Help with playback of downloaded Youtube videos

[HookeyLukey]

Hi,

I'm new here and my computer knowledge is less than expert so I hope you will be kind and gentle. Any and all help appreciated with this one as it's been driving me more than slightly crazy.

I am disabled and like to download Youtube videos to learn new skills and then watch these on my Blu-ray or a laptop etc later having stored them on a usb stick. I have been doing this without a problem for several years. I have a Windows 10 64-bit desktop and have the following software for downloading listed in preference order: Wondershare AllMyTube, Video Downloader Ultimate (both full versions), Any Video Converter and HD Video Converter Factory. Note the following symptoms apply to ALL of the foregoing

For the past six months or so, when I download a Youtube video, the file will playback fine on my PC using GOM Player etc and will show in Windows Explorer having a play length when the "Length" field column is selected to show.

HOWEVER, after the first play, the same video will then stop playing and in Windows Explorer it will have no length i.e. no value is shown in the Length field! I have tried various videos, and using several media players. I will try to attach a screenshot of what happens when I use Gom Player. When I save the file to a usb stick, my Soy Blu-Ray player will say the file is corrupt or unsupported.

It is particularly frustrating because both the media players and Blu-Ray machine handle video files via usb from sources other than Youtube and, MOST OF ALL, because the videos seem to work for one or sometimes two plays BEFORE they stop woking.

I hope some of the above is understandable and I will do my best to provide any screenshots or info anyone might need to help with this. Best Wishes.

PS. In the Error screen window attached, there is an option to show further details. I will cut and paste what it says there below. Note, I have tried searching for codecs etc as per the pop-up and emailed GOMLab support with no answer as yet but, as I say, this only happens with YouTube videos on ALL playback software and my Blu-rays, and all of the foregoing combinations worked until earlier this year!

That copy and paste:

Stream 0

--------------------
MEDIA TYPE 0:
--------------------
[AM_MEDIA_TYPE]
majortype: MEDIATYPE_Stream {E436EB83-524F-11CE-9F53-0020AF0BA770}
subtype: MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG1Audio {E436EB87-524F-11CE-9F53-0020AF0BA770}
formattype: TIME_FORMAT_NONE {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}
bFixedSizeSamples: 1
bTemporalCompression: 0
lSampleSize: 1
cbFormat: 0


--------------------
MEDIA TYPE 1:
--------------------
[AM_MEDIA_TYPE]
majortype: MEDIATYPE_Stream {E436EB83-524F-11CE-9F53-0020AF0BA770}
subtype: TIME_FORMAT_NONE {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}
formattype: TIME_FORMAT_NONE {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}
bFixedSizeSamples: 1
bTemporalCompression: 0
lSampleSize: 1
cbFormat: 0

[[ss]vegeta]

This is an extremely weird situation. Something on your computer fucks up the file after the first play. Hmm. When exactly did this start happening?
Try to pin-point if you installed some specific application right before this started happening or updated something. Check your control panel.
I would definitely go to control panel and uninstall all of this shitty software like everything from Cyberlink, Video Downloader, Any Video Converter, Wondershare whatever, Hd Video whatever... there are proper alternatives for every one of these.

Do you have another partition, from another drive on your computer? Try playing from that.

Also, since you say this only happens with Youtube videos, we can also put suspect blame on your downloader.
Get familiar with command line programs like yt-dlp and learn to download with it.

[HookeyLukey]

Thanks [ss]vegeta for replying.

I can't pinpoint exactly when this happened and the only new installations I've done before it started would be Windows updates. Some of the software you've mentioned, I have downloaded SINCE the problems began in order to try to ascertain if the problem was with the download program. Others like the Cyberlink software which I use fairly frequently have been there BEFORE the problems started and when I was able to download from Youtube without a problem.

Bear in mind that the downloaders will download files from other video sites and these will work fine on all players, blu-rays etc which is what made me think it was something Youtube have changed with there videos. Could they add some kind of feature which allows downloaded videos to be watched only once?? From my perspective, many of the videos I want to view are instructional and are not on other rival sites.

I am interested in the yt-dlp but would I need to be able to use Powershell-type commands to be able to use it? I can happily navigate PCs etc but I wouldn't have programmer-level knowledge.

