Jaksta

Dear Sirs,

I am having problem with BBC iPlayer downloads. I am using the Windows version of Jaksta (v.7.0.0.34). and I am using an i7 quad core computer running Windows 10. I can download the programs from the BBC iPlayer. However, there are many places in each video where either the sound will drop out for 5-10 seconds whilst the video continues, or the video will freez for 5-10 seconds while the sound continues. This makes these downloads impossible to watch. I am attaching small excerpts of the affected files to demonstrate what I mean. I would be grateful if you could look into this and either tell me what I can do in order to prevent these problems from occurring, or  fix the program at your end.

Many thanks for your assistance.

Jerome Stern

Bit strange. I download regularly a couple of times a week from iplayer and don't have an issue with playback.  I download the default DASH stream.  

Please provide debug logs as per https://support.jaksta.com/a/forums/topics/6000051592 for a stream from bbc that is showing this behavior as it is not reproducible here.

Thank you for your reply. I'm sorry not to have gotten back to you earlier, but I was doing some trouble shooting of my own. I am attaching a couple of debug logs.

I have written earlier regarding no video when downloading DASH from BBC iPlayer, and you suggested viewing in VLC. I tried this, and I can certainly view the files OK, but the problem of 5 or so second video freezes or audio dropouts (which occurred on the re-encoded files) is also present on the original Jaksta downloaded files.

However, when I download the HLS variant (2300kbs, 25/sec frame rate), the file downloads perfectly, and I can view it without problems. Whilst this works for me at present in the current circumstances, I would like to get to the bottom of what is causing the problems with DASH downloads.

There is another problem, though. HLS downloads will often "complete" prior to downloading of the full file. I think that this may have something to do with network overload, as it appears to be related to the time of day (midnight-dawn appears to be the best). I have adjusted the Advanced HLS internet download settings, increasing the Max segment attempts to the maximum of 10, and the Segment timeout to 30, but this has not done the trick. Can either of these settings be disabled (by entering 0, for example), and would this help. Alternatively, is it possible to add a resume function under such circumstances rather than just "completing" the download?

By the way, I will also be installing Jaksta on my new MAC soon - am I likely to have the same problems with the Mac version?

Many thanks for your assistance with these problems.

Jerome Stern

 

 Thank you for your reply. I'm sorry not to have gotten back to you earlier, but I was doing some trouble shooting of my own. I am attaching a couple of debug logs.

I have written earlier regarding no video when downloading DASH from BBC iPlayer, and you suggested viewing in VLC. I tried this, and I can certainly view the files OK, but the problem of 5 or so second video freezes or audio dropouts (which occurred on the re-encoded files) is also present on the original Jaksta downloaded files.

However, when I download the HLS variant (2300kbs, 25/sec frame rate), the file downloads perfectly, and I can view it without problems. Whilst this works for me at present in the current circumstances, I would like to get to the bottom of what is causing the problems with DASH downloads.

There is another problem, though. HLS downloads will often "complete" prior to downloading of the full file. I think that this may have something to do with network overload, as it appears to be related to the time of day (midnight-dawn appears to be the best). I have adjusted the Advanced HLS internet download settings, increasing the Max segment attempts to the maximum of 10, and the Segment timeout to 30, but this has not done the trick. Can either of these settings be disabled (by entering 0, for example), and would this help. Alternatively, is it possible to add a resume function under such circumstances rather than just "completing" the download?

By the way, I will also be installing Jaksta on my new MAC soon - am I likely to have the same problems with the Mac version?

Many thanks for your assistance with these problems.

Jerome Stern

I'm splitting these as they are different - hope it makes it easier to understand.

--- Dash Issue --

Your log file for the DASH stream shows segments failing to download as the network is timing out.   

2017-10-24 16:52:32,076 [5] INFO c3 [(null)] - ExtractionEngineDashDownloader: stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash_https-audio_eng=128000: Downloading segment 4

2017-10-24 16:52:32,076 [5] INFO c3 [(null)] - AbstractDownloader: Downloading all: https://vod-dash-uk-live.akamaized.net/usp/auth/vod/piff_abr_full_hd/275e8c-b098pgd6/vf_b098pgd6_fde33998-db8a-43e2-a1e0-deed7585219b.ism.hlsv2.ism/dash/vf_b098pgd6_fde33998-db8a-43e2-a1e0-deed7585219b.ism.hlsv2-audio_eng=128000-3.m4s

2017-10-24 16:53:02,092 [5] INFO c3 [(null)] - AbstractDownloader: Download failed: The operation has timed out

2017-10-24 16:53:02,092 [5] INFO c3 [(null)] - ExtractionEngineDashDownloader: stream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_akamai_uk_dash_https-audio_eng=128000: Segment 4 download failed.

This type of Dash protocol downloads HTTP segments concurrently.  The number of segments downloaded concurrently is controlled by the setting Settings > Internet Downloads > Advanced > HTTP > Max number of segments.

Drop this down from the default of 5 to see if you can get improved segment downloads. 

The http timeout is not exposed via the UI unfortunately.   You can change it by editing JMR's config file however.

Edit C:\Users\<your user>\AppData\Local\Jaksta_Technologies_Pty_L\jmrp.exe_StrongName_<randomchars>\<your version>

Add under <Jaksta.Globals.Settings>

<setting name="HttpTimeout" serializeAs="String">

                <value>60000</value>

</setting>

The value is in milliseconds, so the above is a timeout of 1 minute.

Ive put in a feature request for this Dash downloader to exposes settings similar to those exposed for the HLS downloader.

--- HLS Issue --

No logs provided to show a HLS stream terminating early.

Given you are having trouble downloading 5 segments at the same time in the Dash protocol due to timeouts, you are probably having issues as well with HLS.  

Adjust Settings > Internet Downloads > Advanced > HLS > Max number of segments.

Or you could also try changing to the ffmpeg downloader on that same screen.

HTH 

 Thank you for the detailed explanation. I will try dropping the Maximum number of segments on both the DASH and HLS options to see whether that helps.

With regard to the timeout settings, I understand what you say about altering the Jaksta config file. With regard to the DASH settings, what is the default, and how does 1 minute relate to that - just to give me an idea of how broadly I need to make the adjustments.

With regard to the HLS timeout settings, the default is 5. I have pushed this up to 30, and I am still getting premature completion of downloads from time to time.

Does a value of zero for either the DASH settings (via the config file) or through the Advanced Internet Downloads for the HLS settings disable the timeout altogether?

Many thanks for clarifying these points for me.

Jerome Stern