iView unsucessful - "Download failed!"

[and then..]

Hello fellow PCLinux users.
Today I did a full update on my PCLinuxOS install and rebooted. I installed iView with the intention of capturing a few documentaries from ABC iView.
No luck though - I get a response "Download failed!" after setting the target save video destination.
A search of this forum has not yielded any solutions.
I have run the command "iview-gtk" from a terminal with the following results=>

Code: [Select]

[owner@localhost ~]$ iview-gtk
Starting rtmpdump...
Backend debug:  RTMPDump v2.3
(c) 2010 Andrej Stepanchuk, Howard Chu, The Flvstreamer Team; license: GPL
rtmpdump: unrecognized option '--swfhash'
unknown option: ?

rtmpdump: This program dumps the media content streamed over RTMP.

....... (I've trimmed some of the fat here) ...............

If you don't pass parameters for swfUrl, pageUrl, or auth these properties will not be included in the connect packet.


Backend aborted with code 1 (either it crashed, or you paused it)
Here is some of what Shark see's=>

Code: [Select]

Expires: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:59:51 GMT
Cache-Control: max-age=0, no-cache, no-store
Pragma: no-cache
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:59:51 GMT
Content-Length: 1198
Connection: close
Set-Cookie: ABCGuestID=150.101.195.93.29921326794391837; expires=Tue, 17-Jan-2012 10:29:51 GMT; path=/; domain=abc.net.au

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<config>.
.<param name="api" .....value="http://tviview.abc.net.au/iview/api2/?"/>
.<param name="auth" .....value="http://tviview.abc.net.au/iview/auth/?v2"/>
.<param name="tray" .....value="xml/tray.xml"/>
.<param name="categories" ...value="xml/categories.xml"/>
.<param name="classifications" ..value="xml/classifications.xml" />
.<param name="captions" ....value="http://www.abc.net.au/iview/captions/"/>
.<param name="captions_offset" ..value="0"/>
.<param name="captions_live_offset" .value="-2"/>
.<param name="live_streaming" ..value="true" />
.<param name="server_streaming" ..value="rtmp://cp53909.edgefcs.net/ondemand" />
.<param name="server_fallback" ..value="rtmp://cp44823.edgefcs.net/ondemand" />..
.<param name="highlights" ...value="http://www.abc.net.au/iview/api/highlights.htm" />.
.<param name="home" .....value="http://www.abc.net.au/iview/xml/home.xml" />.
.<param name="geo".....value="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/geo/iview/geotest.xml" />.
.<param name="time" .....value="http://www.abc.net.au/iview/api/time.htm" />.
.<param name="feedback_url"...value="http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/Board.aspx?b=98"/>
</config>

Code: [Select]

GET /iview/auth/?v2 HTTP/1.1
Accept-Encoding: identity
Host: tviview.abc.net.au
Connection: close
User-Agent: Python-iView 0.2 (Linux 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs i686)

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/0.8.54
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:00:02 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Connection: close
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.3.3-7+squeeze3
Expires: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:00:02 GMT
Content-Length: 589

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<iview xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://www.abc.net.au/iView/Services/iViewHandshaker">
  <ip>202.58.44.25</ip>
  <isp>Hostworks</isp>
  <desc>ip range from isp</desc>
  <host>Hostworks</host>
  <server>rtmp://203.18.195.10/ondemand</server>
  <bwtest>rtmp://203.18.195.10/live</bwtest>
  <token>2B425F5ADA566BB19368</token>
  <text><![CDATA[Hostworks computers stream iview without metering.]]></text>
  <free>yes</free> 
</iview>
<!-- 0.01152491569519 -->
At the risk of repeating myself, I'm using-
[owner@localhost ~]$ uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Jun 4 04:13:21 CDT 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Can anybody clue me to what is going wrong here? 
I've see iView running on another flavor of Linux OK so this is why I wanted it for my PCLOS installation. 
(Please forgive my misuse of the <code> windows)

Thanks in advance.
Cages.

[ternor]

Just tried it also.  Download failed.

[and then..]

Thanks Sproggy,  I'll try iView again tomorrow.
Though earlier tonight a friends alternate Linux flavor was running iView successfully when mine failed to download the .flv content
.Cages

PS.  I also tried also adding the package "Bazaar"    Still no joy!

