[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

~~review instructions howto how to record download save rip capture leech lovefilm video movie stream streams lovefilm.co.uk lovefilm.com watch online now~~

hi, does anybody know what the technical specifics are for the UK site of lovefilm? Before i sign up for a subscription i want to know if it is possible to record their streams with RTMPdump (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/rtmpdump-freeware-console-RTMP-downloading-application.htm) or any other tool.
Has anyone tried yet to download their videos? How do i do?

[placebo]

Hi,

Lovefilm.com (a UK company, with headquarters in UK, and owned by Amazon (http://all-streaming-media.com/links/amazon.php)), also accessed thru lovefilm.co.uk, has only 1 streaming quality: 800kbps, with the resolution (dimensions) depending on the movie. 800kbps is, in general, ugly quality; Amazon.com Instant Videos (AIV's) are streamed in 1328kbps 480p if it is non-HD; and HD is even higher. Moreover only a fraction of all Lovefilm DVD's are available as "Watch Online" versions. Then again maybe some 30% of the "Watch Online" videos are FREE to "Watch Now" for subscribers of a streaming flatrate, but most online videos (~70%) cost money on a pay-per-view basis (http://www.lovefilm.com/help/dyn_faqs.html?faq_cat=watch_online&editorial_id=9334). So before subscribing to their expensive service, make sure that the number of "Watch Now (FREE)"-videos of your interest is worth the trouble.

After all i cannot recommend their subscription service if you're only after pirating the few online videos they have (and all in horrid video quality) (http://www.lovefilm.com/browse/film/watch-online/subscription/p1/?rows=50). A much better place to do so is Amazon Instant Video (for U.S. customers ;) ), for which you dont even need any subscription.

Anyway, for testing purposes you dont need to be subscribed. Everybody (with a U.K. ip address ;) ) can watch some videos FOR FREE and without prior registration afaik, please go to:

http://www.lovefilm.com/browse/film/watch-online/free/

I cant get rtmpdump (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/rtmpdump-freeware-console-RTMP-downloading-application.htm) to work (i feel dump :p ) and GetFLV (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/GetFLV-Download-and-convert-flash-video-streaming.htm) captures some RTMP-url but fails to download the stream. It doesnt look like a tough case so i am sure that GetFLV can download them with the next updated versions.

Maybe we could use the following as testpage url (video link!):
http://www.lovefilm.com/film/50-Greatest-Magic-Tricks/131987/ (what a crappy quality!!)

Good luck everybody!

[getflv]

and GetFLV (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/GetFLV-Download-and-convert-flash-video-streaming.htm) captures some RTMP-url but fails to download the stream. It doesnt look like a tough case so i am sure that GetFLV can download them with the next updated versions.

GetFLV (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/GetFLV-Download-and-convert-flash-video-streaming.htm) 9.0.0.8 can download lovefilm.com videos now. Please check it and give us your feedback.:rolleyes:

[placebo]

Thanks for updating and fixing.
Yes, i can confirm, GetFLV can capture various streams (incl. ads) and download them all.
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3205/snap19o.th.jpg (http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3205/snap19o.jpg) , http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/4153/snap23t.th.jpg (http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/4153/snap23t.jpg)

Downloads are even resumable (within a certain time slot), similar to Amazon Instant Video downloads (http://stream-recorder.com/forum/recording-amazon-instant-video-demand-vod-t8884.html)! :cool:
Resumability becomes an important aspect or factor when you lose the connection (change of IP address, crashing of internet/software/hardware, ..). This implies that in the end you dont need any UK IP address for the actual download. You can turn on your UK proxy server, then gather all captured url's at the bottom of GetFLV's main gui, then turn the proxy off (to establish a fast stable connection for the following step), and finally download the videos with GetFLV. Typical download speed for 1 video stream is ~110-130KB/s, so you should not download more than 6 videos at a time with a 6MBit/s DSL line.

hope this helps.

If someone has tested RTMPDUMP on Lovefilm, please report to complete our documentation of how to save Lovefilm "Watch Now" video streams.

Let's note that the Lovefilm video quality (~800kbps) is quite horrible as you can see from the screenshot. So whenever you're interested in saving a Lovefilm video stream you better check first with Amazon Instant Video, torrents or other sites before you ..etc.. :rolleyes:

[chap]

placebo
If someone has tested RTMPDUMP on Lovefilm, please report to complete our documentation of how to save Lovefilm "Watch Now" video streams.