If it is something newish that Youtube is doing with their content, is there any way to see an archive version of Youtube?

[helloImNoob]

two things
1. try mediainfo to see if the mediainfo is okay
2. try with a different player like potplayer or mpc-hc


also, see if you can rollback on the latest updates on windows, they are known to **** things up rather than solving them.
you can do it from settings-updates i think, there is always an option to uninstall latest installed updates.

[[ss]vegeta]

Could they add some kind of feature which allows downloaded videos to be watched only once??

Nah

Yes, you must use cmd or powershell. But it's easy, once you get the hang of it.
Download these 2 and put them in a folder
https://we.tl/t-DegKr6jksk
Then, in that folder, type cmd in the address bar up there and a black window will pop up
here just type

ytdlp.exe "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us2Z-WC9rao"

and it will download the video.
It will download in the best available format, webm and opus, and you might not want that.
So you can use

ytdlp.exe -f 136+140 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us2Z-WC9rao"

This will usually download a 720p with m4a audio.
You can use

ytdlp.exe -F "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us2Z-WC9rao"

to see all the available formats and decide for yourself which two to combine like with the plus above. Keep in mind, some video and audio combination formats cannot be combined.

Still, I mostly suspect that GOM is ******* up the videos for some reason so as the other guy said, try playing them with VLC.

P.S. (and off-topic) if you watch the example video closely, you might find yours trully in it.

[HookeyLukey]

Yes, it's very helpful of Windows to create updates that screw everything up LOL!

I downloaded PotPlayer and had no joy. The error pop-up read "Can't play media file. Unable to get video/audio data".

I have also downloaded mediainfo. Is there anything specific I should be looking for there? I will attach a screenshot but it seems to be just general info to me, or am I doing something wrong?

[HookeyLukey]

Could they add some kind of feature which allows downloaded videos to be watched only once??

Nah

Yes, you must use cmd or powershell. But it's easy, once you get the hang of it.
Download these 2 and put them in a folder
https://we.tl/t-DegKr6jksk
Then, in that folder, type cmd in the address bar up there and a black window will pop up
here just type

ytdlp.exe "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us2Z-WC9rao"

and it will download the video.
It will download in the best available format, webm and opus, and you might not want that.
So you can use

ytdlp.exe -f 136+140 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us2Z-WC9rao"

This will usually download a 720p with m4a audio.
You can use

ytdlp.exe -F "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us2Z-WC9rao"

to see all the available formats and decide for yourself which two to combine like with the plus above. Keep in mind, some video and audio combination formats cannot be combined.

Still, I mostly suspect that GOM is ******* up the videos for some reason so as the other guy said, try playing them with VLC.

P.S. (and off-topic) if you watch the example video closely, you might find yours trully in it.

Thank you for that. I will have a go at that. GomPlayer is my second suspect after Youtube LOL!

I will leave this chat open (so I may appear online) and update you later in the morning (it is here anyway!) and maybe chance my luck for further advice on the yt-dlp front if necessary...?

[[ss]vegeta]

Is there anything specific I should be looking for there?

The mediainfo screenshot implies that the video is corrupted.
The magabytes are there but the 'header' of the file or whatever it's called, is fucked up, and you can't see all the additional info you usually see about video/audio files.

I downloaded PotPlayer and had no joy. The error pop-up read "Can't play media file. Unable to get video/audio data".

But did you try it on an already corrupted file or an original, first-play-one?

You can try fixing the files with, perhaps, ffmpeg. That's one of the 2 files I uploaded for you.
Put the corrupted file in the same folder with ffmpeg and run this

ffmpeg.exe -i "NameOfFileHere.mp4" -c copy new.mp4

new.mp4 will show up and try playing it.

Or upload one corrupted video and post link here so we can investigate further.

For more forensics, it'd be great if you can upload a non-corrupted file before playing and a corrupted file after playing it, so we can compare

[HookeyLukey]

Hi [ss]vegeta,

Thanks for the files. I got everything downloaded etc and opened up the cmd as instructed. I have attached what I have called a Victory Pic of me watching your video on Gom Player! Woo hoo!

The downside is, I then used a converter to make a copy of it in mp4 (which my Blu-ray usually likes) and it did the play once thing again (on the mp4 version only, so far). I am attaching a second screenshot showing how the two files differ in Windows Explorer. Note the Mp4 file has no length value.

