VDH download failed on this page

[radar54]

Your question

Hi,
Why does the download fail on this page (there are 3 videos on this page, none of which will download):
https://marketenergylive.com/bundle

Thanks,
Ben

Addon & CoApp version and details

version: 9.5.0.0
target: mozilla
channel: beta
lang: en-US
coapp: {"found":true,"path":"C:\Program Files\DownloadHelper CoApp\vdhcoapp.exe","version":"2.0.19","new_version":false}
license: {"accepted":true,"email":"","key":"cdb4290456ff7bdb"}
platform: x86-64 win
UA: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:142.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/142.0
{
"valid_license_message_has_been_displayed": true,
"privacy_accept": true,
"last_download_directory": {
"__serializer_tag": "option_some",
"__serializer_value": {
"__serializer_tag": "primitive",
"__serializer_value": "C:\Users\maltzi\Documents\0-Fontanills\__Options - Tom Gentile +++++++++\Hubb AI and Toms Trading Room ++++"
}
},
"concurrent_downloads_max": 12,
"show_thumbnail_in_notification": false,
"theme": "light",
"view_options": {
"all_tabs": false,
"low_quality": false,
"sort_by_status": true,
"sort_reverse": false,
"show_button_clean": true,
"show_button_clean_all": false,
"show_button_convert_local": false,
"hide_downloaded": false
},
"flush_youtube": 42,
"open_count_store": 8,
"successfull_dl": 63,
"never_show_successfull_dl_message": true,
"download_history": {
"__serializer_tag": "map",
"__serializer_value": []
}
}

[GrampaWildWilly]

I do not work for VDH. I am just another user. Also, please read #2214.

I also was unable to get VDH to download these videos. For some reason, VDH recognizes only 2 of the videos. I think if you try to play each one, you might get VDH to detect the third one. But it seems to be a pointless exercise.

I looked at what Firefox was showing in the Network Monitor of the Developer Tools. There were 4 HLS manifests shown. Two seemed to be master manifests pointing to the other 2, which were stream manifests. I ran all 4 through ffprobe & got errors. There is reference in each ffprobe report to a key file. I believe these streams are encrypted & the key file is not being read properly. This looks to me like a case of stealth DRM. They are using special techniques to ensure that the content can't be downloaded. It looks like your only recourse is a screen recorder. I did launch playback of one of the videos & it did play fine in Firefox. I had both video & audio for the few seconds I let it play. So it looks like a screen recorder would work OK with this content. But downloading seems out of the question. Why can you play the content but not download it? Because the secret formula for interpreting the key file -- actually key files, plural, there were bunches of them in the Network Monitor after I had played the bit I did play -- is built into the player on the web page. It seems to be very specifically targeted at preventing downloading.

This content appears to be hosted on the cloud service Amazon Web Services. I'm sure they have all manner of tricks up their sleeve to block downloading. It's probably the same technique they use for protecting Amazon Prime videos.

[GrampaWildWilly]

P.S. You're running the beta. At the moment, the beta is NOT newer than the general availability version. This has not historically been true but it is true at the moment. Everybody should be running the general availability version from the Mozilla add-ons repository. But before you install that, or click the stupid Remove button there, read this: #1641. Surely at some future date the beta will be the one everybody should be running. But that is not the case today.

[radar54]

Thanks, again, Grampa

[radar54]

well, I misunderstood the post you pointed me to and immediately uninstalled VDH. Now when I try entering my VDH license key, it says license blocked. what do I do to fix this?

[GrampaWildWilly]

You are supposed to get an E-mail with a link in it that you're supposed to click. If you're not getting that E-mail, you need to open a separate discussion in the License & Purchase Requests area of this forum. I can't help you with this because I do not work for VDH. @jcfrog Jérôme does work for VDH & he handles that sort of issue.

[jcfrog]

well, I misunderstood the post you pointed me to and immediately uninstalled VDH. Now when I try entering my VDH license key, it says license blocked. what do I do to fix this?

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