I added a vpn, and now video downloadhelper isn't "seeing" the video to download

[Rational Db8]

I'm using the most recent version of Chrome on a PC.  I've used VDH for years on it, and occasionally on one particular site, https://rezka.ag.  VDH works on that site just fine.  However, the site recently stopped letting me watch/see any video because of the country I'm in.  So I got a VPN, Windscribe.  However, with the VPN, while the videos now play just fine, VDH isn't seeing them so I can't download them.  Is there some way to fix this?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[mjs]

This site is blocked in my country but after changing a setting in Firefox it became accessible. I tested it and worked in Firefox.

You should share an example if you want others to investigate or otherwise try using Firefox.

--

A vdh user

[Rational Db8]

Do you mean you changed a setting in FF and it worked without even using a VPN?  Or are you meaning you did this with a VPN?  Regardless, what setting did you change in Firefox?  Maybe I can find something similar in Chrome if I know what you did.  I don't have a current version of FF on this computer - I'd like to do it from Chrome if possible (although I should switch to FF anyhow - I actually like it better, but right now I have a lot of tabs open in Chrome that I want to work thru before trying to switch).  But even if I install FF, I'd probably still need to know what you did to be able to do the same myself and get it to work.  It seems odd to me that without the VPN, VDH "sees" video just fine on that site - but with VPN it doesn't.  I'm hoping there's some way to fix this.  Here's an example page, as you suggested:  https://rezka.ag/series/drama/30165-pereval-2018.html#t:238-s:2-e:1

[mjs]

Yes I changed to a secure dns in Firefox which gets around the block which is ISP blocking. If you're geo blocked then you will need the VPN.

I think Chrome may have the secure dns too , you'll need to look for it as I don't have Chrome. Come back with your results.

[Rational Db8]

I'm sorry, mjs, I'm confused.  With chrome, I used to be able to use VDH to download from that site without problems.  I didn't need to do anything, VDH "saw" the videos just fine.  Once they changed their system so I'm geoblocked, I can't get videos there to play.  So I got a VPN - and now I can play videos there just fine - but VDH no longer "sees" the video for me to be able to download it.  

How do I get VDH to work when I'm using a VPN?

[mjs]

Can you try in Firefox with the vpn just to find out if it has the same issue as chrome or not.

[Wild Willy]

I have Windscribe. It even prompted me to get an update just now. But the list of
proxies shows that in order to use the 3 in Russia, I would be required to upgrade to a
paying version. Nope. Not gonna do that. Tough.

But there's always our favorite thread:

https://groups.google.com/g/video-downloadhelper-q-and-a/c/sNfTCMYfiTU

Maybe you can figure out a way of getting your content without using VDH. Try the
various approaches we discuss in there. Within that discussion there are references to
other threads in which other users have used one or another of our approaches
successfully. You might find helpful narratives not just in the main thread but also in
the secondary threads. You won't know if any of those ideas works unless you try some of
them.

[Rational Db8]

I don't have firefox on this computer... well, I do have a very old version which I don't use for surfing the net  - but I need to keep that.  I'd have to figure out how to install a second version on the same computer without messing up the old version too in order to be able to try it.  I've done that before on a different computer, but it was so long ago I don't remember how to do it and would need to look it up again.  

[Wild Willy]

If you do take mjs's excellent advice & try this in Firefox, be sure you upgrade your VDH
to the latest 7.7.0a1 beta. How do you find that? Click this:

https://groups.google.com/g/video-downloadhelper-q-and-a/c/BzPLK2YyL-s

Then search for the text string "various pieces" within the text of that web page. Click
the link you'll find. That will take you to an explanation with pictures of how to find
the latest VDH beta for Firefox.

And sorry, I have no idea how to install 2 Firefoxes on the same computer. But I'm sure
you can find useful help for that task via web searches.

[Rational Db8]

Thanks Wildwilly, I'll take a look at your link.  I'd actually set the Windscribe site to France (no particular reason, other than it was one that the site said was NOT geoblocked - their info says " List of banned countries for showing videos: Russia , Ukraine , United States , Canada , Germany , United Kingdom, Netherlands , Belgium , Luxembourg , Iceland , Switzerland , Hong Kong , Australia , New Zealand ."

Ironic, since I believe they're actually located in Russia - or used to be (they had an .ru suffix before, but now it's .ag), and yet Russia is geoblocked.  So I'd set windscribe to France.  Only once I do that, VDH doesn't "see" the videos there.  

[Rational Db8]

Wild Willy, I just looked at your first link, and it says that it's for problems with video playing too fast???  But I'm not having that problem.  The site plays the video just fine when I have Windscale VPN active - it's just that VDH doesn't see it so I can't capture it... 

The "too fast" problem does remind me of another different issue that I've been having with VDH - when I use it to download and HLS video, a lot of times the video playback has some hesitation or jerkiness to it.  Not the "too fast" problem you note in that thread, but irritating split second jerkiness or hesitation in the playback stream.  Sometimes with HLS files, VDH also only gets the first few minutes or the first part of the video rather than the entire thing also.  But those are totally different problems than VDH not being able to see the video at all when using a VPN... 

