Replay Media Catcher 4.0 - downloads stop premarurely

[Ken M]

Does anyone know why my downloads stop prematurely and then convert automatically.
How can I stop the automatic conversion and what is the cause of the download stopping and stating complete before it is actually complete? Thanks

[David Stewart]

Sorry not to have an answer to this one but just to say I've been having the same problem although it doesn't always happen. I was capturing a TV programme today (second episode of a series) and RMC4 just stopped half way through, exactly as you describe, and went straight to converting. Funny thing is that episode 1 was captured and converted without a hitch. I tried episode 2 a couple more times and noticed that the problem seemed to occur at the same spot on each occasion. There must be something in the stream which is deceiving RMC into believing that the programme has ended but I couldn't see anything which could have caused it (no commercial breaks or anyting). I'd love to hear anyone's ideas on this, too.

[stream-recorder.com]

Try to post the URL here or submit a support ticket.

[myersph]

Might it help to tick the RTMP option box for "Automatically resume when a secure RTMP connection is dropped" and at first say "do not convert" then convert later. This is my normal setting and I do see jumps/hesitations/restarts during long programmes.

[Jeff Lenney]

Sorry not to have an answer to this one but just to say I've been having the same problem although it doesn't always happen. I was capturing a TV programme today (second episode of a series) and RMC4 just stopped half way through, exactly as you describe, and went straight to converting. Funny thing is that episode 1 was captured and converted without a hitch. I tried episode 2 a couple more times and noticed that the problem seemed to occur at the same spot on each occasion. There must be something in the stream which is deceiving RMC into believing that the programme has ended but I couldn't see anything which could have caused it (no commercial breaks or anyting). I'd love to hear anyone's ideas on this, too.

Specifically - Can you please provide me with the URL of the audio or video you're trying to record, so I can trouble shoot the issue?

[VCN]

I'm having the same problem with RMC 4.1.1 - I've checked all of the settings and have set it at -1 (for unlimited DL time) but it still only captures a small fraction.

[VCN]

Might it help to tick the RTMP option box for "Automatically resume when a secure RTMP connection is dropped" and at first say "do not convert" then convert later. This is my normal setting and I do see jumps/hesitations/restarts during long programmes.

.... I've tried this and it didn't work. I also tried to change the settings to extend downloading time but it didn't work. Leaving the setting at -1 (unlimited time) didn't work either. Not sure where to go from here.

[canadianemigre]

I'm having a similar problem....I just bought this, I am downloading from cbc.ca/video....long files, like 2 or 3 h, and partway through downloading (like it shows an hour or so left) it comes up "complete" and when I go to watch there is only like half of the file......how do I get it to finish and not stop part way through?

[Shellie Heggenberger]

Hi,
During this download, have you navigated away from the page you are capturing from? If it is an RTMP stream, you may need to leave your browser open until the file downloads completely. Most files are downloaded. Replay Media Catcher locates the web address of the media file, reconnects to the host server, and makes a copy of the file on your PC. Typically, this download process is much faster than actually playing the file. Replay Media Catcher also can make multiple simultaneous connections to further speed up the capture process. Once the download process starts, you can close the video or audio player, and the file will continue to be captured.
Some web sites change the URL of each media file every time it is played, in which case Replay Media Catcher uses the record method to capture a file. This method is slower, and captures the file as it is played. You will need to keep the player window open while your audio or video plays from start to finish.

[VCN]

Thanks for your feedback. The sites I've used and the methods of capturing have not changed. The previous version of RMC was fine. It wasn't until I started using the upgrade (4.0 & 4.16) when I started experiencing problems of partial capturing. I think it may be a bug in the program since it's happening with all sites that used to work before. Are techs looking into this issue?

[Jeff Lenney]

Thanks for your feedback. The sites I've used and the methods of capturing have not changed. The previous version of RMC was fine. It wasn't until I started using the upgrade (4.0 & 4.16) when I started experiencing problems of partial capturing. I think it may be a bug in the program since it's happening with all sites that used to work before. Are techs looking into this issue?

