Errormsg: no valid bitrates

[komi1k]

Every single video I try to watch shows an error screen and says no valid bitrates

Edit from @iBicha :
Please see #626 (comment)

[iBicha]

Can you confirm which settings you're using? Are you using Playlet backend or Invidious? If Invidious, which instance?
(If you are not sure of the settings, please set setting backend to "Playlet (local)" and try again)

[komi1k]

I’m using playlet (local) but I’ve tried using invidious.f5.si and the same issue occurs

[TK5000]

I'm having the same problem as komi1k.

Roku Express
Model: 3960X
Roku Software: 14.5.4 build 5944
Playlet: v0.39.1

Backend: Playlet
Instance: Playlet built-in backend
Proxy videos: Only if needed

Instance account inv.nadeko.net (the only instance I've found that will actually list my subscriptions in Playlet).

[16:53:42.792][ERROR][VideoPlayer.bs:382] Error playing video piDqTbBwWRM {source: buffer:search:demux, clipid: 28, ignored: false, dbgmsg: buffer:search:demux:Errors seen on all bitrates:extra:content_id:28:etype:buffer:is_init:0:lasterror:403:program_id::retry:0, category: mediaerror, errcode: 9, drmerrcode: 0}

[iBicha]

This is going to be a tricky one. With the limited information I have, this might caused by two things:

• YouTube starting to secure HLS streams: Playlet uses HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) and it remains the only format that YouTube serves which is not behind some sort of security measure or encryption. Perhaps they started to change it, and are A/B testing it on a smaller audience (that's why only a few people are witnessing this)
• Certain Roku devices do not like certain HLS streams, randomly. Here's an example of that https://community.roku.com/discussions/developer/no-valid-bitrates-error-with-hls-playlist/528145

So to figure this out we need to start narrowing down the reasons behind it

• When did this start happening? Was Playlet working fine on the same device, and then started seeing issues? Or it never worked on this particular device?
• Does the error show up immediately, or does the video play for certain amount of time before the error?
• @komi1k what is your device model?

Here's an additional thing to do that can help investigating further.

• Play a video, wait for it to start playing and/or have the error
• Open the logs (through the link in the web app)
• Look in the logs for a line that says Now playing video http://127.0.0.1:8888/api/hls?url=https.....Ffile%2Findex.m3u8
  • If you can't find this line, you might see instead Sending GET https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/hls_variant/.../file/index.m3u8
• Take that link, and replace http://127.0.0.1:8888 with the url of the web app (e.g. http://192.168.18.3:8888)
  • The url now looks like http://192.168.18.3:8888/api/hls?url=https.....Ffile%2Findex.m3u8
• Use VLC (or QuickTime, or any capable video player) to open the URL
  • VLC: Select File -> Open Network... and paste the url
  • QuickTime: Select File -> Open Location... and paste the url
• If the video Plays fine, it's probably the Roku device struggling to play
• If the video doesn't play, then YouTube changed something

[iBicha]

Asking around about the error message as well

I'm trying to decipher the error from a video node, playing an HLS file
{source: buffer:search:demux, clipid: 28, ignored: false, dbgmsg: buffer:search:demux:Errors seen on all bitrates:extra:content_id:28:etype:buffer:is_init:0:lasterror:403:program_id::retry:0, category: mediaerror, errcode: 9, drmerrcode: 0}

• buffer:search:demux: It's looking through a "demuxed" file? makes sense
• clipid: 28: clip id, makes sense
• ignored: false: segment/clip not ignored, sure
• buffer:search:demux:Errors seen on all bitrates: so it tried all the different bitrates, none worked
• extra:content_id:28: same as clip id, sure
• etype:buffer:is_init:0: not an init segment, sure
• lasterror:403: is this an http error? 403 Forbidden?
• program_id::retry:0: It didn't retry after error?
• category: mediaerror: error of type "media"
• errcode: 9: corresponds to libcurl error CURLE_REMOTE_ACCESS_DENIED?
• drmerrcode: 0: there was no drm error

Is my interpretation of any of the fields wrong?

[TK5000]

When did this start happening?

Approximately 8am CST May 26th.

Was Playlet working fine on the same device, and then started seeing issues? Or it never worked on this particular device?
Playlet was working fine, aside from the issues with thumbnails not showing up, which was fixed in one of your updates.

Does the error show up immediately, or does the video play for certain amount of time before the error?

