CTV.ca downloader (up to 1080p)

[stabbedbybrick]

Hello, here's a downloader for CTV.ca. It takes URL as input, and supports quality selection, single episode, range or episodes, full season, and movies. Will grab 1080p and Dolby 5.1 if available. Uses local CDM as default, but switches to remote with the --remote argument. See script documentation for more info.

You'll find the script here: https://github.com/stabbedbybrick/freevine

Please use the new Freevine support thread from here on: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/411643-Freevine-support-thread

[swappyison]

i ran the script python3 ctv.py https://www.ctv.ca/shows/the-challenge-usa/double-crossed-and-sideswiped-s2e4

nothing happened

[stabbedbybrick]

i ran the script python3 ctv.py https://www.ctv.ca/shows/the-challenge-usa/double-crossed-and-sideswiped-s2e4

nothing happened

Because you didn't use any arguments...


You need to tell the script what you want, and use the URL of the show not the specific episode.

python ctv.py -e s02e04 https://www.ctv.ca/shows/the-challenge-usa


15:05:35.593 INFO : The Challenge: USA (2022): 1 Season(s), 4 Episode(s)

15:05:37.063 INFO : The.Challenge.USA.S02E04.Double.Crossed.And.Sideswiped.1080p.CTV.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264
15:05:37.064 INFO : 62b492af83b1c9dac28989a091ca0dc0:0e91b0c5f1aace8835b12ded2153e068
15:05:37.064 INFO : d3657980f0deb9b1642cbcf5e7a25bc3:7e4580a56e5789c6a96865f4d520bc9a
15:05:37.064 INFO : c565c8a43fc80ea3eaf6dffa031dcbef:7f9415e73746d8a406dce852a8dd46b8

[Karoolus]

i ran the script python3 ctv.py https://www.ctv.ca/shows/the-challenge-usa/double-crossed-and-sideswiped-s2e4

nothing happened

Because you didn't use any arguments...


You need to tell the script what you want, and use the URL of the show not the specific episode.

python ctv.py -e s02e04 https://www.ctv.ca/shows/the-challenge-usa


15:05:35.593 INFO : The Challenge: USA (2022): 1 Season(s), 4 Episode(s)

15:05:37.063 INFO : The.Challenge.USA.S02E04.Double.Crossed.And.Sideswiped.1080p.CTV.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264
15:05:37.064 INFO : 62b492af83b1c9dac28989a091ca0dc0:0e91b0c5f1aace8835b12ded2153e068
15:05:37.064 INFO : d3657980f0deb9b1642cbcf5e7a25bc3:7e4580a56e5789c6a96865f4d520bc9a
15:05:37.064 INFO : c565c8a43fc80ea3eaf6dffa031dcbef:7f9415e73746d8a406dce852a8dd46b8

Totally irrelevant to the thread, but the hyperlink in your signature does not work
The text is fine, but the actual link is https// instead of https://

[stabbedbybrick]

[
Totally irrelevant to the thread, but the hyperlink in your signature does not work
The text is fine, but the actual link is https// instead of https://

Oops, thanks for the heads-up!

[Karoolus]

[
Totally irrelevant to the thread, but the hyperlink in your signature does not work
The text is fine, but the actual link is https// instead of https://

Oops, thanks for the heads-up!

No worries!

[sipho]

@stabbedbybrick Thanks for the script! If I wanted to include the DV/audio described audio track is that easy to do? I'd also prefer the subtitles as a separate file, not muxed. Anyway it works brilliantly.

[stabbedbybrick]

@stabbedbybrick Thanks for the script! If I wanted to include the DV/audio described audio track is that easy to do? I'd also prefer the subtitles as a separate file, not muxed. Anyway it works brilliantly.

Do you have an example where there are additional audio tracks? I don't think I've come across any in my testing.

[sipho]

Do you have an example where there are additional audio tracks? I don't think I've come across any in my testing.

Most of the new shows have this now.

for example.

https://www.ctv.ca/shows/superpowered-the-dc-story

[stabbedbybrick]

Do you have an example where there are additional audio tracks? I don't think I've come across any in my testing.

Most of the new shows have this now.

for example.

https://www.ctv.ca/shows/superpowered-the-dc-story

Ah, okay. I looks like the manifest with 1080p don't have that audio track. I totally missed that. I looked around and found not only DV tracks, but Dolby 5.1 as well


I'll see if I can work it into the script when I have some time over.

[sipho]

In the past I've just added a line to the mpd to get the 1080p file. If you can also scrape the better audio then that would be awesome!

[stabbedbybrick]

In the past I've just added a line to the mpd to get the 1080p file. If you can also scrape the better audio then that would be awesome!

