VDH doesn't 'see' a video, looking for workaround

[Ash Alexander]

Hi,

I downloaded a number of videos from M4UHD.tv yesterday and today with no issues, but now I'm trying to download something else from the site and VDH doesn't seem to register it in the dropdown list. The only thing available results in downloading a weird 1-second video of an image that is definitely not the thing I'm trying to get. Screenshots below to show what's going on. Both the items on the dropdown list result in downloading the same image.

Tried Firefox and getting the same issue.

I'm wondering if anyone knows why this video doesn't show up like the ones I got from the same site yesterday, and more importantly if there's a known workaround?

Thanks for your time.

[Wild Willy]

Yes, I got the same problem on that particular video. As an aside, you really ought to
put the URL of whatever it is within the text of your post so anybody can just click it.
You shouldn't bury it in an image, forcing somebody who might help you to have to
manually transcribe the thing.

I opened the Network Monitor & hit play on the Jane Eyre video. Nothing useful appeared
in the Network Monitor. No manifests, neither HLS nor DASH. No useful json files. Not
even any media files, like mp4 or something like that. It's as if this one has some sort
of stealth DRM on it.

I then chose something else at random, a link on the right side of that page, & clicked
that. Without even launching playback, VDH recognized a 1920x1080 variant for that
movie. I used the new Side Download to tell VDH to get it. It did, taking about 15
minutes to get 2.31G. No problem. Played fine in VLC, although I only skimmed through
it since it was nothing I was actually interested in. There was video & audio right to
the end, including full end credits.

I would say the Jane Eyre thing is an anomaly on the site. If you really want such
content, you can always just record it with a screen recording application. Not as good
as downloading but it is probably your only choice.

[mjs]

Didn't you both search the group ? There is a solution for this site, I suggest you guys go take a look.

[Wild Willy]

Good catch. Android. Forgot all about that. And it wasn't that long ago. That is such
an illogical thing to do. That is clearly something the site is doing. It's weird. But
that's what we have so I guess we have to live with it.

[Wild Willy]

Not so fast. I switched my user agent to Android & indeed the Jane Eyre video showed up
as a variant in the VDH menu. But a Side Download on it got an immediate error with
CoApp 2.0.4. On the other hand, a regular old Download (not Side) did work. At least it
looked like it did. But then it gave the MP2T error.

Turning on HLS as M2TS did (after many reloads) finally give me an M2TS variant. Side
Download on that generated the same error as before. Regular old download got the thing
as an m2ts. But it was unplayable. Ffprobe didn't even recognize it.

Multiple reloads of the page were required to get VDH to recognize anything. Plus I had
to hit play & then pause it to get that variant to appear. Meanwhile, an m3u8 did
finally show up in the Network Monitor. But ffprobe on it got 403 Forbidden.

Whatever they are doing with this video, it's completely bamboozling VDH, ffmpeg, & me.
Maybe you can give it a go.

[mjs]

With M2TS enabled I did the regular quick download and it worked, file played. Though I'm not using VLC, you saying it couldn't play ?

Have you got any other media players to try with.

[Wild Willy]

What I downloaded with HLS as M2TS enabled was not a video. Ffprobe said it was not a
video. It showed something weird I've never seen before. I don't remember now what it
was & I've deleted that ffprobe report. I have also deleted the .m2ts file since I
posted earlier. I have tried a few other movies on that site. Some are visible to VDH &
download fine. Others don't. That's the way the web site works, as far as I'm
concerned. It also seems to require maybe a dozen or more reloads of a page plus letting
the movie play momentarily before VDH recognizes anything. I'm done with this one.