Support live streams in MPEG DASH

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• You will be asked some questions and requested to provide some information, please read them carefully and answer honestly
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Make sure you are using the latest version: run youtube-dl --version and ensure your version is 2016.09.27. If it’s not read this FAQ entry and update. Issues with outdated version will be rejected.

• I’ve verified and I assure that I’m running youtube-dl 2016.09.27

Before submitting an issue make sure you have:

• At least skimmed through README and most notably FAQ and BUGS sections
• Searched the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones

What is the purpose of your issue?

• Bug report (encountered problems with youtube-dl)
• Site support request (request for adding support for a new site)
• Feature request (request for a new functionality)
• Question
• Other

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The following sections concretize particular purposed issues, you can erase any section (the contents between triple —) not applicable to your issue

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If the purpose of this issue is a bug report, site support request or you are not completely sure provide the full verbose output as follows:

Add -v flag to your command line you run youtube-dl with, copy the whole output and insert it here. It should look similar to one below (replace it with your log inserted between triple ```):

% youtube-dl http://tvcom-live1.service.cdn.cra.cz/tvcom/fotbal-cfl62/manifest.mpd --verbose
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['http://tvcom-live1.service.cdn.cra.cz/tvcom/fotbal-cfl62/manifest.mpd', '--verbose']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2016.09.27
[debug] Python version 3.5.1+ - Linux-4.6.0-1-amd64-x86_64-with-debian-stretch-sid
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 3.1.3-1, ffprobe 3.1.3-1, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[generic] manifest: Requesting header
[redirect] Following redirect to http://se04.se.tvcom-live1.service.cdn.cra.cz/tvcom/fotbal-cfl62/manifest.mpd
[generic] manifest: Requesting header
WARNING: Falling back on generic information extractor.
[generic] manifest: Downloading webpage
[generic] manifest: Extracting information
ERROR: No video formats found; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; see  https://yt-dl.org/update  on how to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/misuzu/Documents/Virtualenvs/rub90-v2-streaming/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 694, in extract_info
    ie_result = ie.extract(url)
  File "/home/misuzu/Documents/Virtualenvs/rub90-v2-streaming/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 355, in extract
    return self._real_extract(url)
  File "/home/misuzu/Documents/Virtualenvs/rub90-v2-streaming/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/generic.py", line 1663, in _real_extract
    self._sort_formats(info_dict['formats'])
  File "/home/misuzu/Documents/Virtualenvs/rub90-v2-streaming/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 922, in _sort_formats
    raise ExtractorError('No video formats found')
youtube_dl.utils.ExtractorError: No video formats found; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; see  https://yt-dl.org/update  on how to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.

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If the purpose of this issue is a site support request please provide all kinds of example URLs support for which should be included (replace following example URLs by yours):

• Single video: http://embed.tvcom.cz/2abb1b03-662b-4237-8c3f-7748818271cb/720/
• Single video: http://embed.tvcom.cz/e3558bcc-12bb-4ff8-8b7f-cf6dd0d990cc/720/
• Single video: http://tvcom-live1.service.cdn.cra.cz/tvcom/fotbal-cfl62/manifest.mpd
• Single video: http://tvcom-live1.service.cdn.cra.cz/tvcom/fotbal-cfl39/manifest.mpd

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Description of your issue, suggested solution and other information

Explanation of your issue in arbitrary form goes here. Please make sure the description is worded well enough to be understood. Provide as much context and examples as possible. If work on your issue requires account credentials please provide them or explain how one can obtain them.

Seems like youtube-dl does not support m4s container for MPEG DASH streams.

Sample manifest.mpd from http://tvcom-live1.service.cdn.cra.cz/tvcom/fotbal-cfl62/manifest.mpd:

