RTMPDUMP to download BBC video from outside the UK

[vor12]

I'm new to using rtmpdump and urlsnooper, but thus far I've had success with both when ripping streams.

I've been trying my hand at downloading this video video from BBC (one that is not available through iplayer, but only on that page) even though I live outside the UK:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00l79x0

My first issue was trying to capture the URL, which I couldn't do until I installed Tor/foxyproxy. Once I had done that, I was able to play videos on iplayer and while I was able to see the video on the above page load, it wouldn't play and gave me the Error code : CDN Redundancy Manager Error [0]:null.

Even though I couldn't actually play the video, I tried to use urlsnooper to detect the stream but wasn't sure which was the correct URL I needed. On top of that, even with the URL I'd need a socks proxy to download it with rtmpdump since I'm outside the UK, which I haven't had much luck with.

Any pointers are greatly appreciated

[bat999]

I'm new to using rtmpdump and urlsnooper, but thus far I've had success with both when ripping streams.

I've been trying my hand at downloading this video video from BBC (one that is not available through iplayer, but only on that page) even though I live outside the UK:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00l79x0

Is this what you want "Tom Hiddleston reveals a Guilty Pleasure...."?
It's just a short clip, 1 min 47s

[vor12]

I'm new to using rtmpdump and urlsnooper, but thus far I've had success with both when ripping streams.

I've been trying my hand at downloading this video video from BBC (one that is not available through iplayer, but only on that page) even though I live outside the UK:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00l79x0

Is this what you want "Tom Hiddleston reveals a Guilty Pleasure...."?
It's just a short clip, 1 min 47s

Yes, that's the one

I know it's short because it's supposed to be a preview snippet from the longer interview in November. I figure if I can manage to get this one I'll be able to use the same method for the full one later on. Except I'm a little confused on where to start.

[bat999]

Yes, that's the one

Hi
The RTMPDump command is here--> http://pastebin.com/sJP092D3

Though I don't know whether it will work outside UK.

[vor12]

Yes, that's the one

Hi
The RTMPDump command is here--> http://pastebin.com/sJP092D3

Though I don't know whether it will work outside UK.

Ah, thank you so much for the command! It isn't letting me download due to my location, but it's still very helpful.

(c) 2010 Andrej Stepanchuk, Howard Chu, The Flvstreamer Team; license: GPL
Connecting ...
INFO: Connected...
ERROR: rtmp server sent error
ERROR: rtmp server requested close

I figured I would have to use a socks proxy to download it, but I have no idea how to pull that off.
Anyone familiar with a method?

[vor12]

Yes, that's the one

Hi
The RTMPDump command is here--> http://pastebin.com/sJP092D3

Though I don't know whether it will work outside UK.

I did have a question on how you set up that command though - when I was looking at the source urls I noticed there were three versions of the video of different qualities:

secure/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash8_v1_1

secure/800kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Med_v1_0.mp4

secure/1500kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Hi_v1_0.mp4

The command line included all three variants, but normally I'd just select the url for the highest quality version. Is there any way you can download only the third italicized one? How could I modify the command line to do so?

This was the information I got from the stream on the XML file at http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/4/mtis/stream/p00l79x2. Could I have used the information from here to construct the command line?

<media bitrate="1500" encoding="h264" height="468" kind="video" service="iplayer_streaming_h264_flv_high" type="video/mp4" width="832"><connection authExpires="2011-10-22T03:28:46+00:00" authString="auth=daEbadJducIc8csbQaNcwand.cFc_cGb2 d5-boOH2w-bWG-BqqGApApFDvFpwL&aifp=v001&slist=secure/1500kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Hi_v1_0.mp4;secure/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash8_v1_1;secure/800kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Med_v1_0.mp4" dpw="65" identifier="mp4: secure/1500kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Hi_v1_0.mp4" kind="akamai" priority="5" protocol="rtmp" server="cp41752.edgefcs.net" supplier="akamai"/><connection application="a1414/e3" authExpires="2011-10-22T03:24:43+00:00" authString="as=adobe-hmac-sha256&av=1&te=connect&mp=iplayerstream/secure_auth/1500kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Hi_v1_0.mp4,iplayerstrea m/secure_auth/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash8_v1_1.flv,iplayerstream/secure_auth/800kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Med_v1_0.mp4&et=13192544 54&fmta-token=e0d0cf0bc6fcb9d0866379e2931cd53b80b37a6e2fec 84fd8e956c890cad83c2" identifier="mp4:iplayerstream/secure_auth/1500kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Hi_v1_0.mp4" kind="limelight" priority="10" protocol="rtmp" server="bbcmedia.fcod.llnwd.net" supplier="limelight"/></media>