So, two things: it seems to be the Mp4 format that is specifically unworkable and; that's the format my Blu-ray needs so I'll try to figure out downloading using yt-dlp in Mp4 asap...

REALLY appreciate this help especially since it's probably frustrating for you guys talking to someone less computer literate

[HookeyLukey]

Ps. I'm new to forums and imagine there is something I'm supposed to do to direct the above to you personally [ss]vegeta. You'll have to forgive me on that one

[HookeyLukey]

You can try fixing the files with, perhaps, ffmpeg. That's one of the 2 files I uploaded for you.
Put the corrupted file in the same folder with ffmpeg and run this

ffmpeg.exe -i "NameOfFileHere.mp4" -c copy new.mp4

new.mp4 will show up and try playing it.

Or upload one corrupted video and post link here so we can investigate further.

For more forensics, it'd be great if you can upload a non-corrupted file before playing and a corrupted file after playing it, so we can compare

I take it I need to copy the corrupted file to the new folder before carrying out the above with ffmpeg?

[HookeyLukey]

Okay, when using ffmpeg, it throws up its data and then says the name of the file then "No such file or directory".

I am happy to try to use yt-dlp to download directly to mp4 if possible and get rid of all these downloaders if I can get it working. No need to convert the existing files... simply download them again ... properly

[HookeyLukey]

I have now tried a video I was interested in using this command

ytdlp.exe -F "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XIUiUOzq7Q"

I now have a list of available formats (see screenshot attached).

Would I be able to impose on your kindness and knowledge once more and ask how do I select the one I want? I'm still a bit phobic about Powershell

[HookeyLukey]

I guess the line that begins 22 is the one I am after? Higher quality and audio available....

[HookeyLukey]

I've now managed to use ytdlp.exe -f 136+140 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us2Z-WC9rao" with my own video link, copy to my usb and it plays in mp4!!! Thank You so much!

I am guessing that if I exchanged the "136+140" for other numbers in the screenshot above that THAT's how I download in those formats? Tell me I'm not as dumb as I look...

[HookeyLukey]

Sad Story Episode Nine... The Phantom File Menace.... Just as I had happily downloaded some saught after instructionals direct to Mp4... it's happened again! They played on Gom and Windows Media Player and then (via USB) on my Blu-ray player. I thought Christmas had come early until.... I tried replaying them on the PC and they acted as before!!! ARRGH!

Next I'm going to totally uninstall GOMPlayer and clean the registry. Then try downloading without it in my system in case it's fiddling up my files. Will report back.

[HookeyLukey]

Well, I have totally removed GOMPlayer from my PC, cleaned the registry, used ytdlp to download videos which previously had problems directly into mp4 format, played them successfully on the PC, transferred them to USB stick and played them on a blu-ray (successfully and with great joy), then returned the stick to the PC, attempted to play them and...... they worked and have a value in their length field in Windows Explorer! Six cartwheels were performed by me as you read this!

My conclusion is this, GOMPlayers updates somewhere along the line got nasty and didn't play ball with my otherwise happy life. GomPlayer is now in the bin. Let that be a lesson

Seriously though, I will try lots of videos today and see how things go before closing this thread if all is well....

[HookeyLukey]

Hmm... the plot thickens. Now I am in the situation where some of the downloaded videos appear to be working (so far) whilst others have reverted to triggering error messages when attempting to play and showing no value in the Length field in Explorer. New software but similar problem. Any ideas?

[HookeyLukey]

Using mediainfo on the latest non-working downloads (downloaded with ytdlp) show no information beyond filename and size whereas the working files sho info on audio and video etc. I will attach a screenshot to show the difference.

[[ss]vegeta]

It's a bit confusing with all these converting, usb transfer to blu ray etc.
Please try to do as little things as possible and find out exactly after what the problem happens.
Your USB or external drive or blu ray also might **** things up.

And all these legs are distracting. I'm a leg man.

[HookeyLukey]

See if this makes any sense.... I have two usb memory sticks and an external hard drive. The original memory stick I will call usb 1 to avoid confusion. I downloaded a video with ytdlp and cut and pasted it to the NTFS external HDD. It works fine (tested several times). When copied from there to each of the usb sticks, it works on one of them but NOT usb 1 (the original stick)!