?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MPD xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
     xmlns="urn:mpeg:dash:schema:mpd:2011"
     xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
     xsi:schemaLocation="urn:mpeg:DASH:schema:MPD:2011 http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/MPEG-DASH_schema_files/DASH-MPD.xsd"
     profiles="urn:mpeg:dash:profile:isoff-live:2011"
     type="dynamic"
     minimumUpdatePeriod="PT3.083S" 
     publishTime="2016-09-28T09:24:35Z" 
     availabilityStartTime="2016-09-28T09:07:27Z" 
     timeShiftBufferDepth="PT49.92S"
     suggestedPresentationDelay="PT15.0S" 
     minBufferTime="PT6.0S">
<ProgramInformation>
    <Title>fotbal-cfl62</Title>
</ProgramInformation>
<Period id="0" start="PT0.0S">
    <AdaptationSet id="0" mimeType="video/mp4" width="720" height="404" par="16:9" frameRate="25" segmentAlignment="true" startWithSAP="1" subsegmentAlignment="true" subsegmentStartsWithSAP="1">
        <SegmentTemplate timescale="90000" media="chunk_u64qw79a6_ctvideo_cfm4s_rid$RepresentationID$_cs$Time$_mpd.m4s" initialization="chunk_u64qw79a6_ctvideo_cfm4s_rid$RepresentationID$_cinit_mpd.m4s">
            <SegmentTimeline>
                <S t="87343200" d="864000"/>
                <S d="1036800"/>
                <S d="864000"/>
                <S d="864000"/>
                <S d="864000"/>
            </SegmentTimeline>
        </SegmentTemplate>
        <Representation id="p0a0r0" codecs="avc1.42c01e" sar="1:1" bandwidth="1002000" />
    </AdaptationSet>
    <AdaptationSet id="1" mimeType="audio/mp4" lang="eng" segmentAlignment="true" startWithSAP="1" subsegmentAlignment="true" subsegmentStartsWithSAP="1">
        <Role schemeIdUri="urn:mpeg:dash:role:2011" value="main"/>
        <SegmentTemplate timescale="44100" media="chunk_u64qw79a6_ctaudio_cfm4s_rid$RepresentationID$_cs$Time$_mpd.m4s" initialization="chunk_u64qw79a6_ctaudio_cfm4s_rid$RepresentationID$_cinit_mpd.m4s">
            <SegmentTimeline>
                <S t="42799183" d="422912"/>
                <S d="507904"/>
                <S d="423936"/>
                <S d="422912"/>
                <S d="422912"/>
            </SegmentTimeline>
        </SegmentTemplate>
        <Representation id="p0a1r0" codecs="mp4a.40.2" audioSamplingRate="44100" bandwidth="64000">
            <AudioChannelConfiguration schemeIdUri="urn:mpeg:dash:23003:3:audio_channel_configuration:2011" value="2"/>
        </Representation>
    </AdaptationSet>
</Period>
</MPD>

[Vangelis66]

@freMea wrote:

if I use the request url, ytdl can download but it results in separated video and audio streams. I have to do an extra step to merge them in one container (mkv). Could ytdl auto merge streams at the end of downloading ?

First of all, your referenced MPEG-DASH manifest (MPD):

https://quick.vidalytics.com/video/5SwBVaqN/0TdguiZ2jRVjKEXR/9060/4595/stream.mpd

is a static (VOD), NOT a dynamic one (i.e. Live stream), which is the subject of this issue 😠 ; so, it’s totally out of context here… 👎

If you -F your MPD, you’ll see it does contain separate streams for audio and video content (most MPDs usually do!), so it’s no surprise yt-dl fetches two separate standalone streams… And in these cases, yt-dl of course can merge (mux) them into an appropriate container, provided it already knows where to look for an FFmpeg binary!

Your MPD is kinda special in that it offers three different video codecs (VP9, h264=avc1, hevc=hvc1) between its video streams, additionally all streams are being throttled server-side 😞 …

youtube-dl -F "https://quick.vidalytics.com/video/5SwBVaqN/0TdguiZ2jRVjKEXR/9060/4595/stream.mpd" =>

[generic] stream: Requesting header
WARNING: Falling back on generic information extractor.
[generic] stream: Downloading webpage
[generic] stream: Extracting information
[info] Available formats for stream:
format code                           extension  resolution note
e2992025-4615-450d-81d9-da9de1bedf17  m4a        audio only [en] DASH audio   96
k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2 (48000Hz)
deac0958-2887-4bd9-827b-21d19f55e65c  webm       480x270    DASH video   78k , w
ebm_dash container, vp9, 25fps, video only
23c5afd2-ff83-4aa5-801c-279e90a6558d  mp4        480x270    DASH video   78k , m
p4_dash container, hvc1.1.6.L63.90, 25fps, video only
7db8b8ca-944d-4c3d-878f-71878440b193  mp4        480x270    DASH video  157k , m
p4_dash container, avc1.4D4015, 25fps, video only
6b798290-c1b0-445c-9e41-e1c65b33bb1e  webm       640x360    DASH video  236k , w
ebm_dash container, vp9, 25fps, video only
e25526cf-c4e2-4127-a1b9-066e8fd5ab87  mp4        640x360    DASH video  245k , m
p4_dash container, hvc1.1.6.L63.90, 25fps, video only
01996de9-ebe9-484b-a229-98359f834d24  mp4        640x360    DASH video  355k , m
p4_dash container, avc1.4D401E, 25fps, video only
87913a33-63f8-4d73-b280-3fd89d3dd42c  webm       1280x720   DASH video  712k , w
ebm_dash container, vp9, 25fps, video only
9ba5de7f-0208-430f-8bba-7a007524ed68  mp4        1280x720   DASH video  762k , m
p4_dash container, hvc1.1.6.L93.90, 25fps, video only
8f8bff13-effb-408c-9a67-5da680d5446f  mp4        1280x720   DASH video  801k , m
p4_dash container, avc1.4D401F, 25fps, video only (best)

