How to capture streams

« Older   Newer »
  Share  
view post Posted on 1/12/2015, 03:35     +12   +1   -1

Councillor

Group:
member
Posts:
1,464
Honour:
+1,650

Status:


Performances etc are often delivered as 'streams' to be watched online, but a bit hard to download. Here are some techniques which people have found helpful:

free:

  • Ant Downloader: Firefox addon; works on youtube, vimeo and various others but not for example Arte
    update: after a period of nonfunctionality on newer vimeo links, seems to be getting there but not doing sound right; JDownloader 2 and Video Download Helper right below are free solutions to this problem (but capturing streams is a moving target, so what app does best ATM will fluctuate). As of Sept 2017, youtube-dlg seems best overall.

  • JDownloader2: (perhaps with a bit of link skulduggery as describe here: #entry583786176). I've recently been having good experiences with this one, handling some cases that have defeated the others I regularly use, such as (not-free) Tubedigger.

  • Captvty: Instructions in French, but English instructions for capturing a specific video from aftadark here: #entry587186026.

  • Video Downloadhelper: Works on a slightly smaller range of sites than Ant. Now does vimeo correctly!(25 Ap 2016)

  • the 'pasty.link' site: (don't know the range of effectiveness of this one)

  • youtube-dl: Command line program using python, so presumably a bit geeky (but very frequently updated). & has a GUI-interface youtube-dlg.

  • rtmpdump: ultra geeky command line utility

  • rtmpExplorer: gui thereto, but doesn't support many useful functions such as selecting the resolution that you want

paid:

  • tubedigger: (app $30/year, seems to get most things, including commercial 'Catchup TV'. Sometimes it crashes, presumably due to a site's attempts to thwart stream catching, but a second or third attempt usually seems to succeed)
    NB: has a 'five installs per year' policy, and is very frequently updated to keep up with the moving target that is streaming technology, so I think it's worth the money for people who are too lazy to learn to use rtmpdump). Or maybe JDownloader2 trumps it these days.

  • GetFLV:, also works, but has seemed to me to be less resistant to being crashed than Tubedigger, as well as more expensive. It sometimes seems to go for substantial periods without an update, but one always appears eventually [as of Sep 2016]


Tunebite, Applian Replay Media Catcher and pretty much everything else I've tried seem too ineffective to be worth bothering with
for the more difficult streams (download managers do other things, especially for those who don't enjoy tiptoeing through pup-laden minefields).

Others have very likely found more useful techniques, so if they post them below, a mod or admin can merge the info in here.

Further methods described in links below:
Internet Download Manager: #entry583880195

Edited by Sintricate1 - 9/19/2017, 08:20 AM
 
Top
view post Posted on 1/12/2015, 09:39     +8   +1   -1

Archduke

Group:
member
Posts:
500
Honour:
+1,117

Status:


I use Internet Download Manager. Its a one off payment. Its normally 29.95 USD but theres a sale ending 1 December where you can get it for 19.95 USD. You can also install it on as much computers as you want. I don't know how many of those listed are download accelerators but IDM speeds up downloads. It has functions where you can pick video resolution and batch downloads for pictures, where you can automate the downloading of picture sets. The batch download has save me countless hours. Also has multiple queue options so you can leave it downloading while a sleep or whatever.

Only downsides is that it doesn't get everything, like protected streams and some not so common websites. With Arte, its hit and miss. I've downloaded videos before but this one:
CODE
http://www.arte.tv/guide/de/046175-000-A/forever-crazy
is not being picked up by IDM. Plus when its rebuilding files, it will use up a lot of resources but I think thats common with all download accelerators.

Another annoyance with IDM is that with certain streams such as live streams, it only captures the stream in small parts. By small parts, I mean sizes of less than 1 mb. You will end up with hundreds of tiny files and no way to download them in any order. When that happens downloading is virtually impossible.

Also, about every 10-15 downloads, maybe even less depending on luck, there will be a corrupted file. Rar files will let you know if its corrupted while extracting, so you can re-download the file. With other files such as videos, you will only find out when you see video distortion while watching.



Updated Review as of 3-Sep-2016
Having had a few hard drives die on me in the last few months has led me to notice a few changes to IDM, the biggest óf which is their new pricing structure. No longer can you buy one license and use it on an unlimited number of computers. You can buy one lifetime license at $24.95 and then $19.95 for each additonal PC. If two computers are caught using the same serial at the same time, it will be blacklisted. There is also now a cheaper one year option which again needs additonal licenses for more computers. Pricing details at the bottom of the post.

