N_m3u8DL-RE on Tubi for video and audio

[Axel Slingerland]

Greetings Y'all,

I am trying to download a video from Tubi using N_m3u8DL-RE in a batchfile. The video downloads fine, but there's no audio. I know how to mux video and audio, but I have no idea how to get N_m3u8DL-RE to download video and audio, or even just audio only.

I'm more familiar with how YT-DLP works, and N_m3u8DL-RE is a new thing I discovered on a whim. I was trying to download a video with YT-DLP and it was working but it was dead slow. I looked in my Zips folder to see if I have the latest version (I save them with the version number in the filename), and I did, but I saw N_m3u8DL-RE in there, and decided to give it a try.

So I copied the name of the .exe file and replaced yt_dlp.exe in my batchfile and it worked. Not only did it work, it was something like four or five times faster than yt_dlp on it best day. I have a 100Mbps Internet connection, and I always thought that the speeds I was was getting were from that. But I see now, that is not the case.

And suggestions on how to get N_m3u8DL-RE to download video and audio?

Thank you in advance, as always,

Ax

[Tom Saurus]

You can set up a folder on your Desktop named N_m3u8DL-RE like you probably did for YT-DLP. In this folder place the following:

ffmpeg.exe
ffplay.exe
ffprobe.exe
mkvmerge.exe
N_m3u8DL-RE
packager-win-x64.exe

Now to launch N_m3u8DL-RE go to the address line of that folder and type cmd and press enter.

You need now to get the N_m3u8DL-RE command for the specific video you want to get. For example for TUBI and I don't know how long this will be the case WidevineProxy 2 an Browser tool you can install in Firefox which is fairly easy to get set up but you will need a .wvd to use that decrypts the videos for you. Well anyway WidevineProxy 2 with this .wvd gets the keys to decrypt and also it generates the N_m3u8DL-RE command you need to select and then copy and paste into N_m3u8DL-RE.

When it comes to this command you need to scroll down and with the space bar select the video quality you want, the audio quality and subtitle you want and once you have those boxes with an "x" in them you can press enter and let N_m3u8DL-RE do its work. WidevineProxy 2 works on encrypted video and not for every streaming channel. It doesn't work for unecrypted videos. There is another program that works on the unecrypted video but I am drawing a blank on what the name of that browser add on that does that. I know that I need to learn more about Stream Detector which is the name of that other add on. It can generate the N_m3u8DL-RE command but I have not mastered how to really get the correct one and select it to my liking.

[Tom Saurus]

This thread may be of some help as I asked for some help to learn how to use N_m3u8DL-RE:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/410007-N_m3u8DL-RE-Giving-It-A-Try

As for being more batch related look into setting up Unshackle which has the ability to get whole series from TUBI.

[Axel Slingerland]

Hey Tom,

Long time no yak!

For me, after I was in coma for two weeks in 2023 my memory is spotty at best. Reading all the threads about all that stuff is like trying to read a book from Europe somewhere. Italian, for example. I might be able to make out a word here or there. I know "Grazie Mille" is something like "Thank you a thousand times", but that's about it. (I learned that from a David Gilmour concert video "Live At Pompeii", it was a great concert.)

That's why I used batch files. I can just make one file and edit it as needed. I can remember to change the file name and the address of the file to download something, but as far as how it works, that is beyond me. I might learn something new and think "that's cool, I'll have to remember that" but I usually don't. Unless of course I remember to write myself a note on how to do things. So far, in my downloading experience, I have never used anything but FFmpeg, YT-DLP and N_m3u8DL-RE. With YT-DLP you can download the audio without any video. The use FFmpeg to mux it. The command is "YT-DLP -x --audio-format m4a." (Or acc or flac, etc., without the quotes, of course.) I'm trying to find an similar command for N_m3u8DL-RE.

Any ideas?

Ax

[Monu]

WidevineProxy 2 an Browser tool you can install in Firefox which is fairly easy to get set up but you will need a .wvd to use that decrypts the videos for you.Nulls brawl
Well anyway WidevineProxy 2 with this .wvd gets the keys to decrypt and also it generates the N_m3u8DL-RE command you need to select and then copy and paste into N_m3u8DL-RE.

Tom, you mentioned that WidevineProxy 2 and Stream Detector can generate a command for N_m3u8DL-RE. Can you explain what that command looks like and how it's different from just running N_m3u8DL-RE with a URL? Does it include flags or options that tell the program to download both video and audio?"

