Download with rtmpdump: Livestation.com began to show strange behaviour recently

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

./aje
RTMPDump v2.3
(c) 2010 Andrej Stepanchuk, Howard Chu, The Flvstreamer Team; license: GPL
WARNING: You haven't specified an output file (-o filename), using stdout
ERROR: RTMP_HashSWF: couldn't contact swfurl hXXp://www.livestation.com/flash/player/5.4/player.swf (HTTP error 403)
Connecting ...
WARNING: HandShake: client signature does not match!
INFO: Connected...
ERROR: Closing connection: NetStream.Failed

Why I'm getting 403 with rtmpdump, but it still works well within browser? How can I deal with it?

[KSV]

Error 403 means "Access Forbidden". probably they are checking user-agent in request header and denying access to rtmpdump. however you can bypass it by manually fetching the player.swf and hashing it or just put the following in your .swfinfo file.

url: http://www.livestation.com/flash/player/5.4/player.swf
ctim: Sat, 07 May 2011 13:36:52 GMT
date: Sat, 07 May 2011 03:37:45 GMT
size: 000184ce
hash: 024c6120068144803edd17fd77456a35d1496b4490a489244efbfb6dfaccbd07

[chap]

Why I'm getting 403 with rtmpdump

RTMPexplorer.

rtmpdump -r "rtmp://media7.lsops.net/live/" -a "live/" -f "WIN 10,2,159,1" -W "h
ttp://www.livestation.com/flash/player/5.4/player.swf" -p "http://www.livestatio
n.com/channels/3-al-jazeera-english-english" -y "aljazeer_en_medium.sdp" -o alja
zeer_en_medium.flv

Closing connection... done!

RTMPDump v2.3 r568 (Compiled by KSV)
(c) 2010 Andrej Stepanchuk, Howard Chu, The Flvstreamer Team; license: GPL
ERROR: RTMP_HashSWF: couldn't contact swfurl http://www.livestation.com/flash/pl
ayer/5.4/player.swf (HTTP error 403)
Connecting ...
INFO: Connected...
Starting download at: 0.000 kB
INFO: Metadata:
INFO:   videocodecid          avc1
INFO:   width                 480.00
INFO:   height                304.00
INFO:   frameWidth            480.00
INFO:   frameHeight           304.00
INFO:   displayWidth          480.00
INFO:   displayHeight         304.00
INFO:   framerate             25.00
INFO:   audiochannels         1.00
INFO:   audiosamplerate       24000.00
INFO:   audiocodecid          mp4a
INFO: trackinfo:
INFO:   timescale             90000.00
INFO:   language              eng
INFO: sampledescription:
INFO:   sampletype            H264
INFO:   type                  video
INFO:   profile-level-id      42c01e
INFO:   sprop-parameter-sets  Z0LAHpZmDwT0IAAAAwAgAAAGUeLF3AA=,aM4yyA==
INFO:   description           {H264CodecConfigInfo: profile: "Baseline", level:
3.0, frameSize: 480x304, displaySize: 480x304, frameRate: 25.0}
INFO:   timescale             90000.00
INFO:   language              eng
INFO: sampledescription:
INFO:   sampletype            mpeg4-generic
INFO:   type                  audio
INFO:   config                1308
INFO:   description           {AACFrame: size: 0, rate: 24000, channels: 1, samp
les: 1024, errorBitsAbsent: true, profileObjectType: "LC"}
INFO: rtpsessioninfo:
INFO:   connectiondata        IN IP4 media7.lsops.net
INFO:   name                  /live/aljazeer_en_medium.sdp
INFO:   origin                - 2040332871 2040332871 IN IP4 0.0.0.0
INFO:   timing                0 0
INFO:   protocolversion       0
INFO: attributes:
INFO:   tool                  Livestation RTSP Publisher
418.458 kB / 14.34 secStarting download at: 0.000 kB
INFO: Metadata:
INFO:   videocodecid          avc1
INFO:   width                 480.00
INFO:   height                304.00
INFO:   frameWidth            480.00
INFO:   frameHeight           304.00
INFO:   displayWidth          480.00
INFO:   displayHeight         304.00
INFO:   framerate             25.00
INFO:   audiochannels         1.00
INFO:   audiosamplerate       24000.00
INFO:   audiocodecid          mp4a
INFO: trackinfo:
INFO:   timescale             90000.00
INFO:   language              eng
INFO: sampledescription:
INFO:   sampletype            H264
INFO:   type                  video
INFO:   profile-level-id      42c01e
INFO:   sprop-parameter-sets  Z0LAHpZmDwT0IAAAAwAgAAAGUeLF3AA=,aM4yyA==
INFO:   description           {H264CodecConfigInfo: profile: "Baseline", level:
3.0, frameSize: 480x304, displaySize: 480x304, frameRate: 25.0}
INFO:   timescale             90000.00
INFO:   language              eng
INFO: sampledescription:
INFO:   sampletype            mpeg4-generic
INFO:   type                  audio
INFO:   config                1308
INFO:   description           {AACFrame: size: 0, rate: 24000, channels: 1, samp
les: 1024, errorBitsAbsent: true, profileObjectType: "LC"}
INFO: rtpsessioninfo:
INFO:   connectiondata        IN IP4 media7.lsops.net
INFO:   name                  /live/aljazeer_en_medium.sdp
INFO:   origin                - 2040332871 2040332871 IN IP4 0.0.0.0
INFO:   timing                0 0
INFO:   protocolversion       0
INFO: attributes:
INFO:   tool                  Livestation RTSP Publisher
1512.057 kB / 55.82 sec

