[ARD:mediathek] ERROR: Video: Failed to parse JSON

[devurandom]

• I've verified and I assure that I'm running youtube-dl 2016.10.21.1

Before submitting an issue make sure you have:

• At least skimmed through README and most notably FAQ and BUGS sections
• Searched the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones

What is the purpose of your issue?

• Bug report (encountered problems with youtube-dl)

youtube-dl --verbose http://www.ardmediathek.de/tv/Reportage-Dokumentation/Inside-Nordkorea/Das-Erste/Video                                                                                                                                           [43/45]
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['--verbose', 'http://www.ardmediathek.de/tv/Reportage-Dokumentation/Inside-Nordkorea/Das-Erste/Video']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2016.10.21.1
[debug] Python version 3.5.2 - Linux-4.8.4-1-ARCH-x86_64-with-arch-Arch-Linux
[debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 3.1.4, ffprobe 3.1.4, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[ARD:mediathek] Video: Downloading webpage
[ARD:mediathek] Video: Downloading media JSON
ERROR: Video: Failed to parse JSON  (caused by JSONDecodeError('Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)',)); please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; see  https://yt-dl.org/update  on how to update. Be sure to cal
l youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 558, in _parse_json
    return json.loads(json_string)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/json/__init__.py", line 319, in loads
    return _default_decoder.decode(s)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/json/decoder.py", line 339, in decode
    obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/json/decoder.py", line 357, in raw_decode
    raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 558, in _parse_json
    return json.loads(json_string)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/json/__init__.py", line 319, in loads
    return _default_decoder.decode(s)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/json/decoder.py", line 339, in decode
    obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/json/decoder.py", line 357, in raw_decode
    raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 694, in extract_info
    ie_result = ie.extract(url)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 356, in extract
    return self._real_extract(url)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/ard.py", line 228, in _real_extract
    'http://www.ardmediathek.de/play/media/%s' % video_id, webpage, video_id)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/ard.py", line 81, in _extract_media_info
    media_info_url, video_id, 'Downloading media JSON')
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 552, in _download_json
    json_string, video_id, transform_source=transform_source, fatal=fatal)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 562, in _parse_json
    raise ExtractorError(errmsg, cause=ve)
youtube_dl.utils.ExtractorError: Video: Failed to parse JSON  (caused by JSONDecodeError('Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)',)); please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; see  https://yt-dl.org/update  on how
 to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.

[devurandom]

The URL was wrong. It should have been http://www.ardmediathek.de/tv/Reportage-Dokumentation/Inside-Nordkorea/Das-Erste/Video?bcastId=799280&documentId=38416322

Opening the URL mentioned above in a webbrowser redirects to http://www.ardmediathek.de/-/stoerung. Maybe this could be detected by the handler?

[hquadrat]

I can confirm this issue, also appears with correct urls.

e.g. http://www.ardmediathek.de/tv/Der-Montags-Check/Der-Geld-Check-2-Wo-Kommunen-hinlange/Das-Erste/Video?bcastId=22834010&documentId=38514196

[devurandom]

@hquadrat I cannot reproduce this problem here. Maybe you forgot to quote the URL?

[hquadrat]

@devurandom /me is looking ashamed to the ground. Err, yes, forgot. Sorry for that.