Crakle

[PSXman_uk]

--key 4f7a57ccef264fefa92391ad47982e18:710ccfe2d242e805e 6d0a84b18592ca2

https://prod-vod-cdn1.crackle.com/v1/dash/ab95b45b71c711ddf59f86e4e6bea571f56e1289/v2m...7-58dac41a3dbc


https://www.crackle.com/watch/c9c0dac6-8c83-4287-b7fb-7e70a6a4ca0c/jules-verne's-myste...s-island-pt.-1

Downloads pixilated adverts.

Used guesser as Devine wouldn't work any ideas on how to get these 2

[Germania]

Can't see any "pixilated adverts" ..
.. no matter whether dl with yt-dlp or N_m3u8DL-RE


[Attachment 81280 - Click to enlarge]

[PSXman_uk]

@Germainia was that using the key and mpd ? i get lots of errors with N_m3u8DL-RE complaining about the audio and sync issues then when completed i can see the first minute or so of the adverts and nothing else

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

Can confirm. Something's wrong. I ran using your info for 1080p option

N_m3u8DL-RE.exe "https://prod-vod-cdn1.crackle.com/v1/dash/ab95b45b71c711ddf59f86e4e6bea571f56e1289/v2mt-prod-crackle-cloudfront/fef95e6b5ee695e858b64691c95f580f/us-west-2/out/v1/a3e0e34056c94b369207aa63eea5bea9/cc1a04f1519a4e01acf1471c93fb6e40/84df441594d74061995f0a3fd170d3e5/index.mpd?aws.sessionId=d58753f2-592e-46a4-9687-58dac41a3dbc" --key 4f7a57ccef264fefa92391ad47982e18:710ccfe2d242e805e6d0a84b18592ca2 -M format=mkv

Only the beginning ad works. The rest of the content is encrypted.

[Germania]

I can't detect any abnomalies or adverts - also tested with mkv in FHD
(previous thumbs come from 720p mp4)

My log for: 720p mp4 here - 1080p mkv here

FHD mkv:

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

@psxman, I think you got the wrong manifest since @germania's command works and yours doesn't (both using the same key).
Edit: or at least you got a manifest that needs to be edited. Wouldn't be the first one I see where you have to take adverts manually out.

[larley]

Only the beginning ad works. The rest of the content is encrypted.

This is due to the ads being unencrypted and the content being encrypted. You could add an optional continue statement here in N_m3u8DL-RE if the length of a period is too short, or modify the filter here to only accept encrypted fragments

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

This is due to the ads being unencrypted and the content being enceypted. You could add an optional continue statement here in N_m3u8DL-RE if the length of a period is too small, or modify the filter here to only accept encrypted fragments

Wasn't there also a parameter --ad-keyword? I remember @brick compiling a custom N_m3u8DL-RE with that option.

[Germania]

Wasn't there also a parameter --ad-keyword? I remember @brick compiling a custom N_m3u8DL-RE with that option.

I used this - info
but I don't used "--ad-keyword <REG>" for crackle
(with correct mpd it also with yt-dlp adfree)

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

I think I found a way to edit the manifest thanks to @larley's hint that they weren't encrypted. Just got rid of the period xml nodes that didn't have a cenc pssh.

N_m3u8DL-RE "index.mpd" --key 4f7a57ccef264fefa92391ad47982e18:710ccfe2d242e805e6d0a84b18592ca2

index.txt (rename to mpd)

You can use https://text-compare.com/ to see what was edited out. Weird that the subtitle is 2 hours long but the movie around 1 hour. Don't use -M format=mkv or it's gonna mux the bad subtitles. You can use Mkvtoolnix after to mux manually.

(with correct mpd it also with yt-dlp adfree)

It's weird that both your manifest an his match except for the final id query parameter.

Edit: you may still get a few incorrect timestamps errors, but they're irrelevant. Plays fine in VLC.

[stabbedbybrick]

If you don't use adblocker (or a script), you get served a manifest containing ads. That's probably what's going on here.

[PSXman_uk]

@stabbedbybrick does crkl service work for you in Devine ?

[stabbedbybrick]

I've never used it, so I don't know. I think I read that Crackle were to be shut down soon, though. Might have something to do with it.

[pteque]

For services like this that inject ads as additional Period elements (what's called DAI or dynamic ad insertion), dash-mpd-cli has a neat feature that allows you to skip downloading Periods whose duration is less than a specified number of seconds. Here for example you might start by just retrieving the DASH manifest and looking at the different Periods available, using the "--simulate" commandline option.

