VDH only downloads sound, no image

[Carolus Magnus]

I have been downloading regularly from a website, always mp4 files. However, since today, it downloads files the size of full movies, but VLC as well as Windows Media Player only play sound. I am on Windows 10, Firefox 106.0.5 64 bits and VDH 7.6.0, License verified.

I have downloaded a random video from YouTube, and it worked as usual.

Any idea on what is happening and especially, how to solve it? Shall I move to another video downloader?

Thank you for your time

[mjs]

What's the website ? Do have an example video to share ?

--

A vdh user

[Wild Willy]

That's actually no help. We already know the video has no audio. A video on dropbox
only confirms that your video has no audio. I'm going to guess that these discussions
contain directions you should follow to see whether you can find the audio that goes with
your video:

https://groups.google.com/g/video-downloadhelper-q-and-a/c/sNfTCMYfiTU
https://groups.google.com/g/video-downloadhelper-q-and-a/c/SSgY9oLoHdw
https://groups.google.com/g/video-downloadhelper-q-and-a/c/vl50CBaxUyg

Since your site requires a user ID & password, only you can investigate whether any of
the techniques we show in those threads can be adapted to your case.

[mjs]

Or provide a screen shot of what you see in the VDH menu. There may be something you're missing.

[Wild Willy]

Correction: We already know that your file has audio without video. Doesn't matter. We
don't need an example of what you have downloaded. We need to see what VDH gives before
doing the download. Either learn the techniques we describe in those other threads, or
show us your VDH menu. But even if you show us your VDH menu, since this site is password
protected, you're going to end up trying the techniques we describe in the threads I
cited above. You are still going to have to do some reading & learning.

[Carolus Magnus]

Hello,

I provided the data requested, too bad it was useless.

The VDH menu screenshot:

Above the screenshot area, only GIF files.

Regards

[Wild Willy]

Oh. I see DASH streaming on that menu. This is almost certainly the too-fast video
case. It isn't really audio without video. The file is actually damaged. This is
covered in the links I provided in my earlier post. VDH does not handle DASH streaming
properly. However, we have just recently discovered, thanks to a post from a fellow
user, that such files can be repaired. You will need to read the references I gave
above. Your answer is almost certainly in there. Yes, it will take you some time &
effort to read. But nobody can do your downloads for you. You have to do them. The
instructions in those other threads should get your videos successfully downloaded &
playable. You've done the downloads. Now you need to repair them. That's covered in
those threads.

[Carolus Magnus]

Thank you for the info, I am happy to know I can recover the files.

Now, in the three links you sent me, which subsequently lead to other links and discussions, I must confess I have been lost after a while. I have seen solutions with two VLCs playing the same file at different speeds, solutions working with ffmpeg ... Could you please point me to the post that discusses a solution that should work with my videos? That would be much appreciated

[mjs]

It depends if you want to redownload the video or repair it. The too fast video thread details both so take the time to read through all of it.

[Eduardo Alfonso Sosa Martínez]

did you find a solution to the problem  (?)

[Stefano Lumachi]

I have exactly the same problem since October

[Carolus Magnus]

No, the answer has been to fix the movies I downloaded (as downloading DASH downloads "broken" movies), I got three different links, I was told that somewhere in some of those discussions I would find how to fix the movies, but I have not yet tried to "repair" the downloaded movies, sorry.

[Carolus Magnus]

Hello Wild Willy,

I have read and re-read the three threads you are talking about, but I still cannot recover the DASH files I have downloaded with VDH, I guess I am not technical enough. From the messages I have been receiving, I assume I am not the only one. In one of the threads (Too fast video), you mention that it is time for a tutorial (on how to repair the DASH files downloaded with VDH). Is that something you are planning on doing? It would be very much appreciated, and I guess we are a lot waiting for that.

Thanks !!!

On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 3:09:14 PM UTC+1 Wild Willy wrote:

[Wild Willy]

No, I am not writing a tutorial. The one that is already here on the subject of ffmpeg
is good enough. I thought I might write a new one using the example a user was having
trouble with but it turned out to be a private video so I abandoned the thought.

If you haven't managed to fix your video, that's too bad. Not every video can be fixed.
I have encountered cases that couldn't be fixed. We never guaranteed our tricks &
evasive maneuvers would solve every case. They are just things we've done that have
fixed certain problems. If your case resists all those techniques, oh well. Too bad.

