IndyCar Live!

[doctorm]

So IndyCar races are largely on Peacock which is way above my pay grade to download from. Although I'm a subscriber, 7-9 hour streams are too long to watch in real time.

They've recently created IndyCar Live! for international viewers in countries that don't have broadcasters.

I've gotten as far as using Tor Browser to come in from such a country, creating a log-in with a disposible email address, and then it opens a new tab at auth.staylive.io which is a blank page for me.

I didn't even have a plan after that, I was just looking to see how the playlists were set up.
Anyway, their entry page is www.indycar.com/ways-to-watch/stream and I'm specifically trying to grab https://www.staylive.io/indycar/video/s-indianapolis-motor-speedway-oval-open-test-day-2-82g1ko at the moment.

I was hoping something like Yt-dlp or ffmpeg would do the job, probably with a VPN, but I can't even get that far. Any suggestions?

[LZAA]

Need access.

[doctorm]

It's free and open to anyone living in a country that doesn't have a broadcaster. Use a proxy/vpn to a country on their list and give them an email address, make up a password and watch (supposedly): https://www.indycar.com/-/media/Files/2022/News/OTT_TERRITORIES.pdf
Edit: The free and open thing is why I expect/hope there is little or no protection except region checking.

[jack_666]

doctorm wrote

The free and open thing is why I expect/hope there is little or no protection except region checking.

You are correct. The hls url looks like

https://stream.mux.com/R13Dknr5yr400p8P5dE9eO02UDZTzIiGUiCC61wcO85I00.m3u8?token=ey.................................

[cedric8528]

I am in France and I don't need vpn to watch this

You can download it with yt-dlp

yt-dlp --no-part --restrict-filenames --user-agent "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:99.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/99.0" --referer "https://www.staylive.io/" "https://manifest-gce-us-east4-production.cfcdn.mux.com/02yXmMNVksp8yUr4jkPrE5Skp00uvcWV00vGqJooXM5Cwld02fMt77ppDl8ikyOB1LCBdysSR01t5ah1dNVJhdhrFBfM2odgUd54yW3hWuzH00W800/rendition.m3u8?cdn=cloudflare&exclude_pdt=false&expires=1650738180&skid=default&signature=NjI2NDQ0MDRfMTU5ZTViZTIwOWU1MDc5NjQzMTAzMTVkNDU4Y2I4MGJiYTQwMzViNDNkNTJiZTE3NTM1ZGY1ZmM0MGU4YTRkNA=="

[Attachment 64476 - Click to enlarge]

[doctorm]

OMG. Except region checking to start playback, there is zero protection. I wonder how long that will last.

I signed up with Hide.Me free VPN, bounced out of Germany and grabbed the 1080p link instead. Closed the VPN and d/l'ed from the U.S. so I don't have to worry about the data cap on Hide.Me.

Thanks cedric8528. I should have been able to figure that out, but it eluded me.

Could you give me insight into: --no-part --restrict-filenames --user-agent "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:99.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/99.0" --referer "https://www.staylive.io/"?

I know what they do, I'm just curious why you used them (I didn't).
Does no-part break anything in function, or does it just keep the directory from getting sloppy?
What is the benefit in setting the user-agent?
I also didn't bother with the referer. I guess some sites need them?

Edit 3: Don't use yt-dlp for these streams. It defaults to .mp4 extension but the format is MPEG-TS. Additionally, the audio downloads as ADTS which has reduced compatibility.
Instead use ffmpeg:

ffmpeg.exe -i "https://stream.mux.com/4kcdvPcyplMBFU9Z9VUwGPei001Ix401sdKKo2ObSdW5o.m3u8?token=..."  -c copy -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc "video.mp4"

Works perfectly, it will grab the 1080p version automatically from the stream.mux.com link, and you don't need to repack to repair it afterwards.

[doctorm]

I am in France and I don't need vpn to watch this

You can download it with yt-dlp

yt-dlp --no-part --restrict-filenames --user-agent "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:99.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/99.0" --referer "https://www.staylive.io/" "https://manifest-gce-us-east4-production.cfcdn.mux.com/02yXmMNVksp8yUr4jkPrE5Skp00uvcWV00vGqJooXM5Cwld02fMt77ppDl8ikyOB1LCBdysSR01t5ah1dNVJhdhrFBfM2odgUd54yW3hWuzH00W800/rendition.m3u8?cdn=cloudflare&exclude_pdt=false&expires=1650738180&skid=default&signature=NjI2NDQ0MDRfMTU5ZTViZTIwOWU1MDc5NjQzMTAzMTVkNDU4Y2I4MGJiYTQwMzViNDNkNTJiZTE3NTM1ZGY1ZmM0MGU4YTRkNA=="

[Attachment 64476 - Click to enlarge]

I just want to thank you again.
This year they've made a change, and without the --referer, which is now "https://indycarlive.com", the streams will give a 403 Forbidden error.
I probably wouldn't have known to try that without your suggestion.

I added the user-agent as well just to prepare for any future issues.

[Anonymous84]

--

[doctorm]

@tuskacz: I'm sorry but what the heck are you talking about?

[Ron Fin]

OMG. Except region checking to start playback, there is zero protection. I wonder how long that will last.

I signed up with Hide.Me free VPN, bounced out of Germany and grabbed the 1080p link instead. Closed the VPN and d/l'ed from the U.S. so I don't have to worry about the data cap on Hide.Me.

Thanks cedric8528. I should have been able to figure that out, but it eluded me.

Could you give me insight into: --no-part --restrict-filenames --user-agent "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:99.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/99.0" --referer "https://www.staylive.io/"?

I know what they do, I'm just curious why you used them (I didn't).
Does no-part break anything in function, or does it just keep the directory from getting sloppy?
What is the benefit in setting the user-agent?
I also didn't bother with the referer. I guess some sites need them?

Edit 3: Don't use yt-dlp for these streams. It defaults to .mp4 extension but the format is MPEG-TS. Additionally, the audio downloads as ADTS which has reduced compatibility.
Instead use ffmpeg:

ffmpeg.exe -i "https://stream.mux.com/4kcdvPcyplMBFU9Z9VUwGPei001Ix401sdKKo2ObSdW5o.m3u8?token=..."  -c copy -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc "video.mp4"

Works perfectly, it will grab the 1080p version automatically from the stream.mux.com link, and you don't need to repack to repair it afterwards.

It's a long shot as the thread is old but I will try anyway. Your method has helped me enormously so thanks a lot for that. For some reason though lately, the downloaded videos always have the audio track missing. Any idea why/how it could be fixed ? Thanks !