[Tom Saurus]

There is a thread here in the Video Streaming Downloading Section dedicated to WidevineProxy2. It isn't terribly difficult to get set up and get running. There is also a similar tool called Vineless that has its own thread. Vineless also works with DRM videos which have Playready encryption.

The thread I mention explains this well and the posters are quite helpful. That is where I learned how to use it. I am not well versed in Stream Detector but I am going to try to get more adept at it.

These tools I mention they work on several streaming video websites but not every website. Take a read through the thread and if you still need my help I will try to give you some guidance.

[Tom Saurus]

Hey Tom,

Long time no yak!

For me, after I was in coma for two weeks in 2023 my memory is spotty at best. Reading all the threads about all that stuff is like trying to read a book from Europe somewhere. Italian, for example. I might be able to make out a word here or there. I know "Grazie Mille" is something like "Thank you a thousand times", but that's about it. (I learned that from a David Gilmour concert video "Live At Pompeii", it was a great concert.)

That's why I used batch files. I can just make one file and edit it as needed. I can remember to change the file name and the address of the file to download something, but as far as how it works, that is beyond me. I might learn something new and think "that's cool, I'll have to remember that" but I usually don't. Unless of course I remember to write myself a note on how to do things. So far, in my downloading experience, I have never used anything but FFmpeg, YT-DLP and N_m3u8DL-RE. With YT-DLP you can download the audio without any video. The use FFmpeg to mux it. The command is "YT-DLP -x --audio-format m4a." (Or acc or flac, etc., without the quotes, of course.) I'm trying to find an similar command for N_m3u8DL-RE.

Any ideas?

Ax

I have text files where I write down instructions and information as well. I am not particularly adept at batch and I hope that someone comes along better at explaining things.

[Axel Slingerland]

I do too. I would be totally lost with Notepad++. I can type something and when I forget to save it, which happens a lot, it will still be there the next time I open the program. Thanks to Jagabo and a few other people here (yourself included) I have bunch of notes on how to covert command line commands to batch file commands. The problem is, I have to see and test command options to know what works and what fails. I found --select-audio (options), but no options...

For me, the key wasn't just learning the commands, but getting known working commands to run in batch files so I only have to write them once.

For example, after many trials and a ton of errors with yt-dlp, I came up with this:

yt-dlp -P "C:/New" --downloader aria2c --output %%(title)s.mp4 --batch-file batchlist.txt

I save that as batch-file-downloader.bat, and then all I have to do is paste video links in the batchlist.txt, one per line. I don't need to remember how to use it because I took notes. The Firefox addon Video DownloadHelper doesn't work right, but I use it to get downloadable links.

I took a copy of that .bat file, after more trials and errors, changed the command to:

N_m3u8DL-RE.exe --save-dir "C:/New" --save-name "" Path to video

If there is a --batch-file command, I haven't found it. But I can put multiple copies of the command with different video links, and that in effect turns the batch file into a "one file solution." And due to how fast N_m3u8DL-RE is, it takes longer to set up the file, if it has several video links, than it does to download them.

I know... It's a crazy system, but it works. Most of the time... Unfortunately, yt-dlp doesn't work for me on Tubi and N_m3u8DL-RE doesn't save the audio.

[Tom Saurus]

I got Unshackle set up fairly quickly and it typically takes me a lot longer to get such programs set up. If you could get Unshackle set up and running it would be an excellent tool for Tubi when it comes to batch as there are lines you input where Unshackle will get an entire series or a season at a time at the quality level you want and with audio, subtitles and a chapter file and it muxes it all together for you.

I was fooling around with trying to download from BBC and I used the hit details to get the downloadable links like you described with Video Download Helper. I saved a bunch links and lines to put into YT-DLP and in the end when I did more than one it failed as for some reason it kept naming each file the same name and overwriting the one before and also something expired in the downloadable links and it failed. But I could get them one at a time just fine and rename it to something that wouldn't get overwritten.

All this being written I am not getting you any closer to what you want to achieve. I am hoping someone steps in with the guidance you need to get accomplished what you want accomplished. I get kind of overwhelmed with this thinking stuff.

[Axel Slingerland]

You may not think you are helping, but you have few times when something you said gives me an idea. I love it when that happens. Someone says something off the cuff, and you go Aha! and you get a FIL. (That's a Flash of the Idea Lightbulb.)