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, the Beijing 2022 Olympics, and the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Microsoft Windows
PowerShell 7 or higher; install from the Microsoft Store, WinGet (winget install Microsoft.PowerShell), or PowerShell on GitHub.
The Windows binary of FFmpeg.
The Windows binary of yt-dlp.
You can install FFmpeg and yt-dlp using the script provided or do it yourself.
Use Install-ytdlp-Prerequisites.ps1:
Clone this repo into a local directory of your choice.
Open pwsh.exe and navigate to the repo directory.
Run ./Install-ytdlp-Prerequisites.ps1. The script will retrieve FFmpeg and yt-dlp binaries for you and place them in the working directory.
Download FFmpeg and yt-dlp (see Prerequisites for links).
Extract these three FFmpeg binaries into the same directory as the repo:
ffmpeg.exe
ffplay.exe
ffprobe.exe
Copy yt-dlp.exe into the same directory as the repo.
Use Invoke-ytdlp-CBC-Single.ps1:
Open pwsh.exe and navigate to the repo directory.
Run ./Invoke-ytdlp-CBC-Single.ps1. The script will prompt for a link. Provide it and continue.
Example: video link https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1234567891011.
Use Invoke-ytdlp-CBC.ps1:
Populate URLList.txt with a list of CBC Video links you want to retrieve, one per line.
Example: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1234567891011
Open pwsh.exe and navigate to the repo directory.
Run ./Invoke-ytdlp-CBC.ps1 and watch it go.
PowerShell 7 or higher is required to support parallel threads in the ForEach-Object loop.
These scripts are only designed to work when their working directory contains the scripts, text file, and binaries.
Some CBC video content - typically longer recordings - are presented only as HLS in m3u8 format. Links in this format may fail to download.
The makers of yt-dlp
The makers of FFmpeg
The CBC for their excellent coverage of sporting events
