Video download from vimeo results in unusable video (using Chrome, Windows 10)

[Rational Db8]

Hi,

When I try to download the following video; 

https://player.vimeo.com/video/862134415

using the highest resolution option - DASH 1920x1080, it doesn't download a useable video.  

The result won't play at all on VLC Player, just shows a black screen although it appears to have gotten at least some audio.  On GOM player, it shows a little bit of the video but in super fast speed, then the image is just static.  

I'm using:

Windows 10

Chrome most recent version

VDH v. 8.0.0.7

Coapp 1.6.3

Thanks for any help you can give me on how to get it to download a good video!  Also, do the program folks see these, or do I need to submit a bug report elsewhere?

[Wild Willy]

A proper problem report! I nearly fainted. It's so rare around here. Thank you.

I'm using Windows 7 64-bit, Firefox 115.3.1esr 64-bit, VDH 8.1.0.0a4 beta, CoApp 2.0.1.
I got the same results you did. So I applied the principles discussed at great length
over here:

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

I repaired the damaged file downloaded by VDH. You can see how I did that in the
attached log file. But I don't really prefer the repair route. As we discuss in that
other thread, it is possible to get this content in correct form in one step, no repairs
necessary. I recommend you learn how to do that instead.

This has been a problem for a long time. We've been told the devs are working on this
issue but the work is not yet complete. In the meantime, you'll have to learn what we
talk about in that other thread. Either that or suffer until VDH is updated with the
necessary support. How long can you hold your breath? You have some reading to do.

[mjs]

Willy something has changed on my computer, I've got coapp 2.0.1 as well as 8.0.0.6 & 8.1.0.0a4 in two separate Firefox profiles.

I'm no longer getting the video, only the audio track in both extensions. Both extensions are set to aggregate audio and video.

The only difference is the OS being Windows 10.

[Wild Willy]

Whoa. That doesn't sound like an easy one to track down. I might start by comparing
every VDH setting in the 2 profiles. Also, did you do the one-time thing for resetting
the video qualities (I hate that wording but that's what Michel has called it) in both
profiles? You might do that in both profiles now. It's a harmless operation even if it
might be unneeded. Other than that, I feel like I'm flying blind. Sure would be nice if
we had debugging logs.

[Wild Willy]

Wait, That's stupid advice. You're getting the SAME results in both profiles, not
different results. I don't know what I was thinking.

You're not saying that for "separate" audio & video, you're seeing only the audio, are
you? Maybe there's clues in the Hit Details. In desperation, you might remove both
extensions & reinstall them in their respective profiles. Annoying since you'll have to
redo all your settings. I think the export function isn't working, at least not in the
older release, so you're kind of stuck with just redoing all your settings. Maybe take
screenshots of them & use those as references after you reinstall.

[mjs]

It seems to be for those examples that exhibit the fast video issue, except that I get just the audio now.

I tried a video on the Vimeo site and it works as expected.

[Wild Willy]

So you're saying that when you ffprobe what you've downloaded with VDH, it tells you
there's no video track? Does that match the Hit Details on the item? That is totally
weird.

[mjs]

There is no video track only audio which is what ffprobe reports. I think the only 

difference now is the new version of the

Co app.

[Wild Willy]

That's very odd. I used 8.1.0.0a4+2.0.1 to download the item mentioned in the original
post upthread. VDH did its usual apparently good download, but the frame rate reported
was over 12,000fps & the bit rates were over 2 million kb/s. That may be the largest bit
rate I've ever seen. But the file submitted to respeeding to 30fps & bit rates in the
5500kb/s - 6000kb/s range. You can see all of this in the log I posted upthread. The
repaired video consisted of about 1 minute of a horse galloping around in an enclosure
outdoors. Despite the errors ffmpeg threw up during the respeed step, the resped file
played fine.

