yt-dlp - Best GUI frontend?

[VanguardLH]

I discovered the video/audio stream capture software I am using employs
yt-dlp for its extraction engine. Hmm, well, yt-dlp is available for
free, but it is a command-line program, and I really don't want to
memorize all its arguments.

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp

What's the best GUI frontend to yt-dlp that gives more or all the
options available in yt-dlp?

[Nic]

https://www.linuxfordevices.com/tutorials/linux/parabolic-gui-frontend-for-yt-dlp

[Nic]

On 1/6/24 12:51 PM, VanguardLH wrote:

https://yt-dlg.github.io/yt-dlg/

[Shadow]

Just by chance today I needed to download a list of all the
videos on a particular playlist, along with the date the videos were
posted.

Beware wrap:

//
yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(upload_date)s - %(title)s"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=blablabla >>
blablabla20240106.txt

//

Or for a whole channel

//
yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(upload_date)s - %(title)s" --no-warnings
https://www.youtube.com/channel/nice_channel >>
nice_channel20240106.txt

If you can find a GUI that can do that, I'll throw away my yt-dlp
notes..

The URLS are obviously fake. Use your own if you want to test. Smaller
playlists are not so time consuming. Glugle has a nasty habit of
pausing if they are too long.
[]'s
--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012
Google Fuchsia - 2021

[Mike Easter]

VanguardLH wrote:
> What's the best GUI frontend to yt-dlp that gives more or all the
> options available in yt-dlp?

I don't know about best but there is python-based crossplatform Win/linux
https://github.com/dsymbol/yt-dlp-gui

For Win, there's also
https://github.com/kannagi0303/yt-dlp-gui

... which supports 12 lang/s.

--
Mike Easter

[Blinky the Nark]

On 06/01/2024 22:48, p-0 0-h the cat (coder)
<super...@fluffyunderbelly.invalid> wrote:

> On 06/01/2024 22:30, Mike Easter wrote:
>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>> What's the best GUI frontend to yt-dlp that gives more or all the
>>> options available in yt-dlp?
>>
>> I don't know about best but there is python-based crossplatform Win/linux
>> https://github.com/dsymbol/yt-dlp-gui
>

> This requires Python bloatware to be installed.

Thanks Pooh. Jeese, these guys are amateurs. That's worse than dot net.

--
Linux Registered LUser 0x29A
esr on SCO Suit: google.com/search?q=esr+on+SCO+Suit
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[Scaly Ron]

On 06/01/2024 23:15, p-0 0-h the cat (coder)
<super...@fluffyunderbelly.invalid> wrote:

> On 06/01/2024 22:55, Blinky the Nark wrote:
>> On 06/01/2024 22:48, p-0 0-h the cat (coder)
>> <super...@fluffyunderbelly.invalid> wrote:
>>> On 06/01/2024 22:30, Mike Easter wrote:
>>>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>>>> What's the best GUI frontend to yt-dlp that gives more or all the
>>>>> options available in yt-dlp?
>>>>
>>>> I don't know about best but there is python-based crossplatform
>>>> Win/linux
>>>> https://github.com/dsymbol/yt-dlp-gui
>>>
>>> This requires Python bloatware to be installed.
>>
>> Thanks Pooh. Jeese, these guys are amateurs. That's worse than dot net.
>

> They only see what they want to see Blinky.

*plonk* Pooh

[Blinky the Nark]

Who gave you permission to stop fertilizing Pooh's roses?

Shut it!

[kelown]

>>> What's the best GUI frontend to yt-dlp that gives more or all the
>>> options available in yt-dlp?
>>
>> I don't know about best but there is python-based crossplatform Win/linux
>> https://github.com/dsymbol/yt-dlp-gui
>

> This requires Python bloatware to be installed.

It gets the job done though. yt-dlp-gui works very well and those
needing a competent YouTube downloader shouldn't be dissuaded.

