Background: I bought a Blue-ray set that came with a code for the digital copy. This was back before Funimation was acquired. I could go through and rip my discs since Sony seems to be on the verge of nuking my digital copies, but teaching myself yt-dlp seemed more convenient.

Here’s are the settings I ended up using with yt-dlp to download digital copies from Funimation. I paste all three of these at the same time into the terminal, but you can paste them one at a time if you want. I’m on Linux and log into Funimation with Firefox, but it should be almost the same for Windows. The URL needs to be changed for each download. I have noticed some downloads stalling, but I if I refresh the pages that lists the episodes, the download resumes.

yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox -F https://www.funimation.com/path-to-episode
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox --list-subs https://www.funimation.com/path-to-episode
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox --write-description --write-info-json --write-sub --write-thumbnail --embed-subs -o '~/Path/To/Downloads/Video/Folder/s%(season_number)02de%(episode_number)02d - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.funimation.com/path-to-episode

Here’s what each part means:

Line 1:

 -F

Outputs you which versions are available. I have it tell me this, so I can make sure when I run Line 3 the output matches the highest quality listed in the output from Line 1

 --cookies-from-browser firefox

Tells yt-dlp to use the cookies from your browser to authenicate the download since it’s only available if you’re logged in.

Line 2:

 --list-subs

Tells yt-dlp to list the kinds of subtitles it can find. I have a few episodes that it cannot find any subtitles even though they’re avaiable when streaming. It seems like it’s something weird with some episodes, and is probably related to this: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/1656

Line 3:

 --write-description

Makes a .description text file with the description metadata in it in the same folder you download to.

 --write-info-json

Makes an .info.json json/text file with all the metadata in it in the same folder you download to.

 --write-sub

Makes an .srt srt/text file with the subtitles in it in the same folder you download to.

 --write-thumbnail

Makes a .jpg image file of the thumbnail artwork for the episode in the same folder you download to.

 --embed-subs

Embeds the subtitles in the downloaded video file.

 -o '~/Path/To/Downloads/Video/Folder/s%(season_number)02de%(episode_number)02d - %(title)s.%(ext)s'

Specifies the download path, and formats the filename as: s##e## - Episode Title.mp4

Hope this helps someone. I realize you could skip all this hassle and just pirate it somewhere, but I’m not sure where to find this specific release other than the digital copy on Funimation.

  • EveryMuffinIsNowEncryptedEnglish
    25·
    11 months ago

    Not to dismiss your hard work (because it is rather impressive), but if you have the bluray disk then why not just rip the files to mkv with MakeMKV and then reencode for smaller file sizes with Handbrake (or just leave it as the default mkvs if you don’t want to reencode them)?

    • ramble81@lemm.eeEnglish
      52·
      11 months ago

      This popped up because Funimation had quite a few purchases that were digital only, and not just a code with your blu-ray. Sony has announced that they are shutting down Funimation on 4/2 and digital purchases will not transfer over to Crunchyroll leaving all those people who purchased digital content on Funimation in the lurch.

      • MudMan@kbin.social
        11·
        10 months ago

        I’m not sure about the digital-only stuff, but the OP is specifically talking about yt-dlp as an alternative to ripping the BRs, and I have to agree that ripping the disks will be easier and yields better results.

        Hardware availability is the trickiest part, especially for UHD, but if you have a drive that will deal with the disks you have I certainly wouldn’t bother with the stream rip.

        But hey, as a fallback, it’s good to have the option.

      • EveryMuffinIsNowEncryptedEnglish
        9·
        11 months ago

        I understand that, but they explicitly said (first sentence) they were digital codes provided to them as additions to bluray disks they own.

        • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.eeEnglish
          10·
          11 months ago

          They generalized the problem and then released the solution. OP may own the discs they’re backing up but this solution is designed not to care whether you own the discs.

    • Agathon 🏴‍☠️@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      24·
      11 months ago

      No worries. I already acknowledged that ripping or piracy were probably simpler.

      For me, it’ll be a little more convenient to do the downloads than to spend time ripping. I’d have to go to the room with my computer that has a drive. Downloading I can do with my laptop anywhere.

      I’ve been meaning to get better acquainted with yt-dlp’s settings for use all over the web, and the April deadline put on pressure to learn sooner rather than later.

      And, although the disc version is undoubtedly better, the archivist in me also wants the digital copy version as it was available.

      For others, they may not have a disc version at all and want to backup their purchases.

      Edit: And, oh yeah, MakeMKV is awesome.