Is it possible recording 1-2 hours of this live HLS stream using VLC?

[SweX]

(Had spent around 2 hours writing my post to include as much info as possible, but when I clicked "preview post", the forum said I was logged out and the whole thing was gone. No energy left doing it all over again now.)

So I start of by saying Hello Everybody,

I use MacOS Mojave and I am trying to get my issue with VLC suddenly stops recording a live HLS stream solved.

The stream is found at: https://www.ha.ax/om-hogskolan/webbkamera/

Find the m3u8 using your preferred method. The random number in the m3u8-URL seems to change every 24hr so one needs to look it up once a day.
It is a webcam stream showing ship arrivals and departures in the port, at different times during the day, and night.

To put it short, I am trying to use VLC and record this stream for a whole straight 1-2 hours at max. But for some reason VLC stops recording automatically, without me clicking on the stop button. Sometimes the recording goes on for 3min only, sometimes 15min, the recording that kept going on the longest before stopping is 30min. If anyone are willing to try. Are you able to keep VLC recording this stream without having VLC stop it when you least expect it? I got no problem opening and watching the above stream in VLC, VLC does not stop it then, it's only when it comes to recording it. I have tried different settings and lately while troubleshooting I simply start a VLC recording of above stream (with or without ships) and leave the recording going in the background while I do other things on the computer. And after some time when i come back to check I see that VLC has stopped recording way too early and the file size are not near where it should be. So no matter what I try it doesn't seem to help solve this headache for me. I have searched the internet a total of probably 20 hours trying to figure out the problem, including some threads on this lovely forum (Videohelp), but nothing have help, so I thought it's time to stop searching and start a thread intead. (I also tried the great browser add-on Video Downloadhelper since it works great on many sites for many different tasks, it managed to keep going for around 10-15min, then it stops downloading.)

In my longer post that went up in smoke, I also mentioned that I got FFMPEG and Youtube-dl installed. But I have never used them since I really find it difficult working with the command prompt and remembering all of the handy commands that one needs to know in order to get the most out of this kind of tools. And based on my little research it seems it could be possible start downloading a live HLS stream, but a little problematic stopping it in the middle as that could make the file end up broken, not able to play it.

As far as VLC goes I have tried increasing the network cache which is said to help with unstable/stuttering streams, just to see if it makes any difference what so ever, if it did help, it didn't solve the problem at least. Tried both 5 seconds and 10 seconds.
https://www.groovypost.com/howto/change-vlc-streaming-buffer/
https://www.wedostreaming.com/iptv/92-how-to-improve-online-video-buffering-on-vlc-pla...-network-cache
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-change-the-buffer-on-vlc

Someone had a similar issue as me, but no solution provided.
https://superuser.com/questions/1553230/limited-screen-recording-time-in-vlc-media-player

And on the VLC forum, someone having a similar problem. "Joejim" said he found info that no cache can be set in VLC when it somes to HLS. It is the only forum I have seen that info shared on but have not been able to confirm if that really is the case from other sites/sources.
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=136207

And another user with similar issue to mine: "stream recording stops after few minutes"
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=135114

Like above user, VLC does stop recording, but I got no issue that VLC freeze and or resource issues that could be the cause behind this.

I have also read a little bit about the below ones (plus several similar ones, not compatible with Mac), but have not installed any of them as I am not sure they will help when it comes to downloading live HLS streams, and also wanted to wait and see what tips and tricks people share when it comes to VLC and if some of them will help. But if recording this specific stream using VLC is a complete no go then I have no choice but to give some alternative method a go.

https://github.com/setvisible/DownZemAll
https://github.com/section83/MacYTDL
https://github.com/streamlink/streamlink
https://github.com/jeanslack/Videomass
https://www.reddit.com/r/youtubedl/comments/nlggc2/guiyoutubedl_v20_is_here/

Thanks in advance for any answers.

[LZAA]

No problem.

ffmpeg -i "https://s31.ipcamlive.com/streams/1fhrarmic7omw8euq/stream.m3u8" -c copy video.ts

Stop=Ctrl+C

[jagabo]

I've been recording the video stream (the same url as in LZAA's post) for over an hour now with VLC's Media -> Convert/Save function. Also by playing the m3u8 URL and recording by right clicking and pressing the record button (in a second instance of VLC). All while using the computer for other things at the same time. No problems.

[SweX]

Hello,

Many thanks for your answers! Will try the suggestion by LZAA and see if FFMPEG continues recording until I manually stop it and also not give up on VLC. After fiddling around with VLC's settings I also made a reset the other day so all settings are now reverted back to defaults.

@jagabo. Sounds great. And I take it that you use the default VLC settings when you tried recording during that hour? Many thanks for trying it for me.

Also to mention. I got a very stable fiber connection, and no issue with any other streams or streaming websites/services, which is why I suspected that it maybe could be the stream that made VLC stop recording just like that.

Really wonder what the issue with VLC could be, and AFAIK there is nothing in MacOS or VLC Mac version that should make any difference when it comes recording a stream like this compared to Windows and the VLC Win version. Hmm. Will keep on trying. And post back how it goes. Again, many thanks for your answers.

[jagabo]

The download I started yesterday stopped after about 2.5 hours. But I think that was when the computer went to sleep. This morning I disabled the sleep function and started another download. It ran for 4.5 hours before I stopped it. I don't know what's going wrong with your downloads but it's certainly possible to download with VLC for hours at at time.

In VLC I used Media -> Convert/Save, entered the URL, set video and audio to copy, container to MPEG-TS, selected an output location and name, then saved. VLC was version 3.0.8.

[takheang303]

ffmpeg -t 3600 -i "link m3u8" -c:v libx264 output.ts

[SweX]

The download I started yesterday stopped after about 2.5 hours. But I think that was when the computer went to sleep. This morning I disabled the sleep function and started another download. It ran for 4.5 hours before I stopped it. I don't know what's going wrong with your downloads but it's certainly possible to download with VLC for hours at at time.

In VLC I used Media -> Convert/Save, entered the URL, set video and audio to copy, container to MPEG-TS, selected an output location and name, then saved. VLC was version 3.0.8.

Absolutely brilliant feedback. 4.5 hours, sounds great. Much longer than I would probably need. Many thanks for trying yet again.

My VLC: Version 3.0.16 Vetinari (Intel 64bit)

Yes. this is a headache. Aug 21 I tried with VLC again, VLC stopped after around 15min. The days after that I didn't bother trying again. The way I do it is basically the same as you describe. But the menus and wordings are a bit different in the Mac version of VLC than in the Win one.


I think about starting a thread over att the VLC official forum and see if some Mac developers can reproduce, and/or maybe if I can make VLC save some logs that capture the moment VLC stops and provide the logs to them. Again. Many thanks for trying at your end.

[SweX]

ffmpeg -t 3600 -i "link m3u8" -c:v libx264 output.ts

Thank you for your feedback. Will give it a try if I one day give FFMPEG a chance on this stream.

[jagabo]

Just for fun, here's a condensed version. Four hours reduced to one minute.

[SweX]

Just for fun, here's a condensed version. Four hours reduced to one minute.

Fantastic. And beautiful view of the rain showers over the harbor and further out over the sea as they "fly by".
And yes. The video plays just fine using VLC.

Regarding those optimists/sailors that one can see at the beginning of your video, a few weeks back the Finnish Championships in Optimist was going on at Åland, and one of the ships (Amorella) from Turku was a little late to arrive that day and the harbor was a bit crowded. But it all turned out fine.

For video of that see: youtube.com/watch?v=uomiRG8nz2I