The error shows up after a "loading" red circle animation plays for several seconds. That animation doesn't show the percentage progress like it used to. Occasionally it will flash 33%.

Here's an additional thing to do that can help investigating further.

Look in the logs for a line that says Now playing video http://127.0.0.1:8888/api/hls?url=https.....Ffile%2Findex.m3u8
"Now playing" isn't in the logs.

If you can't find this line, you might see instead Sending GET https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/hls_variant/.../file/index.m3u8

https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/hls_variant/expire/1748456016/ei/8P02aKjUA-SpsfIPudj8EA/ip/REDACTED/id/6a9e158c23dd9a8e/source/youtube/requiressl/yes/xpc/EgVo2aDSNQ%3D%3D/playback_host/rr1---sn-q4fzen7s.googlevideo.com/met/1748434416%2C/mh/-x/mm/31%2C26/mn/sn-q4fzen7s%2Csn-vgqsknls/ms/au%2Conr/mv/m/mvi/1/pl/20/rms/au%2Cau/hfr/1/demuxed/1/tts_caps/1/maudio/1/initcwndbps/1026250/bui/AY1jyLPdVcSg5SuS9eKjC9htfFTkDZnmVGADjEBxvYsubNsGruQfrIvTHERsCqUsEuE8ftsXWc4fJZc1/spc/l3OVKW1aXRqxGplLlInzGt7WV3NN4bQWs-0ifslYfslGaATLzIk/vprv/1/go/1/rqh/5/mt/1748434168/fvip/5/nvgoi/1/short_key/1/ncsapi/1/keepalive/yes/fexp/51466642/dover/13/itag/0/playlist_type/DVR/sparams/expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cxpc%2Chfr%2Cdemuxed%2Ctts_caps%2Cmaudio%2Cbui%2Cspc%2Cvprv%2Cgo%2Crqh%2Citag%2Cplaylist_type/sig/AJfQdSswRQIgO2ANRc70GLATmQ5nQTCrRI8I1RUtPYVg7jTz-puk6GUCIQCarhhdEUbgOhJ3596-DB34YusrwTashtxmb5nYNuVoiw%3D%3D/lsparams/playback_host%2Cmet%2Cmh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Crms%2Cinitcwndbps/lsig/APaTxxMwRgIhAKbNLmnSzIK0Wbvu2WXtw2PX9jSEVXRus7Kb7pk8O77zAiEAg-X6KrQtyBZBpiorQ6pXDPMXvaLltU8beBg2rSVpFqI%3D/file/index.m3u8

That link doesn't have local host, that you pointed to in your next question. This one does:

Stream http://127.0.0.1:8888/api/hls?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmanifest.googlevideo.com%2Fapi%2Fmanifest%2Fhls_variant%2Fexpire%2F1748456016%2Fei%2F8P02aKjUA-SpsfIPudj8EA%2Fip%2F12.221.147.38%2Fid%2F6a9e158c23dd9a8e%2Fsource%2Fyoutube%2Frequiressl%2Fyes%2Fxpc%2FEgVo2aDSNQ%253D%253D%2Fplayback_host%2Frr1---sn-q4fzen7s.googlevideo.com%2Fmet%2F1748434416%252C%2Fmh%2F-x%2Fmm%2F31%252C26%2Fmn%2Fsn-q4fzen7s%252Csn-vgqsknls%2Fms%2Fau%252Conr%2Fmv%2Fm%2Fmvi%2F1%2Fpl%2F20%2Frms%2Fau%252Cau%2Fhfr%2F1%2Fdemuxed%2F1%2Ftts_caps%2F1%2Fmaudio%2F1%2Finitcwndbps%2F1026250%2Fbui%2FAY1jyLPdVcSg5SuS9eKjC9htfFTkDZnmVGADjEBxvYsubNsGruQfrIvTHERsCqUsEuE8ftsXWc4fJZc1%2Fspc%2Fl3OVKW1aXRqxGplLlInzGt7WV3NN4bQWs-0ifslYfslGaATLzIk%2Fvprv%2F1%2Fgo%2F1%2Frqh%2F5%2Fmt%2F1748434168%2Ffvip%2F5%2Fnvgoi%2F1%2Fshort_key%2F1%2Fncsapi%2F1%2Fkeepalive%2Fyes%2Ffexp%2F51466642%2Fdover%2F13%2Fitag%2F0%2Fplaylist_type%2FDVR%2Fsparams%2Fexpire%252Cei%252Cip%252Cid%252Csource%252Crequiressl%252Cxpc%252Chfr%252Cdemuxed%252Ctts_caps%252Cmaudio%252Cbui%252Cspc%252Cvprv%252Cgo%252Crqh%252Citag%252Cplaylist_type%2Fsig%2FAJfQdSswRQIgO2ANRc70GLATmQ5nQTCrRI8I1RUtPYVg7jTz-puk6GUCIQCarhhdEUbgOhJ3596-DB34YusrwTashtxmb5nYNuVoiw%253D%253D%2Flsparams%2Fplayback_host%252Cmet%252Cmh%252Cmm%252Cmn%252Cms%252Cmv%252Cmvi%252Cpl%252Crms%252Cinitcwndbps%2Flsig%2FAPaTxxMwRgIhAKbNLmnSzIK0Wbvu2WXtw2PX9jSEVXRus7Kb7pk8O77zAiEAg-X6KrQtyBZBpiorQ6pXDPMXvaLltU8beBg2rSVpFqI%253D%2Ffile%2Findex.m3u8

