dbensmith / cbc-video-downloader

Download MP4 videos from CBC by parsing CBC video URLs.

cbc-video-downloader

Parses a list of given CBC video URLs and downloads the video files as MP4. Downloads run in parallel but are throttled to three videos at a time to respect CBC's bandwidth.

A separate script takes a single CBC media ID as input and downloads a single file.

Tested to work on (most) video content from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the Beijing 2022 Olympics.

Prerequisites

• PowerShell 7: install from the Microsoft Store or PowerShell on GitHub
• A copy of the Windows binary of FFmpeg
• A copy of the Windows binary of youtube-dl

How to use this

Preparation

• Clone this repo into a local folder of your choice.
• Extract these three FFmpeg binaries into the same folder as the repo:
  • ffmpeg.exe
  • ffplay.exe
  • ffprobe.exe
• Copy youtube-dl.exe into the same folder as the repo.

Using Invoke-YouTubeDownloader-CBC.ps1

• Populate VideoLinks.txt with a list of CBC Video links you want to retrieve, one per line.
  • Example: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1234567891011
• Open PowerShell 7 and navigate to your working directory.
• Run ./Invoke-YouTubeDownloader-CBC.ps1 and watch it go.

Using Invoke-YouTubeDownloader-CBC-Single.ps1

• Run ./Invoke-YouTubeDownloader-CBC-Single.ps1. The script will prompt for a single CBC Media ID.
  • You can find the 13-digit Media ID from the end of the CBC player URL of the video you wish to retrieve.
  • Example: for video link https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1234567891011, the CBC Media ID is 1234567891011.

Considerations

• PowerShell 7 is required to support parallel threads in the ForEach-Object loop. If you prefer PS 5.1, replace this syntax with foreach ($_ in $CBCmediaID) instead. You will lose parallel downloads, but won't have to install PowerShell 7 (although you should anyway).
• These scripts will only function when the working directory is the folder containing the script and binaries.
• Some CBC video content - typically longer recordings - are presented only as HLS in m3u8 format. This parser/downloader cannot handle them and downloads will fail.

Credits

• The makers of youtube-dl
• The makers of FFmpeg
• The CBC for their excellent coverage of sporting events