I'm just confused as to where you got these urls from in your command since I don't see them above:

rtmpdump -r "rtmp://cp41752.edgefcs.net:1935/ondemand?auth=daEdObxcjcnaVdedXcJcVcNbzbmaPavdUbh-boOEF2-bWG-BooFJpznMErHwyH&aifp=v001&slist=secure/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash8_v1_1;secure/800kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Med_v1_0.mp4;secure/1500kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Hi_v1_0.mp4" -a "ondemand?auth=daEdObxcjcnaVdedXcJcVcNbzbmaPavdUbh-boOEF2-bWG-BooFJpznMErHwyH&aifp=v001&slist=secure/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash8_v1_1;secure/800kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Med_v1_0.mp4;secure/1500kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Hi_v1_0.mp4" -f "LNX 10,1,102,64" -W "http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/iplayer/revisions/617463_618125_1/617463_618125_1_emp.swf" -p "http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00l79x0" -C O:1 -C O:0 -y "secure/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash8_v1_1?auth=daEdObxcjcnaVd edXcJcVcNbzbmaPavdUbh-boOEF2-bWG-BooFJpznMErHwyH&aifp=v001&slist=secure/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash8_v1_1;secure/800kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Med_v1_0.mp4;secure/1500kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Hi_v1_0.mp4" -o parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash8_v1_1.flv

Did you use urlsnooper? I tried to, but got multiple urls and didn't know which I was supposed to select:

Brtmp://cp41752.edgefcs.net:80/ondemand?auth=daEapc.diafbaaXafb
Drtmp://cp41752.edgefcs.net:1935/ondemand?auth=daEapc.diafbaaXa
Crtmp://cp41752.edgefcs.net:443/ondemand?auth=daEapc.diafbaaXaf
Crtmpt://cp41752.edgefcs.net:80/ondemand?auth=daEapc.diafbaaXaf
Ertmpt://cp41752.edgefcs.net:1935/ondemand?auth=daEapc.diafbaaX
Drtmpt://cp41752.edgefcs.net:443/ondemand?auth=daEapc.diafbaaXa

Also, can you let me know what these two parts are for? Do they ever need to be appended, or are they fixed for any BBC downloads?

-f "LNX 10,1,102,64"

-C O:1 -C O:0

Thank you again for any help! I know it's a lot of questions, but I'd like to understand so I can try to pull this off by myself in the future

[HernyD]

It isn't letting me download due to my location

Not sure if this would be of any use top you, however I am outside the UK and use Expat Shield VPN http://expatshield.com/ for watching UK TV. The program is free but delivers advertising on all websites (can use adblock) and occasional popups when going to new sites etc. However although I'm having trouble downloading too (see my thread), it will at least enable you to watch video available in the UK no problem including full screen mode and make you appear to be in the UK.

[vor12]

It isn't letting me download due to my location

Not sure if this would be of any use top you, however I am outside the UK and use Expat Shield VPN http://expatshield.com/ for watching UK TV. The program is free but delivers advertising on all websites (can use adblock) and occasional popups when going to new sites etc. However although I'm having trouble downloading too (see my thread), it will at least enable you to watch video available in the UK no problem including full screen mode and make you appear to be in the UK.

Yeah, I've used expatshield before in the past, though since viewing the videos isn't my main concern I decided to uninstall it. Thanks for the suggestion though. I'm still able to watch videos through BBC iplayer with tor/foxyproxy for now, even if I can't watch them directly from the homepage.

I'm assuming downloading the videos is near impossible given the unreliability of socks, so at this point all I'd like to know is how to formulate the command line for downloading them from BBC. Any tips based on my above post would be much appreciated, since I'm still a bit confused as to how I access the necessary urls

[bat999]

I'm just confused as to where you got these urls from in your command since I don't see them above...Did you use urlsnooper?...

I found the RTMPDump command by using rtmpsrv with Linux.

Also, can you let me know what these two parts are for? Do they ever need to be appended, or are they fixed for any BBC downloads?

-f "LNX 10,1,102,64"

-C O:1 -C O:0

These were part of the command provided by rtmpsrv, probably the command will be OK without them.

It's not easy using rtmpsrv with Windows. Maybe try using RTMPExplorer. It's a gui for RTMPDump/rtmpsrv.
Information is here:- http://stream-recorder.com/forum/rtmpexplorer-rtmpsrv-rtmpsuck-rtmpdump-gui-windows-t10085.html

[vor12]

I'm just confused as to where you got these urls from in your command since I don't see them above...Did you use urlsnooper?...

I found the RTMPDump command by using rtmpsrv with Linux.

Also, can you let me know what these two parts are for? Do they ever need to be appended, or are they fixed for any BBC downloads?

-f "LNX 10,1,102,64"

-C O:1 -C O:0

These were part of the command provided by rtmpsrv, probably the command will be OK without them.

It's not easy using rtmpsrv with Windows. Maybe try using RTMPExplorer. It's a gui for RTMPDump/rtmpsrv.
Information is here:- http://stream-recorder.com/forum/rtmpexplorer-rtmpsrv-rtmpsuck-rtmpdump-gui-windows-t10085.html

Thank you for your help! I managed to create a command for this video, but don't know if it works properly because I can't test it - if anyone in the UK could possibly run it and let me know if it's successful or not I'd greatly appreciate it!

