing stream to output
[stream.dash][debug] Waiting for segment: a0-3938.mp4 (3.1s)
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-a0/a0-3937.mp4 complete
[stream.dash][debug] Waiting for segment: v3-3938.mp4 (3.1s)
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-v3/v3-3937.mp4 complete
[stream.dash][debug] Waiting for segment: a0-3939.mp4 (3.1s)
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-a0/a0-3938.mp4 complete
[stream.dash][debug] Waiting for segment: v3-3939.mp4 (3.1s)
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-v3/v3-3938.mp4 complete
[stream.dash][debug] Waiting for segment: a0-3940.mp4 (3.1s)
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-a0/a0-3939.mp4 complete
[stream.dash][debug] Waiting for segment: v3-3940.mp4 (3.0s)
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-v3/v3-3939.mp4 complete
[stream.dash][debug] Waiting for segment: a0-3941.mp4 (3.1s)
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-a0/a0-3940.mp4 complete
[stream.dash][debug] Waiting for segment: v3-3941.mp4 (3.1s)
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-v3/v3-3940.mp4 complete
[cli][info] Player closed
[stream.ffmpegmux][debug] Closing ffmpeg thread
[stream.segmented][debug] Closing worker thread
[stream.segmented][debug] Closing writer thread
[stream.ffmpegmux][debug] Pipe copy complete: \\.\pipe\streamlinkpipe-8368-1-1664
[stream.dash][debug] Waiting for segment: a0-3942.mp4 (3.1s)
[stream.dash][debug] Download of segment: https://svt-event-19-c.akamaized.net/se/1400840-053W/14c98a5b-0ebc-4c18-8300-6b88f0b3cc01/dash-a0/a0-3941.mp4 complete
[stream.segmented][debug] Closing worker thread
[stream.segmented][debug] Closing writer thread
[stream.ffmpegmux][debug] Pipe copy complete: \\.\pipe\streamlinkpipe-8368-2-9097
[stream.ffmpegmux][debug] Closed all the substreams
[cli][info] Stream ended
[cli][info] Closing currently open stream...

[zappepappe]

After some more testing it seems to only be an issue with live content. On VODs 720p is the best stream and 720p_alt is the low bitrate one. If there is a 1080p stream that is naturally the best stream and no 720p_alt stream will exist. While on live channels and events 720p_alt is the best stream and 720p is the low bitrate one.

[bastimeyer]

I’m not quite following what you mean here.

@mkbloke, instead of yield from DASHStream.parse_manifest(...).items(), the plugin could reorder + rename the streams manually. If it’s indeed an issue, which I can’t say as it’s geo-restricted and I don’t feel like setting up a proxy/vpn for this.

Or if one wants to improve DASHStream.parse_manifest they could add a name_key argument similar to HLSStream.parse_variant_playlist.

A quick test - from the beginning of that VoD while looking at the stats (key I in mpv) while playing, seems to show higher running bitrates for 720p than 720p_alt for me.

The codec information of the DASH manifest example from above suggests the same, but this doesn’t mean that it’s the case for every manifest returned by the site.

1. 720p

   <Representation id="0" bandwidth="4316313" width="1280" height="720" codecs="avc1.640020" sar="1:1" mimeType="video/mp4">

   bandwidth = 4316313 avc1.640020 = High Level 3.2

2. 720p_alt

   <Representation id="1" bandwidth="2814785" width="1280" height="720" codecs="avc1.4d4020" sar="1:1" mimeType="video/mp4">

   bandwidth = 2814785 avc1.4d4020 = Constrained Main Level 3.2