Re: m3u8 extension
Reply #6 – 2021-05-06 03:04:03
Trying to open m3u8 links as in here https://hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/127134-high-quality-320kbps-streams-for-all-bbc-radio-stations/ w ith no lack. Drag-n-drop them in foobar playlist, which seems populated fine, but no play. There is always a popup Unable to open item for playback (Unsupported format or corrupted file): "http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_6music.m3u8 "foo_input_ffmpeg is installed and configured. Any ideas on this? I know this is a necrothread, but it may still be useful for people Googling the problem. BBC publishes its streaming URLs at "https://bbc.co.uk/radio/imda/imda_transports.xml ". Some streams are geofenced to the UK, you can tell by the "relevance" variable for each stream entry in the XML. Recently some of the URLs changed (different CDNs), in particular the unicast stream URLs changed recently as they migrated to a new platform for 'legacy' unicast streams. An upshot of this is that the codec quality is better, and the sample rate is now 48 kHz which matches their playout systems so there's no additional sample rate conversion. The BBC almost entirely uses 48 kHz for its radio networks, for various reasons beyond the scope of this reply. Back to HLS streams -- for example, as of May 2021, BBC 6 Music's 'entry' HLS URL is "http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-syndication-high/proto/http/transferformat/hls/vpid/bbc_6music ". Mediaselector in turn 307 redirects to the actual URL, "http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/cf/bbc_6music.m3u8 " (in my case). This plays fine with foo_input_ffmpeg. You can obtain this 'true' link by using Chrome, opening a new tab & hitting F12, request the 'entry' URL from imda_transports and watch the Network tab as you request the URL. Make sure the "Preserve Log" option is checked, look for the 307 response m3u8 URL. Some stations' HLS streams are only available in the UK due to geofencing, but give the new 128 kbps MP3 streams a try. For example, 6 Music's MP3 unicast stream is at "http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/select/mediaset/http-icy-mp3-a/format/pls/proto/http/vpid/bbc_6music.pls ".