[mjs]

There is a portable version of Firefox from portable apps site which can run on a removable drive. I also put the site through a web proxy

and it worked. So could be another option.

[Rational Db8]

Thanks mjs - I just need to look up how to install two versions of FF on one computer - I've done it before, and I think I just have to install it in it's own folder, but I need to do some searching to be sure because I really don't want to mess up the old FF version I've got and I know that easy to do also if you don't install the second version correctly.  

Also, I might be wrong, but I think the chrome extension for Windscribe VPN may technically be a proxy rather than a full blown VPN... but I'm not certain of that.  This from a review on Tomsguide - so I think it's a proxy:

"Windscribe is a great choice if you're looking for a no-fee VPN, but what really stands out is its excellent Chrome VPN extension. While the service is a proxy, you don't need to install the 'real' VPN client on your PC to get it working." [emphasis added]

Whatever it is, it does work on the site so I can view videos... but darn it, then VDH doesn't see them, and the entire reason I got the (free) VPN was so I could use VDH on that site!

[Rational Db8]

I think you're right, mjs - I may go with a portable version.  I'll look into it more tomorrow, but it sounds like it might be both simpler and also less likely for me to be able to goof and mess up the old version that I've got to keep.  If I install two regular version, I have to use the profile manager and figure that out again too, etc.  That, or just give up on trying to get videos from that site.  

[Wild Willy]

The title of "too fast" on that thread is a little misleading. Too fast is actually only
one of many possible problems you can solve with the techniques we put forward in there.

I tried Windscribe again, this time selecting France Seine as my proxy. The video I
chose still wouldn't play. No. Wait. After clicking the play button in the player
about 5 times, it did finally launch playback. The VDH menu remained, sadly, empty. But
applying the techniques described in the too fast thread, I found 2 HLS manifests. After
fooling around with them for a bit, I determined they were stream manifests, not master
manifests. But both ffprobe & ffmpeg using those manifests gave me 404 Not Found errors.
I was able to copy the manifests onto my system, so they were most certainly found. But
ffmpeg refused to use the URLs.

One possible problem is that the URLs have : within them, in addition to the : in
https://. I'm not sure : is a permitted character in a URL. Just in case, I replaced
each : with %3a because %3a is the URL encode for :. But that still didn't work. Plus,
the manifests are full of partial URLs that have a few colons in them, something that is
entirely unaffected by my adjusting the URL of the manifest. I'm just changing the name
of the file. Its contents are what they are & I don't have any control over that.

Another possible problem is that even though I've got Windscribe running within Firefox,
I'm not running ffmpeg through Windscribe. I am not messing around with reconfiguring my
entire system to use a proxy in France.

I am officially unable to solve this problem. I can't make ffmpeg use the manifest the
web site gave me.

I quit.

No, I don't. In desperation, I double clicked on the first mp2t object in the Network
Monitor. This opened a new Firefox tab & prompted me about what to do with the object,
open it with an application of my choice or download it. I dismissed the dialog & looked
at the URL. It was this:

https://tornado.stream.voidboost.cc/a2252af3988eb7462945fbd39397a496:2023062607:ajBocEdHV3RzWG91RS94UkxzUWpzOW4ydC9zeHlUYXdqRzBHREJhTG9ZN1BDeWVPUThBWDNtOXNVYXdoSHpFblh2dkh2WVBLcnNnR003YmFNWGp4alE9PQ==/8/4/8/4/8/0/rp24m.mp4:hls:seg-1-v1-a1.ts

I removed the tail end of that, the part that reads:

:hls:seg-1-v1-a1.ts

That bit begins with a colon. The colon is part of what I removed. That left me with
this:

https://tornado.stream.voidboost.cc/a2252af3988eb7462945fbd39397a496:2023062607:ajBocEdHV3RzWG91RS94UkxzUWpzOW4ydC9zeHlUYXdqRzBHREJhTG9ZN1BDeWVPUThBWDNtOXNVYXdoSHpFblh2dkh2WVBLcnNnR003YmFNWGp4alE9PQ==/8/4/8/4/8/0/rp24m.mp4

That opened in a web page by itself with Firefox's built in video player. That was
despite the fact that it still contains a couple of colons. So I guess : is an
acceptable character in a URL. Learn something every day. The VDH menu was empty. I
even told it to play for a couple of seconds. The VDH menu remained empty. Very weird.
So I just popped up the context menu on the player & did a Save Video As...

Presto. Firefox downloaded that bad boy. I was getting a little over 2 million bytes
per second with my download. The download took a little over a minute. It was a pretty
low resolution variant of this, but it played fine in VLC, video & audio all the way to
the end. I didn't sit & watch it. I just sampled it at intervals to make sure I had a
good video with audio. I didn't sit & watch it for 2 reasons. First, it was dubbed into
Russian, a language I don't speak. Second, it seemed to be something about the
Indianapolis 500, a subject that does not interest me.

