Complaint Amazon, Netflix... DRM-Fix

KidJoe

6.1.7.2 is out. No mention of Amazon or Netflix, but they have fixes and features for others. :(

I don't care as much about these fixes and features, *IF* they have a TEAM of developers, some of whom are not dedicated to the DRM issues. BUT from the past discussions, that appears to not be the case.

DRM for Amazon and Netflix needs to be their TOP priority. Put everything else, even "quick to fix" bugs to the back burner until this is fixed.

smithbrad

With it being almost 2.5 months since the DRM change and no adequate solution for two of the top streaming sites, it seems logical, to me at least, that it isn't a prioritization issue. We've gone from a period of no solution to a hack re-encode solution to working on other issues.

To me, this indicates that they just don't currently have the needed expertise in-house. Otherwise, they would have done what most have asked and forged through it until completed, and not done these interim steps. Which means they either need to:
(1) find the necessary expertise,
(2) buy a solution (if that is an option), or
(3) another viable option to the DRM issue
(4) assume their current stance and hope they don't lose too many customers.

Regardless of which of the above, they need to try to keep the lights on as best as possibly, which seems to be their approach, by using what resources they have to solve what problems they can. All we can do is hope they are working on a plan for 1-3.

fabuloustream

With it being almost 2.5 months since the DRM change and no adequate solution for two of the top streaming sites, it seems logical, to me at least, that it isn't a prioritization issue. We've gone from a period of no solution to a hack re-encode solution to working on other issues.

To me, this indicates that they just don't currently have the needed expertise in-house. Otherwise, they would have done what most have asked and forged through it until completed, and not done these interim steps. Which means they either need to:
(1) find the necessary expertise,
(2) buy a solution (if that is an option), or
(3) another viable option to the DRM issue
(4) assume their current stance and hope they don't lose too many customers.

Regardless of which of the above, they need to try to keep the lights on as best as possibly, which seems to be their approach, by using what resources they have to solve what problems they can. All we can do is hope they are working on a plan for 1-3.
smithbrad

I agree with this. While other users want developer(s) to focus only on the DRM issue, I prefer the latter. They would have a list of issues/enhancements etc and would prioritize and weight each whether if it was quick win-win or item that requires more time. They would have already been testing internally for days and validate if it fixes the issue or provide a workaround that make the cut to be release. This is just how the software development is with some dependencies whether they find a solution in house or relies on others. If the developer just focus on DRM, we will not have any releases in between and that would piss off more users or give the impression that they aren't trying to fix other modules meanwhile. If you look at DRM as a whole, this doesn't only affect this but others as well or even from popular scene groups this year.

I welcome the new release with added support to select video and audio for other modules, a step to standardize all the modules similar to Amazon module.

Chameleon

I am giving odds it will take years, if ever. This program is kaput.

Air

Its over with SF. It would be a miracle if it worked again the way it should. Better look for alternatives.

JeffDavis

I find it very interesting they decided to recode low res video to low res video in 1080p
Exxar

They didn't. They uncompress the full resolution video, then re-encode it at the same resolution. I also assumed they were upscaling low resolution video, as the StreamFab reps have never explained it very well. Germania did in posts #40 and #44 of this thread:

https://forum.dvdfab.cn/forum/software-support-english/youtube-to-mp3-youtube-video-downloader/438278-hulu-location-bug?p=438821

It's not an ideal workaround, as the original video stream (and maybe audio stream?) is re-encoded, adding more compression artifacts. They re-encode as H.264, which can be done more quickly than H.265, but still takes a significant amount of computing time on your computer. StreamFab hasn't disclosed the encoding settings they use (e.g. preset, CRF) for the re-encode, but they probably have to sacrifice quality to get a reasonable encode time. Some have reported the program crashing or locking up during the re-encoding. I used it a few times to download season 7 episodes of Young Sheldon from Amazon. The results were satisfactory, but that's with current year video produced by digital cameras (hence low noise and easy to compress) and each episode only 20 minutes long. For the time being I'm using version 6.1.6.7.

Cats4U

6.1.7.2 is out. No mention of Amazon or Netflix, but they have fixes and features for others. :(

I don't care as much about these fixes and features, *IF* they have a TEAM of developers, some of whom are not dedicated to the DRM issues. BUT from the past discussions, that appears to not be the case.