I updated the script to get 5.1 audio track by default. Haven't figured out a smooth way to include DV yet, might look into it later.


If you want to edit the script yourself to get only DV and a separate sub file, it's a quick edit:

(line 549) Change "for=best" to "for=worst" to get DV track.

(line 568) Remove this block to get a non-muxed .vtt file:

args.extend(
        [f"--mux-import", "path=sub.vtt:lang=eng:name='English'"]
    ) if sub else None

[Tom Saurus]

stabbedbybrick: I think this is terrific. I would imagine it would work on CTV Throwback. A note when it comes to "Maude" it shows the episodes are 22 minutes long which means they are most likely edited episodes. A lot of half hour shows from the 1970s and earlier would have about 25 minutes of actual show and five minutes of commercials. I notice "The Jeffersons" has 25 minute episodes so these episodes are probably not edited. I thought I should share that knowledge as when it comes to "Maude" it is such a terrific show anything edited out is a sad thing. Someday I will buy the DVD Box Set. A sad thing at CTV Throwback it looks like they no longer host "What's Happening Now?" which is unavailable on DVD and is nowhere on the Internet.

I personally have no grasp yet how to work with scripts which is just as well as I have run out of hard drive space to archive to. I should part with the money and get some more hard drives but it may have to wait as winter is coming and maybe huge heating oil bills to come.

Thank you for all the work you put into the script and I hope someday to learn how to work with python scripts.

[sipho]

I updated the script to get 5.1 audio track by default. Haven't figured out a smooth way to include DV yet, might look into it later.

If it helps this is what I currently use (as a separate line in a windows batch file). I then mux afterwards.

-ds all -dv all -sa id="\bdv\b"

[sipho]

If you want to edit the script yourself to get <snip> a separate sub file, it's a quick edit:


(line 568) Remove this block to get a non-muxed .vtt file:

args.extend(
        [f"--mux-import", "path=sub.vtt:lang=eng:name='English'"]
    ) if sub else None

I tried that but it just dumps the subtitle in the current folder and named as 'sub.vtt' so it's probably easier to just extract it afterwards, especially when a bunch of episodes are downloaded. The 5.1 audio addition is fantastic so thanks for this.

[stabbedbybrick]

All right, I updated the script to add the option of including all audio tracks with "--aa" argument. Since not all titles have DV tracks, it gets messy real fast if you start adding a bunch of if else statements to the argument list. Including all tracks is easier and will be at most 3 tracks, so it won't bloat the file size very much.

As for the subtitles, if you remove that same block now, you should end up with properly named subtitles inside the folder of whatever titles you're downloading.


I might clean it up at a later time, but it's the best I can do for now.

[stabbedbybrick]

I personally have no grasp yet how to work with scripts which is just as well as I have run out of hard drive space to archive to. I should part with the money and get some more hard drives but it may have to wait as winter is coming and maybe huge heating oil bills to come.

Thank you for all the work you put into the script and I hope someday to learn how to work with python scripts.

Using Python scipts in the command line is not all that different from regular software. You install what you need and then run it. The main difference is that instead of clicking buttons and checking boxes, you type it out.


So in this case, instead of clicking a button that says "Episode 1 of the show Justified", you type it out as "--episode S01E01 https://www.ctv.ca/shows/justified". Everything after that is automated.


Spend a few minutes on Google and/or Youtube, and you'll see it's not nearly as complicated as it might seem

[sipho]

Thank you, much appreciated!

[user10thousand]

hi there, i'am a newbie and recently being learning about downloading DRM protected videos from CTV using the stream detector, then i'd get the keys from this website but it is not working anymore "https://cdrm-project.com",

i found your thread so i wanted to learn something but i just can't understand since i'm a very basic user and never used python but if it's something like the other method of copy and paste codes i'd still be able to get the hang of it, i'm using windows i have installed python and downloaded your freevine-main folder and i also found ffmpeg & N_m3u8DL-RE & mp4decrypt located inside my yt-dlp folder now where to go from here please

should i move ffmpeg & N_m3u8DL-RE & mp4decrypt to freevine-main folder?
where to write the lines that would download from CTV, on CMD or on python? and what exactly should i write
and how about the decryption keys where to get those since the only website i know of is down

could you please give an example that a newbie would understand
i would appreciate any help, i'm a quick learner, if it is too much trouble then i'd understand, thanks.

[stabbedbybrick]

@user10thousand:

The script will take care of the whole process, you only have to specify what you want and input the URL. The rest is automatic.

