YT-DLP and JDownloader 2 now evade geo-restriction?

[Night457]

I discovered this by accident.

Re: this thread: https://www.first-loves.com/forums/view ... 41#p111941

Ghost linked his ARTE.tv source and warned that it was geo-restricted to French or German IPs. I went to the site when I was on a Dutch IP, just to read the page and not try to download it. Sure enough it said I was in the "wrong country" to view the video. I happened to have Jdownloader2 open at the time, and I noticed that links opened up in it from that page. Interesting, I thought. I tried them and they downloaded. The video was supposed to be available in 1080p but it only downloaded in 720p files, however. One was with French hardcoded and the other was with German hardcoded subtitles.

Then out of curiosity I went to use yt-dlp in command line and extracted the external subtitles using the --all-subs option, and then just the video regularly. This time the video was the full 1080p WITHOUT hardcoded subtitles! Before it successfully downloaded, it gave this message in command line:

WARNING: [ArteTV] Video is geo restricted. Retrying extraction with fake IP 53.75.161.101 (DE) as X-Forwarded-For.

Holy moley! I don't know if this is only because I was on a Dutch IP, or if it only works with ArteTV. But there is REAL potential here if yt-dlp and JD2 are now coded to evade geo-restrictions! This could be a real boon for those who do NOT have a VPN that allows them to switch IP countries! Please, others try this when you find something you want to download that is otherwise restricted from viewing in your browser, and report back the details of your success or failure!

[Guest2]

I already knew that with JDownloader 2 it allows you to download Arte.TV contents without using a VPN. In fact, I keep it saved on my favorites bar for this reason.

[mimzy]

WARNING: [ArteTV] Video is geo restricted. Retrying extraction with fake IP 53.75.161.101 (DE) as X-Forwarded-For.

X-Forwarded-For is an old trick (i.e., viewtopic.php?p=66909#p66909), but it works with very few sites.

[Night457]

So for awhile now I have wasted time changing my VPN Server country when I want to download from Arte? Sheesh!

Learn something old every day.

[Triela]

Where can I find a virus free JDownloader 2??? I got it somewhere once, but it was choc full of virusi / viruses

[Night457]

I have installed it a couple times on different computers, and I think I generally went to the official site:
https://jdownloader.org/jdownloader2

I remember the discussion here about your experience. I have never had issues with JD2 viruses as far as I can tell, because I don't have problems with viruses. Also I make sure to watch carefully during the installation of any software and UNCLICK any options for additional software installations. Bundleware is NOT a virus as long as they specify it is there and it can be opted out from, but it is annoying.

(I do NOT remember what difference if any there is between JDownloader and JDownloader 2, but I know I use the second one.)

[ghost]

JDownloader2 hasn't got any viruses. That's just bullshit.

Of course you should get it from their original website.

[Night457]

I probably should have said that the most likely download option OTHER than the original site would have probably been Github for me. Sometimes 3rd party sites are faster or clearer about the requirements for software. My old computer was OLD and I needed old versions of software in some cases, and the developer had already trashed the old versions.

You just have to be certain your 3rd party source is trustworthy!

[Triela]

JDownloader2 hasn't got any viruses. That's just bullshit.

If you're Saying it like that, it kinda needs to be backed up, with proof, smthg, smthg.

Here's the one I tested before
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/08b ... /detection


Here is the conversation about it.

No biggie, I ran all 7 new versions thru 71 virusscanners ....
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/33b ... ?nocache=1
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/df5 ... ?nocache=1
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/1c7 ... 060a869a53
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/fcf ... ?nocache=1
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/ee2 ... ?nocache=1
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/41b ... ?nocache=1
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/c63 ... ?nocache=1

[Night457]

The vast majority of the testers detect nothing, and the rest may very well be false positives, overreacting to no threat.

I *NEVER* use that site and don't have problems. I gave up only using Microsoft Approved products decades ago, that is for sure, and I had to uninstall McAfee because it would not allow me to do ANYTHING useful online. If you want to follow the hysterical Chicken Little minority opinion, then of course that is your prerogative. Did you really think that anyone here was going to GUARANTEE no viruses? Why do you keep asking, since we have obviously gone over this before? We are simply being pragmatic and have found that we have used the software for years without problems. It is sort of like saying "I did not get sick so there must be no virus", which admittedly might not be true. False positives are a common thing in medicine as well, and a legitimate doctor will want to verify the illness with symptoms rather than just following a test. If you want your online activity to be completely safe and risk-free, then the best bet is to leave the computer off! But if you can get software that does everything you want AND passes all the VirusTotal tests, that is wonderful. I need my time for using software rather than investigating it. Just our different personal preferences, I guess.

You are certainly correct to be skeptical as to why individuals would work hard only to offer software for free, that is undeniable. I can not afford the money involved in using only paid-with-money software. I have verified that I can afford the risk in using only free software. Of course I do not do anything really foolish like downloading cracked software from a porn site. Not anymore, anyway. And I admit that when my free antivirus (Windows Defender) detects something suspicious, I look at it and then delete the offender. I am not CRAZY. I also realize that while I am likely capable of recovering a computer from a virus attack, I would not care to take the time and effort involved. Please don't think I am some wild risktaker who likes to skateboard on an airplane wing while the plane is in flight. I am really too boring for that.

I am unclear of what source you used for the file you tested. Seriously, the best bet is to always get your downloads from the official site and just test that. If you decide you then do not want to trust it, your work is done. No other site will improve upon the safety of the download. Free and open-source software CAN be readily modified by third parties. So unless you trust that third party, don't download from them.