DRM for Amazon and Netflix needs to be their TOP priority. Put everything else, even "quick to fix" bugs to the back burner until this is fixed.
KidJoe

6.1.7.2 is a fraud, for the most part. The lines highlighted in blue in the changelog are the result of simply installing the latest version of ytdl.exe (renamed YouTubeToMP3Process.exe in SF). They did zero development themselves, but are taking full credit for the hard work in adding more sites that the YTDL developers did.

NewMelle

Until the release notes CLEARLY state the DRM issues have been addressed I'm not going to waste the the time to uninstall and reinstall. I spent far too much time troubleshooting something that is undeniably broken and likely unrecoverable. I still use SF for episodic TV since it offers more options and I rarely go beyond 480p for that. Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek Strange New Worlds being the exceptions. For that and Amazon movies I've moved on. At least until those guys get their balls caught in a vise anyway. I'm sticking with 6.1.6.7 as well.

Chameleon

The whole program is made up of other developers' hard work, from YTDL to both MKV programs and others.

fabuloustream

6.1.7.2 is a fraud, for the most part. The lines highlighted in blue in the changelog are the result of simply installing the latest version of ytdl.exe (renamed YouTubeToMP3Process.exe in SF). They did zero development themselves, but are taking full credit for the hard work in adding more sites that the YTDL developers did.

Cats4U

Not even the latest release 2 days ago but 3/10 release and maybe the forked ffmpeg too. Wish they utilize the latest MKV merge instead of an older 68.0. I wouldn't say zero development since they may have incorporated them but they still have to test and ensure the overall application/UI works as it should

smithbrad

The interesting thing is that in late January when the DRM change went into effect and StreamFab didn't have an update for it, we assumed it was because they didn't take it seriously enough and were late to the game. Especially, when the competition came out with a fix. However, 2.5 months later with no fix in place that assumption doesn't necessarily carry any weight anymore. The truth is they could have started working on it back in November, like the competition supposedly did, and it still wouldn't have mattered because whether it be 2.5 months or 5 months, they've shown no indication that they can resolve it.

I've only been using StreamFab for 14 months, but I feel I used it pretty heavily during that time and got my money's worth. If they can't fix Amazon, then I hope they at least manage to keep some of the other streaming services working well enough so I can at least pull some other titles from time to time. I'd go with the competition to support Amazon, but I'm not into paying with crypto currency, so they will need to fix their ability to pay using other methods. I do, however, feel bad for those that dropped a bunch on StreamFab and haven't been able to reap enough benefits yet. Like "Chameleon", I'm starting to believe this is a crippled product that will never again be what it once was.

Cats4U

Not even the latest release 2 days ago but 3/10 release and maybe the forked ffmpeg too. Wish they utilize the latest MKV merge instead of an older 68.0. I wouldn't say zero development since they may have incorporated them, but they still have to test and ensure the overall application/UI works as it should
fabuloustream

What's stopping you from using the latest mkvmerge.exe? I changed that and other things with each SF update because they like to use old program versions. I've done it for about the last 2 years. Never had a problem caused by it. I'd love to update Python up to 3.12.3, but they have StreamFab hard-coded to use 3.8. Python 3.8 is set to be depreciated come October, if I'm not mistaken. They had to quick upgrade Python to 3.8 last year (after I told them about it) because 3.7 depreciated then. I don't know why they didn't upgrade to the latest Python at the time (which was 3.11.) They never bothered to remove the Python 3.7 directory from SF. Very sloppy coders. The source is probably all spaghetti. Could be the reason why it takes them so long to fix anything.

The following is my cheat sheet to remind me what programs to use and where to put them. I've done it so often that I really don't need the cheat sheet anymore.

Bin1 from latest shared BtbN nightly FFMPEG - Bin contents only
Bin2 from latest non-shared (static) BtbN nightly FFMPEG - ffmpeg.exe only
Main from latest MKVToolNix and MediaInfo - mkvmerge.exe and mediainfo.dll only
Tube from latest Arias2c and AtomicParsley - arias2c.exe and atomicparsley.exe only

Add Tube to C:\Program Files\DVDFab\StreamFab\YouTubeDL
Add Bin1 to C:\Program Files\DVDFab\StreamFab\YouTubeDL
Add Bin1 to C:\Program Files\DVDFab\StreamFab
Add Bin2 to C:\Program Files\DVDFab\StreamFab
Add Main to C:\Program Files\DVDFab\StreamFab
[* Do exact order shown *]

The only development they've ever done on ytdl.exe (YouTubeToMP3Process.exe) is that they use the source, add two SF-related commands (one being about a cache and the other I forget), recompile and name it YouTubeToMP3Process.exe.

