diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/spiegel.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/spiegel.py
index bf5a5e2a4..340a38440 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/spiegel.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/spiegel.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 import re
@@ -9,18 +10,33 @@ class SpiegelIE(InfoExtractor):
     _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?spiegel\.de/video/[^/]*-(?P<videoID>[0-9]+)(?:\.html)?(?:#.*)?$'
     _TESTS = [{
         'url': 'http://www.spiegel.de/video/vulkan-tungurahua-in-ecuador-ist-wieder-aktiv-video-1259285.html',
-        'file': '1259285.mp4',
         'md5': '2c2754212136f35fb4b19767d242f66e',
         'info_dict': {
+            'id': '1259285',
+            'ext': 'mp4',
             'title': 'Vulkanausbruch in Ecuador: Der "Feuerschlund" ist wieder aktiv',
+            'description': 'md5:8029d8310232196eb235d27575a8b9f4',
+            'duration': 49,
         },
-    },
-    {
+    }, {
         'url': 'http://www.spiegel.de/video/schach-wm-videoanalyse-des-fuenften-spiels-video-1309159.html',
-        'file': '1309159.mp4',
         'md5': 'f2cdf638d7aa47654e251e1aee360af1',
         'info_dict': {
+            'id': '1309159',
+            'ext': 'mp4',
             'title': 'Schach-WM in der Videoanalyse: Carlsen nutzt die Fehlgriffe des Titelverteidigers',
+            'description': 'md5:c2322b65e58f385a820c10fa03b2d088',
+            'duration': 983,
+        },
+    }, {
+        'url': 'http://www.spiegel.de/video/johann-westhauser-videobotschaft-des-hoehlenforschers-video-1502367.html',
+        'md5': '54f58ba0e752e3c07bc2a26222dd0acf',
+        'info_dict': {
+            'id': '1502367',
+            'ext': 'mp4',
+            'title': 'Videobotschaft: Höhlenforscher Westhauser dankt seinen Rettern',
+            'description': 'md5:c6f1ec11413ebd1088b6813943e5fc91',
+            'duration': 42,
         },
     }]
 
@@ -30,19 +46,15 @@ class SpiegelIE(InfoExtractor):
 
         webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
 
-        video_title = self._html_search_regex(
+        title = self._html_search_regex(
             r'<div class="module-title">(.*?)</div>', webpage, 'title')
+        description = self._html_search_meta('description', webpage, 'description')
 
         base_url = self._search_regex(
-            r'var\s+server\s+=\s+\"(http://video\d*\.spiegel\.de/flash/\d+/\d+/)\";',
-            webpage,
-            'base_url',
-        )
+            r'var\s+server\s*=\s*"([^"]+)\"', webpage, 'server URL')
 
         xml_url = base_url + video_id + '.xml'
-        idoc = self._download_xml(
-            xml_url, video_id,
-            note='Downloading XML', errnote='Failed to download XML from "{0}"'.format(xml_url))
+        idoc = self._download_xml(xml_url, video_id)
 
         formats = [
             {
@@ -65,7 +77,8 @@ class SpiegelIE(InfoExtractor):
 
         return {
             'id': video_id,
-            'title': video_title,
+            'title': title,
+            'description': description,
             'duration': duration,
             'formats': formats,
         }