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Frequently Asked Questions

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mhogomchungu edited this page Sep 22, 2024 · 47 revisions

1. How to download a media using custom options.

The options fields can be used to enter the full options list to be sent to youtube-dl with only one requirement of the format code being the first entry on the list, for example:-

  1. If you want to download an audio file with best audio then enter bestaudio in the option field.
  2. If you want to download an audio file with best audio and convert it to mp3 for example then enter bestaudio -x --audio-format mp3 in the option fields.

Please refer to youtube-dl for all of its available options.

2. How to add custom commands to preset list.

For easy access, you can add your own custom commands to the preset list by going to configure tab and then preset options tab. In the Ui Name field, add a text that will show up in the preset list menu and in the Options field, add arguments that will be sent to the backend when the preset entry is selected and then press Add followed by Save.

3. How to make downloaded media not have weird text in the file name.

By default, youtube-dl and its forks create files that are in title-id.extension format and what you seem to not want is the id part and you can remove it by doing the following:-

  1. Go to Configure tab.
  2. Go to Engines's Default Options tab.
  3. At the Engine's Name drop down list, select an engine you want to change its option.
  4. At the "Options To Add" text field, add --newline --ignore-config --no-playlist -o %(title).200s.%(ext)s.
  5. Click Add.
  6. Click Save.

Be aware that the id part is useful and removing it may cause problems as discussed here.

4. How do i make downloaded media be in a subfolder with a name equal to the playlist name.

  1. Go to "Configure" tab.
  2. Go to "Engines's Default Options" tab.
  3. Set engine name to "yt-dlp".
  4. At the "Options To Add" text field, add -o --newline --ignore-config --no-playlist -o %(playlist_title)s/%(title).200s-%(id)s.%(ext)s.
  5. Click Add.
  6. Click Save.

5. How do i use the playlist downloader tab.

  1. Enter the playlist url in the Enter Playlist URL text field.
  2. Enter the options necessary to filter out playlist entries you do not want in the Get List Options text field text field.
  3. Press the Get List button and observe that only the entries that match the criteria you entered above will show up on the UI. The UI will get disabled until this step is finished.
  4. Enter options necessary to customize what type of media you want to download in the Download Options text field. This is the place where you set what media quality you want to download.
  5. Press the Download button to start downloading and the UI will get disabled again until this step is finished.

6. What are commonly used options in the "Get List Options" in the playlist tab.

  1. --playlist-items. Use this option if you want to see only a selected entries in the playlist. An example that will cause media downloader to show playlist entries from the 12th entry to the 15th entry is --playlist-items 12-15.
  2. --break-on-existing. This option should be used if you want the processing of playlist entries to stop when the id of the current entry that is being processed is found in the archive file.
  3. --skip-on-existing. This option should be used if you want the entry of a playlist to be displayed in the UI but not get downloaded when its id is found in the archive file.
  4. --match-filter duration<=300. This option should be used when you want to filter out all videos that are more than 300 seconds long.
  5. --encoding utf-8. Try this option if none Latin characters do not show up as expected.

7. How do i create a context menu on Chrome or Firefox to open links in Media Downloader.

  • If you are using Chrome then install this extension and if you are using Firefox then install this extension.
  • Go to the extension's configuration page and then do the following:-

  1. Add Open in Media Downloader in the Display Name text field. This name will show up in the browser's context menu.

  2. Add the full path to Media Downloader executable in the Executable Name text field.

  3. Add -u [HREF] in the arguments text field if you want a link to simply be added to Media Downloader or add -a -u [HREF] if you want a link to be added to Media Downloader and Media Downloader to automatically start downloading it.

  4. Instruction on how to install the native client will be displayed once the toolbar button is clicked.

8. How do i set it up so that a url from a particular website is always managed by a particular extension and with customized options,to be specific, how do i set up "yt-dlp" to be used with download option of "mp4-mobile" with any link from "streamable.com".

  • Go to configure tab.
  • Go to "engine's default options" sub tab.
  • Select the engine you want to configure in the "engine's name" drop down list.
  • Right click the table at the bottom of the tab. and then click "Add" entry on the generated list.
  • Enter a component of the url(example, streamable.com) you want to be used as a filter in the "Url filter" text field.
  • Enter options(optional)(example, mp4-mobile) you want to be applied in with the "Options" text field.
  • Click "Add".

9. How do i add subscriptions.

  • Go to "Playlist downloader" tab.
  • Click the right most button that is on the same line as "Enter Playlist Url".
  • Select "Manage Subscription".
  • Enter a text you want to be seen in the Ui in the "Ui Name" text field.
  • Enter a subscription url in the "Url" text field.
  • "Get List Options" is optional and FAQ #6 explains what options can be set here.
  • Click "Add" to add the entry to the list.
  • Click "Done" when done.
  • Click the button again explained in step 2 above and the entry you added will be on list.

10. What does "Show All Updated" menu entry do on the menu that is generated when a subscription button is clicked and the button is on the playlist downloader tab.

It goes through all subscriptions and add new entries to the "Url To Download" list.

11. What does "Download All Updated" menu entry do on the menu that is generated when a subscription button is clicked and the button is on the playlist downloader tab.

It does what is explained in FAQ #9 and then automatically start downloading them.

12. How do i add a theme.

  • Go to Configure tab and then click the button that is to the right of dark theme drop down button.
  • In the file dialog window that will show up, create a copy of the "Dark.json" file and give the copy a name of your choice.
  • Explanations for different options is below.
  • A list of Qt::GlobalColor is here.
  • You can google for rgba values for colors that you want to use and this link seems to be a good start for gray values

13. How do i add Url to batch downloader from CLI.

  • If you want the url to just be added, use CLI options of -u ${URL}
  • If you want the url to be added and to automatically start downloading it, use CLI option of -a -u ${URL}

14. How do i start updating from git channel instead of release channel when using Windows.

  • Set option "configure->general options->actions at startup->show version info and autodownload updates".
  • Go to basic downloader tab and look at where the "app data path" is and go to that folder.
  • Close Media Downloader.
  • While there, go to the "settings" folder and open the settings file in it with a text editor.
  • Look for the option "WindowsUpdateChannel" and change its value to "git".Add the option if it is not there. To go back to release channel, set the value to "release".
  • Start Media Downloader.
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