Can you please provide me with the URL of the audio or video you're trying to record, so I can trouble shoot the issue?

[smokee]

There is a bug in RMC4 where downloading large streams will overflow the 32-bit signed integer that stores the amount of bytes that have been downloaded. This means the max that can be downloaded is around 2.1gb until you overflow the int. I have submitted a support ticket on it, I can also post a URL here, but it is an ESPN3 URL so it may not be accessible by the support team. This issue should be reproducible on any stream that downloads over 2.1gb.

Example of the progress log:

...
Downloading (RTMP) - 2097134 KB (02:09:01 / 06:00:08)
Downloading (RTMP) - 2097142 KB (02:09:01 / 06:00:08)
Downloading (RTMP) - 2097147 KB (02:09:01 / 06:00:08)
Downloading (RTMP) - -2147481013 B
Downloading (RTMP) - -2147474243 B
Downloading (RTMP) - -2147466051 B
...

Note the value goes from a positive value to a negative, a sure sign the int has overflowed and the sign bit has been flipped.

[walker428]

i can confirm that I am trying to download an espn3 stream that is fairly long, and at the 2gb file size mark the .flv stops recording. I just purchased the replay media catcher 4 and thought it was that it was being recognized as trial or something. I can provide access to espn3 to one of the admins if they were to email my personal account registered to this. I would also be hopeful that someone could give me a tutorial on how to properly get these espn3 streams. they seem to keep grabbing multiple streams, and the 2gb file i got ended up being great to start but then would really speed up to like 2x speed but the audio was fine for the second hour, so if you know how to get these streams correctly email me or let me know. I guess I should probably start a separate thread for that issue.

[smokee]

My files do the same speed up without audio, or out of sync audio, but I assume it is because they lose timestamps, or the timestamps are assigned negative file locations due to this bug.

Total conjecture, but I bet if the above bug is fixed the rest will be fine.

Edited to add:
Regarding the ESPN3 streams, there are 4 that download and fail initially. I believe these are the server testing to see what quality the stream should be. Then you will DL the main stream. If you double click on the downloading stream, at the end of the URL you will see a number, like 400k, 800k, 1200k. This is the quality of the stream. As the server tests again to see how your DL speeds are, it might stream you a better or worse feed. This will cause multiple downloads of different qualities. You can cancel all but the best qual in the RTMP download mode, or download all the client serves you and keep the feed you want.

This would work awesome if it weren't for the 2gb bug I describe above. The workaround is to use "recording mode" where you record the live stream instead of requesting a huge buffer to DL the thing as fast as possible. I think I capped a whole event with it, but it looks like the event is spread across 3 separate files with 3 separate resolutions, so I am going to have to splice them together in an editor and the result will be a single file with vastly changing quality in it. The end result may not be something I keep, will report back after I find the time to remux out of .flv and sort out what I got.

[sportsFanatic]

I'm seeing the same exact problem myself. any chance we can get a patch anytime soon? many thanks!


There is a bug in RMC4 where downloading large streams will overflow the 32-bit signed integer that stores the amount of bytes that have been downloaded. This means the max that can be downloaded is around 2.1gb until you overflow the int. I have submitted a support ticket on it, I can also post a URL here, but it is an ESPN3 URL so it may not be accessible by the support team. This issue should be reproducible on any stream that downloads over 2.1gb.

Example of the progress log:

...
Downloading (RTMP) - 2097134 KB (02:09:01 / 06:00:08)
Downloading (RTMP) - 2097142 KB (02:09:01 / 06:00:08)
Downloading (RTMP) - 2097147 KB (02:09:01 / 06:00:08)
Downloading (RTMP) - -2147481013 B
Downloading (RTMP) - -2147474243 B
Downloading (RTMP) - -2147466051 B
...

Note the value goes from a positive value to a negative, a sure sign the int has overflowed and the sign bit has been flipped.

