Capturing Video... lots of ideas, none working so far.

[icarus]

Alrighty then. I'm trying several ways to capture video. YouTube is easy. I'm trying to do this, however, from a site that's gotten creative in how the streaming video is displayed. The video appears in a little window within a pop-up window. There is no URL to the file.

Real Player version 11 Tools -- Preferences -- Downloads and Recording

While this works nicely for YouTube, it records just the blue surrounding background window for the videos I'm trying to capture.

Firefox's Download Helper then convert it from flv using Media Converter. (Super (c) will also work.)

Download Helper shows a list of sites that it works on. My site is not on that list.

Use a program called 'Replay Media Catcher' to grab the file.

I'm trying out the free trial version of this now. So far it doesn't seem to be doing anything. I'll have to test it on YouTube to find out if I'm just using it incorrectly, or if it's this site again.

You don't need any software to capture the You Tube videos. UseInternet Explorer to access the site. Then open your Temporary Internet Files Folder via Windows Explorer. Sort the files by "Last Accessed" byclicking that heading. The YouTube videos have a filename using this pattern: "get_video?video_id=".
Drag this file to your desktop or another folder and give it the nameof the file you just watched with the filetype of ".flv". Download theFLV file player or VLC and you can watch the video as often as youlike. NOTE: The file won't appear in the folder until it is nearly done playing; the time depends upon your internet speed.

For some reason this isn't working for me. There is no file in my Temporary Internet Files folder (and I remember there once was a whole listing) just a dat file. ??

For firefox users, flash streamed videos can be found in the user'stemp folder in the format fla???.tmp. Wait until the progress bar iscomplete (press F5 in explorer to ensure that the file size is nolonger increasing) then use an unlocker to copy the file to anotherlocation with an flv extension. I use Unlocker from http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/ (freeware).

I haven't tried this yet.

I am still open to suggestions, helps, advice from all you tech-savvy people. :)

In other news, I downloaded my first torrent last night. Go me.

Comments

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

Can you give the url for the site you're trying to download from?

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

With Firefox, you should be able to find the url for the video by checking the page information. You may have to find the url for the pop-up first though, to be able to access the proper menus for that window.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Here's the URL it's giving me for one of the pop-up windows:

mms://a1525.v288547.c28854.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1525/28854/v0001/icenet.download.akamai.com/28854/2007/ice_!/skate_amer/102707_skam_m_fs_700.wmv?auth=ca.dKbPawdvcOdQafc7cNdYbYa2dBcOdvdG-bhKN8u-bA-xmowpFCplGCnDCGqAxn-j6neq4j9kalfp6kbl5kejdl3o8sesaj4jcnbq5jakcl9&aifp=v0001&ct5=19-Jan-08&ct1=icenetwork&ct3=12706&ct7=72810&ct4=icenetwork&ct6=75.172.73.241&ct8=16

That mms:// has me puzzled.

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

Could you give the url for the page itself?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Okay. Replied and deleted. :)

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

I've had good luck with Orbit rich media downloader. I can't test the site with my setup because I don't have the login information for the site you're interested in, but Orbit does allow you to put server login info into the same page where you put the download url.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Ahhh... cool, that option will help quite a bit. I'm using a demo version of WM Recorder per dancing_moon's suggestion and the password protection is locking me out.

Thank you, I'll let you know if it worked.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Okay, Orbit works beautifully on their publically available videos. I am pleased with that.

But the paid ones, even putting in the login and password, I get the following:

2008-01-19 17:15:59 Connecting a1509.v28854f.c28854.g.vm.akamaistream.net:1755
2008-01-19 17:15:59 Connected
2008-01-19 17:15:59 Send command 1
2008-01-19 17:15:59 Recv command 1
2008-01-19 17:15:59 Server: 9.01.01.3844 Encryption type: NTLM
2008-01-19 17:15:59 Send command 2
2008-01-19 17:15:59 Recv command 2
2008-01-19 17:15:59 Send command 5
2008-01-19 17:16:00 Recv command 6
2008-01-19 17:16:00 Wait for retry(5S)

So. Hmm.

All the paid files are given the same name as well. I wish there were a recorder that'll record exactly what I have on my screen.

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

mms:// = Microsoft Media Server, according to the comp engineer boyfriend. So it's a file being streamed from a special server, which is why Firefox etc can't save it on its own.

I'm just going to bed, but maybe this site can be of some help? How to download/save/capture/record Windows Media streams

Good luck and I hope something works for you!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you! First, I'm going to try the free version of the WM Recorder to see if it can record these files as they're playing. If it works, I'll try some of the similar freeware that support mms. If those don't work, I'll probably buy WM Recorder. It's worth it to me.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Hmm. WM Recorder didn't work for this site because the site requires a password and login. Orbit however did work for the free content, but they've done some extra encoding or something for the paid stuff.

Different files are coming up with different URLs but the same name on the paid stuff and Orbit does ten million retries with no luck.

I'll try some of the other recorders once my patience has recovered a bit.

[tardis80.livejournal.com]

Ack! In my aimless clicking around my flist I think I might have flagged this page. TOTALLY BY ACCIDENT. I'm so sorry D: I have no idea how to undo it. SORRY.

[tardis80.livejournal.com]

or maybe not *cough* Please excuse me while I hyperventilate in the corner here.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I could lock the entry, I suppose, just in case.

How can I tell if an entry has been accidentally flagged? (That's scary, by the way. I could easily screw up and flag someone's page. Isn't there at least an "are you sure?" confirmation page? Without those I probably would have, I don't know, blown up the internet by now.)

Icarus

[tardis80.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm not really sure if I succeeded in flagging it. I read through this post (http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/243697.html), and it says that if a user flags someone else's post, they have the choice to label it as "Explicit Adult Content," "Offensive Content," "Hate Speech," "Illegal Activity," or "Nude Images of Minors." I know I clicked on the little flag link, but I must have clicked on the Stop button fast enough because I didn't have to do the labeling thing.

*whew* I'm sorry if I surprised you. I didn't really know how the flagging thing worked and was horrified to think I might have done it accidentally. Thanks for being so understanding :)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Some people wouldn't say what happened. I appreciate you letting me know, and yeah, it sounds like something I would do. :D

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I tested it out by clicking the flag button on that lj_biz post (yes, I feel naughtily amused).

You would have seen this:

Flag Content

To report anything outside of these categories, please use the Abuse reporting system.

What is the nature of this content?

* Explicit Adult Content
* Offensive Content
* Hate Speech
* Illegal Activity
* Nude Images of Minors

There you are. No worries, mate. *slaps you on the back*

[reedfem.livejournal.com]

I have used ZD Soft Video Recorder with some success in the past. (www.zdsoft.com).

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll try that one next. I hit my limit of frustration with this for tonight. :D