1. You need N_m3u8DL-RE, mkvmerge and mp4decrypt installed, either by putting them inside the freevine folder or by adding them to PATH.
2. Open up CMD inside freevine folder and run this command:

pip install httpx requests lxml click rich sortedcontainers google protobuf==3.19.5 pycryptodomex pycryptodome

3. Then run this command to see info and examples on how to use the script:

python ctv.py --help

But to be perfectly honest, your struggles are more about lacking general knowledge and less about this script specifically. And I really don't want this thread to turn into a general IT support. If you still don't know what the hell I'm talking about with the instructions above, I'd suggest going on a Google/youtube tour to learn the basics of installing in PATH, command line and Python usage.

It's not to be mean, I just kind of have to draw the support line somewhere in an attempt to keep the thread relatively focused.

[user10thousand]

@stabbedbybrick
i appreciate your response, i'd also hate to ruin this thread for you and turning it into a tutorial thread but i promise this will be my very last question,

i have followed your instructions and watched some YouTube videos about installing in PATH and got python working, i ran the command for installing requirements.txt and that went fine as well, but when i get to the command of "python ctv.py --help" it gave me this error "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pywidevine.L3" ,

then i tried making a space between pywidevine and L3 to make it "pywidevine L3" instead of "pywidevine.L3" just to see what would happen
so i run this command "pip install pywidevine L3" , the results says that i have Successfully installed protobuf-4.21.6
but when i try to again do "python ctv.py --help" it still gives me the same error of No module named 'pywidevine.L3

what I'm I missing? this will be my last question as I'm sure i can take it from there.

[sipho]

Depending on where your CDM is you could change the script like this.

from pywidevine.L3.decrypt.wvdecryptcustom import WvDecrypt
from pywidevine.L3.cdm import deviceconfig

to:

from wvdecryptcustom import WvDecrypt
from cdm import deviceconfig

It all depends on your folder structure.

[MindController]

Maybe I don't have it set up correctly, but when I try a command like "py ctv.py --help" or "python ctv.py --help", command prompt doesn't do anything and then just shows another line waiting for a command.

It also does it when I pass any commands to either ctv.py or roku.py.

[Tom Saurus]

MindController: Try This:

dl.py --help

Maybe the thread I started would be of help to you. Some posters here at Video Help were quite kind and gave me some guidance. I am not a master at it yet but I am having some success with CTV but I am having problems with Tubi; however I have more to learn. It is a terrific program. Here is a link to the thread I started:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/411000-N_m3u8DL-RE-Learning-About-Scripts-Baby-Steps

[stabbedbybrick]

Maybe I don't have it set up correctly, but when I try a command like "py ctv.py --help" or "python ctv.py --help", command prompt doesn't do anything and then just shows another line waiting for a command.

It also does it when I pass any commands to either ctv.py or roku.py.

The instructions in the first post were outdated and I forgot to remove them. Check the github to stay up-to-date.

[Tom Saurus]

This is a terrific downloader. I noticed an episode of "Franklin & Bash" it doesn't download. It is season 4 episode 4, I checked the website and it plays there. I tried to get the individual file and it didn't download when I included it in a range of episodes but it doesn't work individually as well. I am happy I can select 480p or as close to it as possible as hard drives fill up pretty fast with higher quality videos and DVD quality is just fine on the small TVs our household has. Thank you so much for making this program.

dl.py ctv -q 540p --episode S04E04 https://www.ctv.ca/shows/franklin-bash

Also on a separate note I haven't updated to the newest version yet as I don't know how to do that but I can ask about that in the thread I started if it is too much of a bother. Thank you in advance for any help with figuring out about that episode and apologies for taking up some of your time. But others may learn along with me so there is that.

[stabbedbybrick]

This is a terrific downloader. I noticed an episode of "Franklin & Bash" it doesn't download. It is season 4 episode 4, I checked the website and it plays there. I tried to get the individual file and it didn't download when I included it in a range of episodes but it doesn't work individually as well.

The issue has been fixed in the new version, and your episode should download normally.

You can update in several ways, but the least technical way is to download the .zip by pressing the green Code button and simply replace the files in your freevine folder. Just make sure to read the updated documentation on usage, because it looks like you're using an old version.

[ampersand]

Thanks for this, it works on Cold Squad - 1080p and 384 kbps audio.

How did you figure out the link to get the 1080p manifest? When I was making my own ctv script I used http toolkit but all I get on my PC are at best 720p streams and their manifests.

[bamboobali]

CrymanChen posted a way to get 1080p a while ago, https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/410167-Similar-sites-to-ctv-ca-crave-et-al, I'm not sure if the same approach is used here, but the question still remains..."how did anyone figure that out?".

[ampersand]

so you set the quality to auto and that "unlocks" an mpd with the 1080p stream?