diff --git a/backend/app.js b/backend/app.js
index d7b6a68..8177f20 100644
--- a/backend/app.js
+++ b/backend/app.js
@@ -165,7 +165,9 @@ var validDownloadingAgents = [
     'ffmpeg',
     'httpie',
     'wget'
-]
+];
+
+const subscription_timeouts = {};
 
 // don't overwrite config if it already happened.. NOT
 // let alreadyWritten = db.get('configWriteFlag').value();
@@ -616,15 +618,14 @@ function loadConfigValues() {
     logger.transports[2].level = logger_level;
 }
 
-function calculateSubcriptionRetrievalDelay(amount) {
-    // frequency is 5 mins
-    let frequency_in_ms = subscriptionsCheckInterval * 1000;
-    let minimum_frequency = 60 * 1000;
-    const first_frequency = frequency_in_ms/amount;
-    return (first_frequency < minimum_frequency) ? minimum_frequency : first_frequency;
+function calculateSubcriptionRetrievalDelay(subscriptions_amount) {
+    // frequency is once every 5 mins by default
+    let interval_in_ms = subscriptionsCheckInterval * 1000;
+    const subinterval_in_ms = interval_in_ms/subscriptions_amount;
+    return subinterval_in_ms;
 }
 
-function watchSubscriptions() { 
+async function watchSubscriptions() { 
     let subscriptions = null;
     
     const multiUserMode = config_api.getConfigItem('ytdl_multi_user_mode');
@@ -646,10 +647,19 @@ function watchSubscriptions() {
     let current_delay = 0;
     for (let i = 0; i < subscriptions.length; i++) {
         let sub = subscriptions[i];
+
+        // don't check the sub if the last check for the same subscription has not completed
+        if (subscription_timeouts[sub.id]) {
+            logger.verbose(`Subscription: skipped checking ${sub.name} as the last check for ${sub.name} has not completed.`);
+            continue;
+        }
+
         logger.verbose('Watching ' + sub.name + ' with delay interval of ' + delay_interval);
-        setTimeout(() => {
-            subscriptions_api.getVideosForSub(sub, sub.user_uid);
+        setTimeout(async () => {
+            await subscriptions_api.getVideosForSub(sub, sub.user_uid);
+            subscription_timeouts[sub.id] = false;
         }, current_delay);
+        subscription_timeouts[sub.id] = true;
         current_delay += delay_interval;
         if (current_delay >= subscriptionsCheckInterval * 1000) current_delay = 0;
     }
@@ -2212,7 +2222,7 @@ app.post('/api/getSubscription', optionalJwt, async (req, res) => {
         else
             base_path = config_api.getConfigItem('ytdl_subscriptions_base_path');
         
-        let appended_base_path = path.join(base_path, subscription.isPlaylist ? 'playlists' : 'channels', subscription.name, '/');
+        let appended_base_path = path.join(base_path, (subscription.isPlaylist ? 'playlists' : 'channels'), subscription.name, '/');
         let files;
         try {
             files = recFindByExt(appended_base_path, 'mp4');
diff --git a/backend/subscriptions.js b/backend/subscriptions.js
index e5ba918..811c771 100644
--- a/backend/subscriptions.js
+++ b/backend/subscriptions.js
@@ -240,10 +240,10 @@ async function getVideosForSub(sub, user_uid = null) {
         if (sub.name) {
             appendedBasePath = getAppendedBasePath(sub, basePath);
         } else {
-            appendedBasePath = basePath + (sub.isPlaylist ? 'playlists/%(playlist_title)s' : 'channels/%(uploader)s');
+            appendedBasePath = path.join(basePath, (sub.isPlaylist ? 'playlists/%(playlist_title)s' : 'channels/%(uploader)s'));
         }
 
-        let downloadConfig = ['-o', appendedBasePath + '/%(title)s.mp4', '-f', 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/mp4', '-ciw', '--write-annotations', '--write-thumbnail', '--write-info-json', '--print-json'];
+        let downloadConfig = ['-o', appendedBasePath + '/%(title)s.mp4', '-f', 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/mp4', '-ciw', '--write-info-json', '--print-json'];
 
         let archive_dir = null;
         let archive_path = null;
@@ -275,10 +275,28 @@ async function getVideosForSub(sub, user_uid = null) {
         }
 
         // get videos 
-        logger.verbose('Subscribe: getting videos for subscription ' + sub.name);
+        logger.verbose('Subscription: getting videos for subscription ' + sub.name);
         youtubedl.exec(sub.url, downloadConfig, {}, function(err, output) {
-            if (err) {
+            logger.verbose('Subscription: finished check for ' + sub.name);
+            if (err && !output) {
                 logger.error(err.stderr);
+                if (err.stderr.includes('This video is unavailable')) {
+                    logger.info('An error was encountered with at least one video, backup method will be used.')
+                    try {
+                        const outputs = err.stdout.split(/\r\n|\r|\n/);
+                        for (let i = 0; i < outputs.length; i++) {
+                            const output = JSON.parse(outputs[i]);
+                            handleOutputJSON(sub, sub_db, output, i === 0)
+                            if (err.stderr.includes(output['id']) && archive_path) {
+                                // we found a video that errored! add it to the archive to prevent future errors
+                                fs.appendFileSync(archive_path, output['id']);
+                            }
+                        }
+                    } catch(e) {
+                        logger.error('Backup method failed. See error below:');
+                        logger.error(e);
+                    }
+                }
                 resolve(false);
             } else if (output) {
                 if (output.length === 0 || (output.length === 1 && output[0] === '')) {
@@ -296,17 +314,8 @@ async function getVideosForSub(sub, user_uid = null) {
                         continue;
                     }
 
-                    if (sub.streamingOnly) {
-                        if (i === 0) {
-                            sub_db.assign({videos: []}).write();
-                        }
-
-                        // remove unnecessary info
-                        output_json.formats = null;
-
-                        // add to db
-                        sub_db.get('videos').push(output_json).write();
-                    }
+                    const reset_videos = i === 0;
+                    handleOutputJSON(sub, sub_db, output_json, reset_videos);
 
                     // TODO: Potentially store downloaded files in db?
         
@@ -317,6 +326,20 @@ async function getVideosForSub(sub, user_uid = null) {
     });
 }
 
+function handleOutputJSON(sub, sub_db, output_json, reset_videos = false) {
+    if (sub.streamingOnly) {
+        if (reset_videos) {
+            sub_db.assign({videos: []}).write();
+        }
+
+        // remove unnecessary info
+        output_json.formats = null;
+
+        // add to db
+        sub_db.get('videos').push(output_json).write();
+    }
+}
+
 function getAllSubscriptions(user_uid = null) {
     if (user_uid)
         return users_db.get('users').find({uid: user_uid}).get('subscriptions').value();