Watch.Foodnetwork.com

[mike327]

I used to be able to DL videos from foodnetwork.com. Have not been able to for over a month now. After the latest update, videos won’t even play in the Streamfab browser. I get an error “Please try again later. For additional help and troubleshooting, please visit https://gohelp.discovery.com/. ERROR CODE: OTHER” The help link is no help and it’s not the website. Videos play using any web browser. A DRM MPD Downloader window pops up and when I do the download, it downloads an ad and not the video.

[Cats4U]

StreamFab seems to have a problem lately with videos that aren't DRM protected. Watch.Foodnetwork.com is one of those places that aren't DRM protected. In fact I think all of Discovery.com is that way. You can use a program named yt-dlp to download them. I just did that for a file on watch.foodnetwork.com. I'll turn you over to user jpp72 here. He is the one that has taught me a little bit about using the program. I don't feel confident enough to teach anybody else yet. StreamFab actually uses yt-dlp for its downloading but it appears that lately the coding in SF for it is having some problems recognizing non-DRM files.

[october262]

no issues here -

[Cats4U]

no issues here -

Interesting. And I tried several times. Since you have to enter your cable provider, I wonder if that has anything to do with it? I'm with Comcast (Xfinity).

[october262]

Interesting. And I tried several times. Since you have to enter your cable provider, I wonder if that has anything to do with it? I'm with Comcast (Xfinity).

i never had to enter a cable provider, just went to here - https://www.foodnetwork.com/ clicked shows then choose the episode to download.

[Cats4U]

i never had to enter a cable provider, just went to here - https://www.foodnetwork.com/ clicked shows then choose the episode to download.

Ahhh, so basically you cheated.
You went to the main website of Food Network which you can get to via the Youtube module whereas watch.foodnetwork.com will only work with the DRM MPD module and you have to name your cable provider. I'm pretty sure the "watch" site has a lot more videos.


The weird thing being that although it uses the DRM MPD module, it doesn't use DRM. It is just straight DASH. To make matters weirder, all those videos I tried to get last night but couldn't, I was able to get today with no problem. I still got the error but I ignored it and was able to download. I tried ignoring it last night, too, but it wouldn't download. If you are the kind of person that likes challenges to your brain, StreamFab is the program for you. My Mom used to keep her mind active with crossword puzzles. I have StreamFab.

[mike327]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.
-Tried yt-dlp. It doesn’t work. It’s not a Youtube video I want to watch. Youtube doesn’t have the full shows I’m looking for.
-Yes, if I go to foodnetwork.com and select a video, the dl works, but its only clips of shows. I’m looking for full shows which can only be accessed by going to watch.foodnetwork.com
-I can just watch the shows on the website or on my smart TV, but then I have to deal with the annoying ads which you cannot fast forward thru. This is why I want to dl shows, so I don’t have to deal with ads and I don’t want to spend 60 minutes watching a 40 minute show.
-This link is an example of the type of shows I want to watch:

https://watch.foodnetwork.com/video/the-kitchen-food-network/the-burger-show

And yes, you have to sign in to your cable TV provider to watch.
-I guess I'll go back to my old way of playing them on my computer, recording them, and then manually removing the ads.

[Cats4U]

Maybe I should have had some of that eggnog that was offered to me. I'm really screwing up. I never checked the video files that I got from SF. They were all just ads like you said in your original post. Sorry about that.
Just to be on the safe side I downloaded and checked the burger show you listed using yt-dlp. It was the actual show. Yt-dlp isn't just for Youtube. It handles 1000s of video sites. Like I said, I'll let jpp72 give you more details on how to do it.

[mike327]

If you were able to dl the actual show what was the command line you used? That's all I need. I tried yt-dlp https://watch.foodnetwork.com/video/...he-burger-show. Got an error message. I checked yt-dlp -help and there are so many options, I don't know where to begin.

[mike327]

I figured out the command line for yt-dlp. It works! I wish I would of found yt-dlp sooner. Thank you Cats4U and everyone for you input.

