cbc video downloader

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, the Beijing 2022 Olympics, and the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Prerequisites

• 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.

How to use this

Preparation

You can install FFmpeg and yt-dlp using the script provided or do it yourself.

Automatic

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.

Manual

• 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.

Downloading a single video

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.

Downloading multiple videos

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.

Considerations

• 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.

Credits

• The makers of yt-dlp
• The makers of FFmpeg
• The CBC for their excellent coverage of sporting events