[walker428]

I hope they get this sorted soon. The whole reason I bought this program was to cap the espn3 races. It would tie up too much computer time to cap 12 hours of races using recording mode, and then convert it with a single core cpu (that is going to hurt). Although having it split into seperate files would be a nice feature, as long as they were all uniform quality.

[stream-recorder.com]

I suggest you to submit a support ticket and to include your login/password so that the developer can test this and make a fix.

[smokee]

I have submitted a support ticket and supplied an account they can use for testing.

[walker428]

submitted mine as well. Have you seen any activity on your ticket smokee? Nothing on my end.

[smokee]

Yes, the support team has responded and requested more info, which was sent on to the dev.

[Jeff Lenney]

submitted mine as well. Have you seen any activity on your ticket smokee? Nothing on my end.

Have you heard back from the RMC team yet?

[walker428]

Yes, and thank you for following through Jeff. I heard back from Shellie earlier today she has indicated they have forwarded this on to the developers. I know you guys are a smaller company, and probably have discussed the issue, can you ensure that they combine the tickets if they are the same issue. No sense on having 2 separate developers work on the same issue, because they didn't communicate. :) . If you need to reply feel free to DM me so this thread doesn't keep getting bumped.

[demotester]

i am here to test. what's the video (webpage url) in question? i am on a clean system. i can download your big file. i can do it. just give me the url. thanks.

hehe.

( i will then confirm if i have the same download problem. )

[walker428]

demotester if you have access to espn3.com I was trying to download ALMS 12 hours of Sebring @1200k but pretty much any long video will repeat the same issue.

This is the link but I am pretty sure it is unique, so probably wont work for you. I think they use edgecast but the problem with setting this up to record rather than download is that they have floating feed quality depending on your system and bandwidth that will change on the fly whle you watch it. Which makes for a very poor viewing later on. I am hoping they find a solution to this most of the races are much less but I really wanna cap this even before it disappears. Even the ALMS sites feed is only the 800k and was pretty poor in my opinion.

[Jeff Lenney]

Yes, and thank you for following through Jeff. I heard back from Shellie earlier today she has indicated they have forwarded this on to the developers. I know you guys are a smaller company, and probably have discussed the issue, can you ensure that they combine the tickets if they are the same issue. No sense on having 2 separate developers work on the same issue, because they didn't communicate. :) . If you need to reply feel free to DM me so this thread doesn't keep getting bumped.

Thanks Walker. If you don't mind, just let Shellie know the next time you communicate with her. I don't have access to the replay media catcher queue, so she'd need to do the ticket fixing herself :)

Thanks

[demotester]

walker428 (birthday april 28th? ;-), i dont have access to espn3 . You are subscribed to espn AND want to download their streams AND it is serious to you (12hours hehe..). Then this *is* serious issue, high priority.
I've inspected the url. While it's true that it isnt valid anymore (expired session), it is also true that is a simple url. While YOUR RMC4 (latest final release) might give you problems (mine doesnt do to me ;-), you may wanna install the third-party plugin which is mentioned in the help file of RMC4. The plugin can, too, download any streams of the RTMP-protocol family. If you cant figure it out, i'll forward you to the ..etc..

You also may want to share your login/pass of espn3.com with Applian support techie (Shellie, ..) so that they can download the 12hour video (a single video file of 12hours length??). If you need backup help, you could share the login/pass with me too. I am a trustworthy demo tester :)

In any case, if you're on a clean windows with a clean installation of RMC4, then i cant explain why your RMC4 behaves so strange.

[stucbrown]

Just want to add my 2cents. I just discovered this problem trying to download 3 hour operas from The Met. They seem to stop at about 2 hours +/- 5 to 10 minutes. The file sizes are always 2.1 GB. I am quite agravated since I am paying for this material, and have a time limit to use it. They use BrightCove video server. Would that have anything to do with it?

Tell me more about the plugin you mention. Where do I get it?

