[Triage] Pending videos after retry loop with "WARNING: webm doesn't support embedding a thumbnail, mkv will be used"

[jbolla]

Describe the bug
Some videos are going into a retry loop when downloading that leaves them in pending state.

To Reproduce
Then happens when downloading the video. It's easiest to reproduce by selecting force download. The video where I first saw this was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltLUadnCyi0. My settings video codec preference as "h265" and audio codex preference as "opus". My media profile has the default container (mp4) and embeds subtitles, thumbnails, and metadata.

Expected behavior
I would expect it to fall back to some supportable option like not embedding the thumbnail or using mkv. I could also see having per video user selectable overrides for the profile to get around this issue.

Diagnostic info

• App Version: 2024.11.27
• yt-dlp Version: 2024.11.18
• Apprise Version: v1.9.0
• System Architecture: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
• Timezone: America/Chicago

Additional context

[error] [command_wrapper]: /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp called with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltLUadnCyi0 --no-simulate --no-progress --force-overwrites --parse-metadata %(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s:(?P<meta_date>.+) --write-subs --convert-subs srt --embed-subs --sub-langs en --embed-thumbnail --convert-thumbnail jpg --embed-metadata --remux-video mp4 --format-sort res:1080,+codec:h265:opus --format bestvideo*+bestaudio/best --sponsorblock-remove sponsor --output /downloads/3Blue1Brown/Season %(upload_date>%Y)S/s%(upload_date>%Y)Se%(upload_date>%m%d)S99 - %(title)S.%(ext)S --print-to-file after_move:%()j /tmp/pinchflat/data/090d5d98f5515182633434cb79936bd6862c3dc42ecdbea6a67b2d8696e65333.json --windows-filenames --quiet --cache-dir /tmp/pinchflat/data/yt-dlp-cache exited: 1 with: WARNING: webm doesn't support embedding a thumbnail, mkv will be used
ERROR: Postprocessing: Conversion failed!

[kieraneglin]

Hey there! Thanks for the report (: And sorry for the delay - I've been busy helping family move

I suspect this is something that'd be solved with a yt-dlp update. I'll release a new version later today with a bumped yt-dlp, but in the meantime you could try updating yt-dlp independently (guide - it's the last FAQ point)

[kieraneglin]

I've sent out a new version! Would you mind updating to it and letting me know if the error persists?

[jbolla]

Thanks for the update! Sorry about the delay responding. I tried a "download pending" on the source and a "force download" on one of the videos, but I didn't see those videos show in the logs until 8 or so hours. Unfortunately it seems not to have changed anything.

05:27:13.367 [error] [command_wrapper]: /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp called with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltLUadnCyi0 --no-simulate --no-progress --force-overwrites --parse-metadata %(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s:(?P<meta_date>.+) --write-subs --convert-subs srt --embed-subs --sub-langs en --embed-thumbnail --convert-thumbnail jpg --embed-metadata --remux-video mp4 --format-sort res:1080,+codec:h265:opus --format bestvideo*+bestaudio/best --sponsorblock-remove sponsor --output /downloads/3Blue1Brown/Season %(upload_date>%Y)S/s%(upload_date>%Y)Se%(upload_date>%m%d)S99 - %(title)S.%(ext)S --print-to-file after_move:%()j /tmp/pinchflat/data/1ad707f46236c4077bb4e55ec01539852ae92d5c6e507385a3a63778b1a0c5b5.json --windows-filenames --quiet --cache-dir /tmp/pinchflat/data/yt-dlp-cache exited: 1 with: WARNING: webm doesn't support embedding a thumbnail, mkv will be used
ERROR: Postprocessing: Conversion failed!


05:27:13.367 [error] yt-dlp download error for media item #75: "WARNING: webm doesn't support embedding a thumbnail, mkv will be used\nERROR: Postprocessing: Conversion failed!\n"

05:27:13.368 [info] {"error":"** (Oban.PerformError) Pinchflat.Downloading.MediaDownloadWorker failed with {:error, :download_failed}","args":{"force":true,"id":75},"id":9442,"meta":{},"state":"failure","max_attempts":20,"queue":"media_fetching","worker":"Pinchflat.Downloading.MediaDownloadWorker","source":"oban","duration":17255986,"event":"job:exception","queue_time":276422,"attempt":18,"tags":["media_item","media_fetching","show_in_dashboard"]}

App info:

• App Version: 2024.12.10
• yt-dlp Version: 2024.12.06
• Apprise Version: v1.9.0
• System Architecture: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
• Timezone: America/Chicago

[kieraneglin]

Sorry for the delay! I'm curious what ffmpeg version you're running - could you open a Docker console and tell me the output of ffmpeg -version | grep "ffmpeg version"

Also, are you using any custom yt-dlp options?