% podman run ghcr.io/emarsden/dash-mpd-cli -v --simulate "https://prod-vod-cdn1.crackle.com/v1/dash/ab95b45b71c711ddf59f86e4e6bea571f56e1289/v2mt-prod-crackle-cloudfront/fef95e6b5ee695e858b64691c95f580f/us-west-2/out/v1/a3e0e34056c94b369207aa63eea5bea9/cc1a04f1519a4e01acf1471c93fb6e40/84df441594d74061995f0a3fd170d3e5/index.mpd?aws.sessionId=d58753f2-592e-46a4-9687-58dac41a3dbc"                          
21:08:20  INFO Only simulating media downloads
21:08:20  INFO Fetching the DASH manifest
21:08:22  INFO DASH manifest has 19 periods
21:08:22  INFO Streams in period 0_PT0S_0 (#1), duration 30.072s:
21:08:22  INFO   audio mp4a.40.2         |   125 Kbps |   lang=en label=eng
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d401e       |  1109 Kbps |   854x480
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d401e       |   726 Kbps |   640x360
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d4028       |  2867 Kbps | 1920x1080
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d401f       |  1695 Kbps |  1280x720
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d4028       |  4125 Kbps | 1920x1080
21:08:22  INFO Streams in period 0_PT30.071708333S (#2), duration 955.746s:
21:08:22  INFO   audio mp4a.40.2         |   125 Kbps |   lang=en label=audio
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4D401E       |  1114 Kbps |   854x480
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4D401E       |   732 Kbps |   640x360
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4D4028       |  2874 Kbps | 1920x1080
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4D401F       |  1702 Kbps |  1280x720
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4D4028       |  4130 Kbps | 1920x1080
21:08:22  INFO   subs          Stpp/stpp |         en | label=subtitles_en.m3u8
21:08:22  INFO Streams in period 0_PT15M55S_0 (#3), duration 30.072s:
21:08:22  INFO   audio mp4a.40.2         |   125 Kbps |   lang=en label=eng
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d401e       |  1109 Kbps |   854x480
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d401e       |   726 Kbps |   640x360
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d4028       |  2867 Kbps | 1920x1080
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d401f       |  1695 Kbps |  1280x720
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d4028       |  4125 Kbps | 1920x1080
21:08:22  INFO Streams in period 0_PT15M55S_1 (#4), duration 15.140s:
21:08:22  INFO   audio mp4a.40.2         |   125 Kbps |   lang=en label=eng
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d401e       |  1109 Kbps |   854x480
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d401e       |   726 Kbps |   640x360
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d4028       |  2867 Kbps | 1920x1080
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d401f       |  1695 Kbps |  1280x720
21:08:22  INFO   video avc1.4d4028       |  4125 Kbps | 1920x1080
<snip>

You might guess that all the ads have a duration lower than 35 seconds, so download as follows:

podman run -v .:/content/ ghcr.io/emarsden/dash-mpd-cli -v --quality best --key <kid:val> <MPD-URL> --minimum-period-duration 35 -o crackle.mp4

In this case you would be tricked because one of the ad segments is 60 seconds long. But you could also have noted that all ad segments in the manifest have a BaseURL element specified which includes mediatailor.us-west-2.amazonaws.com. You could use the XPath rewriting functionality in dash-mpd-cli to skip over those periods, as follows:

podman run -v .:/content/ ghcr.io/emarsden/dash-mpd-cli -v --quality best --key <kid:val> <MPD-URL> --drop-elements "//mpd:Period[mpd:BaseURL[contains(text(),'.mediatailor.')]]" -o crackle.mp4

You'll quickly collect a little repertoire of XPath expressions that avoid overloading the servers of different advertising companies.

These examples use dash-mpd-cli via a Podman/Docker container, because that's convenient and safe, but you can also install it (and its dependencies such as xsltproc used for the XPath rewriting) directly if you prefer.

[tjvatikaki]

Thank you for creating this thread, I have had the same issue, where the MPD had ads in it, the ads played correctly in the video, but the actual video was still encrypted. I have then tried what pteque sugeted with dash-mpd-cli, which then basically downloaded the correct parts of the video (excluded the ads), but now I have 4 videos, the first 1 the audio and video is in sync, but the rest is not, is there a way to make this work?

This is this code I've used to download the video:
dash-mpd-cli-windows.exe -v --quality best --key 9bc31b54a218433398a02bb91bd8824e:56e714979a8ab5d61 dd4e97ad49b74e8 https://d35e5j2fj6unwl.cloudfront.net/v1/dash/4ce0d7e1802b0fac6a0a747c81f2780694495b61/Series/watchfolder/Die_Fakulteit_S01_Ep02/DASH/Die_Fakulteit_S01_Ep02.mpd?aws.sessionId=0e099c28-f3b1-4740-9f6e-c2ce407396be --minimum-period-duration 35 -o crackle.mp4

Just to let you know, this is a free website in South Africa.

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

I have had the same issue, where the MPD had ads in it, the ads played correctly in the video, but the actual video was still encrypted

https://www.transfernow.net/dl/20240810PZmmLOK5

[tjvatikaki]

I have had the same issue, where the MPD had ads in it, the ads played correctly in the video, but the actual video was still encrypted

https://www.transfernow.net/dl/20240810PZmmLOK5

Thank you so much, but will please let me know how you got everything to sync up (video and audio) and what you have used to combine the 4 videos into 1?

Thank you.

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

Thank you so much, but will please let me know how you got everything to sync up (video and audio) and what you have used to combine the 4 videos into 1?

I have no idea about your mpd-cli issue. My reply was meant to only give the video until someone that knows dash-mpd-cli could help you. I only use yt-dlp/N_m3u8DL-RE

[tjvatikaki]

Thank you so much, but will please let me know how you got everything to sync up (video and audio) and what you have used to combine the 4 videos into 1?

I have no idea about your mpd-cli issue. My reply was meant to only give the video until someone that knows dash-mpd-cli could help you. I only use yt-dlp/N_m3u8DL-RE

Thank you

[pteque]

now I have 4 videos, the first 1 the audio and video is in sync, but the rest is not, is there a way to make this work?

Thanks for pointing out this problem. This site is sending an audio stream that is not synchronized with the video stream: the start time in the two streams is not the same (10 seconds off for period 8, for example). I don't think I have seen that before (if anyone knows of other sites that stream content like this, I'm interested).

That should be fixable in a future dash-mpd-cli release.