TVDownloader and YouTube-dl-gui Question

[Axel Slingerland]

I saw this section and figured "Hey, I'm a Newbie..."

I downloaded TVDownloader and YouTube-dl-gui and I have the same question about them both, and they do the same thing I'm asking about. Regardless of what setting I choose for the Video Resolution / Quality, they both download the best video available. I chose 720p in both programs, but the downloads are 1080p. (If 1080p is available, of course.) Is there a way to force them to download in 720p?

Thanks in advance!

Ax

[moonkrj]

Hi Ax,
Some resolutions may be unavailable, as far as I know. The average list of possible resolutions must be like this:
Best, 1080p, 720p, 540p, 480p, 360p, Worst.

I'm still using TVDownloader for educational purposes and pimion speech recognition from videos.. I had to update it manually. What I did exactly: replaced the youtube-dl.exe file in C:\Program Files (x86)\TVDownloader with the latest version: https://youtube-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl.exe

[AllisOne]

@Axel Slingerland

If you just need to download audio/video you can try PyIDM: https://www.videohelp.com/software/pyIDM . It's a good GUI for youtube-dl.exe and youtube-dlc.exe and it gives you an option to choose many qualities of videos and audio. Make sure the first one is set as the main engine (it's updated more often at the moment). After starting the program always manually check for update in Settings - Update. Easy way to have the newest version of the program or youtube-dl/c installed.

It's a bit late response, but maybe someone will find PyIDM useful.

[jagabo]

Use "youtube-dl -F URL" to get a list of available streams. Then use "youtube-dl -f VID+AUD URL" to get the streams you want. VID is the name of the video stream as seen in the first command line, AUD is the name of the audio stream. This always works unless the particular stream isn't available or is mislabeled.

C:\Youtube-dl>youtube-dl -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGwUovgcxB4
[youtube] kGwUovgcxB4: Downloading webpage
[info] Available formats for kGwUovgcxB4:
format code  extension  resolution note
249          webm       audio only tiny   55k , opus @ 50k (48000Hz), 2.70MiB
250          webm       audio only tiny   71k , opus @ 70k (48000Hz), 3.39MiB
140          m4a        audio only tiny  130k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@128k (44100Hz), 7.39MiB
251          webm       audio only tiny  138k , opus @160k (48000Hz), 6.71MiB
394          mp4        256x144    144p   90k , av01.0.00M.08, 25fps, video only, 4.11MiB
278          webm       256x144    144p   97k , webm container, vp9, 25fps, video only, 5.15MiB
160          mp4        256x144    144p  110k , avc1.4d400c, 25fps, video only, 3.54MiB
395          mp4        426x240    240p  204k , av01.0.00M.08, 25fps, video only, 7.34MiB
242          webm       426x240    240p  223k , vp9, 25fps, video only, 9.02MiB
133          mp4        426x240    240p  244k , avc1.4d4015, 25fps, video only, 6.95MiB
396          mp4        640x360    360p  388k , av01.0.01M.08, 25fps, video only, 13.25MiB
243          webm       640x360    360p  410k , vp9, 25fps, video only, 16.84MiB
134          mp4        640x360    360p  632k , avc1.4d401e, 25fps, video only, 18.84MiB
397          mp4        854x480    480p  688k , av01.0.04M.08, 25fps, video only, 23.15MiB
244          webm       854x480    480p  756k , vp9, 25fps, video only, 29.46MiB
135          mp4        854x480    480p 1157k , avc1.4d401e, 25fps, video only, 38.34MiB
398          mp4        1280x720   720p 1362k , av01.0.05M.08, 25fps, video only, 47.44MiB
247          webm       1280x720   720p 1519k , vp9, 25fps, video only, 60.10MiB
136          mp4        1280x720   720p 2312k , avc1.4d401f, 25fps, video only, 73.08MiB
399          mp4        1920x1080  1080p 2494k , av01.0.08M.08, 25fps, video only, 84.58MiB
248          webm       1920x1080  1080p 2675k , vp9, 25fps, video only, 107.58MiB
137          mp4        1920x1080  1080p 4333k , avc1.640028, 25fps, video only, 134.23MiB
18           mp4        640x360    360p  575k , avc1.42001E, 25fps, mp4a.40.2@ 96k (44100Hz), 32.85MiB
22           mp4        1280x720   720p 1409k , avc1.64001F, 25fps, mp4a.40.2@192k (44100Hz) (best)

C:\Youtube-dl>youtube-dl -f 136+140 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGwUovgcxB4
[youtube] kGwUovgcxB4: Downloading webpage
[download] Destination: Jeremy Wade Catches The World's Most Venomous Animal By Hand! _ River Monsters-kGwUovgcxB4.f136.mp4
[download] 100% of 73.08MiB in 00:17
[download] Destination: Jeremy Wade Catches The World's Most Venomous Animal By Hand! _ River Monsters-kGwUovgcxB4.f140.m4a
[download] 100% of 7.39MiB in 00:01
[ffmpeg] Merging formats into "Jeremy Wade Catches The World's Most Venomous Animal By Hand! _ River Monsters-kGwUovgcxB4.mp4"
Deleting original file Jeremy Wade Catches The World's Most Venomous Animal By Hand! _ River Monsters-kGwUovgcxB4.f136.mp4 (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file Jeremy Wade Catches The World's Most Venomous Animal By Hand! _ River Monsters-kGwUovgcxB4.f140.m4a (pass -k to keep)

MediaInfo report on the downloaded video:

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : Main@L3.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 3 frames
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 7 min 58 s
Bit rate                                 : 1 278 kb/s
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 25.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.055
Stream size                              : 72.9 MiB (90%)
Title                                    : ISO Media file produced by Google Inc.
Writing library                          : x264 core 155 r2901 7d0ff22
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709
Codec configuration box                  : avcC