[Wild Willy]

I just scanned back over this thread & I am surprised to realize you have never provided
a proper problem report. A proper problem report looks like this:

I am using Windows 7 64-bit, Firefox 107.0.1 64-bit, licensed VDH 7.6.5a3 beta (identical
to public release 7.6.6), CoApp 1.6.3. I am have trouble with these videos:

https://site1/something
https://site2/something
htt[s://site3/something

Give us something like that & maybe somebody here can figure out what to do with your
case.

[Carolus Magnus]

Hello Wild Willy,

I would say that my first post contains most of this information, my second post contained the website where the videos came from, but this was irrelevant as it is a private site with login/password access. I was requested to send a video instead, which I did.

The information is:

Windows 10 64-bit

Firefox 107-01 64-bit

Licensed VDH 7.6.6

VDH Menu screenshot:

I have downloaded the video and now I am trying to fix it using ffmpeg, but as I mentioned, I am not a tech guy and the threads are pretty messy to follow along.

Let me know if there is any additional information needed.

Regards

[Wild Willy]

Right. Sorry. I forgot this was a protected site. Well, in that case, I think there's
nothing more I can do to help you. Since I can't get into the site myself, I'm blocked.
It's too bad this isn't working for you. I'm sorry.

[Carolus Magnus]

Hello,

Many thanks to mjs who has helped me fix my videos.

A quick "how to" that worked for me, using Windows.

1 - When on the webpage containing the video, go to VDH/Properties and look for the video frame rate (usually under VideoMdP). Let's call this number X (usually 30, but can vary)

2 - Download the video using VDH

3 - Download ffmpeg on your computer (https://ffmpeg.org/)

4 - Put the video you just downloaded inside the "bin" folder for ffmpeg, the one that contains three executables (ffmpeg.exe, ffplay.exe, ffprobe.exe)

5 - Open a Command window on Windows (by typing cmd on the search bar, for instance) and go to the folder containing the video and ffmpeg.exe

6 - Type ffmpex.exe -r X -i "Your input video name here" -r X "The output file name you wish to have here.mp4"

Done. Please contact Wild Willy or mjs if you need additional information.

Good luck to all

On Tuesday, November 22, 2022 at 4:13:50 PM UTC+1 Eduardo Alfonso Sosa Martínez wrote:

[mjs]

Yes in the hit details page for the video , video MPD I think you meant to say. I got this method from Willy in the too fast video thread 

so kudos to him.

[Wild Willy]

Actually, the -r trick came from somebody else. You (mjs) acknowledge him in the
too-fast video thread. But I thought Carolus said he had read all of that & nothing in
there was of any help. The -r trick is one of the things explained in the too-fast video
thread. If you read it, how could you have missed it? Whatever. The problem is solved
now. I'm glad.

[Carolus Magnus]

Hello Wild Willy,

I said I had read all the threads and that the information was spread and I asked for help in getting the essence of it (the "how to") as I am not very technical. I could not get what I had to do from all the technical information, all the particular cases that were dealt with there.

mjs offered to help me privately, and he has done so, and I have written a quick and dirty "how to" for people like Eduardo or Stefano who may also have read the threads but could not get what was important for their case.

I hope this clears all misunderstandings. Thank you for your support to the VDH community.

[Randy Vice]

I'm getting the error: "Error parsing framerate X." from ffmpeg using -r X -i.  Any idea on what I need to do correct it?  Thanks :)

[Hamilton Vita]

I have the same situation. The video downloaded has only sound. That´s start to happen some days ago. Before it was ok.

I´ve tried in many sites and the result was the same.

[Wild Willy]

Randy, this sounds like a simple syntax error. In order to use the ffmpeg command to
"respeed" the video, you have to know what its frame rate is supposed to be. You can get
that from VDH itself. Click the Details option on the secondary VDH menu. That shows
you a page titled Hit Details. There's an example of how to get the Hit Details in the
too-fast video thread cited above. Then you would code something like one of these:

ffmpeg -r 30 -i inputfilename -r 30 outputfilename
ffmpeg -r 24 -i inputfilename -r 24 outputfilename
ffmpeg -r 60 -i inputfilename -r 60 outputfilename

The parameter value for the -r parameter is the frame rate (fps) shown on the Hit Details
page. You don't code -r X. You code -r and the frame rate value. You need to read the
too-fast video thread again carefully.

Hamilton, you need to give us a proper problem report. Look upthread here & find my post
where I give a sample of what that means. We can't investigate anything based on what
you've told us so far. I will say that "used to work" isn't much comfort. Web sites
change the way they present their content on a whim. It doesn't really matter what used
to work. The web site could have changed & now you have to do something different. Give
us a proper problem report & we'll figure something out.

[Wild Willy]

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