[ternor]

I just tried iView again twice, the second time by entering the menu command line in a terminal where I got this output:

$ iview-gtk %U
Starting rtmpdump...
Backend debug:  RTMPDump v2.3
(c) 2010 Andrej Stepanchuk, Howard Chu, The Flvstreamer Team; license: GPL
rtmpdump: unrecognized option '--swfhash'
unknown option: ?

rtmpdump: This program dumps the media content streamed over RTMP.

--help|-h               Prints this help screen.
--rtmp|-r url           URL (e.g. rtmp://host[:port]/path)
--host|-n hostname      Overrides the hostname in the rtmp url
--port|-c port          Overrides the port in the rtmp url
--socks|-S host:port    Use the specified SOCKS proxy
--protocol|-l num       Overrides the protocol in the rtmp url (0 - RTMP, 2 - RTMPE)
--playpath|-y path      Overrides the playpath parsed from rtmp url
--playlist|-Y           Set playlist before playing
--swfUrl|-s url         URL to player swf file
--tcUrl|-t url          URL to played stream (default: "rtmp://host[:port]/app")
--pageUrl|-p url        Web URL of played programme
--app|-a app            Name of target app on server
--auth|-u string        Authentication string to be appended to the connect string
--conn|-C type:data     Arbitrary AMF data to be appended to the connect string
                        B:boolean(0|1), S:string, N:number, O:object-flag(0|1),
                        Z:(null), NB:name:boolean, NS:name:string, NN:name:number
--flashVer|-f string    Flash version string (default: "LNX 10,0,32,18")
--live|-v               Save a live stream, no --resume (seeking) of live streams possible
--subscribe|-d string   Stream name to subscribe to (otherwise defaults to playpath if live is specifed)
--flv|-o string         FLV output file name, if the file name is - print stream to stdout
--resume|-e             Resume a partial RTMP download
--timeout|-m num        Timeout connection num seconds (default: 30)
--start|-A num          Start at num seconds into stream (not valid when using --live)
--stop|-B num           Stop at num seconds into stream
--token|-T key          Key for SecureToken response
--hashes|-#             Display progress with hashes, not with the byte counter
--buffer|-b             Buffer time in milliseconds (default: 36000000)
--skip|-k num           Skip num keyframes when looking for last keyframe to resume from. Useful if resume fails (default: 0)

--quiet|-q              Suppresses all command output.
--verbose|-V            Verbose command output.
--debug|-z              Debug level command output.
If you don't pass parameters for swfUrl, pageUrl, or auth these properties will not be included in the connect packet.


Backend aborted with code 1 (either it crashed, or you paused it)

[and then..]

I just tried iView again twice, the second time by entering the menu command line in a terminal where I got this output:

Thanks ternor,  same results that I had.  

I think something is out of date in the package.

Backend debug:  RTMPDump v2.3
rtmpdump: unrecognized option '--swfhash'

The latest version of RTMPDump is v2.4
20 July 2011
- add NetStream.Authenticate.UsherToken for Justin.tv

11 July 2011, v2.4
- add RTMPE type 9 handshake support
see> http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu/

Edit> iView works in Zorin OS which has rtmpdump ver 2.3.2 installed.

[ternor]

After much procrastination I tracked the culprit: /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/iview/fetch.py

I commented out two lines which prevented downloading:

Code: [Select]

# '--swfhash',  config.swf_hash,
# '--swfsize',  config.swf_size,
The # makes the line a comment.

I was then able to start downloading a file.  I did not complete the download because there is nothing I want to download at present but there is a partial downloaded file.  I did have a problem when I stopped the download.  The dialogue would not respond and I had to kill the process.

[and then..]

After much procrastination I tracked the culprit: /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/iview/fetch.py

I commented out two lines which prevented downloading:

Code: [Select]

# '--swfhash',  config.swf_hash,
# '--swfsize',  config.swf_size,
The # makes the line a comment.

I was then able to start downloading a file.  I did not complete the download because there is nothing I want to download at present but there is a partial downloaded file.  I did have a problem when I stopped the download.  The dialogue would not respond and I had to kill the process.

ternor,  
Thanks for taking a look at this issue.  The fetch.py patch is a good start - I confirm the downloads now commence, however they stall @ 50 MBytes - if resume selected the report is "Download Failed"  (The first 50 MB is viewable)
Cages

Edit>>   After punching the Resume button numerous times I was able to coax the full download (132MB) - the progress indicator jumps all over the shop - iView is a bit raw and messy but it got the job done. 

