[Issue] Malformed Data Error on (Mostly) Older Videos

[JCollins2048]

02/08 Edit: Removed "unrelated" notice, fixed incorrect error number, added a photo.

System Information

Television

Model: Hisense Roku TV 43R6+ (C256X)
Software version: 15.0.4 (5534)
Connection type: Wi-Fi

Playlet

App Version: 0.43.0, 0.40.0 (dev-canary)
Library Version: 0.44.5 (normal and dev-canary)
Backend: Playlet (local)

Summary of Problem

Attempting to play certain videos (usually very old ones) results in a malformed data error.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Playlet app on a Roku TV.
2. Disable Invidious backend, if enabled.
3. Find and play a video which is older than 15 years. Login state doesn't matter.

More Details

This is a bit different from the other "malformed data" error that's kind of floating around.

For the last couple of months, attempting to play older videos with Playlet itself results in an error. Even using the web interface's "ytjs" option doesn't work. The video loads its information, gets added to the user's History, and attempts to play only to immediately give up with the following error:

errorMsg: malformed data
errorCode: -5
errorStr: reader pick stream error:malformed data:extra:content_id:[clipid]:etype:buffer:program_id:
source: buffer:reader
clipid: [incremental]
ignored: false
dbgmsg: [same as errorStr]
category: mediaerror
errcode: 1
drmerrcode: 0

The clipid value increments with each video played, but not in any sensible fashion. (It went from 1, to 12, to 21, for example.)

What's really stage is that sometimes, the video hitting this error isn't that old. For example, a video from 1 year ago also gave me this error.

I have no idea what to make of this one, but I'm happy to help in any way I can. The most recent "troublesome" videos are linked below.

Relevant Media

Playlet failing to play video JEilPR1PXko with a "malformed data" error.

Relevant Links

• The Muppet Show - To Morrow (19 years ago)
• all fusionFall characters (15 years ago)
• Sonic Adventure 2 Parody - Press B to Do Everything (1 year ago)

[iBicha]

Thanks for reporting. These issues are indeed related to other malformed data errors.
So, I just tried to play all 3 videos, logged in and logged out, and they work in all cases.
It's not as simple as being specific videos, or old videos. It's related to how YouTube tracks users, and how it switches formats after watching for a while. Sometimes it returns DRM protected videos (which Playlet now supports) and sometimes it is other types of video streaming formats (such as OTF, or "on the fly" streams) but I don't think all cases are accounted for.
I believe these intermittent errors will continue to occur from time to time, until two things are implemented: PoTokens, and SABR streaming.
Now I wonder why you think this is definitely a different error (or has a different cause)

[JCollins2048]

Because… it gave a different error message?

Issue #768:

errorStr: buffer:search:demux.dash:Format has no audio or video:extra:content_id:[clipid]:etype:buffer:program_id:
source: buffer:sesrch:demux.dash

Issue #824 (this one):

errorStr: reader pick stream error:malformed data:extra:content_id:[clipid]:etype:buffer:program_id:
source: buffer:reader

Granted, they're identical otherwise, right down to the error number, but still.

I went ahead and removed the "different error" header notice on the original post, though.

[iBicha]

Thanks, no they could be different errors, I was wondering why you thought the cause was different.
All good, keeping an eye on this