[HN Gopher] YouTube-dl is under new management, will be happy to...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       YouTube-dl is under new management, will be happy to see new PRs
        
       Author : tbbttbbt
       Score  : 98 points
       Date   : 2022-01-29 19:38 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | haunter wrote:
       | I wish any of the projects would implement a feature to download
       | parts of a video. Currently that's not possible
       | 
       | Request is open since 2013 https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-
       | dl/issues/622
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | I have no idea what the code looks like for ytdl, but the
         | concept seems straightforward enough for DASH/HLS segmented
         | encodes. Determine the duration of each segment, do the math to
         | find which segments would be required for the requested part,
         | then do ytdl magic. I'd be more than happy to be forced to have
         | a few seconds before/after the requested time just to avoid the
         | necessity of breaking segments. Just straight download/concat.
         | 
         | We all know how well concept to working code goes though
        
       | IronWolve wrote:
       | I'm using yt-dlp, and a very small change really made me go
       | "cool" is Color numbers..
       | 
       | I just wish for functions I could pick mid 720p'ish as a setting
       | that includes audio+video, and not have to pick the audio and
       | video formats. Theres a worst and a best option, but I'd want a
       | middle quality to save space.
        
         | makeworld wrote:
         | You can totally do that! See the section on Format
         | Selection[0].
         | 
         | From my reading of it, doing this would work for what you want:
         | -f 'bv*[height<=720]+ba/b[height<=720]'
         | 
         | [0] https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#format-selection
        
         | haunter wrote:
         | You can do that with the arguments
         | (bestvideo[height=720]/bestvideo)+bestaudio/best
         | 
         | bestvideo[height=720] = download the best 720p resolution
         | 
         | /bestvideo = otherwise download the best available (540p, 480p
         | etc)
        
           | makeworld wrote:
           | This has a few issues, I think. For example, using bestvideo
           | prevents you from downloading formats that contain both video
           | and audio, it only downloads video-only formats.
           | 
           | > otherwise download the best available
           | 
           | This will potentially download much higher than 720, if 720
           | is not available. Probably better to go lower for OP's
           | usecase.
           | 
           | See my sibling comment for a better format selector.
        
       | stjohnswarts wrote:
       | I would think a great place to see changes would be to go see
       | what yt-dlp has been up to during the time of prior management
       | because it certainly works better currently. Surely it wouldn't
       | be too hard to pull some of those changes over.
        
       | maxnoe wrote:
       | The reason to continue the project and not focus together on the
       | more maintained fork [1] is to keep support for python 2.6 and
       | 3.2?
       | 
       | In 2022?
       | 
       | For a thing that is made to talk to the internet?
       | 
       | Python 2.6.7 was released in 2011. Python 2.x overdue EOL was in
       | 2020. Python 3.2.6 was released in 2014.
       | 
       | That's has to be one of the worst reasons for duplicating efforts
       | ever.
       | 
       | [1] https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
        
         | Cyberdog wrote:
         | To play the devil's advocate... one of the uses of youtube-dl
         | is to grab a video so it can be watched on lower-spec machines
         | that might not be able to handle playing a YouTube video in a
         | web browser. Such machines might also be stuck on older
         | operating system releases which don't have easy access to
         | cutting edge Python distributions.
         | 
         | That's just my guess at the logic here, anyway.
        
           | Spooky23 wrote:
           | Yup, some of the volunteers at a school I help setup a
           | solution to allow videos to be used in school.
           | 
           | Google is pretty lacking at offering meaningful content
           | controls. We could easily get grants to pay a few thousand
           | bucks for that. It's weird they don't considering their
           | ownership of K-12 and potential for revenue.
        
           | solarkraft wrote:
           | As far as I know current Python distributions are pretty
           | available for older systems.
        
             | mananaysiempre wrote:
             | If we are speaking _current_ distributions, Python 3.9
             | actively refuses to install on Windows 7 and dropped the
             | relevant compatibility code (though I think 3.8 might have
             | had problems installing on it as well).
        
         | itake wrote:
         | I think the original project isn't actively maintained any
         | more:
         | 
         | https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/graphs/commit-activit...
         | 
         | 910 PRs, but only 3 commits to master since July 2021.
        
           | Operyl wrote:
           | You commented this on a post literally just explaining the
           | project has a new maintainer as of six hours ago.
        
             | foxfluff wrote:
             | Maybe the post is too nuanced.
        
         | superkuh wrote:
         | One of the primary, if not the most important, youtube-dl use
         | cases is older computers and older installs that cannot handle
         | modern youtube javascript. By not running javascript at all
         | most of the security issues on the modern web can be mitigated.
         | There are lots of responsible people out there running old
         | software. And even more people who are just poor and can't
         | afford the new hardware required for new OSes required for new
         | browsers.
        
           | classichasclass wrote:
           | Exactly. I still supported Perl 5.005 with a number of my
           | projects for precisely that reason. Even now I still try to
           | target around 5.6 or 5.8, despite being quite old.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | Operyl wrote:
         | Yeah that's completely nuts to me, I'll continue to recommend
         | yt-dlp for the significant future.
        