Command line is here ----> http://pastebin.com/NdRGiE07

[bat999]

...if anyone in the UK could possibly run it and let me know if it's successful or not ...

Hi
Your command failed
Here --> http://pastebin.com/xYPF3D3V

This command is OK, compare and contrast
Here --> http://pastebin.com/QsJLCh7t

[vor12]

...if anyone in the UK could possibly run it and let me know if it's successful or not ...

Hi
Your command failed
Here --> http://pastebin.com/xYPF3D3V

This command is OK, compare and contrast
Here --> http://pastebin.com/QsJLCh7t

Thanks for such a quick reply!

Comparing the two I can spot a few differences:

1. Mistake with the -W portion and some of the ordering
2. Trying to download the file as mp4 versus flv (I usually download as mp4 with no problems)
3. My auth string differs from yours
4. Could be that taking out the -C and -f caused a problem

I've fixed the problem with 1, but I'm mainly concerned as to whether the auth string is causing the issue.

This new command is identical to your corrected version, except I put back in my auth strings to see if they could still be valid -------> http://pastebin.com/13C5LMDY

If that command doesn't work, then the auth strings I'm getting are definitely wrong.

In that case, this command is also identical to your corrected version (with your auth strings left intact) but I've taken out the -C and -f commands to see if they are making any difference ----> http://pastebin.com/J51knwHL

Annnnd if that one also fails, then either -C or -f (or both) have to stay in for whatever reason...

[bat999]

Hi
It's probably OK to download as mp4, if you're sure what the stream contains.
x264 and aac is fine but some website streams use VP6 and mp3 etc.

First command failed, second command is OK.
Here --> http://pastebin.com/v5YM6B0t

[bat999]

Whoa, this BBC clip contains VP6 and mp3

General
Complete name                            : parkie02-00076616-HIDDLESTONE_Flash8_v1_1.flv
Format                                   : Flash Video
File size                                : 11.6 MiB
Duration                                 : 3mn 12s
Overall bit rate                         : 509 Kbps
Encoded date                             : Wed Nov 16 23:37:53 2011
On2                                      : Technologies

Video
Format                                   : VP6
Codec ID                                 : 4
Duration                                 : 3mn 12s
Bit rate                                 : 352 Kbps
Width                                    : 640 pixels
Height                                   : 360 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 25.000 fps
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.061
Stream size                              : 8.05 MiB (69%)

Audio
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 3
Mode                                     : Dual mono
Codec ID                                 : 2
Codec ID/Hint                            : MP3
Duration                                 : 3mn 12s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 2.93 MiB (25%)

[jman98]

Since we are talking about basically capturing TV streams that are NOT available for legal purchase or rental outside of the UK, I am going to assume that the moderators are not going to freak out over what I am about to say. You can get a lot of TV shows off of Bit Torrent. I'd give that a shot first over trying to record streams on your own if I was you.

[vor12]

Hi
It's probably OK to download as mp4, if you're sure what the stream contains.
x264 and aac is fine but some website streams use VP6 and mp3 etc.

First command failed, second command is OK.
Here --> http://pastebin.com/v5YM6B0t

Thank you for testing those for me! Since digging around other places I've found that the reason my auth strings never work when you test them is because they are generated by the IP address of the visitor. They theoretically would work for me but not on someone else's computer.

The only thing left for me to do is to try to get the highest quality available instead of the LQ flv file that RTMPexplorer is setting the command line up with. I'm not sure if this is possible, but maybe instead of the -r reading:

"rtmp://cp41752.edgefcs.net:1935/ondemand?auth=daEdObxcjcnaVdedXcJcVcNbzbmaPavdUbh-boOEF2-bWG-BooFJpznMErHwyH&aifp=v001&slist=secure/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash8_v1_1;secure/800kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Med_v1_0.mp4;secure/1500kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Hi_v1_0.mp4"

It could just say:

"rtmp://cp41752.edgefcs.net:1935/ondemand?auth=daEdObxcjcnaVdedXcJcVcNbzbmaPavdUbh-boOEF2-bWG-BooFJpznMErHwyH&aifp=v001&slist=secure/1500kbps/parkie02-00072987-WEB_TOM_HIDDLESTON_Flash9_Hi_v1_0.mp4"

I've been trying to test it but for some reason RTMPdump is being difficult about it so I don't know if it's valid or not

Since we are talking about basically capturing TV streams that are NOT available for legal purchase or rental outside of the UK, I am going to assume that the moderators are not going to freak out over what I am about to say. You can get a lot of TV shows off of Bit Torrent. I'd give that a shot first over trying to record streams on your own if I was you.

Thanks, but this is only a small clip from a longer episode that I don't have much interest in watching. I don't imagine bittorrent would help out much

[KevinMarven]

lets suppose, if we success for making facility for bbc iplayer outside uk, how much positive chances are available that server will not stop working on the other proxies? I think you should to locate the solution for this.