[mythtv-users] Using the External Recorder with streamlink

[Ian Cameron]

On Mon, 18 May 2020 at 21:52, Peter Carlsson <maillist.peter at home.se> wrote:

> Chrome and Firefox (and more?) have built in support for Widevine but
> would it be possible for streamlink to output to Chrome/Firefox/etc
> which could store the stream on disk?
>

For the record, I'm not that clued up on the Widevine CDM, but I very much
suspect not in the way in which you're thinking.  My understanding is that
the Widevine CDM is a black-box and plays video in an HTML5 video element
within supported browsers or via approved apps only.

On desktop browsers, given the path isn't entirely secure, they tend to be
certified for L3 (the least secure level).  Under L3, content providers may
limit the streaming resolution.  Android devices on the other hand have
secure hardware and can enforce disabling of user screen/audio capture for
example, so are more usually certified for L1 (the highest level with full
access to premium HD content granted).

What I think/understand this means is that you can potentially screen/audio
capture Widevine protected content playing in a browser window.  In this
scenario, it's probably easier to do it via browser automation though,
either through something like xdotool or perhaps via Selenium. The only
reason I'm suggesting that is because if you need to pass cookies or tokens
to the back-end CDN as well, they're already there in the browser, whereas
if you're starting via streamlink, you've got to somehow pass them across
to the browser from the streamlink plugin.

I did do some experimentation with screen/audio capture of video playing
in-browser under a virtual X server a while back, but I did have issues
with getting the colours right.  I'm not if it was the virtual X server
settings or what, but as I've been recording IPTV streams with streamlink
(from non content protected sources), I have not pursued the browser
screen/audio capture method for a long time now.

I'll certainly be interested to see what other people might have to say in
this thread.

--
Cheers, Ian
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