how to extract URL of a stream

[anctop]

I have very bad experience when video sites change their ways of streaming, consequently the download tools become useless and, the worst of all, there is no immediate replacement for them.
Therefore I'm eager to learn the method of finding out the URL of a video/audio stream, so that suitable download tools may be chosen.

Download methods for popular sites are widely known. For example, YouTube can be retrieved by some browser add-ons, while RTMPDump is required to get contents from BBC.
However, it is very difficult to dig out for minority sites, e.g. local tv/radio sites.

Intuitively, I tried to read the html source of the page, but the work is hard and fruitless because the true contents are often concealed behind various "players" such that no trace is left in the page source.
I've also heard that sophisticated "packet capturing" softwares are needed for analysis, is that true ? Is there any easier way ?

[joejones15]

there is no 1 universal way...all case by case...when you have link, post it here to see if community can help

[anctop]

Thanks. Here is an example : "http://mytv.tvb.com/tc/ed_latestent/hdjconquerors/212134"

This is a documentary about "king crabs". A couple of ads may appear at the beginning.
The site used to deliver contents through RTMP, but has changed some months ago.

I've tried the lastest DownloadHelper on Firefox. The stream keeps generating small pieces of 43/44 bytes each, but no single piece of the whole thing.
These seem to be chunks, but I can't find the master playlist.

Could you show how to extract the true URL ? Thanks in advance.

[stinkfoot]

Originally Posted by anctop

Thanks. Here is an example : "http://mytv.tvb.com/tc/ed_latestent/hdjconquerors/212134"

this yes giving the video paths

http://api.mytv.tvb.com/rest_user_subscription_api/video_path/format/json?id=212134

must yes be having HK ip to be getting the video paths. may prosecuting youtube-dl for instances occasion.

yes i checking the hd video path. yes downloads successing completing.

[anctop]

stinkfoot,

Thank you, but may I ask how could you do that ? What tool you're using ?
I'm eager to learn the technique !

[joejones15]

Originally Posted by anctop

stinkfoot,

Thank you, but may I ask how could you do that ? What tool you're using ?
I'm eager to learn the technique !

you may use URLsnooper

http://www.videohelp.com/software/URL-Snooper

like this:

[anctop]

Originally Posted by joejones15

you may use URLsnooper

http://www.videohelp.com/software/URL-Snooper

like this:

Thanks a lot. I'll try it.

[anctop]

I'm sorry to trouble you again, but I've a few more questions.

In using "URL Snooper", I notice that the "Protocol Filter" must be set to "Show All" instead of the default "Multimedia URLs", but then the captured URL's are numerous.
My question is : how to determine which URL is the desired one ? Is there any characteristic to look for ?
(P.S.: I've experimented with the example link. In the row with the target URL, the "Protocol" and "Source IP" showed "GET (relative)" and my own IP repectively, instead of "http" and the remote IP as shown in the screen capture.)

The extracted URL refers to a "json?id=xxxxx" file, which seems to be a playlist containing some "rtmpe" streams (see attached sample). How to download the true video contents ?