C:\Documents and Settings\Администратор\Мои документы\rtmpdump-2.3-r568-openssl>
cmd
Microsoft Windows XP [Версия 5.1.2600]
(С) Корпорация Майкрософт, 1985-2001.

C:\Documents and Settings\Администратор\Мои документы\rtmpdump-2.3-r568-openssl>
"C:\Documents and Settings\Администратор\Мои документы\rtmpdump-2.3-r568-openssl
\rtmpdump.exe" -r "rtmpe://fms009.lo1.hwcdn.net/b4e5k8e8/_definst_" -a "b4e5k8e8
/_definst_" -f "WIN 10,2,159,1" -W "http://www.lovefilm.com/static/digital2/play
er/swf/OnDemandWebPlayer-1.4.1.swf" -p "http://www.lovefilm.com/film/50-Greatest
-Magic-Tricks/131987/" -y "mp4:fms/ALL/50GMT101/50_Greatest_Magic_Tricks_Feature
.mp4?id=123&token=LnmdbVZ55x2%2Bn%2F5Ib5%2F%2FB33mw81GytHsPhUS lAStk4BmkAmLIaRIu2
yy5le62s0oLwjeVM1F05TM%0AiNTe4vjodGaVwfo%2BFu7bTVX wtVcHepnc0CpBHnbSLLnptfZusbdLS
4VcC%2BqOA1nKRzTlXC66jbuB%0Av7Vjq7bs4xw%2Fey9dCznT HDKQIV6GOHISzoMLoj8rnYPXvzNs9G
t%2BhEyf0cYbr47C5uretEe1FG%2FM%0AGHnTuZ9qJaIWyV8M7 ct2emhkXauJywyfhRzoYlS6RobCcdm
biJ1fJj%2FS0%2FElyHAIBxwhezZ5Le8p%0AYIf6wgAibFYsqk Qvu%2BdK%2F1fjh8oy0shSO68SUrG0
JQ7vAENOsHnIBj8mOgCj7r9gplYp3HeZmAav%0AbDCrH73J7Va cDGseSq4B%2FmFyVhqvNYkWMo%2BOg
BsUaRdBqsc%3D%0A&hwttl=1304786664&smUrl=http%3A%2F%2F72.172.68.100%2Fsession_man
agement&hwsign=a8e3815a9ef6101c0e572af24b44fb8e&doppl=efdd1c90a21ffd68&dopsig=86
ec274321dbd831999a78a813c0ef56" -o 50_Greatest_Magic_Tricks_Feature.flv
RTMPDump v2.3
(c) 2010 Andrej Stepanchuk, Howard Chu, The Flvstreamer Team; license: GPL
Connecting ...
INFO: Connected...
Starting download at: 0.000 kB
INFO: Metadata:
INFO: duration 6184.75
INFO: moovPosition 28.00
INFO: width 640.00
INFO: height 360.00
INFO: videocodecid avc1
INFO: audiocodecid mp4a
INFO: avcprofile 77.00
INFO: avclevel 32.00
INFO: aacaot 2.00
INFO: videoframerate 25.00
INFO: audiosamplerate 24000.00
INFO: audiochannels 2.00
INFO: trackinfo:
INFO: length 154617000.00
INFO: timescale 25000.00
INFO: language eng
INFO: sampledescription:
INFO: sampletype avc1
INFO: length 148433920.00
INFO: timescale 24000.00
INFO: language eng
INFO: sampledescription:
INFO: sampletype mp4a
12428.810 kB / 127.36 sec (2.0%)

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

hello all,
this is a great nice helpful forum!
now i can see how i must use the RTMPdump (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/rtmpdump-freeware-console-RTMP-downloading-application.htm) command, thanks you very much :)

placebo, GetFLV (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/GetFLV-Download-and-convert-flash-video-streaming.htm) is expensive. i will buy it later, it is very good for Amazon (http://amzn.com/?tag=streamingme01-20)!

chap, very useful the command logs. i have tried successful two! :o

[placebo]

chap, can you capture the testvideo with CooJah (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/Blader-freeware-RTMP-downloader.htm), and download with Blader?
if rtmpdump can download it, then Blader should be able to do it too!