There has also been an annoying bug in the last few months where it fails to pick up Youtube streams half the time. This issue has not been resolved even after months of updates, and it affects atleast two computers that I've tried downloading with.

With the Youtube íssue, I see no reason getting an additonal license for myself. If you're interested I'd suggest taking a trial and if you like it, pick it up when its on a sale.

CODE
http://www.internetdownloadmanager.com/buy_idm.html?v=625b25


Edited by anarchist311 - 3/9/2016, 11:51
 
Top
Hanson
view post Posted on 3/2/2016, 00:12     +1   -1




Thank you excellent guide
 
Top
view post Posted on 2/3/2016, 19:18     +3   +1   -1

Count

Group:
member
Posts:
171
Honour:
+232

Status:


New videos uploaded to vimeo seems to be shipped in pieces, so that the download helper and the like will not be downloaded, you know of any online downloader or browser you can download them?
 
Top
view post Posted on 2/3/2016, 20:09     +1   +1   -1
Avatar

Grand Duke

Group:
member
Posts:
1,226
Honour:
+1,799
Location:
Up North

Status:


QUOTE (salvaje69 @ 2/3/2016, 18:18) 
New videos uploaded to vimeo seems to be shipped in pieces, so that the download helper and the like will not be downloaded, you know of any online downloader or browser you can download them?

I use JDownloder 2 and it works fine with Vimeo
 
Top
view post Posted on 2/3/2016, 20:55     +2   +1   -1

Count

Group:
member
Posts:
171
Honour:
+232

Status:


:huh: :huh: Wow, it works wonderful, thank you very much Sonofjoe ;) :P :P
 
Top
view post Posted on 3/9/2016, 02:50     +5   +1   -1

Archduke

Group:
member
Posts:
500
Honour:
+1,117

Status:


I've updated my review of IDM in the second post, current version 6.25 (released 8-Aug-2016).
 
Top
Angus McDonald
view post Posted on 10/9/2016, 02:58     -1   +1   -1




Thank u anarchist331 an excellent review, I think I will stay with Jdownloader 2
 
Top
view post Posted on 29/5/2017, 18:55     +1   +1   -1

Grand Duke

Group:
member
Posts:
1,367
Honour:
+1,504

Status:


I tried out Internet Download Manager for more than a month. It worked okay with YT and Vimeo most of the time. However, it was complete disaster when using download sites. If you do not have premium subscription to a download site, IDM will intrude and cause download failures. Not recommended.

Now I will try JDownloader2.
 
Top
view post Posted on 19/9/2017, 07:17     +3   +1   -1

Councillor

Group:
member
Posts:
1,464
Honour:
+1,650

Status:


Ouch, this might be the end of the utility of our favorite stream-cappers

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/09/18/1...tandard-is-a-go
 
Top
view post Posted on 19/9/2017, 13:26     +2   +1   -1
Avatar

Archduke

Group:
member
Posts:
785
Honour:
+779

Status:


There always will be geeks finding a way to counter-attack whatever protection system that could exist, no need to worry. Even with the most protected streamed videos, there is nothing they could do to prevent you from using a screen recorder or recording your screen with a camera, it's boring to do but bulletproof even if the Majors waste billions to protect their films.
 
Top
Bavarian
view post Posted on 20/9/2017, 07:55     +1   -1




QUOTE (flowerspower @ 9/19/2017, 02:26 PM) 
There always will be geeks finding a way to counter-attack whatever protection system that could exist, no need to worry. Even with the most protected streamed videos, there is nothing they could do to prevent you from using a screen recorder or recording your screen with a camera, it's boring to do but bulletproof even if the Majors waste billions to protect their films.

I agree, and the young generation learns very fast, and the Majors are always one step behind.
https://torrentfreak.com/stream-ripping-pi...reports-170919/
 
Top
view post Posted on 20/9/2017, 08:37     +2   +1   -1

Councillor

Group:
member
Posts:
1,464
Honour:
+1,650

Status:


Hopefully, you guys are right, but I have seen a slow progress of success for DRM; once upon a time useful DVD rippers were free, then only pay worked, and no it seems to be pay ones that phone home to get the latest info.
 
Top
view post Posted on 31/3/2018, 16:15     +1   -1

Grand Duke

Group:
member
Posts:
1,029
Honour:
+3,193

Status:


Hi everyone! How can I download a video on demand from vimeo that I rented? I tried jdownloader but it doest work, same for youtube-dlg...
 
Top
18 replies since 1/12/2015, 03:35   3730 views
  Share