Take that link, and replace http://127.0.0.1:8888 with the url of the web app (e.g. http://192.168.18.3:8888)
The url now looks like http://192.168.18.3:8888/api/hls?url=https.....Ffile%2Findex.m3u8
Use VLC (or QuickTime, or any capable video player) to open the URL
VLC: Select File -> Open Network... and paste the url
QuickTime: Select File -> Open Location... and paste the url
If the video Plays fine, it's probably the Roku device struggling to play
If the video doesn't play, then YouTube changed something

VLC will not stream it. The playback progress bar just continues to animate right-left-right-left...

Additionally, for the past day while trying to troubleshoot, I am randomly being prompted to sign in to determine that I am not a bot. This happens no matter which invidious instance I am signed into. It's fairly random. Logging out/in doesn't fix it.

[06:46:13.424][ERROR][VideoPlayer.bs:175] Sign in to confirm you’re not a bot
This helps protect our community. Learn more
[06:49:47.638][INFO][AppController.bs:151] Exiting app

I also installed the official Youtube app to see if videos play on my Roku. Affirmative. But Youtube now forces you to login to watch a video. Login is prompted for all videos when running as guest. Even kids videos are marked as restricted. I have a feeling this is a related issue.

[TK5000]

I see that we are still on v0.391 but videos are playing again in Playlet AND the official Youtube app while in guest mode. Roku is still on 14.5.4 build 5944. Definitely something Youtube is doing.

UPDATE: the functionality is actually intermittent. I was able to watch a few videos before the error returned. I restarted the app and was able to watch more. The effect of the restart may be totally coincidental.

[iBicha]

I have a feeling this issue is related to #618
More so, it has been aggressively affecting more people based on stats
Playlet will need to make changes to adapt to these issues

[TK5000]

Just an update. It's still completely intermittent. I always try Playlet before falling back to the official Youtube app. When it fails, it is for every video until I close out and give it time.

[iBicha]

Thanks for the update. Did you try casting from your mobile app, where you are logged in? Just to confirm theories

[TK5000]

I wasn't aware of a Playlet mobile app. I run GrapheneOS with only open source apps, so... I'll see if I can get one of my old phones booted up and give it a test.

I'm logged into inv.nadeko.net I've tried many instances and it's the only one that works for me.

[iBicha]

I wasn't aware of a Playlet mobile app. I run GrapheneOS with only open source apps, so... I'll see if I can get one of my old phones booted up and give it a test.

I'm logged into inv.nadeko.net I've tried many instances and it's the only one that works for me.

To confirm there's no Playlet mobile app, I'm talking about the YouTube mobile app (if you happen to use it)
It MIGHT work when you face errors (see my explanation here #618 (comment))

[TK5000]

I created a throwaway profile in GrapheneOS and anonymously installed Youtube from the Aurora Store, but it won't even open without installing Google Play Services. I realize it's sandboxed, but I'd rather do that on an old phone. I'll give that a shot when I have access to my old phone/s.

[TK5000]

Casting to the Official Youtube app works as it should, but now I see that we are on Playlet v.40.0 and it's now completely broken for me. Subs, history, thumbnails, etc... nothing loads.