However SOME of today's downloaded videos do work from there as do approx 50 gb of instructionals already on there! Is there anything I can do to check the health of usb 1? I don't mind buying a new one etc but there's a lot of stuff already on there.

[HookeyLukey]

It's a bit confusing with all these converting, usb transfer to blu ray etc.
Please try to do as little things as possible and find out exactly after what the problem happens.
Your USB or external drive or blu ray also might **** things up.

And all these legs are distracting. I'm a leg man.

Ha! ha! I have rolling pictures of my wife as the background screen. Glad it's keeping you alert LOL!

[helloImNoob]

if this thing is only happening mp4 files and only to that format, its really weird as if it was due to some malware issue or some memory corruption, it would affect any other format as well. one thing you can try is seeing some other format like mkv, you can use mkvtoolnix for that. And if nothing works, a complete windows reinstall might help.

Also trying to see codecs being used isnt much use here as mediainfo already shows the file has nothing, and you can try to change the view in mediainfo, like xml or tree view,its more useful

And if still its doing that, could be hardware issue



one more thing, maybe try looking in your task manager in a detailed view, maybe you notice something weird or some process that should not be there.

[HookeyLukey]

Hopefully the last message was clearer. Does it sound like it's the USB I was using initially?

[HookeyLukey]

if this thing is only happening mp4 files and only to that format, its really weird as if it was due to some malware issue or some memory corruption, it would affect any other format as well. one thing you can try is seeing some other format like mkv, you can use mkvtoolnix for that. And if nothing works, a complete windows reinstall might help.

Also trying to see codecs being used isnt much use here as mediainfo already shows the file has nothing, and you can try to change the view in mediainfo, like xml or tree view,its more useful

And if still its doing that, could be hardware issue



one more thing, maybe try looking in your task manager in a detailed view, maybe you notice something weird or some process that should not be there.

Hi, Thank you for your reply. I did try the mediainfo in tree view etc but there was nothing to show for the misbehaving files. If just checked my registerd version of Malware Bytes and the last scan was only an hour ago with nothing found... I'll scan the USB itself too.

[helloImNoob]

you cant really do a health check on a usb stick as normal hdd drives. you cannot check for fragmentation in it, all you can do is to check is read and write is happening okay by h2wtest(this or h2testw), and chipgenius(it checks if the nand is actually from the brand it says), but nothing more that that

[HookeyLukey]

Malware Bytes scan completed with nothing found. I had a look in Task Manager and I can't see anything obvious but then you have to bear my skill level in mind... D'oh!

[helloImNoob]

a different usb then, try if the problem is occuring on a new flash drive.

[HookeyLukey]

It's a bit confusing with all these converting, usb transfer to blu ray etc.
Please try to do as little things as possible and find out exactly after what the problem happens.
Your USB or external drive or blu ray also might **** things up.

And all these legs are distracting. I'm a leg man.

As per above, the problem seems to happen after a file is played from the original USB only. I have tried repeatedly playing from the external HDD now and it seems fine whereas copying that same working file to the USB results in it not playing from the USB but still working from the Ext HDD. And I've just rechecked the secondary USB and the file plays fine from there. In Windows Explorer, both the secondary USB and the ext HDD show the file as having a length/duration whereas this is absent for the original memory stick. Am I looking at a new stick and transferring the mountains of files on my existing one (it's a 64gb) or can I scan/repair someway without losing files? They are mostly backed up any how...

[helloImNoob]

It's a bit confusing with all these converting, usb transfer to blu ray etc.
Please try to do as little things as possible and find out exactly after what the problem happens.
Your USB or external drive or blu ray also might **** things up.

And all these legs are distracting. I'm a leg man.

As per above, the problem seems to happen after a file is played from the original USB only. I have tried repeatedly playing from the external HDD now and it seems fine whereas copying that same working file to the USB results in it not playing from the USB but still working from the Ext HDD. And I've just rechecked the secondary USB and the file plays fine from there. In Windows Explorer, both the secondary USB and the ext HDD show the file as having a length/duration whereas this is absent for the original memory stick. Am I looking at a new stick and transferring the mountains of files on my existing one (it's a 64gb) or can I scan/repair someway without losing files? They are mostly backed up any how...

diskdigger might help