[jpp72]

Sorry i only saw this today but i am glad you were able to get your link.

For others, you need to login first and use --cookies-from-browser chrome for it to use the cookies from after you login in chrome.

The full command i used is:

yt-dlp.exe -U -i --compat-options filename-sanitization --write-sub --add-metadata --extractor-retries 10 -o "%%(series)s.%%(season_number)sx%%(episode_number)02d.%%(title)s.%%(height)sp WEB-DL.%%(ext)s" --concurrent-fragments 10 --sub-format "ass/srt/best" --sub-langs "en.*,fr.*,ro.*,rum.*" --no-geo-bypass --cookies-from-browser chrome https://watch.foodnetwork.com/video/the-kitchen-food-network/the-burger-show

The result was these 2 files:

The Kitchen.2x11.The Burger Show.1080p WEB-DL.en.mp4
The Kitchen.2x11.The Burger Show.1080p WEB-DL.mp4

Then i used ffmpeg to convert the dash subtitles to .srt and then mkvmerge to mux the subs and video into an mkv

[Cats4U]

Thanks, Jpp72
I didn't want to steal your thunder by giving out the coding for the site that you made up without your permission. The more I play with the yt-dlp scripts you gave me, the more I'm learning. I really appreciate it. Thanks, again.

[mike327]

WOW! I'll have to look up what all those options mean. I used a simpler command line that seemed to work for me: yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome https://watch.foodnetwork.com/video/...he-burger-show
I got one mp4 file. yt-dlp did the merge of the audio and video files. I had to downloaded ffmpeg. According to instructins I found, I put the folder in c:\windows (i think you can put it anywhere you want). Then I had to add c:\windows\ffmpeg\bin to the User and System environmental variables. Now I don't have to use ffmpeg to covert/merge the files.

[jpp72]

Thanks, Jpp72
I didn't want to steal your thunder by giving out the coding for the site that you made up without your permission. The more I play with the yt-dlp scripts you gave me, the more I'm learning. I really appreciate it. Thanks, again.

You are very welcome! I figured out the reason why some fail when choosing a specific version. It is because i ask for the best video and best audio and merge them together but some sites have the video and audio together. I am leaving for a couple days tonight but once i am back in town, i will see if i can come up with a universal command that will work with both formats

[jpp72]

WOW! I'll have to look up what all those options mean. I used a simpler command line that seemed to work for me: yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome https://watch.foodnetwork.com/video/...he-burger-show
I got one mp4 file. yt-dlp did the merge of the audio and video files. I had to downloaded ffmpeg. According to instructins I found, I put the folder in c:\windows (i think you can put it anywhere you want). Then I had to add c:\windows\ffmpeg\bin to the User and System environmental variables. Now I don't have to use ffmpeg to covert/merge the files.

Ya of course there are plenty of options and i use the ones that suit my needs... it's actually pretty straightforward...

-U : Check if there is an update to yt-dlp
-i : Ignore Errors
--compat-options filename-sanitization: Use Windows safe characters
--write-sub : save the subs in a separate file
--add-metadata: add metadata if available (title, season, episode, description, etc..)
--extractor-retries 10: try getting the JSON/M3U8/MPD 10 times if there are errors
-o "%%(series)s.%%(season_number)sx%%(episode_number) 02d.%%(title)s.%%(height)sp WEB-DL.%%(ext)s": File naming format (The Kitchen.2x11.The Burger Show.1080p WEB-DL.mp4)
--concurrent-fragments 10: Download 10 fragments at a time (makes it download faster)
--sub-format "ass/srt/best": Download subs as ass, srt or whatever the best is if those 2 are not available
--sub-langs "en.*,fr.*,ro.*,rum.*": Download English, French and Romanian subtitles
--no-geo-bypass: Don't try to spoof my location. Use my normal internet IP (or VPN)
--cookies-from-browser chrome: Login to the site using the cookies from chrome