[VanguardLH]

Some history. I started with Applian's Replay Media Catcher (RMC). They
gave up on trying to support their extraction engines, so they dumped
their backend, and grafted jaksta's Media Recorder (MR) to their RMC
frontend GUI. They gave up on their GUI, and became a reseller of
jaksta. Both Applian and jaksta are payware. When Applian switched
from a perpetual license to an annual license (i.e., they went from
payware to subscriptionware), I left Applian to move to jaksta who was
still selling perpetual license. Applian merged with jaksta, so now
jaksta license are only 1 year (extended to 2 years if you pay another
$10). Cost for a jaksta upgrade on MR is $24/yr. I decided to hunt
around for freeware alternatives.

yt-dlp is a fork of youtube-dl, but more supported and faster to update.
Uses the same extraction engines of youtube-dl which are focused on a
specific site on how to capture video/audio streams; see
https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/tree/master/youtube_dl/extractor.
Scroll down to the youtube.py extractor entry (near the bottom of the
list), and notice the update was just 2 months ago. Youtube changed
something, so the youtube-dl folks, or someone assisting them, updated
their extraction engine to get stream capturing to work again at
Youtube. For example, I had not use MR for many months, and it failed
when I tried to capture a Youtube video. I started a forum thread on
the error, but realized I had disabled auto-update in MR (which updates
both the product upon permission, and the extraction engines
automatically). Did the update, and the Youtube extraction engine got
updates which again let me capture Youtube videos. When sites make
changes, the extraction engines for them may start to fail, so users
issue reports and the devs have to update the extraction engine for
capture to start working again at the site. That's why you'll see these
stream capture tools list something like working at 1400 sites, because
that's how many site-specific extraction engines they defined. The
capture tool may work at many other sites, but if not then you can
report the problem, and they come up with another site-specific
extraction engine.

When I discovered MR used yt-dlp (mentioned in their released notes) and
ffmpeg, I figured I would try a freeware setup: yt-dlp, ffmpeg, and a
GUI frontend to yt-dlp. GUI frontends for youtube-dl also work for
yt-dlp (a youtube-dl fork with additional features). While a complaint
and excuse of GUI frontends is that they cannot possible encompass all
the command-line switches (arguments) of youtube-dl/yt-dlp, that is
crap. You can always use a conflict matrix to determine when options
will conflict or have to be altered when other options are selected.
More likely the GUI authors just don't want to may their GUI so busy
that it becomes as difficult to use as the command line to run
youtube-dl/yt-dlp.

I thought https://github.com/kannagi0303/yt-dlp-gui has a nice looking
GUI, but it was missing the SponsorBlock feature in
https://github.com/dsymbol/yt-dlp-gui which is a crude looking GUI.
Video are often offered as multiple streams: primary, ads, subtitles.
The primary stream plays for a while, gets paused, the ad stream plays,
and the primary stream resumes after the ad stream ends, and there can
be multiple interjections of ad stream pausing the primary stream. The
streams can be captured separately, so later you just watch the captured
primary stream to watch the video with no ads. I don't know when yt-dlp
added their SponsorBlock API, but both Applian and jaksta have had ad
blocking every since I started using them about 7 years ago. Both
Applian and jaksta (selling RMC and MR which are the same product) have
a ton of options more than I've seen in any of the youtube-dl/yt-dlp
GUIs, and why I just might pay for their subscriptionware license.

Another yt-dlp GUI is from https://github.com/oleksis/youtube-dl-gui who
also makes a Windows UWP (Universal Windows Platform) app at
https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/XP9CCFSWS911F5?hl=en-us&gl=US. I
can't tell if the UWP app has dependence on some Python install.
Doesn't look like it, plus I wouldn't think Python would be doable for a
UWP app. The UWP app is also missing some later features, like
SponsorBlock (https://sponsor.ajay.app/). Still, Applian and jaksta
provide a GUI frontend to yt-dlp that shames the freeware GUI frontends,
but Applian and jaksta are payware (and now changed to
subscriptionware).

Another difference is Applian and jaksta include Npcap (successor to
Winpcap). This allows their products to use auto detection of stream
sources just by visiting a site. No need to copy the URL of a web page
from the web browser's address bar to paste into a URL field in the GUI
frontend. I have not found any mention of Npcap/Winpcap used with the
freeware youtube-dl/yt-dlp stream capture tools. Npcap is a driver, but
apparently had a signing problem months ago that caused a conflict with
Secure Boot in UEFI. With a valid signature, the driver was flagged as
insecure, and MR bitched about having to use a different detect method
than using npcap. They touted Npcap as being better, so I aborted my
experiment with Secure Boot. I think the problem was they thought their
own EV certificate was sufficient, but found they needed it co-signed by
Microsoft Dev Portal. The conflict between Npcap and Secure Boot is
probably now a non-issue. Auto-mode of capturing streams just by
visiting a web page is nice, but it is a convenience that I might forego
when going with a freeware setup.

While Applian/jaksta rolled up a nice GUI and tool set for stream
capture with a lot of features, I dislike subscriptionware. I was
hoping something was a lot closer to Applian/jaksta's GUI feature set
than what I've found so far.

