Error downloading video from la7.it

[giusmos]

Hi, I get the following error when I try to download a video from www.la7.it:

sudo youtube-dl --verbose --no-playlist https://www.la7.it/piazzapulita/rivedila7/piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['--verbose', '--no-playlist', 'https://www.la7.it/piazzapulita/rivedila7/piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out utf-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2021.12.17
[debug] Python version 3.10.6 (CPython) - Linux-5.19.0-76051900-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.35
[debug] exe versions: none
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[la7.it] piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682: Downloading webpage
ERROR: piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682: Failed to parse JSON  (caused by JSONDecodeError('Expecting value: line 4 column 8 (char 422)')); 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/extractor/common.py", line 906, in _parse_json
    return json.loads(json_string)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.10/json/__init__.py", line 346, in loads
    return _default_decoder.decode(s)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.10/json/decoder.py", line 337, in decode
    obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
  File "/usr/lib/python3.10/json/decoder.py", line 355, in raw_decode
    raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 4 column 8 (char 422)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 906, in _parse_json
    return json.loads(json_string)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.10/json/__init__.py", line 346, in loads
    return _default_decoder.decode(s)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.10/json/decoder.py", line 337, in decode
    obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
  File "/usr/lib/python3.10/json/decoder.py", line 355, in raw_decode
    raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 4 column 8 (char 422)

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 815, in wrapper
    return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 836, in __extract_info
    ie_result = ie.extract(url)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 534, in extract
    ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/la7.py", line 51, in _real_extract
    player_data = self._parse_json(
  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 910, in _parse_json
    raise ExtractorError(errmsg, cause=ve)
youtube_dl.utils.ExtractorError: piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682: Failed to parse JSON  (caused by JSONDecodeError('Expecting value: line 4 column 8 (char 422)')); 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.

[dirkf]

I can reproduce this. The URL works with yt-dlp: we need to back-port the extractor, like this:

$ python -m youtube_dl -v -F 'https://www.la7.it/piazzapulita/rivedila7/piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682'
[debug] System config: [u'--prefer-ffmpeg']
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'-v', u'-F', u'https://www.la7.it/piazzapulita/rivedila7/piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out UTF-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2021.12.17
[debug] Git HEAD: 6ec4a2497
[debug] Python version 2.7.17 (CPython) - Linux-4.4.0-210-generic-i686-with-Ubuntu-16.04-xenial
[debug] exe versions: avconv 4.3, avprobe 4.3, ffmpeg 4.3, ffprobe 4.3
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[la7.it] piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682: Downloading webpage
[la7.it] piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682: Downloading MPD manifest
[la7.it] piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682: Downloading m3u8 information
[la7.it] /content/entry/data/0/530/0_33adfnkc_0_ddfjg19j_1: Check filesize
[la7.it] /content/entry/data/0/530/0_33adfnkc_0_vtffps07_1: Check filesize
[info] Available formats for piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682:
format code    extension  resolution note
dash-f1-a1-x3  m4a        audio only DASH audio   63k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2 (44100Hz)
dash-f2-a1-x3  m4a        audio only DASH audio  128k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2 (48000Hz)
dash-f1-v1-x3  mp4        640x360    DASH video  599k , mp4_dash container, avc1.42c01e, 25fps, video only
dash-f2-v1-x3  mp4        1280x720   DASH video 1203k , mp4_dash container, avc1.64001f, 25fps, video only
hls-663        mp4        640x360     663k , avc1.42c01e, 25.0fps, mp4a.40.2
https-663      mp4        640x360     663k , avc1.42c01e, 25.0fps, mp4a.40.2, ~882.61MiB
hls-1331       mp4        1280x720   1331k , avc1.64001f, 25.0fps, mp4a.40.2
https-1331     mp4        1280x720   1331k , avc1.64001f, 25.0fps, mp4a.40.2, ~1.72GiB (best)
$

In your configuration you could test the la7.py in the attached zip archive. Remove the existing files la7.py* in /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor, replace with the new file. You'll probably need to become admin; run youtube-dl --version at the same time.

la7.py.zip

[giusmos]

Thanks for your quick response. When I access the folder "/usr/local/bin" and run "ls -la" command I get a youtube-dl file but no youtube-dl folder (see below). I have used the find command to scan the whole system but haven't found any folder called youtube-dl or youtube_dl. I am not sure then how to replace the files.

user@user:/usr/local/bin$ ls -la
total 1804
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 16 11:01 .
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 4096 Feb 19 2022 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Oct 14 20:31 python -> /usr/bin/python3
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1837828 Dec 16 2021 youtube-dl

[dirkf]

Ah. Maybe the single executable file installation (is that what you used?) appears to have installed itself in /usr/local/bin while it's running.

When a PR appears to fix this I'll suggest how to install it for testing.

[giusmos]

Yes, I have installed it using the following commands as in the instructions:

sudo wget https://yt-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl

[dirkf]

See yt-dlp/yt-dlp#5360 (comment) for another necessary change to be rolled in.

[giusmos]

Thanks. I guess I can only wait at the moment, there is not yet a patch available, right?

[dirkf]

We know what the patch is but there isn't a patched yt-dl release.

If you install yt-dl using pip, the extractor modules will be installed somewhere on your disk. Then you can replace the extractor/la7.py module as above, after applying the 1-line change as linked. You may need to be admin to do that. Or you can wait for yt-dlp to be updated. Or in due course there will be a yt-dl PR that should be rolled into a release.

[giusmos]

I have installed it now using pip as you suggested, but also in this case I don't get the folder you mention, I only get a youtube-dl file in the folder "/usr/local/bin".

[dirkf]

If you run the yt-dl instance installed with pip as in your original post, it should give you some output that will show where the files are installed. In that case there was this line:

  File "/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 906, in _parse_json

You might instead see

  File "/usr/lib/python3.10/site-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 906, in _parse_json

or maybe ~/.local/lib/... or /usr/local/lib/..., depending on how pip was run.

[giusmos]

Thanks a lot for your support. I have replaced the la7.py file in the path you mentioned. This time I don´t get anymore the JSON error but I get the error of "no video formats found", see below:

youtube-dl --verbose --no-playlist -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" https://www.la7.it/piazzapulita/rivedila7/piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['--verbose', '--no-playlist', '-o', '%(title)s.%(ext)s', 'https://www.la7.it/piazzapulita/rivedila7/piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, out utf-8, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2021.12.17
[debug] Python version 3.10.6 (CPython) - Linux-5.19.0-76051900-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.35
[debug] exe versions: none
[debug] Proxy map: {}
[la7.it] piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682: Downloading webpage
[la7.it] piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682: Downloading MPD manifest
WARNING: Failed to download MPD manifest: HTTP Error 413: Request Entity Too Large
[la7.it] piazzapulita-puntata-del-13102022-14-10-2022-455682: Downloading m3u8 information
WARNING: Failed to download m3u8 information: HTTP Error 413: Request Entity Too Large
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/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 815, in wrapper
return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py", line 836, in __extract_info
ie_result = ie.extract(url)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 534, in extract
ie_result = self._real_extract(url)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/la7.py", line 100, in _real_extract
self._sort_formats(formats)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py", line 1374, 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.

[dirkf]

Did you also make the change from yt-dlp/yt-dlp#5360 (comment)?

The surrounding lines in the diff shown there may be slightly different but the pattern to be changed is the same.

[giusmos]

That worked! Now I could download the video from la7.it

Thanks really a lot for your help!