Exxar

They didn't. They uncompress the full resolution video, then re-encode it at the same resolution. I also assumed they were upscaling low resolution video, as the StreamFab reps have never explained it very well. Germania did in posts #40 and #44 of this thread:

https://forum.dvdfab.cn/forum/software-support-english/youtube-to-mp3-youtube-video-downloader/438278-hulu-location-bug?p=438821

It's not an ideal workaround, as the original video stream (and maybe audio stream?) is re-encoded, adding more compression artifacts. They re-encode as H.264, which can be done more quickly than H.265, but still takes a significant amount of computing time on your computer. StreamFab hasn't disclosed the encoding settings they use (e.g. preset, CRF) for the re-encode, but they probably have to sacrifice quality to get a reasonable encode time. Some have reported the program crashing or locking up during the re-encoding. I used it a few times to download season 7 episodes of Young Sheldon from Amazon. The results were satisfactory, but that's with current year video produced by digital cameras (hence low noise and easy to compress) and each episode only 20 minutes long. For the time being I'm using version 6.1.6.7.

JeffDavis

Strange, because I've noticed when I select an episode (just tried it with that new Fallout series), I select the highest resolution (2.5GB file size), and if I immediately go to the download tab, I can see it analysing the video. And when it starts downloading, for just an instant, it shows it's downloading a 5XX MB file and then it jumps to a 2.5GB file.
The download is very quick too, like it would normally take to download a real 5XX MB file (nowhere near what it would take to download a 2.5GB file), and then it needs time to recode, and the result is a 2.5GB file.
So I really think it's downloading a low res video, and just rescaling it to an "HD" video.

spolli

Strange, because I've noticed when I select an episode (just tried it with that new Fallout series), I select the highest resolution (2.5GB file size), and if I immediately go to the download tab, I can see it analysing the video. And when it starts downloading, for just an instant, it shows it's downloading a 5XX MB file and then it jumps to a 2.5GB file.
The download is very quick too, like it would normally take to download a real 5XX MB file (nowhere near what it would take to download a 2.5GB file), and then it needs time to recode, and the result is a 2.5GB file.
So I really think it's downloading a low res video, and just rescaling it to an "HD" video.
Exxar

I haven't updated to the newest version yet. Yesterday dl Fallout S01 and they all were about 3 gigs..

smithbrad

Strange, because I've noticed when I select an episode (just tried it with that new Fallout series), I select the highest resolution (2.5GB file size), and if I immediately go to the download tab, I can see it analysing the video. And when it starts downloading, for just an instant, it shows it's downloading a 5XX MB file and then it jumps to a 2.5GB file.
The download is very quick too, like it would normally take to download a real 5XX MB file (nowhere near what it would take to download a 2.5GB file), and then it needs time to recode, and the result is a 2.5GB file.
So I really think it's downloading a low res video, and just rescaling it to an "HD" video.
Exxar

Not based on my experience, but I'm not using the latest version. The results I've seen would seem to justify what you quoted from "JeffDavis"

I was downloading a TV series in HD before the DRM change, after when it was coming down as SD, and then later when re-encoding was introduced. Before the DRM change, I was originally getting 2.4GB HD files. After, I was clearly getting 700MB SD files. When the re-encode was introduced I started getting 800MB HD files (1/3 the size of the original HD files). The reason I feel confident that the re-encode is from the larger HD file and not an upscale of an SD file, is from visual inspection of the video. The differences between the original HD and the later SD are night and day. The differences between the re-encoded file and the other two is much closer to the HD than the SD. There is just no way an upscale from SD to HD could look that good with the amount of detail included. Based on visual inspection, I can only conclude that the re-encode is a further compression of the HD file and not an upconvert of an SD file.

NewMelle

Although it may improve things I don't feel I paid good money only to manually patch a program that should by all rights not require it. I'm not interested in fixing their software, I'm only interested in them justifying the money I paid them.