[chap]

chap, can you capture the testvideo with Coojah, and download with Blader?
if rtmpdump can download it, then Blader should be able to do it too!
No, I can hardly catch any RTMPE links with it :(

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/7866/snap15.th.gif (http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/7866/snap15.gif) , http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/6429/snap17.th.gif (http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/6429/snap17.gif) , http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/8111/snap18.th.gif (http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/8111/snap18.gif) , http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/7098/snap16.th.gif (http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/7098/snap16.gif)

its quite difficult to get the videos streaming :p
but once the stream has started, RTMPexplorer (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/RTMPExplorer-freeware-GUI-for-rtmpsrv-Windows.htm) downloads it too! :)

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4701/snap65.th.gif (http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4701/snap65.gif)

in case you want to cancel the account (or the trial subscription)..

:eek:

[placebo]

Seems to be a known fact that you must cancel Lovefilm thru the phone line. There seems to be a trick.. try to cancel online *after* 10-11pm (GMT +00:00). Please check if the webpage looks different then!

And if you cant cancel it (because they dont pick up the phone or have some excuses), just cancel your credit card. That's the safest method anyway ;)

Quite a few people (at the end of their subscription month) experience problems with lovefilm phone customer service!! :eek:

ref: http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_posts.php?thread_id=141686 :eek: :eek:

Just let us know how the phone call went for you!

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

i called them around noon (London, UK time) and was connected to a man i couldnt understand very well and all of a sudden the connection was dead (total silence). I redialed both numbers but from that point on my call didnt get transferred to a human agent ("adviser") again and for hours i was kept on hold in the waiting loop. I hung up several times, i redialed again and again and again. And it kept going this way: phone waiting loop (with music and intermittent male voice explaining the same stuff/ads/offers/etc over and over again) for hours!

Then, at some point in the afternoon (~3p.m., London, UK time), the automatic phone message (waiting loop) changed, saying (with female voice) "please call back during opening hours between 8am and 10pm, 7days a week".

Clearly it was impossible to cancel my account over the phone line! I got to speak to a human being only once within 3 hours (and he cut the connection!!)!

Interestingly, at ~03:30p.m., when i reloaded the Cancel-webpage, it got the chance to cancel the account online!

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/1861/snap67.th.gif (http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/1861/snap67.gif) , http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/9819/snap68.th.gif (http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/9819/snap68.gif)

They say that they can be reached 7days a week from 8a.m. to 10p.m.. Then try the following: Call them at 4p.m. (London, UK time)! Don't be surprised if the answering machine says "you're calling out of business hours"!

So a good time to call them is in the morning (London, UK time). Or wait until ~4p.m. and try the online cancellation again. As my screenshot proves, it is possible to cancel online... it only depends on the hour/time during the day.

Lovefilm?

Selection is poor. Video quality is poor. Prices are high. And cancellation a big pain in the ass. :eek:

Lovefilm??

Never agian. No thanks!! :mad:

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

Just reporting *FYI*, i've been testing lovefilm.de Video on Demand (http://www.lovefilm.de/browse/filme/video-on-demand/teil-des-ausleihpaketes/) and while it's true that RTMPexplorer (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/RTMPExplorer-freeware-GUI-for-rtmpsrv-Windows.htm) and GetFLV (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/GetFLV-Download-and-convert-flash-video-streaming.htm) can download the videos more or less fine, i get best results with TubeDigger (http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/TubeDigger-streaming-audio-video-downloader-recorder-Adobe-Flash-Player-streaming-HTTP-RTMP-RTMPE.htm) because of its automatic resume function.

With GFLV, the first ~2 videos i tried to download, no problem. After that batch, i tried hard to download more videos the next day but after a few seconds of download i had to manually STOP and START (http://stream-recorder.com/forum/showpost.php?p=12242&postcount=2), i.e. RESUME, the downloads, and this stop'n go reminded me of Amazon Instant Video downloads.

With TubeDigger, i am downloading now 3 videos simultaneously, and you can tell when/where the program resumes a download. It works perfectly well. You dont have to do anything. The download just goes on and on and on .. until completion.

Rtmpexplorer and rtmpdump interrupted the download at some point too (for example at 1.8%) and the automatic resume failed.

So my recommendation goes to TubeDigger (for lovefilm.de, and probably for the other lovefilm websites too)!!

As a final note:
lovefilm streaming videos are in low resolution (= low quality). You get better quality from torrents, blogs, and other FREE sites. i would keep lovefilm streams only if you're a movie collector and cant find the video elsewhere, or if you need German language synch'ed videos.