---

Note to self: add ffmpeg version to app info page

[jbolla]

$ ffmpeg -version | grep "ffmpeg version"
ffmpeg version N-116468-g0e09f6d690-20240730 Copyright (c) 2000-2024 the FFmpeg developers

I don't remember setting up any custom options. Only base-config.txt exists, and it's empty.

[kieraneglin]

Truly bizarre! One final thing to test, would you mind disabling the sponsporblock removal on that Media Profile and seeing if that changes anything?

At the moment I'm not sure what this could be, especially since it seems to be unique to you specifically. I'm sure we'll figure it out, but for now I'm drawing a blank

[jbolla]

I've updated the profile to disable sponsorblock, and now I'm waiting for it to attempt to download. Is there any way to convince it to start downloading right away? I tried "download pending" on the channel and "force download" on the video.

[kieraneglin]

Unfortunately not. Forcing a download only puts it in the queue, but it doesn't change its place in line

[jbolla]

I'm not sure where it is in the queue is a problem. I have 25 sources, so there isn't all that much to keep up with. It's that downloading doesn't seem to happen all that often. There's currently nothing under "active tasks" on the home screen. My "media history" has a most recent;y indexed item indexed at "2024-12-18 14:00" but not yet downloaded.

[jbolla]

From the logs it looks like there actually is a backlog of videos to download (they're failing with "Sign in to confirm you’re not a bot"). I mistakenly thought that "Media History" was sorted by date.

[jbolla]

Finally able to get it to make another attempt. No change with sponsorblock disabled.

[jbolla]

One thing I notice is that I have a video that is failing with "offline" that pinchflat keeps attempting to download in a loop, and it's starving out attempts to download other videos. The video in question is an old live stream. This is odd because I have livestream_behaviour: exclude in my media profile, and because if I look at that media source I see nothing in pending, and this video is not listed in downloaded or in other.

15:02:38.175 [info] [command_wrapper]: /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp called with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQPYgT_Lmdc --simulate --skip-download --output /downloads/engineerguy/Season %(upload_date>%Y)S/s%(upload_date>%Y)Se%(upload_date>%m%d)S00 - %(title)S.%(ext)S --remux-video mp4 --format-sort res:1080,+codec:h265:opus --format bestvideo*+bestaudio/best --print-to-file %(.{id,title,live_status,original_url,description,aspect_ratio,duration,upload_date,timestamp,playlist_index,filename})j /tmp/pinchflat/data/65396f622a99b5676191879ee2c993b8a8377be6ea270514f57176ac980aab69.json --windows-filenames --quiet --cache-dir /tmp/pinchflat/data/yt-dlp-cache

15:02:39.604 [error] [command_wrapper]: /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp called with:  --simulate --skip-download --output /downloads/engineerguy/Season %(upload_date>%Y)S/s%(upload_date>%Y)Se%(upload_date>%m%d)S00 - %(title)S.%(ext)S --remux-video mp4 --format-sort res:1080,+codec:h265:opus --format bestvideo*+bestaudio/best --print-to-file %(.{id,title,live_status,original_url,description,aspect_ratio,duration,upload_date,timestamp,playlist_index,filename})j /tmp/pinchflat/data/65396f622a99b5676191879ee2c993b8a8377be6ea270514f57176ac980aab69.json --windows-filenames --quiet --cache-dir /tmp/pinchflat/data/yt-dlp-cache exited: 1 with: ERROR: [youtube] vQPYgT_Lmdc: Offline.


