- Added the prefer_invidious config-option (disabled by default).

When enabled, invidious instances will be preferred for getting the YouTube results.

By default, the YouTube website is parsed directly, which is usually faster.

- Also added the `--invidious` command-line option, which controls the `prefer_invidious` config-option.

Example:

	pipe-viewer --invidious search terms

is equivalent with:

	straw-viewer search terms

From now on, `straw-viewer` is considered deprecated in favor of `pipe-viewer`.

Author: trizen

bin/gtk-pipe-viewer

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 #-------------------------------------------------------
 #  GTK Pipe Viewer
 #  Fork: 30 October 2020
-#  Edit: 22 February 2021
+#  Edit: 23 February 2021
 #  https://github.com/trizen/pipe-viewer
 #-------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -176,21 +176,22 @@ my %CONFIG = (
     hpaned_position             => 420,
 
     # Pipe options
-    split_videos   => 1,
-    m4a_audio      => 1,
-    dash           => 1,        # may load slow
-    prefer_mp4     => 0,
-    prefer_av1     => 0,
-    ignore_av1     => 0,
-    maxResults     => 10,
-    hfr            => 1,        # true to prefer high frame rate (HFR) videos
-    resolution     => 'best',
-    videoDimension => undef,
-    videoLicense   => undef,
-    region         => undef,
-
-    comments_width => 80,       # wrap comments longer than `n` characters
-    comments_order => 'top',    # valid values: time, relevance
+    split_videos     => 1,
+    m4a_audio        => 1,
+    dash             => 1,        # may load slow
+    prefer_mp4       => 0,
+    prefer_av1       => 0,
+    ignore_av1       => 0,
+    prefer_invidious => 0,
+    maxResults       => 10,
+    hfr              => 1,        # true to prefer high frame rate (HFR) videos
+    resolution       => 'best',
+    videoDimension   => undef,
+    videoLicense     => undef,
+    region           => undef,
+
+    comments_width => 80,         # wrap comments longer than `n` characters
+    comments_order => 'top',      # valid values: time, relevance
 
     # API
     api_host => "auto",
@@ -864,11 +865,11 @@ sub apply_configuration {
 
     foreach my $option_name (
                              qw(
-                             comments_order
                              maxResults videoDimension videoLicense
                              region debug http_proxy user_agent
                              timeout cookie_file ytdl ytdl_cmd
                              api_host prefer_mp4 prefer_av1
+                             comments_order prefer_invidious
                              )
       ) {
 
@@ -2543,7 +2544,6 @@ sub display_results {
     if (ref($items) ne 'ARRAY') {
 
         my $current_instance = $yv_obj->get_api_host();
-        $yv_obj->pick_and_set_random_instance();    # set a random invidious instance
 
         die "Probably $current_instance is down.\n"
           . "\nTry changing the `api_host` in configuration file:\n\n"

bin/pipe-viewer

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 #-------------------------------------------------------
 #  pipe-viewer
 #  Fork: 30 October 2020
-#  Edit: 22 February 2021
+#  Edit: 23 February 2021
 #  https://github.com/trizen/pipe-viewer
 #-------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ my %CONFIG = (
     prefer_mp4         => 0,
     prefer_av1         => 0,
     ignore_av1         => 0,
+    prefer_invidious   => 0,
     fat32safe          => $constant{win32},
     fullscreen         => 0,
     show_video_info    => 1,
@@ -811,6 +812,7 @@ usage: $execname [options] ([url] | [keywords])
     --custom-playlist-layout=s : custom layout format for playlists
 
  * Other
+   --invidious!         : prefer invidious instances over parsing YouTube
    --api=s              : set an API host from https://api.invidious.io/
    --api=auto           : use a random instance of invidious
    --cookies=s          : file to read cookies from and dump cookie
@@ -1113,7 +1115,7 @@ sub apply_configuration {
                              http_proxy page comments_order
                              subscriptions_order user_agent
                              cookie_file timeout ytdl ytdl_cmd
-                             prefer_mp4 prefer_av1
+                             prefer_mp4 prefer_av1 prefer_invidious
                              )
       ) {
 
