Complete Online Marketer

How To Capture Online Streaming Video

Lately, I’ve come across a few instances of people wondering what their options are for downloading seemingly unrecordable streaming video.  It seems I’m not the only one who can’t afford the time to sit and watch webcasts (or the temporary postings of recorded events) at the mercy of someone else’s schedule.

I compiled this short list of resources that I personally use because it reflects software NOT acquired by share/freeware apps.  This is important to me because as malware becomes more prevalent, I’ve developed a healthy paranoia of hidden adware bundled with this kind of software – especially knowing that many marketers camouflage adware with various installations so they can earn commissions from these bundled downloads (more about that in a later edition).  So it’s a rare thing for me to enjoy freeware anymore.

My preferences come in four flavours:  Free Web App (YouTube only), Free Commercial Software, Reasonably-Priced Commercial Package and Recording Live from my PC.

FREE WEB APP (YouTube only)
I know that web apps can also be malicious so in addition to preventative browsing precautions, I look for a domain with a time-tested rep.  TechCrunch.com fits that bill and they have an online download tool (http://www.techcrunch.com/get-youtube-movie) that allows you to simply type in any YouTube URL and hit the “Get Video” button to save the video to your computer.  The video saves with the name “get_video” (no extension), in which case all you do is rename the file and append an “.flv” extension.  Double click to play it in your default flash video player and your work is done.

FREE COMMERCIAL
While RealPlayer is known as a resource hog, one of the trade-offs is its idiot-proof ease of downloading of online streaming video.  Just make sure that you enable the “browser download button” when you install it, and it will appear automatically when you hover over any downloadable video.  Click on it to save the video to your RealPlayer library where you can view all of your downloads.

PAID COMMERCIAL
I’m really happy with my purchase of a suite of tools that lets me capture audio and video (any format) and even convert them (ditto).  Applian gives you the choice of purchasing their stand-alone Replay Media Catcher for $39 or the full monty for $99 (includes audio recording, converting audio/video, etc).  I’ve found these apps to be very intuitive and haven’t had any need to troubleshoot anything (touch wood).  I also use this software to convert video for my ipod.

FREE ONLINE VIDEO RECORDING
Of course, if all else fails, you can always record the streaming media from your PC, while it plays in your browser.  The obvious inconvenience with this option is not being able to pause the recording or close your browser because …you are recording live.

This defeats the purpose of video capture for me since it ties up my computer and I end up having to sit and watch the thing anyway (unless I book this time for other chores and let it play while I’m busy doing something else).

Krut is one of the simplest apps available that records any live audio/video in your browser.  The menu has only 3 options, “snap” being a clipping tool for images.  The capture area is defined via the arrow icon and is as simple as clicking on the arrow to initiate the sizing function and dragging your cursor from upper left to lower right to define the area of the video.  After defining the viewing area, click the video’s Play button and Krut’s “Rec” button and either sit back and watch, or take the dog for a walk.

Although it only saves movies in .mov format, I can easily convert them to anything I want with Applian and it’s very simple to use.  By default, movies are saved as movie.mov in the Krut directory and are set to record over previous recordings so be sure to rename them when you’re done.

Remember, there’s no multi-tasking with live recording, so don’t move the viewing area, leave the mouse alone and remember to turn off any sound notifications (Outlook, MSN, Friendster,etc).

FREE ONLINE AUDIO RECORDING
Mp3MyMp3 is a much more feature-rich alternative than Krut (.wav only) and records in multiple formats.  This program uses the mic input so you can record in mp3 (or others) to record podcasts or even convert old cassette tapes to mp3.

MORE ALTERNATIVES
Opera
I read somewhere that, streaming videos in Opera are stored in the browser’s cache folder and as long as you don’t close the browser (and clear the cache), you can locate latest file(s) that has a flv/mps/whatever file extension.

So, I tried it.  Unfortunately, I didn’t see any file extensions other than “files” and clicking on them didn’t return anything remotely close.  If anyone can shed some light on Opera’s browsing cache feel free to leave a comment – I’d love to know what I’m doing wrong.

Firefox Addon
Firefox has a smorgasbord of bells and whistles that never cease to amaze me, including an addon for a download addon that downloads videos in multiple formats with the lick of a button.

DownloadHelper shows an animated button (a la drop down arrow) that you simply click on to view your options and select your video from the list.  The software instantly downloads the video as an FLV file.  Like Applian and RealPlayer this addon also supports simultaneous downloads so you don’t have to wait for one download to finish before you can start another.

I know this is a fairly one-sided list but I can vouch for everything on it (except for Opera).  Feel free to add to it, I’d love to know what’s popular.

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