So if it's the CoApp, it's something unique to your system. The same CoApp is working
fine on my system. The CoApp I'm using is named
vdhcoapp-2.0.1-win7-x86_64-installer.exe on the CoApp page at Github
(https://github.com/aclap-dev/vdhcoapp/releases). This one went up yesterday morning (my
time). That's the one you're running, right? I'm not sure the win7 part of that name
necessarily means it will work only on Windows 7. I think that just indicates that Paul
made some modifications to how it works so that it does not exclude the possibility of
working on Windows 7. Paul put up 3 or 4 CoApps before that one that did not work on
Windows 7 . . . or at least, did not work on my system. It is my understanding that
despite the win7 in the file name, that is not a CoApp that works only on Windows 7.
Since every one of the CoApps that Paul put up last night had a version number of 2.0.1,
there's a tiny possibility you don't have the latest one. It might be worth downloading
& installing again.

[mjs]

I think your co app is designed specifically for windows 7, remember you had trouble installing the version from the download helper website.

The co app from the download helper site probably installs no problem for other systems. But the concerning  problem is when more users install it, 

instead of getting the fast video issue they may get the same problem of audio

but no video. Basically replacing one problem with another.

I think the Devs need to look into it.

[Rational Db8]

Thanks Wild Willy & MJS, I appreciate your help!  So no easy fix for me I suppose.  Not sure that I'm up for reading a ton to try to understand how to get this one. :0) Fortunately I don't need/want to get anything from Vimeo very often!  Funny that it seems to get the audio ok, but the video is so messed up - and that it plays differently depending on the player used (e.g., just black screen in one with normal audio, and audio in the other also, but super fast video for part of it and then just a frozen shot).  The joys of modern technology!  <g>

[Wild Willy]

I think you are wrong, mjs. The link on the Google Group home page for the CoApp takes
you to a page on downloadhelper.net. But on that page, the link to the CoApp is on
Github. And that link from downloadhelper.net is not for CoApp 2.0.1. It is my
understanding that Paul built what you can see on the Github page for all versions of
Windows, not a special version for Windows 7. We can either wait for Paul to clarify
this, or you can try it & see. It's easy enough to uninstall & revert to an older CoApp.
I did it several times before Paul came up with the one that's there now. I repeat. The
part of the file name that says win7 does not mean that version of the CoApp is for
Windows 7 only. It's just a mnemonic for Paul to remind him that that particular version
contains Windows 7 compatibility code. If you're on a newer Windows, the compatibility
code will simply never be invoked. Try it. What can it hurt? You can always revert.
Try it.

[mjs]

I installed companion app 2.0.1 for windows 7 and same result with there being audio but no video tested on both extensions.

Strangely with this coapp it couldn't open the directory for the file or play the media in the secondary menu.

I uninstalled that & tried version 1.6.3 and this produced the fast video issue.

I uninstalled that and went back to version 2.0.1 for my system. Now I think we need Mig or Paul to try this out on the horse video to

see what result they get.

[Paul Rouget]

Ah, yeah that issue is why we came up with that new "Side Download" mechanism.

But Coapp v2 / addon 8.1b won't help for this problem yet, as the new download system (Side Download) is only available for HLS for now (this will change in the future).

[Wild Willy]

But Paul, the central question here is this. The file names for the CoApp 2.0.1 for
Windows posted on the Githubn page contain the string win7. Does this indicate that the
CoApp works only on Windows 7? And I see there's another one you posted a few hours ago.
What's new in that one?

[Rational Db8]

On a tangent here, but fwiw, I thought I'd mention that general users who aren't really into this stuff and just want to use the app are going to be scratching their heads over the term "side download."  Just from the term, I haven't a clue what that means or when it should/can be used.  I have no idea if you guys can come up with a more intuitively meaningful/obvious term for when to use it/what it does, but thought I'd throw that idea out there. Or maybe there's some way to put a little "i" (information) icon on it that when you hover over it, info pops up telling you what it does and when to use it?  I have no idea if that's even possible, but it's really nice when a program has intuitive controls such that people who aren't familiar with it can fairly easily navigate and use the program without having to go find and read up/study how to use it.  :0)

[Wild Willy]

Understand here that I am just another user, like you, like most people posting here. I
do not work for VDH & I don't have any backchannel inside info.