[bat999]

Originally Posted by chap

Rtmpexplorer.

Yes, that's OK for Windows machines. And StreamTransport works too.
But what is the solution for Linux?

[KSV]

Originally Posted by any ANONYMOUS forum user

Why I'm getting 403 with rtmpdump, but it still works well within browser? How can I deal with it?

My above post was answer to that specific question though you can download the stream even if rtmpdump shows the error because this site doesn't use swf verification.

Originally Posted by bat999

Yes, that's OK for Windows machines. And StreamTransport works too.
But what is the solution for Linux?

RTMPexplorer just redirects the rtmp traffic to rtmpsrv which is otherwise a tedious process in windows. Linux can redirect the traffic easily. you can use rtmpdump in linux to download this stream.

http://www.livestation.com/products/68?quality=93

rtmpdump -r "rtmp://livestfslivefs.fplive.net/livestfslive-live/" -a "livestfslive-live/" -f "WIN 10,2,159,1" -W "http://www.livestation.com/flash/player/5.4/player.swf" -p "http://www.livestation.com/products/68?quality=93" -y "livestfslive_alarabiy_ar_high?start_time=20110508112837&end_time=20110508113337&token=0efb796c7220d645ce3d8" --live -o livestfslive_alarabiy_ar_high.flv

[bat999]

Originally Posted by KSV

http://www.livestation.com/products/68?quality=93

rtmpdump -r "rtmp://livestfslivefs.fplive.net/livestfslive-live/" -a "livestfslive-live/" -f "WIN 10,2,159,1" -W "http://www.livestation.com/flash/player/5.4/player.swf" -p "http://www.livestation.com/products/68?quality=93" -y "livestfslive_alarabiy_ar_high?start_time=20110508112837&end_time=20110508113337&token=0efb796c7220d645ce3d8" --live -o livestfslive_alarabiy_ar_high.flv

The command doesn't work for me with RTMPDump in Linux or Windows.
Result is:-
ERROR: RTMP_HashSWF: couldn't contact swfurl http://www.livestation.com/flash/player/5.4/player.swf (HTTP error 403)

Verbose output is here:- __http://pastebin.com/ivwm0xkQ

When I use rtmpexplorer in Windows.

This page downloads OK:-

http://www.livestation.com/

And this page won't download:-

http://www.livestation.com/products/68?quality=93

[KSV]

i can even downlad hd quality with rtmpdump.

http://www.livestation.com/products/68-al-arabiya-premium

rtmpdump -r "rtmp://livestfslivefs.fplive.net/livestfslive-live/" -a "livestfslive-live/" -f "WIN 10,2,159,1" -W "http://www.livestation.com/flash/player/5.4/player.swf" -p "http://www.livestation.com/products/68-al-arabiya-premi
um" -y "livestfslive_alarabiy_ar_veryhigh?start_time=20110508130725&end_time=20110508131725&token=0952105069aafd3bdde67" --live -o livestfslive_alarabiy_ar_veryhigh.flv
RTMPDump v2.3 r568 (Compiled by KSV)
(c) 2010 Andrej Stepanchuk, Howard Chu, The Flvstreamer Team; license: GPL
Connecting ...
INFO: Connected...
Starting Live Stream
9974.345 kB / 111.64 sec

[bat999]

Originally Posted by KSV

i can even downlad hd quality with rtmpdump.

Do you live in Qatar... across the street from the TV studio?