Provided you’re using a fairly recent build of FFmpeg, it’ll have no issues merging vp9/hevc into the MP4 container (although I consider myself vp9/hevc inside MP4 as a sort of a “Chimera” 😉 ) … If you prefer a traditional MP4 file with h264+aac, then the following cmd worked for me:

youtube-dl --referer "https://vidalytics.com/video/0TdguiZ2jRVjKEXR" -f "8f8bff13-effb-408c-9a67-5da680d5446f+e2992025-4615-450d-81d9-da9de1bedf17" "https://quick.vidalytics.com/video/5SwBVaqN/0TdguiZ2jRVjKEXR/9060/4595/stream.mpd" -o "Vidalytics_Demo_720p.mp4" =>

[generic] stream: Requesting header
WARNING: Falling back on generic information extractor.
[generic] stream: Downloading webpage
[generic] stream: Extracting information
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 278
[download] Destination: Vidalytics_Demo_720p.f8f8bff13-effb-408c-9a67-5da680d544
6f.mp4
[download] 100% of 60.41MiB in 08:45
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 278
[download] Destination: Vidalytics_Demo_720p.mp4.fe2992025-4615-450d-81d9-da9de1
bedf17
[download] 100% of 12.57MiB in 05:11
[ffmpeg] Merging formats into "Vidalytics_Demo_720p.mp4"
Deleting original file Vidalytics_Demo_720p.f8f8bff13-effb-408c-9a67-5da680d5446
f.mp4 (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file Vidalytics_Demo_720p.mp4.fe2992025-4615-450d-81d9-da9de1b
edf17 (pass -k to keep)

If you’re more fond of the Matroska container, then to create an .mkv file with hevc+aac, issue:

youtube-dl --referer "https://vidalytics.com/video/0TdguiZ2jRVjKEXR" -f "9ba5de7f-0208-430f-8bba-7a007524ed68+e2992025-4615-450d-81d9-da9de1bedf17" "https://quick.vidalytics.com/video/5SwBVaqN/0TdguiZ2jRVjKEXR/9060/4595/stream.mpd" --merge-output-format mkv -o "Vidalytics_Demo_720p.hevc.aac.mkv" =>

[generic] stream: Requesting header
WARNING: Falling back on generic information extractor.
[generic] stream: Downloading webpage
[generic] stream: Extracting information
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 278
[download] Destination: Vidalytics_Demo_720p.hevc.aac.mkv.f9ba5de7f-0208-430f-8b
ba-7a007524ed68
[download] 100% of 60.00MiB in 10:00
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 278
[download] Destination: Vidalytics_Demo_720p.hevc.aac.mkv.fe2992025-4615-450d-81
d9-da9de1bedf17
[download] 100% of 12.57MiB in 02:41
[ffmpeg] Merging formats into "Vidalytics_Demo_720p.hevc.aac.mkv"
Deleting original file Vidalytics_Demo_720p.hevc.aac.mkv.f9ba5de7f-0208-430f-8bb
a-7a007524ed68 (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file Vidalytics_Demo_720p.hevc.aac.mkv.fe2992025-4615-450d-81d
9-da9de1bedf17 (pass -k to keep)

Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4
File size                                : 72.6 MiB
Duration                                 : 18 min 27 s
Overall bit rate                         : 550 kb/s
Writing application                      : Lavf58.45.100
Writing library                          : Lavf58.45.100
ErrorDetectionType                       : Per level 1

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                           : Main@L3.1@Main
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                                 : 18 min 27 s
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 25.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Writing library                          : HEVC Coding
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC LC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                                 : A_AAC-2
Duration                                 : 18 min 27 s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz

In conclusion, there’s nothing wrong with yt-dl here, which, I suspect, can’t be said about your own yt-dl setup…

Regards

[Fred-Vatin]

About stream.mpd, here is one example: https://vidalytics.com/video/0TdguiZ2jRVjKEXR

This player is used on some websites and requests a stream.mpd.

Currently, if I use the request url, ytdl can download but it results in separated video and audio streams. I have to do an extra step to merge them in one container (mkv). Could ytdl auto merge streams at the end of downloading ?

If I rename the URL replacing .mpd by .m3u8, it works if ffmpeg is installed. It would be nice we wouldn’t have to do this extra renaming step and ytdl did automatically.