It seems that this new software uses ffmpeg as the download tool inside VDH. Well,
actually, inside the CoApp. Michel has posted on here that it is his intention to
eventually make ffmpeg the preferred way VDH does downloads. But for the time being, he
is offering 2 ways of downloading: the old way, ffmpeg. I don't actually know what the
old way is but it's how VDH has traditionally done downloads up until now. I've never
seen the code & probably wouldn't understand it if I did. My expertise lies elsewhere.
In order to distinguish the old way from the new, Michel came up with this "side"
wording. I don't really see the connection but it's just a word. That's the title.
It's meant to be for only an interim period. Then it will go away & we'll all forget it
was ever used.

If VDH offers you the option to do one of these side downloads, you should use it. I
have posted many solutions on here that said essentially, "Don't use VDH. Use ffmpeg."
I think Michel has always agreed with that but there was some licensing issue that I
never understood that prevented him from using ffmpeg from the start. But he's posted on
here within the past week or so that ffmpeg changed something that made the licensing
issue go away. So now he's planning to migrate VDH over to ffmpeg. We are now in a
period during which Michel can gather user experience with an ffmpeg-ized VDH. This will
inform changes in VDH going forward. Once ffmpeg becomes the only, or at least the
default, way of downloading with VDH, I assume the word "side" will disappear from VDH
menus. But for the time being, just take it as it is & get the most benefit you can from
it.

[Rational Db8]

Thank you very much for that explanation, Wild Willy!  Very much appreciated.  

I'm curious - is there a way we can download using ffmpeg ourselves rather than using VDH?  I use VDH a lot and usually it's great (a few quirks on chrome tho) - but not so much when it comes to HLS and other variants - plus, it's always nice to have alternative methods.  

[Wild Willy]

Yes. I put a tutorial on here with the title, "VDH can't download it? Maybe ffmpeg can."
You can find it with a search. You should also know about this:

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

Since I'm giving you that, you should read up on what it says in there about stealth
quoting.

[Paul Rouget]

There are multiple windows builds: the format is like this: vdhcoapp-<version>-<windows|win7>-<arch>-installer.exe

<arch> is just the CPU type (i686 means 32bits, x86_64 means 64 bits).

The <win7> build works on all Windows. The <window> build works on Windows 8 and above.

So why does the <windows> build exist? The different between <win7> and <windows> is that the win7 is a "light" version of the normal <windows> build. We removed 2 features that we could not get working on Windows 7: the ability to play the video from VDH once it has been downloaded (the "play" action) and also a startup performance improvement that we could get working on Windows 7. We're still trying to get these 2 features to work on Windows 7, but for now, we have a specific version for Windows 7.

As for the different between 2.0.1 and 2.0.2, nothing worth mentioning (tweaks). During beta testing, we are not really publishing changelogs as it's moving fast and we are doing mostly tweaks. We will have proper changelogs once VDH 8.1 and Coapp v2 are stable enough.

[Wild Willy]

Ah. Great. Thanks. So the win7 CoApps are not just for Windows 7, as I originally
suspected. But then you talk about a CoApp for Windows 8 & up. I'm looking at the page
& I don't see it. Then I notice where it says:

Show all 14 assets

Poof. There it is. I didn't even know that existed. Way tricky. I assume that's a
"service" Github offers, to hide some of the assets. I really wish it didn't do that.
Is there nothing that can be done to avoid that? Maybe you could put a comment at the
top, after the one about macos. Something to the effect of "Windows users: click the
button to show all assets."

[Paul Rouget]

Yep, you're not the first one to miss that.

That's why this page exists: https://www.downloadhelper.net/install-coapp-v2 :)
It's just direct links to github.

[Rational Db8]

Hi Guys, 

Well, I have another one for you - maybe the same problem, or maybe something else?  For me, when I download this X/twitter video, it looks like it downloaded, but when I try to play it, nothing happens. I just get a blank player screen (tried it in VLC Player).

https://twitter.com/OntWtf/status/1710369152215437485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710369152215437485%7Ctwgr%5E3019ac80d06671d330efe59bc08c0b6093c26939%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Face.mu.nu%2Farchives%2F406476.php406476

Regardless, if you want a good laugh, take a look at the video clip & be sure you've got your audio on.  :0)

[mjs]

Your on version 8.0.0.7 and coapp 1.6.3, it works in the newest beta extension and coapp 2.0.1 by using the quick side download & side download actions.

[Paul Rouget]

🥳