@@ -1558,6 +1560,8 @@ sub parse_arguments {
         'prefer-av1!' => \$opt{prefer_av1},
         'ignore-av1!' => \$opt{ignore_av1},
 
+        'invidious|prefer-invidious!' => \$opt{prefer_invidious},
+
         'custom-layout-format=s'          => \$opt{custom_layout_format},
         'custom-channel-layout-format=s'  => \$opt{custom_channel_layout_format},
         'custom-playlist-layout-format=s' => \$opt{custom_playlist_layout_format},
@@ -4439,6 +4443,10 @@ Prefer videos in MP4 (AVC) format.
 
 Try to enable this option if the videos are lagging or dropping frames.
 
+=head2 prefer_invidious
+
+Prefer invidious instances over parsing the YouTube website directly.
+
 =head2 region
 
 ISO 3166 country code (default: "US").

lib/WWW/PipeViewer.pm

@@ -80,10 +80,11 @@ my %valid_options = (
     ytdl_cmd => {valid => qr/\w/, default => "youtube-dl"},
 
     # Booleans
-    env_proxy   => {valid => [1, 0], default => 1},
-    escape_utf8 => {valid => [1, 0], default => 0},
-    prefer_mp4  => {valid => [1, 0], default => 0},
-    prefer_av1  => {valid => [1, 0], default => 0},
+    env_proxy        => {valid => [1, 0], default => 1},
+    escape_utf8      => {valid => [1, 0], default => 0},
+    prefer_mp4       => {valid => [1, 0], default => 0},
+    prefer_av1       => {valid => [1, 0], default => 0},
+    prefer_invidious => {valid => [1, 0], default => 0},
 
     # API/OAuth
     key           => {valid => qr/^.{15}/, default => undef},
@@ -448,7 +449,9 @@ sub lwp_get {
     }
 
     # Too many errors. Pick another invidious instance.
-    # $self->pick_and_set_random_instance();
+    if ($url !~ m{\bm\.youtube\.com/}) {
+        $self->pick_and_set_random_instance();
+    }
 
     _warn_reponse_error($response, $url);
     return;
@@ -596,12 +599,33 @@ sub select_good_invidious_instances {
 sub pick_random_instance {
     my ($self) = @_;
 
-    # TODO: make sure the selected invidious instance actually works.
+    my @candidates       = $self->select_good_invidious_instances();
+    my @extra_candidates = $self->select_good_invidious_instances(lax => 1);
+
+    require List::Util;
+    require WWW::PipeViewer::Utils;
+
+    state $yv_utils = WWW::PipeViewer::Utils->new();
+
+    foreach my $instance (List::Util::shuffle(@candidates), List::Util::shuffle(@extra_candidates)) {
 
-    my @candidates = $self->select_good_invidious_instances();
+        ref($instance) eq 'ARRAY' or next;
+
+        my $uri = $instance->[1]{uri} // next;
+        $uri =~ s{/+\z}{};    # remove trailing '/'
+
+        local $self->{api_host}         = $uri;
+        local $self->{prefer_invidious} = 1;
+
+        my $results = $self->search_videos('test');
+
+        if ($yv_utils->has_entries($results)) {
+            return $instance;
+        }
+    }
 
     if (not @candidates) {
-        @candidates = $self->select_good_invidious_instances(lax => 1);
+        @candidates = @extra_candidates;
     }
 
     $candidates[rand @candidates];

lib/WWW/PipeViewer/InitialData.pm

@@ -508,6 +508,8 @@ sub _extract_playlist_videos {
 sub _get_initial_data {
     my ($self, $url) = @_;
 
+    $self->get_prefer_invidious() and return;
+
     my $content = $self->lwp_get($url) // return;
 
     if ($content =~ m{var\s+ytInitialData\s*=\s*'(.*?)'}is) {