[ternor]

We will have to find the project website.  The lines in fetch.py may refer to these lines in config.py:

Code: [Select]

# Used for "SWF verification", a stream obfuscation technique
swf_hash    = '96cc76f1d5385fb5cda6e2ce5c73323a399043d0bb6c687edd807e5c73c42b37'
swf_size    = '2122'

[djohnston]

I believe Jeremy Visser is the developer. If you click on that embedded URI, his page will list several of the problems with the iView website. His contact page is here.

[ternor]

Thank you.

[and then..]

https://jeremy.visser.name/2010/04/update-to-python-iview-new-swf-verification-keys/

Python-iView has received another update today, as a result of the ABC changing their SWF verification keys without notice.

The usual to get the update:

    $ bzr pull

Cages

EDIT>
How do I get bzr to work?  or should I?

It's in the repo>

$ bzr --help
Bazaar 2.4.2 -- a free distributed version-control tool
http://bazaar.canonical.com/

[ternor]

Thanks.  I would appreciate some help.  I have installed bzr plus the gui applications (qbzr and bzr-explorer).  Neither of the gui applications in the applications menu.

I tried this as root:

Code: [Select]

# bzr pull
bzr: ERROR: Not a branch: "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/iview/".
# bzr-explorer
bash: bzr-explorer: command not found
# qbzr
bash: qbzr: command not found
# qadd
bash: qadd: command not found
# bzr pull https://jeremy.visser.name/bzr/python-iview/ python-iview
bzr: ERROR: extra argument to command pull: python-iview
# bzr pull https://jeremy.visser.name/bzr/python-iview/
bzr: ERROR: Not a branch: "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/iview/".
# bzr push https://jeremy.visser.name/bzr/python-iview/
bzr: ERROR: Not a branch: "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/iview/".
iView produces the same error messages as previously mentioned.

[gezza]

Hi Guy's.
I have the same problem with IView.
I have tried following the information given, but to no avail.
IView  still fails to download, even if run from a root terminal.
your thoughts, as always, gratefully received.
Gezza

[ternor]

My thought is to get in touch with the developer.  I got part way through a message and will finish it asap.

[ternor]

Sorry for the delay.  I finally got on to Jeremy Visser yesterday and these are his comments.

> Backend debug:  RTMPDump v2.3
> (c) 2010 Andrej Stepanchuk, Howard Chu, The Flvstreamer Team; license: GPL
> rtmpdump: unrecognized option '--swfhash'
> unknown option: ?

I am not 100% sure why that message is appearing (it works for me on rtmpdump v2.2e, v2.3, and v2.4) but I would try obtaining rtmpdump from a different source (I would try compiling the git version from {belongs in advanced users if anywhere}.

I predominantly use <snip>.

>     I ran iView after commenting out the 'swfhash' option in fetch.py on Feb 07 2012 and got this error:
>  > rtmpdump: unrecognized option '--swfsize'

Please do not remove these options. This is why… {emphasis added}

> "The fetch.py patch is a good start - I confirm the downloads now commence, however they stall @ 50 MBytes - if resume selected the report is "Download Failed"  (The first 50 MB is viewable)

…happens.

The ABC do not let you download a full file unless your SWF hashes are working. I would focus on fixing rtmpdump so that --swfhash and --swfsize work. If you run "rtmpdump --help" does it talk about those (or similar) options? {emphasis added}

> I could not work out how and why to use bzr.

I have instructions on my website at https://jeremy.visser.name/python-iview/ {no access, seeking clarification}

All you need to do is run:

$ bzr branch https://jeremy.visser.name/bzr/python-iview/

If that does not work (depending on your distro), you may need:

$ bzr branch https+urllib://jeremy.visser.name/bzr/python-iview/ {seeking clarification}

All comments welcome.