           | TowerTall wrote:
           | Is there any GUIs for yt-dlp?
        
             | Operyl wrote:
             | I tried https://github.com/axcore/tartube some time ago and
             | it worked. I mostly use the command line though, it's
             | really simple.
        
             | llacb47 wrote:
             | https://github.com/oleksis/youtube-dl-gui
        
             | arvigeus wrote:
             | Search for yt-dlp on flathub. There was a GUI for it, but
             | it is too generic to remember it now. VideoDownloader?
        
             | prox wrote:
             | Command is insanely simple (and I don't use a lot of shells
             | normally)
             | 
             | Copy your youtube url
             | 
             | Go to your command shell
             | 
             | yt-dlp -v _pasted url_
             | 
             | Watch the download. Done.
        
               | agumonkey wrote:
               | youtube-dl gui allows to queue urls though, convenient
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | Cyberdog wrote:
               | You'll want to surround the pasted URL with quotes, or
               | else the question mark in all non-shortened YouTube video
               | URLs will confuse the shell.
               | 
               | Also, I suggest adding `-f mp4` to avoid getting a video
               | in Google's proprietary video format. (Yes, I know, but
               | basically...)
               | 
               | yt-dlp -f mp4
               | 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ'
        
               | iqanq wrote:
               | mp4 files returned by youtube are of a lower quality than
               | webm files.
        
               | Operyl wrote:
               | This is one of my favorite things I don't have to worry
               | about with zsh + oh-my-zsh, pasted URLs being auto
               | quoted.
        
               | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
               | Unquoted URLs with '?' work fine in bash. It's not like
               | it's common to have files _named_ with a URL that could
               | confuse a glob expansion.
        
               | derimagia wrote:
               | It's mainly the "&" which does it, which is pretty
               | common.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | Groxx wrote:
               | you'll also want to cd to the correct folder because you
               | probably don't want it to go in ~ or some other random
               | location depending on what terminal you launched and how
               | you launched it.
               | 
               | CLIs are terrible for people not familiar with CLIs. I
               | love 'em, but GUIs exist (and persist) for good reasons.
        
               | btdmaster wrote:
               | Webm is quite a nice format actually, it's a subset of
               | MKV that gave a good target for browser developers. The
               | fact that patent-encumbered h264 is the only codec that
               | is hardware-accelerated across devices is an entirely
               | different issue.
        
               | solarkraft wrote:
               | MP4 (H.264/H.265) is the proprietary one. WebM (VP8/VP9)
               | is open and royalty free (as is the upcoming AV1).
               | 
               | Less commonly supported though, most notably by Apple and
               | some TVs (quite import for that use case).
        
               | kmeisthax wrote:
               | Depends on who you ask. ISO and ITU would insist that VPx
               | are the proprietary (read: non-standard) ones, which is a
               | different sense of proprietary from what you're using
               | (read: costs money to use).
               | 
               | The whole video codec industry was predicated upon a
               | particular licensing structure where everyone was paid to
               | participate in ISO/ITU codec development in exchange for
               | patent ownership over the final standard. That's why
               | Apple never touched VP8/9 - decode blocks for ISO-
               | standard codecs were very plentiful and very good,
               | compared to those you could get for royalty-free Google
               | ones.
               | 
               | Of course, nowadays the ISO/ITU business model is
               | broken[0], so maybe the actual standards will move
               | towards "royalty-free by default". Or AOM codecs will
               | outcompete ISO ones and they become the de-facto
               | standard[1]. But I don't see that happening until and
               | unless Apple actually ships AV1 hardware codec blocks.
               | 
               | [0] Specifically, a good chunk of HEVC patents are only
               | available from a company called Access Advance, a patent
               | pool that has overlapping membership with MPEG-LA's pool.
               | Since there's an overlap, you have to pay for certain
               | parts of HEVC twice, and Access Advance won't reimburse
               | you for the duplicate license. They say you should ask
               | MPEG-LA for a reimbursement, despite the fact that said
               | reimbursement would be more than you actually pay for
               | MPEG-LA's half of HEVC.
               | 
               | [1] One of the founders of MPEG, Leonardo Chiariglione,
               | is _very_ outspoken that royalty-free codecs outcompeting
               | FRAND codecs would mean the end of innovation in video
               | coding. I personally find this a mistaken view (AOM 's
               | members were going to be doing the R&D anyway) but that's
               | how the ISO/ITU people think.
        
             | cercatrova wrote:
             | https://www.svp-team.com/wiki/Manual:SVPtube
             | 
             | Paid generally but there's a legacy free version for
             | YouTube and Vimeo it says.
        
       | sergiotapia wrote:
       | Massive thank you to the original author and the original
       | youtube-dl. Wonderful piece of software!
       | 
       | However it's been too long - isn't yt-dlp very far ahead and much
       | healthier in it's organization _today_? Also the insistence of
       | using a dead version of Python is pretty strange and will
       | probably hamstrings the efforts for very minimal gains.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2022-01-29 23:01 UTC)