[walker428]

I dont think the plugin is going to help in this case, although I havent really had time to learn how to use it just yet. Still no answer work around from the developer yet. If possible stucbrown you may want to try an alternate program to capture it like orbit. since time is of the essesnce, and i dont see a solution for this arriving anytime soon. :(

[stream-recorder.com]

Tell me more about the plugin you mention. Where do I get it?
How to use rtmpdump.exe as a plug-in for Replay Media Catcher 4 for downloading RTMP streams

[stucbrown]

Thanks - I will try the dump program when I get home tonight.

I might mention that last night I did try setting the check box to record instead of download. Still didn't work but I did get 2 hours and 17 minutes of the program instead of only 2 hours. But the file size was still only 2.1 GB. So probably there was some compression and loss of fidelity.

[walker428]

Be sure to submit a ticket, They should have 1 or 2 already started for the same symptoms you are having but more tickets couldnt hurt, as they may find something useful if they look at yours. I think my video is a loss though as the 12 hour race will be off of espn3 by the time they find a fix.

[Jeff Lenney]

Be sure to submit a ticket, They should have 1 or 2 already started for the same symptoms you are having but more tickets couldnt hurt, as they may find something useful if they look at yours. I think my video is a loss though as the 12 hour race will be off of espn3 by the time they find a fix.

Weve got 2 or 3 open now ;-)

It's being looked into - thanks.

[demotester]

i can submit a support ticket on the same subject. this will put some more neat pressure on applian support.

yeah.

[stucbrown]

I was inspired by something I read on the other thread about this problem. I was able to record an opera completely to the end (2:45) by using an old version 3.11 from sept of 2009. I guess I never uninstalled when ver 4 came out. For some reason it missed the english subtitles but OK.

[stucbrown]

here was their answer:

Sorry that you are having troubles with Replay Media Catcher. In my testings with this site, Replay Media Catcher will start capturing, stop and start again. Replay Media Catcher will capture the entire video but in 2 or 3 segments. Unfortunately this is how The Met streams their videos.

If you would like one full recording, you may want to try our Replay Video Capture: http://www.applian.com/replay-video-capture/index.php

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Best regards,

Shellie Heggenberger
Applian Technologies, Inc.

A cop out - with no addressing the issue that I mentioned that it works ok with RMC3.11

[stream-recorder.com]

I was inspired by something I read on the other thread about this problem. I was able to record an opera completely to the end (2:45) by using an old version 3.11 from sept of 2009. I guess I never uninstalled when ver 4 came out. For some reason it missed the english subtitles but OK.
What web-page are you trying to record from?

If it is an RTMP stream:
Do you have RTMP Super Download disabled?
Do you use the RTMP Downloading or RTMP recording mode?

[stucbrown]

I have tried with each of those 3 check boxes checked - cuts off early in each case.
The "Enable Super DL" box is checked and set for 36000 seconds (10 hrs)
And the FLV fixing box is checked.

Any other setup settinga I should try?

[walker428]

i can submit a support ticket on the same subject. this will put some more neat pressure on applian support.

yeah.

Not trying to pressure them more, just hoping that maybe they would see something in this stream that they didnt notice on the other streams. Sorry if it came off that way, I am sure they are busy trying to find the solution.

@stuck - any insight on how you were able to get 3.11 to work I did try to load that up, but was not able to get it to properly record. I had also never used it, but there didnt seem to be any settings or adjustments for rtmp either, I think it was just set for download.

[stream-recorder.com]

I have tried with each of those 3 check boxes checked - cuts off early in each case.
The "Enable Super DL" box is checked and set for 36000 seconds (10 hrs)
And the FLV fixing box is checked.

Any other setup settinga I should try?
I just got a message from the developer. Your stream was tested by 3 persons. It was split into 3 indeed.

When one ended the other started including the full RTMP handshake etc. RMC3 would have acted in the same way. Therefore Shellie's answer was correct on the way the stream was acting when we all tested it.