Go free, lose features, and rely on peer support. Go paid, get lots of
features missing in freeware, and get fast and intelligent support.
It's a harder choice than I first thought.

[Mike Easter]

p-0 0-h wrote:
> Installing Python just to run a one window GUI is a very clever thing to
> do.

Python is useful for a lot more than running one GUI.

But a glance at that install indicated that one needs more than just
current python, so there is more 'baggage' for it than python, which I
don't consider baggage or bloat, in and of itself.


--
Mike Easter

[AllanH]

This is the one I've used for quite a while.
TVDownloader (aka YoutubeVideoDownloader)
https://www.videohelp.com/software/YoutubeVideoDownloader

This is one I found out about today that I thought I would try.
Vividl
https://bluegrams.com/vividl/

[Mike Easter]

p-0 0-h wrote:
> a one window GUI needs an install of Python to make it work.

I'm accustomed to a conventional default install of an OS including
current python.

But I see:

> Why doesn't Windows come with Python?

> Microsoft Windows does not install any additional software or
> programming language other than the ones required to run the
> operating system itself, that's the general policy of the operating
> system. Even if the tools is an official one, i'ts free or used by
> the Microsoft team, like Python.

> It’s been widely known for many years that Windows is the only
> mainstream operating system that does not include a Python
> interpreter out of the box.

I guess if one drinks the MS koolaid, they might consider that python is
some kind of wasted space. But then...

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/python/python-in-the-windows-10-may-2019-update/


> Who put Python in the Windows 10 May 2019 Update?



--
Mike Easter

[VanguardLH]

AllanH <nos...@unokix.invalid> wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:
>
>> I discovered the video/audio stream capture software I am using employs
>> yt-dlp for its extraction engine. Hmm, well, yt-dlp is available for
>> free, but it is a command-line program, and I really don't want to
>> memorize all its arguments.
>>
>> https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
>>
>> What's the best GUI frontend to yt-dlp that gives more or all the
>> options available in yt-dlp?
>
> This is the one I've used for quite a while.
> TVDownloader (aka YoutubeVideoDownloader)
> https://www.videohelp.com/software/YoutubeVideoDownloader

I'd rather get the product from its Github or project site, not a copy
from a web forum. They didn't give a URL to the project site.
Eventually I found it at:

https://xplorr.eu.org/tools/tvdownloader/index.html?i=1

Like some other GUI frontends, it doesn't [yet] support the SponsorBlock
API, and expose the option in the GUI settings. It is also donationware
(using Paypal, so you need an account there) which isn't a problem
except they slap an ad banner on the bottom of the GUI window. Also, I
saw no settings for that GUI frontend. While it is designed to use
youtube-dl (and expects the .exe to be in the system PATH to find the
program), there is no option to specify a different stream capture tool,
like yt-dlp which is a fork of youtube-dl, but is better supported, and
adds more features (like SponsorBlock API).

I don't like the author's web site uses a bit.ly redirection URL to
point at his download. His https://bit.ly/3CRtNSF URL redirects to
https://forum.videohelp.com/attachments/61668-1636214391, so he is using
VideoHelp's forum to stow his .zip file, and probably why you found it
there.

"If TVDownloader does not start, the most common cause is that HTA
applications". HTAs are HTML Applications which rely on the IE
libraries to paint and code their app windows and functions. Yes, even
if you remove Internet Explorer, there are still programs that use the
IE libs to code their program.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML_Application

> This is one I found out about today that I thought I would try.
> Vividl
> https://bluegrams.com/vividl/

That one mentions it also uses youtube-dl to capture the video/audio
streams. It mentions converting between different file formats, so
likely it also uses ffmpeg, but only makes a small mention under the
Credits section. They do have a web forum, because their project is
hosted at Sourceforge. There is almost no traffic in their support
forum: 3 posts over 3 years. Didn't see mention of SponsorBlock API.

I also looked at https://www.downloadhelper.net/; however, unless you
pay for it, they slap a watermark (QR image) in the upper left of the
captured stream. They want $28.50 for their un-watermarked Premium
version. I can get a version upgrade for $23 from jaksta which is a
much better product.

