no video formats found bbc iplayer

[steve2162]

Checklist

• [ x ] I'm reporting a broken site support issue
• I've verified that I'm running youtube-dl version 2020.07.28
• I've checked that all provided URLs are alive and playable in a browser
• I've checked that all URLs and arguments with special characters are properly quoted or escaped
• I've searched the bugtracker for similar bug reports including closed ones
• I've read bugs section in FAQ

Verbose log

PASTE VERBOSE LOG HERE

/home/steve# youtube-dl --verbose https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000m2hj/the-notebook
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'--verbose', u'https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000m2hj/the-notebook']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2020.07.28
[debug] Python version 2.7.17 (CPython) - Linux-4.15.0-108-generic-x86_64-with-Ubuntu-18.04-bionic
[debug] exe versions: avconv 3.4.6, avprobe 3.4.6, ffmpeg 3.4.6, ffprobe 3.4.6, phantomjs 1000, rtmpdump 2.4
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[bbc.co.uk] m000m2hj: Downloading video page
[bbc.co.uk] m000m2hj: Downloading playlist JSON
[bbc.co.uk] m000m2hg: Downloading media selection XML
ERROR: No video formats found; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; type youtube-dl -U to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 797, in extract_info
ie_result = ie.extract(url)
File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 530, in extract
ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/bbc.py", line 592, in _real_extract
self._sort_formats(formats)
File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 1350, in _sort_formats
raise ExtractorError('No video formats found')
ExtractorError: No video formats found; please report this issue on https://yt-dl.org/bug . Make sure you are using the latest version; type youtube-dl -U to update. Be sure to call youtube-dl with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.

Description

WRITE DESCRIPTION HERE
Looks like downloading from iplayer's broke. I've tried youtube-dl -U , also uninstalling/re-installing youtube-dl. Same result. The version of Ubuntu it's running on is Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS

[FPVogel]

It's most likely because you need to have authentication to access (at least) this particular requested item, meaning that you cannot watch it (neither download it) without signing in to bbc.

[splace]

unfortunately same for me (why i'm here) but this is with me signed in and i can watch it in a browser.

youtube-dl --verbose https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000m2k7/gravity [debug] System config: [] [debug] User config: [] [debug] Custom config: [] [debug] Command-line args: ['--verbose', 'https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000m2k7/gravity'] [debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8 [debug] youtube-dl version 2020.07.28 [debug] Python version 3.7.7 (CPython) - Linux-5.6.19-158.current-x86_64-with-glibc2.2.5 [debug] exe versions: ffmpeg 4.3.1, ffprobe 4.3.1, rtmpdump 2.4 [debug] Proxy map: {'no': 'localhost,127.0.0.0/8,::1'} [bbc.co.uk] m000m2k7: Downloading video page [bbc.co.uk] m000m2k7: Downloading playlist JSON [bbc.co.uk] m000m2k6: Downloading media selection XML ERROR: No video formats found; 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. Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python3.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 797, in extract_info ie_result = ie.extract(url) File "/usr/lib/python3.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 530, in extract ie_result = self._real_extract(url) File "/usr/lib/python3.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/bbc.py", line 592, in _real_extract self._sort_formats(formats) File "/usr/lib/python3.7/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 1350, in _sort_formats raise ExtractorError('No video formats found') youtube_dl.utils.ExtractorError: No video formats found; 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.

[splace]

BTW other stuff is fine.

but, i think, BBC uses a range of different techniques/providers/formats so it might be one particular setup thats the issue.

[NamelessFTW]

Hi,
I've also encountered this problem and I found the issue with the code. I think the problematic section of code is

youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/bbc.py

Lines 354 to 356 in 45f6362

	try:
	return self._download_media_selector_url(
	mediaselector_url % programme_id, programme_id)

self._MEDIASELECTOR_URLS contains multiple URLs, but this section of code only ever uses the first of the URLs, and never the second.
I've fixed it by changing the code to

            try:
                formats, subtitles = self._download_media_selector_url(
                    mediaselector_url % programme_id, programme_id)
                if len(formats) != 0:
                    return (formats, subtitles)
                return (formats, subtitles)

I can confirm that this has fixed the issue for both links in this issue ("Gravity", and "The Notebook").
In order to apply the fix, you need to find where the bbc.py file is located, find line 354, and replace the code with what I have above.

[ProgrammerAKL]

Please check the URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sbjzv to see which fix will resolve the 'No video formats found' problem there.

[NamelessFTW]

Please check the URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sbjzv to see which fix will resolve the 'No video formats found' problem there.

@ProgrammerAKL The fix that I outlined above also fixes the issue for that URL.

[splace]

@ProgrammerAKL

tried but not fixed here.

[dirkf]

Fixed by #26821.

Thanks also to @ProgrammerAKL who diagnosed the problem separately.

My patch tries to retrieve and merge formats and subtitles from any parseable playlist from the mediaselector URL list. Comments, tests welcome.