Please also note that there are 1000's of sites all streaming in different manners and usings different protocols all which can be implemented by different servers in slightly different ways.
RMC is the most updated software from Applian.
http://www.applian.com/blog/updates

The developer is aware of the issues with the Met and ESPN. So please be more respectful.

[Jeff Lenney]

Hey Guys, please try to have patience and respect. No need to send in 10 tickets for the same item. If there's a legitimate issue, we'll get it fixed if we're (legally) able to. In this case, the programmer IS working on it with high priority and we will have it fixed as soon as POSSIBLE.

Thanks!

[stucbrown]

Thanks for all the info and testing. Over last night I was able to fully record another opera of 2:22 length (2.54 GB file size). From overture to bows.

I again used my old RMC 3.11 version. It did start and stop 5 times, creating 5 different files of different sizes. The starts overlapped by about 10 minutes. Knowing how long the piece is supposed to be, I calculated the correct file size. Of course it was the largest file that was the right one. I deleted the others.

I did not change any parameters to make it work. There are a handful of plugins already there. I am not sure what they are.

Further attempts at using 4.1.6 still failed at about 2.1 GB.

They should study the earlier version to see what they did right, or what they changed.

The English subtitles still do not record, but I am thinking they come in a separate stream. They are visible on my monitor as the piece plays. Probably the screen capture program would do the job there, but too hard to set up.

[Jeff Lenney]

Correct! Sub-titles are a seperate file and can only be recorded with a Screen Capture (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-from-screen/) program such as Replay Video Capture (http://applian.com/replay-video-capture/)

[stucbrown]

One more comment - I did a synchronized side by side comparison of the same material recorded by 3.11 and 4.1.6, on the same wide screen.

I could see no difference in quality, shading, focus, etc. I was concerned that the new version may yield better results, but happy that my use, now, of the older version will still give me what I want.

Glad i didn't uninstall 3.11 untill they get 4 fixed.

[stucbrown]

I just realized that there is another 4 upgrade to 4.2.1 from 4.1.6. Will this solve my not full download problem?

[stucbrown]

Ok - I answered my own question by actually trying to record the same opera I have been using as a test case, with the newer RMC 4.2.1.

It does not stop prematurely. The whole 2 3/4 hour opera was there.

BUT, the file size was surprisingly small. 1GB for the RMC4.2.1, vs 2.95 GB for the RMC3.11. About one third of the size. Certainly something must have been sacrificed in the quality of the recording by compressing.

I repeated my previous side by side test. The picture for the smaller file quality is fuzzier. Very subtle just watching it on my computer. But when I convert to dvd to watch on my full size TV, it will make a difference.

So they solved the problem by compressing the material. Is there any adjustment?? Any way to say, I don't care how big the file is or many dvd disks it consumes, I want the best quality that was transmitted??

I will probably just stick with the 3.11 versions.

[stream-recorder.com]

If you don't convert with RMC automatically, it doesn't compress anything. It downloads/captures the stream that you start watching. If a server sends a lower quality stream to your PC, you can't record a higher quality stream with RMC automatically.

[stucbrown]

The setting is always - Do Not Convert

I repeated the experiment again, downloading the same material using both 3.11 and 4.2.1 (not together). Both captured the full opera, but on simultaneous, synchronized playback, side by side, the 3.11 playback picture quality was clearly better than the 4.2.1 playback.

The 4.2.1 file size is 1/3 of the 3.11. If I set the flv player to x1 picture size, the 4.2.1 is about 1/4 the size of the 3.11. It is like with a digital still camera that has an 8 Mpxl rating, then take a pic. Then set it for 4 Mpxl and take the same pic. You will have a smaller file, but a grainier picture when you enlarge it.

I also compared a shortened 4.1.6 with the "fixed" 4.2.1 playback. Same result.

So the fix was to somehow get rid of 2/3s of the picture material so that the file would fit into ....?? But sacrificed the picture quality.

A subtle difference on the computer screen, but will look much worse on the full size tv screen.