[AllanH]

On 1/7/2024 3:08 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
> AllanH <nos...@unokix.invalid> wrote:
>
>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>
>>> I discovered the video/audio stream capture software I am using employs
>>> yt-dlp for its extraction engine. Hmm, well, yt-dlp is available for
>>> free, but it is a command-line program, and I really don't want to
>>> memorize all its arguments.
>>>
>>> https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
>>>
>>> What's the best GUI frontend to yt-dlp that gives more or all the
>>> options available in yt-dlp?
>>
>> This is the one I've used for quite a while.
>> TVDownloader (aka YoutubeVideoDownloader)
>> https://www.videohelp.com/software/YoutubeVideoDownloader
>
> I'd rather get the product from its Github or project site, not a copy
> from a web forum. They didn't give a URL to the project site.
> Eventually I found it at:
>
> https://xplorr.eu.org/tools/tvdownloader/index.html?i=1
>

I didn't post that link because it no longer has the most recent version
to download.

> Like some other GUI frontends, it doesn't [yet] support the SponsorBlock
> API, and expose the option in the GUI settings. It is also donationware
> (using Paypal, so you need an account there) which isn't a problem
> except they slap an ad banner on the bottom of the GUI window. Also, I
> saw no settings for that GUI frontend. While it is designed to use
> youtube-dl (and expects the .exe to be in the system PATH to find the
> program), there is no option to specify a different stream capture tool,
> like yt-dlp which is a fork of youtube-dl, but is better supported, and
> adds more features (like SponsorBlock API).
>

The newest version (v1.19e), released on 12/27/23, used the current
version of yt-dlp at that time, renamed to youtube-dl.
Someone recently asked on the forum why he didn't use the yt-dlp name.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/382423-YoutubeVideoDownloader-download-video-and-audio-from-900-sites/page31#post2717513

>> This is one I found out about today that I thought I would try.
>> Vividl
>> https://bluegrams.com/vividl/
>
> That one mentions it also uses youtube-dl to capture the video/audio
> streams. It mentions converting between different file formats, so
> likely it also uses ffmpeg, but only makes a small mention under the
> Credits section. They do have a web forum, because their project is
> hosted at Sourceforge. There is almost no traffic in their support
> forum: 3 posts over 3 years. Didn't see mention of SponsorBlock API.
>

The default path to the file in the Settings\Application window is
C:\Vividl\Lib\yt-dlp.exe
There is an option to check for updates.

[AllanH]

On 1/7/2024 3:08 PM, VanguardLH wrote:

> AllanH <nos...@unokix.invalid> wrote:
>
>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>
>>> I discovered the video/audio stream capture software I am using employs
>>> yt-dlp for its extraction engine. Hmm, well, yt-dlp is available for
>>> free, but it is a command-line program, and I really don't want to
>>> memorize all its arguments.
>>>
>>> https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
>>>
>>> What's the best GUI frontend to yt-dlp that gives more or all the
>>> options available in yt-dlp?
>>
>> This is the one I've used for quite a while.
>> TVDownloader (aka YoutubeVideoDownloader)
>> https://www.videohelp.com/software/YoutubeVideoDownloader
>

> Like some other GUI frontends, it doesn't [yet] support the SponsorBlock
> API, and expose the option in the GUI settings. It is also donationware
> (using Paypal, so you need an account there) which isn't a problem
> except they slap an ad banner on the bottom of the GUI window. Also, I
> saw no settings for that GUI frontend. While it is designed to use
> youtube-dl (and expects the .exe to be in the system PATH to find the
> program), there is no option to specify a different stream capture tool,
> like yt-dlp which is a fork of youtube-dl, but is better supported, and
> adds more features (like SponsorBlock API).
>
>

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML_Application
>
>> This is one I found out about today that I thought I would try.
>> Vividl
>> https://bluegrams.com/vividl/
>
> That one mentions it also uses youtube-dl to capture the video/audio
> streams. It mentions converting between different file formats, so
> likely it also uses ffmpeg, but only makes a small mention under the
> Credits section. They do have a web forum, because their project is
> hosted at Sourceforge. There is almost no traffic in their support
> forum: 3 posts over 3 years. Didn't see mention of SponsorBlock API.
>

You mention that both programs do not support SponsorBlock API.
I know SponsorBlock is a browser extension, but how is that feature used
in the yt-dlp GUI?
I don't recall any of the videos I've downloaded with TVDownloader
having sponsor segments in them.

[VanguardLH]

AllanH <nos...@unokix.invalid> wrote:

> You mention that both programs do not support SponsorBlock API.
> I know SponsorBlock is a browser extension, but how is that feature
> used in the yt-dlp GUI?

https://private-user-images.githubusercontent.com/88138099/249364636-4e14b95e-a716-48ad-9d68-8da9a14df755.png?jwt=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.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.9piAT5bvDEfOFpyWdNNizT5PhxaXqQGSRuQicOIk6Ow
Note the SponsorBlock select drop-down in the GUI.