I tested 6.1.7.3 with mixed results. I strongly suspect it is still re-encoding. I use Road House 2024 as a test vid both because it was released post 1-25-24 and also included with Prime so development doesn't have to rent it when I report issues via the ticket system (leaving ZERO room for excuses). The release notes only indicate a fix for the 702 error code. DRM is still an issue.

It took 1 hour and 23 minutes to complete the video. A movie that is 2 hours and 3 minutes long. StreamClient.exe did not crash during analysis but that took quite a while. Numerous times the counters either froze for a minute or two or began counting backwards. StreamClient.exe did crash during "processing" but remuxing completed. In contrast the same video at the same resolution took about 41 minutes to complete using an alternate "solution." Draw your own conclusions.

Technically it did work. But so do hand grenades with about the same accuracy and efficacy. I did not test any episodic TV series. I'm sure as I type this someone is.

Cats4U

So I really think it's downloading a low res video, and just rescaling it to an "HD" video.
Exxar

For the gazillionth time, that is not what re-encoding does. It is a misnomer. The result of a Chinese misuse of the English language. There is no rescaling or re-encoding involved. If anything, it should be known as the CleverGet method of downloading. It is simply a modified video recording method. This is an example of how it works: Because the user is locked out of doing a 1080p L3 download because they do not have the latest L3 DRM key, they do a screen recording of the video. The screen recording is done on the display from a regular browser, which has the newest DRM built-in. This display is at 1080p (or greater, if available). In order to save time, the video is sped up, two or more times. In other words, for a one-hour show it is displayed and video recorded in half an hour or better. When the screen recording is finished, during processing, the video is slowed down to the correct speed, and if there are any commercials, they are removed. The CleverGet method is known for its sync problems. The commercial removal process is usually where the sync problems appear, but even a few milliseconds miscalculations can ruin a whole video's sync, especially near the end of the video. Another problem with the CleverGet method is that you need fast memory and storage, otherwise you risk losing data. You'll probably run into problems with an old computer with slow RAM and a hard drive for storage (especially if that hard drive is seriously fragmented.) The CleverGet method (aka "re-encoding") is not worth the bother. Stick with 6.1.6.7, which is the last non-"re-encoding" update. You may not get the full resolution that you hope for but, for now, until the DRM gets fixed, you'll have the direct streaming download that you paid big money for. If you must use a video screen recording method, it is best to go with a "1 to 1" screen recorder, meaning one that records a one-hour show in one hour. Even then, it is best to use a newer computer with fast RAM and fast SSD storage.

Kattanders

...If anything, it should be known as the CleverGet method...

Cats4U

Hi @Cats4U, first of all i am glad you are still sticking round at the forum.
You seem to know about the clever get, however, Is this really how Streamfab works currently? Based on following the progress downloading "new" content, everything is downloaded in encrypted junks. Then the download is finished and processing starts. The junks are merged together into one large encryped file file (the progress bar doesn't move yet and it takes some time for the merge). Next the progress bar moves very slowly - as far as I understood SF runs the encryped file through Widevine and make use of some hook, grabbing the decoded content frame by frame. encoding them to H264. After this, audios are multiplexed with the newly encoded video producing the ready video file as MKV or MP3. From my findings I had no sync problems and even the frames per second match the original conent as well as the resolution of the original. Also I do not see that ads are included in th downloaded material. Anyways. I'd be happy to learn what really goes on behind the scenes :-)

Cats4U

Hi Cats4U, first of all i am glad you are still sticking round at the forum.

Thanks, but I don't know how often I'll be here in the future. I'm here now just to clear up a few misconceptions. I'm not using StreamFab anymore. Just torrenting. It's real nice that I don't have to wake up at 5am (or stay up all night) in order to download my wife's shows before she wakes up. 3 minutes after a show airs (or even before) I can download a show from my torrent sites and go to bed at a reasonable time. With streaming, you have to wait until the next morning. Since Disney took over HULU it is at, I believe, 9am EST. It used to be at 5:30am EST.

You seem to know about the clever get, however, Is this really how Streamfab works currently?

CleverGet (aka re-encoding) is exactly as I described. It is just a sped up video screen recording. Even Wilson acknowledged the method they were using when asked.

Sebastian001

@Wilson.Wang @Mona @DVDFab Staff 的 Amazon 和 Netflix DRM 金鑰怎麼樣？我們終於又想要真正的下載模式了。

網站3個月後沒有任何變化！ Streamfab 現在使用 Clevergate 方法的通知在哪裡？

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