[demotester]

i cant reproduce your results if i dont know the testpage url (video link!).
also run mediainfo (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en ---> the GUI version download) on your 2 files to report differences between the FLV-videos. maybe the opera site streams in different qualities and RMC4 happened to catch/download only the low-quality video version. Just to give you a primitive example, the Victorias Secret video is streamed in 5 different bitrates (resolutions):
http://www.tv.com/wall/10501826/victorias-secret--full-episode?tag=10501826

(Dont try to download the Victorias Secret. Its naughty! ;) )

[stucbrown]

Thanks for the link to MediaInfo. I do not understand much of what is on the analysis, but I do know that the resolution between the 2 different files were 2 to 1. The better video pic from 3.11 was 1280x720. The worse video pic from 2.4.1 was 640x360. So I stand by my claim that they "fixed" the file size problem by downloading less digital information, rather than opening up the maximum buffer or file size, or whatever they may be limiting.

Thanks also for the VicSecret link.

[demotester]

did you say opera?
you're not watching medici.tv, are you? (in their terms of agreement they disallow the download of their streams. understandably.)

you cant tell us your testpage url (video link!)?

[stream-recorder.com]

Thanks for the link to MediaInfo. I do not understand much of what is on the analysis, but I do know that the resolution between the 2 different files were 2 to 1. The better video pic from 3.11 was 1280x720. The worse video pic from 2.4.1 was 640x360. So I stand by my claim that they "fixed" the file size problem by downloading less digital information, rather than opening up the maximum buffer or file size, or whatever they may be limiting.
So you say that you ran RMC 3.11 and RMC 4 simultaneously, and RMC 3.11 download the 1280x720 version while RMC downloaded the 640x360 version?
Can you post the URL of the web-page as well as the URLs found with RMC 3.11 and RMC 4?

[stucbrown]

No you misunderstood - or I didn't state it correctly. I first downloaded the material using 3.11. Then after that, downloaded the same material again using 4.2.1.

Then I played them back simultaneously using 2 separate Applian flv players, watching them on my widescreen monitor. I fiddled with the timing until they were in sync, so I could do a side by side comparison. Yes the 3.11 downloaded 1280 x 720, and the 4.2.1 downloaded 640 x 360.

At a x1 setting, the 640 x 360 was half the size of the other. In order to compare I had to set it x2, making it grainier as you would expect.

That is an interesting idea - maybe I could start up both versions and download simult. But it would be very slow, and I am not sure what it would further prove.

The website requires a paid subscription.

[stream-recorder.com]

Both RMC 3.11 and RMC 4 download or capture streams that you watch. If you play an SD/HD stream, you will download it, not something else.

[stucbrown]

I have to admit that I don't watch as they download. I let them record overnight. So I will try to start both at the same time 3.11 and 4.2.1. I don't think I can watch more than the original program as it plays, so that won't tell me anything. But it will prove that each of the 2 versions is being processed differently as the flv file is being created.

I believe the 4.2.1, as I have been saying, is cutting the material in half, degrading it, in order not to run into some file size limit. I have no conversion called for.

[walker428]

Get the stream url from 3.11 (should be able to double click on the file in the rmc window, although i only used 3.11 once so i am not 100 percent on this) and then copy and paste that url into the 4.2.1 Download (under tools) that way you are sure to get the same stream. I have a feeling you were getting a lower quality stream when this happened.

[cnaeger]

I am also seeing the same error. Any stream over about 2gb in length gets cut off. If I adjust the quality of the stream such as the content is less than 2gb all works fine.

Now that I go back and look at all the content I have downloaded recently the pattern is the same. Anything files over 2gb have a issue.

Looking forward to a fix.

Chad

[stream-recorder.com]

I am also seeing the same error. Any stream over about 2gb in length gets cut off. If I adjust the quality of the stream such as the content is less than 2gb all works fine.

Now that I go back and look at all the content I have downloaded recently the pattern is the same. Anything files over 2gb have a issue.

Looking forward to a fix.
Open a support ticket and include web-page URLs you have problems with. Or at least post them here.