Unwanted AD audio file in download

[PeterProg]

I'm using yt-dlp to download a video from PBS. It has worked but I am left with one irritating issue.

I can locate the URL of the video stream by right-clicking on 'Inspect' when the stream is playing and then locating the URL in the 'Elements' section of Dev Tools. I then get the download going with yt-dlp. The video comes down fine (but without sound) and then the audio is downloaded. And this is where the issue is. The file that downloads is an Audio Described mp4 audio file, even if I do not have AD selected in the player.

The download URL appears twice in Dev Tools that I can see and, as an experiment, I have tried downloading with each. But the result is the same - AD audio. I am not seeing any way in Dev Tools to pair the 'standard' version of audio file with the video - the download just seems to default to AD audio.

Wondering if anyone else has come across this issue and found a solution?

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

Video URL?

[PeterProg]

Yes, it's a video URL. I can see options for a 1080p version and a 720p version in Dev Tools. And I select the 1080p version. Looked hard for an audio URL as well but could not spot anything.

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

I meant, what's the site page URL you're attempting to download from?

[PeterProg]

Cheers

The URL for the original stream on the site is https://www.pbs.org/video/doctor-and-detective-r19tjr/. Then, from Dev Tools, the download URL I used was https://urs.pbs.org/redirect/4e76c1fc35154bdb87ffdee08b063c97/\ , which produced the video download and a separate AD audio file in mp4 format. These I can readily combine once I'm happy with the audio.

If I can get this to work, I'm also wanting to download Episode 2 - original stream URL https://www.pbs.org/video/fact-and-fiction-fhjjae/.

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

For https://www.pbs.org/video/doctor-and-detective-r19tjr/ you need american IP to watch the content, but you can download without needing a VPN in order to not waste data. Filter for m3u8 and get the first m3u8 URL that appears. You can then turn off VPN/proxy. Then run

yt-dlp -F https://ga.pbs-video.pbs.org/videos/lucy-worsleys-holmes-vs-doyle/4c27e056-4c72-4cb2-8e9c-d383881488b3/2000455136/hd-16x9-mezzanine-1080p/lwhd0101-AABR-AVC_335.m3u8

[generic] Extracting URL: https://ga.pbs-video.pbs.org/videos/lucy-worsleys-holmes-vs-doyle/4c27e056-4c72-4cb2-8e9c-d383881...01-AABR-AVC_335.m3u8
[generic] lwhd0101-AABR-AVC_335: Downloading webpage
[generic] lwhd0101-AABR-AVC_335: Downloading m3u8 information
[generic] lwhd0101-AABR-AVC_335: Checking m3u8 live status
[info] Available formats for lwhd0101-AABR-AVC_335:
ID                               EXT RESOLUTION FPS │   FILESIZE   TBR PROTO │ VCODEC        VBR ACODEC     MORE INFO
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
multiple_audio_tracks-English    mp4 audio only     │                  m3u8  │ audio only        unknown    [eng] English
multiple_audio_tracks-English_AD mp4 audio only     │                  m3u8  │ audio only        unknown    [eng] English AD
375                              mp4 768x432     30 │ ~143.49MiB  376k m3u8  │ avc1.64001e  376k video only
662                              mp4 960x540     30 │ ~252.70MiB  662k m3u8  │ avc1.64001f  662k video only
1167                             mp4 1280x720    30 │ ~445.53MiB 1167k m3u8  │ avc1.64001f 1167k video only
1756                             mp4 1600x900    30 │ ~670.48MiB 1757k m3u8  │ avc1.640028 1757k video only
3062                             mp4 1920x1080   30 │ ~  1.14GiB 3063k m3u8  │ avc1.640028 3063k video only

So in order to download video 1080p with audio english non-ad, run

yt-dlp -f 3062+multiple_audio_tracks-English https://ga.pbs-video.pbs.org/videos/lucy-worsleys-holmes-vs-doyle/4c27e056-4c72-4cb2-8e9c-d383881488b3/2000455136/hd-16x9-mezzanine-1080p/lwhd0101-AABR-AVC_335.m3u8

Same steps for https://www.pbs.org/video/fact-and-fiction-fhjjae/ or any other video regardless of site.

[PeterProg]

Thanks very much for your help, that worked perfectly! I want to have a go now at the second video - and sorry for the newbie question:

I can successfully replicate all the steps you set out in your post except the very first one.

You say 'Filter for m3u8 and get the first m3u8 URL that appears.' But I'm not sure I'm filtering in the right place to get the needed m3u8 file. I right click on the file stream, select Inspect and that takes me to DevTools (I'm using Edge). When I then filter in Elements, the first m3u8 file that appears is https://livestream.pbskids.org/out/v1/1e3d77b418ad4a819b3f4c80ac0373b5/est.m3u8\ which doesn't seem right.

I think I must be filtering for meu8 in the wrong place?

Thanks again.

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

Filter in the "network" tab. When you applied the filter, refresh the page tab to make sure you get all requests from scratch.

[PeterProg]

Got it! Thanks very much again, cheers.

[PeterProg]

Can I ask a quick follow up question. I now have both video and audio files working perfectly. If I wanted to include an English-language subtitle (caption?) with the video, is there a way with an amended or separate code to have yt-dlp bring everything together - video, audio and subtitle?

The alternative is to manually locate the subtitle file, and mux it with the mp4 file produced by yt-dlp in mkvtoolnix - which I can readily do. But I just wondered if it was possible to bring everything together within yt-dlp?

And I have both .vtt and .srt files - is one preferable to the other within yt-dlp?

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

If the vtt/srt is in the m3u8 tracks, yes. If not, then mux manually with mkvtoolnix. Vtt and srt are both supported by yt-dlp

[PeterProg]

Cheers. I'll take a close look at the various m3u8 tracks to see if a vtt/srt is there.