Peacock issue: download finishes successfully but playback then suddenly stops

Michael12

Hi to everyone!
First of all I am very happy with Streamfab for Peacock, I bought a lifetime license. Most of my MP4 downloads goes fine but from time to time the following happens: The download of MP4 file from Peacock finishes successfully but during the playback of the downloaded offline MP4 file it suddenly stops and I cannot continue watching it. It looks to me that it happens in a spot where the original commercial was cut out by Streamfab. I have tried to download the same video 3 times but the result is always the same. I am pretty sure some of you have already experienced this issue in the past while using Streamfab to download videos from Peacock (or perhaps from other broadcasters as well).
Thanks in advance for any hint.
Take care,
Michael

Cats4U

I have tried to download the same video 3 times but the result is always the same. I am pretty sure some of you have already experienced this issue in the past while using Streamfab to download videos from Peacock (or perhaps from other broadcasters as well).
Thanks in advance for any hint.

Nope, it hasn't happened to me, and I download from Peacock every day of the week. If you want a hint from us, you have to give us something. We need to know (roughly) where you are located, the specific file(s) you are trying to download, what type of audio and video type you want the output file to be and its resolution, and you need to include a copy of your log file (for those that have access to read them). It would also be helpful to know how you have updated to the version of StreamFab that you are using, and what version it is.

Michael12

Thanks for getting back to me, Cats4U. Wau, that is fantastic that this never happened to you before when you use Streamfab so intensively. To me, this happens from time to time. But I always download on-demand sporting events, not movies or shows, which might be the reason perhaps. Before I provide you with information you ask for, please look at the following screenshot which shows the information about content of the downloaded MP4 file. The duration of video and audio tracks is not same (6h 45m vs 6h 26m), which most probably is the reason why my playback of MP4 suddenly stops. But I am unable to find a way how to prevent this.

october262

Thanks for getting back to me, Cats4U. Wau, that is fantastic that this never happened to you before when you use Streamfab so intensively. To me, this happens from time to time. But I always download on-demand sporting events, not movies or shows, which might be the reason perhaps. Before I provide you with information you ask for, please look at the following screenshot which shows the information about content of the downloaded MP4 file. The duration of video and audio tracks is not same (6h 45m vs 6h 26m), which most probably is the reason why my playback of MP4 suddenly stops. But I am unable to find a way how to prevent this.
hankeM

try the newest update 6,1,9.3 - Fix: A failure problem when downloading videos from Peacock in some cases.

Cats4U

Without a doubt, your recording of sporting events rather than shows or movies is a big factor in your problem. I'd be totally surprised if there wasn't at least one communication glitch in downloading a 6+ hour event. I think you are asking a bit much from the Internet, never mind StreamFab. How many gigs did the resulting file come out to?
I'm with October, try 6.1.9.3, but I don't have much hope that they were talking about your failure problem in the changelog.

Michael12

Thanks for your responses, guys! I was able to fix this issue by demuxing the broken file and then muxing it back again using the MP4BOX tool. I think I will apply this process to EVERY downloaded sporting event from Peacock as the demuxed&muxed mp4 files show much shorter total duration time comparing to original files produced by Streamfab. In fact, the shorter duration time is the right/actual time shown when I watch the video directly in Peacock. The duration times shown for mp4 files produced by Streamfab are always much longer(!), so I assume it is the total duration when watching videos directly on Peacock, including all the commercials. It seems that when Streamfab removes the commercials from the video it does not reflect the new actual duration in mp4 "metadata" if you understand what I mean. Maybe, this issue would not happen to me if I buy Peacock Premium plan, not the Standard one.

Cats4U

MP4Box is a component of StreamFab. The only problem is that, like many of the other components they use, they are out of date. StreamFab uses MP4Box version 2.2.1 whereas the latest stable version is 2.4 which is about 2 years newer. I actually prefer to use the nightly version, which is 2.5. There are two links that always give you the latest nightly versions. They are gpac_latest_head_win64.exe and gpac_latest_head_win32.exe and are found at https://gpac.io/downloads/gpac-nightly-builds/. Install the appropriate GPAC file for your computer and take the mp4box.exe file from it and copy it into C:\Program Files\DVDFab\StreamFab. Try the download again, and you might not have to do MP4Box as an external process because the newer version within StreamFab might remux correctly.
I actually prefer MKV, but even with that, StreamFab uses an old version of MKVMerge. Version 68 compared to the newer version 86, again, almost a two-year difference.

Michael12

Cats4U, thanks for detailed explanation, this is very informative! I am OK with external demuxing/muxing process, no problem for me. Can I ask you one more question which I am curious about? Why all MP4 files generated by StreamFab show the longer duration time compared to the actual duration of those videos? For example MP4 file generated by StreamFab shows duration 06:14:03 but when I demux&remux it, then is shows the correct/real duration 05:42:02 which is exactly same as if I watch the video directly in Peacock. What is the difference in duration, in this case 32 minutes? In my opinion, this would be total duration of the sport event if I watch it in Peacock including the unskippable commercials. This would mean that while StremFab removes commercials successfully, it does not "fix" the duration - which I "fix" afterwards by demuxing&remuxing the MP4 file. So I suppose this is some technical reason only developers know and it looks that it happens (this difference in shown vs. real movie duration) only with the sporting events which were once live and now available as on-demand. I don't necessarily need to understand this, just curious if anybody knows... :-)

Cats4U

I don't know. It should be total time minus commercials equals time listed. Like I wrote, they use an old version of MP4Box. That could be the problem. Could be any number of things.

Michael12

Cats4U, thanks for your responses, I really appreciate it!
Just one more question please: Streamfab currently does NOT support downloading of the recorded (DVR) content from both Hulu and Sling streaming services, does it?
Thanks!

Cats4U

I've never seen that mentioned, so I'd have to say, probably no. At this time, I subscribe to neither Hulu nor Sling, and so I can't check myself.