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Google up to its old tricks again blocking vlc from playing Youtube videos. In this particular case it concerns a montage of Megan Fox taken from her role in the first Transformers movie with music by The Cars. Link to the yt video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6GiC28Dobk which vlc is unable to play.


Full log over at Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/aZv6mZua

There hasn't been a youtube.luac script released recently with the youngest one already 4 months old.

This might not be a youtube.luac issue. I have a Firefox addon installed called Video DownloadHelper which downloads videos in the background without the need to create an account on a site or login. So I decided to try it to see if I could download the yt video which vlc can't play.

According to the developer the toolbar button illuminates if the addon is capable of downloading a video which is what happened in this particular case. However, the downloaded 'video' is a 7MB Javascript file (.js extension). I assume that's why the log contains rather odd data.

I tried the same method to download a couple of other videos on yt using the same FF addon, but the toolbar button doesn't illuminate. Normally, vlc can download yt videos to your own machine so this isn't a problem. It's just this one single file which doesn't work.

Old youtube-dl still works with the provided video link.

youtube-dl is hella slow

Old youtube-dl still works with the provided video link.

I tried to run that last night, but all that happens is a command line window briefly flashes on screen and then disappears.
The Visual C++ 2010 x86 required to run youtube-dl was already installed on my Windows 8.1 system back in 2013. When I ran the vcredist_x86.exe I downloaded at the same time anyway all it does is to offer to remove the installation or repair it.

What's your thinking on that aspect mederi?

Link to the yt video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6GiC28Dobk which vlc is unable to play.

Yes this specific video doesn't play for me either, but it works fine with many many other ones including very recent ones.

The Visual C++ 2010 x86 required to run youtube-dl was already installed on my Windows 8.1 system back in 2013. When I ran the vcredist_x86.exe I downloaded at the same time anyway all it does is to offer to remove the installation or repair it.

I have MSVC++ 2010 v10.0.40219 both x86 and x64 versions installed on my Windows 8.1 system and no problem so far for running Youtube-DL and other programs using this runtime.
But yes, YTDL is a command line program so you must run it from a command prompt window. But I think Mederi is talking about this script:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 87#p514611

I have MSVC++ 2010 v10.0.40219 both x86 and x64 versions installed on my Windows 8.1 system and no problem so far for running Youtube-DL and other programs using this runtime.
But yes, YTDL is a command line program so you must run it from a command prompt window. But I think Mederi is talking about this script:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 87#p514611

I have the both MSVC++ as well and the same versions.

I'll have to trawl through the documentation to try and figure out why it behaves the way it does on my own Win 8.1 system.

But thanks for pointing me to the script.

Well, as I said it is a command line only program. It has no GUI. So if you double click on it it will briefly open a command prompt and close it.
You must open a command prompt window first and then run it from command line.

Well, as I said it is a command line only program. It has no GUI. So if you double click on it it will briefly open a command prompt and close it.
You must open a command prompt window first and then run it from command line.

Yes, I suppose that's logical. Thanks for the tip.

I can play any regular Youtube file on VLC, but the music ones will no longer play with VLC. Is this something they can update by updating the .lua script on github?

I can play any regular Youtube file on VLC, but the music ones will no longer play with VLC. Is this something they can update by updating the .lua script on github?

Is this the cookie consent issue again I wonder?

Full log: https://pastebin.com/VLyFbmu1

Tested using these two music videos on youtube:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lli99OmkPwM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAGnKpE4NCI

Also, there's a log with similar Consent-Pending+055 data posted February 23 this year: https://pastebin.com/f9eCUzZ5

Yes, confirmed, so I guess Google has been nasty once again.

how to fix this issue on android?

how to fix this issue on android?

Wrong forum. Post your question here please: https://forum.videolan.org/viewforum.php?f=35

Well, as I said it is a command line only program. It has no GUI. So if you double click on it it will briefly open a command prompt and close it.
You must open a command prompt window first and then run it from command line.

Looks like I'll need to install either ffmpeg or avconv to avoid getting two separate files.



Anyway, I found a handy tutorial on the Web which other users might find useful as well:
https://techwombat.com/how-to-use-youtu ... n-windows/

Old youtube-dl still works with the provided video link.

The latest version does as well I'm pleased to say. Using f137+140 downloads video and audio streams separately, but as long as ffmpeg is placed in the same directory as the youtube-dl.exe it will merge the two streams automatically and delete the two separate streams which is really cool.

youtube-dl is hella slow

If you use it without options that's correct. But as long as you prefix the youtube video you want to download with the -F option to get a list of format identifiers in the command prompt window and then add those to the string afterwards downloads take place in seconds. For example, the following command identifies all the formats available.

• youtube-dl.exe -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6GiC28Dobk

On the left hand side of the command prompt window you see either a two or a three figure number. Make a note of the ones that belong to the formats you want to download and then prefix those with a lowercase -f.

It's important to remember to use uppercase -F to identify the formats and lowercase -f (together with the identifiers) to download!

For example, the following command will download "The Cars - Whose gonna take you home" in about 5 seconds.

• youtube-dl.exe -f137+140 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6GiC28Dobk

You'll also need to download FFmpeg from here and place it in the same directory as the youtube-dl.exe because youtube separates audio and video streams. FFmpeg will merge both into a single video file and delete the two separate files.

If you only want audio, then just use the identifier for an M4A file.

If on the other hand you use the command: "youtube-dl.exe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6GiC28Dobk" (without quotes) then it'll take about 15 minutes to download and the quality won't be very good either (I discovered that myself while learning how to use the tool).

If there's anything you don't understand please don't hesitate to ask.

One other tip to make things easier when using the command line to perform youtube-dl commands is to widen the command prompt window. To do that right click the title bar and go to Properties ---> Layout. Change the Windows Size from its default 80 to 100. The Screen Buffer size should automatically increase to the same width. Here's a pix.


(click to enlarge)

To open an Administrator command prompt on Windows 8 and beyond, right click the Start button and click Command Prompt (Admin). For older versions open the Windows Search tool, type cmd.exe and when it appears right click it and click Run As Administrator.

Last but not least it's recommended to place both the youtube-dl.exe and the FFmpeg.exe files in the Windows Users directory ---> Username rather than creating a a new path, the reason being that it makes it easier to change the path from the Administrator prompt. Also, downloaded files will go to the same directory.