Bug: Current youtube-dl versions only get 720p from VEVO.COM - older versions get 1080p

[BlackHoleSpain]

I don't know when the code has been changed, since I haven't tried to download anything from VEVO.COM since October 15th 2013, but I weekly update youtube-dl and today was not working properly.

First I try to get any clip using version 2013.10.23.2

[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['http://www.vevo.com/watch/little-mix/move/GB1101300688', '--verbose']
[debug] youtube-dl version 2013.10.23.2
[debug] Python version 2.7.5 - Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[Vevo] GB1101300688: Downloading json info
[Vevo] GB1101300688: Extracting information
[download] Destination: Move-GB1101300688.mp4
[download] 100% of 54.86MiB in 00:3940MiB/s ETA 00:001

Then I update to version 2013.10.29 and the problem remains:

[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['http://www.vevo.com/watch/little-mix/move/GB1101300688', '--verbose']
[debug] youtube-dl version 2013.10.29
[debug] Python version 2.7.5 - Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[Vevo] GB1101300688: Downloading json info
[Vevo] GB1101300688: Extracting information
[download] Destination: Move-GB1101300688.mp4
[download] 100% of 54.86MiB in 00:4037MiB/s ETA 00:009

But if I try with an older version 2013.09.24.2 which I kept at another folder, it works fine:

[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['http://www.vevo.com/watch/little-mix/move/GB1101300688', '--verbose']
[debug] youtube-dl version 2013.09.24.2
[debug] Python version 2.7.5 - Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[Vevo] GB1101300688: Downloading json info
[Vevo] GB1101300688: Downloading videos urls
[Vevo] GB1101300688: Extracting information
[download] Destination: Move-GB1101300688.mp4
[download] 100% of 142.84MiB in 02:35.42KiB/s ETA 00:00

This old youtube-dl version downloads 1920x1080 5200 kbps, while October versions only get 1280x720 2000 kbps videos.

Then I need to test the file after downloading, since -F, --list-formats does not currently work with Vevo and we don't know what version is downloading.

[phihag]

Thanks for the report, I'm on it.

[phihag]

Again, thank you for the report. Type sudo youtube-dl -U to update to version 2013.10.30, which fixes this regression:

$ youtube-dl http://www.vevo.com/watch/little-mix/move/GB1101300688
[Vevo] GB1101300688: Downloading json info
[Vevo] GB1101300688: Downloading SMIL info
[download] Destination: Move-GB1101300688.mp4
[download] 100% of 142.84MiB in 00:10

Note that you can use --list-formats with Vevo just fine (although it's much nicer with 2013.10.30 and newer):

$ youtube-dl http://www.vevo.com/watch/little-mix/move/GB1101300688 -F
[Vevo] GB1101300688: Downloading json info
[Vevo] GB1101300688: Downloading SMIL info
[info] Available formats for GB1101300688:
format code    extension resolution  note
Low            mp4       176x144     H264@  56k, AAC@ 24k (worst)
Med            mp4       480x360     H264@ 500k, AAC@128k
High           mp4       1280x720    H264@2000k, AAC@128k
SMIL_564       mp4       512x288     x264@ 500k, quicktime@ 64k
SMIL_864       mp4       512x288     x264@ 800k, quicktime@ 64k
SMIL_1328      mp4       768x432     x264@1200k, quicktime@128k
SMIL_1728      mp4       768x432     x264@1600k, quicktime@128k
SMIL_2528      mp4       1280x720    x264@2400k, quicktime@128k
SMIL_3328      mp4       1280x720    x264@3200k, quicktime@128k
SMIL_4392      mp4       1920x1080   x264@4200k, quicktime@192k
SMIL_5392      mp4       1920x1080   x264@5200k, quicktime@192k (best)