Whether a GUI program, or a web browser extension, both can issue API
calls to the public SponsorBlock using API calls. A video plays, the
GUI or add-on contacts the SB server to query its database if any
segments have been reported on that video, returns them, if any, and the
GUI or add-on will skip that portion of the video.

https://sponsor.ajay.app/
"open-source crowdsourced browser extension and open API for skipping
sponsor segments in Youtube videos."

When watching a video stream, it can get paused, and another stream
presented, and then the prior stream resumed. When recording streams,
there can be more than one. Primary, ad, and subtitle. Applian/jaksta
have ad blocking, but that's based on the source of the stream. You
can't block the primary stream, because you won't get to see the video.

Embedded segments within the primary stream is how Youtube got around
video capture software that was blocking the separate ad streams. With
multiple streams, the primary stream got paused, the ad stream was
presented, and then the primary stream resumed, and repeat ad nauseum
with ad streams interrupting the primary stream. When you record the
primary stream, and discard or block the ad streams, you end up with a
video composed of just the primary stream, so no ads. I haven't found
yt-dlp or GUIs do ad-stream blocking.

To force viewers to see the ads (sponsor content), Youtube embedded the
ad content as segments within the primary stream. After capturing the
primary stream, and later viewing the snagged video, you're stuck seeing
the ad segments that were injected into the video.

SponsorBlock gets reports from users as to where are the segments within
the primary stream contain ads (or whatever content that reporter
doesn't want to see). Seems this could get abused. Some group that
doesn't want any foul language or nudity or whatever content they don't
like could report those sections of the video, and others using
SponsorBlock won't see that content, because it got skipped.

The report goes into a database. Other SponsorBlock users get the
segment reports from the crowdsourced database. SponsorBlock works by
skipping past the sponsor segment in the video while recording the
stream. What you don't see are the segments that others reported as
unwanted for that video. If you watch a video that no one has reported
segments as unwanted, nothing gets skipped, so you see the sponsor
segments when watching the video. If you watch a video where others
have reported parts of the video that are unwanted (whatever the
content), those portions of the video get skipped when you watch it.

There is a public API service, so the add-on or GUI wouldn't need to
have self-host the database althought that is an option. Reporters
issue segment reports for the video of what to skip hence the term
crowdsouring. When you watch the same video, the API is used to query
the database what parts of the video to skip that you are watching, or
when recording the video stream.

Since I'm not keen on the opinions of others as to what I watch, my
interest in SponsorBlock died. It'd be like driving to the grocery
store with a bunch of assholes in the street pointing some other
direction I should go. I remember there was/is a blacklist of "bad"
Youtube videos that users would report to the blacklist, and those would
get blocked if your adblocker subscribed to that blacklist. uBlock
Origin used to include that one in the list of blacklists to which uBO
could subscribe, but that got dropped a long time ago, I never used it
once I found out it some stupid voting scheme subject to the bias of the
reporters, so I don't remember what that blacklist was called.

> I don't recall any of the videos I've downloaded with TVDownloader
> having sponsor segments in them.

I can't remember watching a Youtube video that got interrupted with a
segment for ads, or whatever, that interrupts the video. However, I
don't much watch video, and those I do watch might not have segments
injected for ads. Besides, I can use the left/right arrow keys to do my
own skipping through the video. I'll skip the sponsor content that
isn't really part of the video, but I also skip crap I don't want to
see, like some guy wandering around because he didn't practice
beforehand or write a script to follow for what he will say.

Youtube is starting to block visitors that employ adblockers. Any
server can see when you don't retrieve some content. They see you
connect to the video stream, but ads in the page aren't retrieved, so
you're using an adblocker. Any site can refuse to let you view their
content if they detect you're using an adblocker, or cripple/throttle
what content they deliver to you.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2023/10/18/youtubes-new-ad-blocker-crackdown-what-you-need-to-know/

While a site can detect if you don't retrieve their ads, I can't see how
they can detect you are skipping past a portion of a captured video.
When capturing a stream, the entire stream gets captured, but the
captured stream gets modified to snip out the sponsor segments which is
a local change, not something done up on the server. However, I've yet
to be bothered by injected segments within a video containing ads, but
that could change if Youtube decides to inject ads in the video streams
to ensure you get them. Don't know how they would know you modified the
captured video on your end. So, SponsorBlock might become more
important if Youtube decides to go that route to shove ads at you.

I haven't yet got notice from Youtube that they are blocking anything
when I visit with Firefox which has the uBlock Origin added.