15:02:39.604 [error] Error creating media item 'vQPYgT_Lmdc' from URL: {:error, "ERROR: [youtube] vQPYgT_Lmdc: Offline.\n", 1}

[jbolla]

I have another repro for the original issue:

16:29:42.745 [info] [command_wrapper]: /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp called with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR7VDPUj5AE --simulate --skip-download --print-to-file %(.{live_status})j /tmp/pinchflat/data/001b093ff21ef41d6ead6390204957724c8719623f8992ffca686fe662a50cb4.json --windows-filenames --quiet --cache-dir /tmp/pinchflat/data/yt-dlp-cache

16:29:45.507 [debug] [command_wrapper]: /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp called with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR7VDPUj5AE --simulate --skip-download --print-to-file %(.{live_status})j /tmp/pinchflat/data/001b093ff21ef41d6ead6390204957724c8719623f8992ffca686fe662a50cb4.json --windows-filenames --quiet --cache-dir /tmp/pinchflat/data/yt-dlp-cache exited: 0 with: 

16:29:45.508 [info] [command_wrapper]: /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp called with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR7VDPUj5AE --no-simulate --no-progress --force-overwrites --parse-metadata %(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s:(?P<meta_date>.+) --write-subs --convert-subs srt --embed-subs --sub-langs en --embed-thumbnail --convert-thumbnail jpg --embed-metadata --remux-video mp4 --format-sort res:1080,+codec:h265:opus --format bestvideo*+bestaudio/best --sponsorblock-remove sponsor --output /downloads/Historia Civilis/Season %(upload_date>%Y)S/s%(upload_date>%Y)Se%(upload_date>%m%d)S99 - %(title)S.%(ext)S --print-to-file after_move:%()j /tmp/pinchflat/data/eeb2dbb2571ce90778af49e970250c5baa3f39e6e71f8d7767a1d5df06e8605e.json --windows-filenames --quiet --cache-dir /tmp/pinchflat/data/yt-dlp-cache

16:29:56.919 [error] [command_wrapper]: /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp called with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR7VDPUj5AE --no-simulate --no-progress --force-overwrites --parse-metadata %(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s:(?P<meta_date>.+) --write-subs --convert-subs srt --embed-subs --sub-langs en --embed-thumbnail --convert-thumbnail jpg --embed-metadata --remux-video mp4 --format-sort res:1080,+codec:h265:opus --format bestvideo*+bestaudio/best --sponsorblock-remove sponsor --output /downloads/Historia Civilis/Season %(upload_date>%Y)S/s%(upload_date>%Y)Se%(upload_date>%m%d)S99 - %(title)S.%(ext)S --print-to-file after_move:%()j /tmp/pinchflat/data/eeb2dbb2571ce90778af49e970250c5baa3f39e6e71f8d7767a1d5df06e8605e.json --windows-filenames --quiet --cache-dir /tmp/pinchflat/data/yt-dlp-cache exited: 1 with: WARNING: webm doesn't support embedding a thumbnail, mkv will be used
ERROR: Postprocessing: Error opening input files: Numerical result out of range


16:29:56.919 [error] yt-dlp download error for media item #968: "WARNING: webm doesn't support embedding a thumbnail, mkv will be used\nERROR: Postprocessing: Error opening input files: Numerical result out of range\n"

[jbolla]

One more repro:

16:44:01.027 [error] [command_wrapper]: /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp called with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDeyMeouyfY --no-simulate --no-progress --force-overwrites --parse-metadata %(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s:(?P<meta_date>.+) --write-subs --convert-subs srt --embed-subs --sub-langs en --embed-thumbnail --convert-thumbnail jpg --embed-metadata --remux-video mp4 --format-sort res:1080,+codec:h265:opus --format bestvideo*+bestaudio/best --sponsorblock-remove sponsor --output /downloads/TierZoo/Season %(upload_date>%Y)S/s%(upload_date>%Y)Se%(upload_date>%m%d)S99 - %(title)S.%(ext)S --print-to-file after_move:%()j /tmp/pinchflat/data/c4c6e536673bfb9dbd59afcf8c3faa39e9aae6b3ee37417af971b266b3807ca1.json --windows-filenames --quiet --cache-dir /tmp/pinchflat/data/yt-dlp-cache exited: 1 with: WARNING: webm doesn't support embedding a thumbnail, mkv will be used
ERROR: Postprocessing: Error opening input files: Numerical result out of range


16:44:01.027 [error] yt-dlp download error for media item #3912: "WARNING: webm doesn't support embedding a thumbnail, mkv will be used\nERROR: Postprocessing: Error opening input files: Numerical result out of range\n"