Free methods to save video from an educational site?

SailsOnBlue · #1 03-22-2010, 02:29 PM

I've used the Replay trial version and it works well. But I've found that most of the video I want to download doesn't require any software - just the save this video link in RealPlayer (a wretched bit of software otherwise). Were going to use it at many sites it would be a easy decision to buy.

But there's one item I want to save which RP won't. It's a language learning video. While it's free, I'd like to save it on locally so I can watch it without a broadband connection, or no connection. Is there a free method I can use for these? (link below).

http://www.learner.org/resources/series75.html

kpmedia · #2 03-22-2010, 04:18 PM

Oh wow, Destinos! I remember watching those in a classroom when they first came out.

I just opened up Replay Media Catcher (RMC), told it to record, and then reloaded (F5 on keyboard) the small pop-up window that had the video in it. I'm accessing the site with Firefox -- I had trouble getting it to play correctly in Chrome or K-Meleon. After reload, it was being recorded in RMC. I also hit PAUSE on the video itself, but RMC is still recording it. Right now, it's at 16MB and counting.

This is what I'm using:
Replay Media Catcher
Version: 3.11
Build Date: Sep 24 2009

I may download these myself sometime -- don't think I ever saw the entire series.

I looked at the source code, and it does confirm that this is coming from a streaming server:

Quote:

rtmp://fms.scctv.net/annenberg/&file=/vod/destinos_02.flv

It's not a file that can be downloaded. A stream capture program is required for this.

kpmedia · #3 03-22-2010, 04:46 PM

RMC just finished the download. Episode #2 is 93MB.

The native size is actually larger than the small version shown in the web page. It's about 640x480, although the bitrate really sucks (335kbps) and it's blocky because of it. They also used the On2 VP6 codec instead of the much-better H.264 Flash option. Ah well, you get what you pay for.

I suggest using the free VLC media player to watch it, for smoothest motion.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

The free Applian FLV Player denoises and deblocks the video a bit, but motion can be choppy and the video has this "fine pixellated" look to it.
http://www.applian.com/flvplayer/

The player you choose really boils down to personal tolerances in errors. (Personally, I hate both sets of errors, but I want smoother motion, so I pick VLC.)

Let's just say I won't be watching these on a large 50-60" display!!

SailsOnBlue · #4 03-22-2010, 07:04 PM

Replay can catch it, but you have to use the paid version or it cuts at 75%.

It sounds like manual methods won't do it. Replay is worth the cost if you use it, but this is the only thing I'd need it for.
There's no freeware which can capture the rtmp stream?

admin · #5 03-22-2010, 07:14 PM

You can try some of these, but no guarantees on any of them working as well as Reply Media Catcher:

The problem with free options is that they are most often made to work with specific sites, like Hulu and Youtube. Very few programs are as universal as Replay MC is, being able to capture pretty much anything from anywhere.

Orbit might work, but I seriously doubt if any of the other ones will. I have about 50-50 luck with Orbit, it's the reason I bought Replay Media Catcher -- because RMC just worked. I used to spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to save videos in years past.

If one of those works for you, post back, and let us know the details.

Thanks!

SailsOnBlue · #6 03-25-2010, 03:41 PM

"If one of those works for you, post back, and let us know the details"

Orbit can't catch it with the default options. I haven't fiddled with it further.
It's free, you can watch as many times as you like (courseware, so you have to go back and review) but it's configured so that obvious methods don't record the stream, though saving it locally would save them the bandwidth. I s'pose they're concerned with someone pressing DVDs out of it.
Well, the library has it on DVD, though there's a wait.

Agreed about RMC - the hours wasted fiddling with freeware are worth well more than the cost of RMC and in some cases (=anything worth watching) the freeware doesn't work at all.

admin · #7 03-25-2010, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SailsOnBlue

I s'pose they're concerned with someone pressing DVDs out of it.

I think they already solved this issue with the relatively miserable quality of the online version. I can't imagine anybody wanting to watch that even on an old 13" TV set from 1995! It's just really blocky when viewed larger than a tiny window. It's good for computer viewing, at native resolution in a small windows, and that's about it.

At any rate, just an example of how good Applian's RMC is.