About the low resolution. There is a gear icon within the video player embedded on the
web page. You can click that to change the resolution. That should give you new mp2t
objects in the Network Monitor, & you will be able to download one of the higher
resolution variants of this video.

But the URL I'm quoting above probably won't work for you. If it does work for you
within the next hour or 2 or a few, that's luck. Eventually, it's going to time out.
That's because this URL contains information that ties the video to my web session. It
will also expire at some point. So you have to visit the web page & follow my steps
there. You can't just use my URL. It really is my URL & it won't work for you, at
least, not after some unknown period of time has elapsed. The session identification &
timeout period are hiding in those inscrutable strings of letters & digits. This is how
a great many web sites work. I expect this one is no different. So you need to go to
whatever web page you are interested in & follow my steps. Then you'll get your own
objects with URLs tailored to you. Then you'll be able to download whatever you want.

What was this video? It doesn't matter. What matters is the process I went through.
That process is described in the "too fast" thread. What we describe in there is exactly
what I did. The only thing that was possibly too fast about this video was the cars
whizzing around the Brickyard. The video was fine, not too fast to watch at all.

[Wild Willy]

And . . . You should be able to do what I did in Chrome. You should not need Firefox.
It is my understanding that the Network Monitor is something that is built into Chrome
the same as it is built into Firefox.

[Wild Willy]

Jerkiness is almost certainly associated with Timed_ID3 data, a subject we've discussed
here many times. Search the forum with that as your search key, if you're interested.

Why VDH would stop after only a few minutes is a bit of a mystery. Maybe there's a line
error. These things happen. Maybe the source is corrupted on the web site. Who knows?

In both cases, if you isolate the video into its own browser tab using the techniques in
the "too fast" thread, you'll be able to download the media with Firefox. I believe, not
100% certain but more than 50%, Firefox will ignore Timed_ID3 data. Ffmpeg does. VLC
does. So I would expect any browser to ignore it as well. As for not getting the whole
video, if you try that with the browser & it still cuts off early, then it's got to be a
problem with the original source material. I would recommend trying all of this with
ffmpeg but this proxy thing is getting in the way. There is probably a way to tell
ffmpeg to use a proxy. I'm too lazy to go look it up. You might be more motivated to
look into that possibility.

[mjs]

I don't think when the video is choppy & stuttery it is because of timed_id3 data. I downloaded a video that didn't have it & still it was choppy.

This would prove that there is an issue when HLS streams are downloaded the default way to an mp4 file.

Meanwhile I tried some free vpn extensions & got the same problem in firefox. I think a proper desktop vpn is needed.

[Rational Db8]

Thank you both so much for digging into this.  I wonder if the VDH programmers might not be able to fix it so it works with browser extension "VPNs/proxies" like Windscale?  Honestly I'm not sure if one or both of you are directly involved in VDH directly?  If not, is there some way we can let them know about this issue?  Anyhow, some of what you're saying is a bit greek to me and I'll have to take some time to read up and absorb - I'm not even familiar with what ffmpeg is, for example.  

As to the hesitation/stuttering with some downloaded HLS videos...I wasn't even meaning from that hdrezka site - that happens to me on all sorts of video sites.  It's not the video itself eitehr, because for most of those I can actually watch the video streaming online and it plays just fine.  But when I download them with VDH, it's the downloaded version that has the playback problem.  So it really does seem to be a problem with the way VDH interacts to download the HLS videos.  Also, I can't swear to this, but I think that if I download the same video twice, sometimes the stuttering is worse on one version than the other but I might be imaging that.  

I do know that when it has problems downloading the entire video and stops after only getting a part of the video, often I can go back another time and try downloading it again, and sometimes it will still stop (although at a different point) but other times it'll actually get the entire thing.  I've got a good & fast internet connection, so I don't think that's playing a part.  I think it's something in the way VDH interfaces with HSL videos.  Also, again, I know it's not the video itself, because those videos can be watched in full online - it's downloading them that's the problem.  Occasionally some of them even have a download button associated with the site, and if I use that, those videos download fine and in their entirety, no stuttering or anything - but with VDH it's often much more problematic.  Of course, many don't have a direct download function, and that's where I really need VDH - but it's iffy whether I'll be able to get a good version that way or not.  

Also, one of you had noted that with the hdrezka site you can select the video resolution/size, and that's very true - it's one thing I like about the site.  The dubbing was mentioned - and yes, they often offer dubbed version (Russian) which I don't want either - but at the top of the video screen, you can select whether you want dubbing at all, or if you prefer the original video with subtitles (and you can use regular controls on the bottom of the video screen to turn off the subtitles too).  That's what I usually do, so I just get a good sized video without the dubbing or subtitles.  Except, of course, since they added the geoblock, and it turns out VDH doesn't work with the browser VPN, I can't get any of the videos there, unfortunately.  I guess I'll have to see if there's a decent free desktop full VPN, and hope that works!  :0)

Anyhow, thanks again for your efforts on this!