How to capture Elluminate live and player VCR files (VCR player included)

[martie]

Hello there, so basically i want to download elluminate live videos, elluminate is bit like adobe connect which is used for providing lectures and classes online. The thing is no media capturing software will let me download the streams like they normally do with say youtube videos, where it is cached and then audit detects and downloads. i was told its like a java stream or something.

I basically dont want to spend 3 hours watching the whole lecture again, and putting camtasia on for 3 hours, which end up having MASSIVE files, and take ages to render. Is there any program thats bit like normal media rippers, that will download and cache the lectures and download without me having to spend hours sitting there watching camtasia record it?

thanks

[martie]

sorry for the bump, but does anyone know if its possible to record elluminate videos other than using screen video capture software software like camtasia, and spending 3 hours watching the screen? Somoe must know.

[placebo]

i dont know what elluminate is and i am not willing to google it. this is your problem and your task. if you want help from us, you have to provide all the details and info. so.

can you provide testpage url (video link!)?
if it requires a login (usrass), then provide it too. otherwise how shall we look into this?

you can trust us

[martie]

Hi there, so this is the link to Elluminate _http://www.elluminate.com/

It is basically like adobe connect, its sued for teaching large groups and lectures, its java based product, so it doesn't stream like youtube.

you can login here _https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/meeting.jnlp?sid=&password=M.E5894B9B6CC10F0F3D66E D802CE00B

Just enter any user you want, you should log in, there wont be any video there, but basically when u login the whole right hand side white board is where slides can be used.

You could probably try the free trial, and just do a test read of a lecture for example. Basically it is like, when a lecture starts we click on the link for the lecture, and it will take load Elluminate, and take us to the class, where the actual moderator of the room can begin recording. Thing is my lectures are 3 hours long, so I don't want to spend 3 hours trying to record it, as i tryed it using Camtasia and another product and only 30 mins came about to over 50 gigs. I was hoping there was something like downloading it and having it buffered and cached like other media software does. I'm not to sure because if this is java programme its hard to do.

[placebo]

thanks martie. those sessions are not videos in the common sense. also because they involve mostly "windows" or "windows screens" and no real video material (like Rocky VI, Rambo III, or game trailers). when we want to save typical screens (screenshots of a ordinary Windows application) the most appropriate FORMAT is *.gif, and not *.jpeg. VLC media player's default screenshot format is *.png (which is a lossless format) and other image processing software (Photoshop, PaintShop Pro) use their own image format. But typically, when you have a Java application (e.g. a textual email written in OpenOffice with primitive graphical objects, no photos), the image format which results in the smallest file size is GIF.

With Elluminate i dont see any real photographical video material, so if Camastasia produces 50GB for a 3h-session, then it is the wrong software.

There are highly-specialized screen capturing programs for your type of screens ("GIF-screens") which produce high-quality small-sized video files, see for example the Kelby Training videos.

Apparently Kelby doesnt use stream recorders to author their videos. They use primitive screen capturing software. If you want to produce videos similar to Kelby, then ask Kelby support team (and not me ).

And to answer your question: No, Elluminate has nothing to do with video streams and therefore cant be recorded in original quality from the streaming server (because there isnt such a thing!). The only way to producing good satisfactory "videos" of your session is thru the Kelby method.

Good luck.

[martie]

Ok right I see, that rtmp.exe stuff looks very complicated, it also says mask my ip as well, which i have no clue how to do. Oh well I guess its back to sititng in front of the screen for 3 hours and letting replay video capture record it from 3 hours, oh god.

Thanks for all the help anyway.

Kelby Training uses streaming videos. Other web-sites may use presentation. You can record them with any screen recorder software. Just play with video codecs and their settings. When you record slides, you can reduce framerate significantly.

p.s. placebo mentioned that Kelby Training creates their tutorials with screen recorders, and that their tutorials are not that big, so they know how to do it.

[placebo]

i use the English term "screen recorders" to designate the whole family of intelligent video authoring software which record the stuff displayed on the screen. Many youtube tutorial videos are the product of intelligent screen recorders, some of which deploy presentations or slides (techniques) when the screen contents dont change much over time.

For example if you record a displayed static GIF-image (50kB in size) for 1 hour as a video clip (with no background sound), the resulting *.AVI (or whatever optimal video format should be used in this recording task) should not be much bigger than the 50kB .. if you have chosen the perfect video format, video settings, recording settings, video recording software, etc.

I am not an expert at screen recording (and screen recording software products) but obviously Kelby really knows how to produce vivid videos (you see live people, human beings, and screenshot-type video sections where Adobe products are featured).

In the end your problem comes down to "authoring a video file" and "creating video contents", and that has nothing to do with "saving an original internet video stream" (produced by the website's owner).

The latter is much easier (and fun). That's all i can do.

[martie]

Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated. i guess i will just use Replay Video Capture, and play around with audio and video settings to make the file smaller. I actually found a jave recorder that records, and the files coem out really small, but only problem is no sound gets recorded.

[KSV]

i got the solution for offline playing of their recorded files.

Downloading:

1. download play.jnlp file of specified recording from site.
2. open it with notepad and near the end of file there will be a url to actual vcr file eg:
   

   https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/download/recording?uid=FD653ED7160FC6182671CC2C3EBFB406

3. save the vcr file.

Playing these vcr files offline was little tricky. these are not even actually video files. open it with hex editor and you will find PNG or JFIF headers scattered throughout the vcr file. however i have put together a little php script and a batch file alongwith their player which will help you to play these files. you can even create file association for .vcr file so that you can play them by just double clicking instead of dragging dropping on batch file.

Playing:

1. download and install php from the following link. it is required to run the php script.
   

   http://windows.php.net/downloads/releases/php-5.3.6-Win32-VC9-x86.msi

2. download my player package from here:
   The latest version
   

   http://www.mediafire.com/file/2w5d7cz1a1d2j45/KSV%20-%20Elluminate%20Player.zip

   http://www.mediafire.com/file/as0v0ed8wrb0awn/KSV%20-%20Elluminate%20Player.zip

   Older version
   

   http://www.mediafire.com/file/78m25xg61ko4t8f/KSV%20-%20Elluminate%20Player.zip

3. drag drop vcr file on "KSV - Elluminate Player.bat" to play
   OR
4. create file association for .vcr file and select my batch file as program to open with.
5. package also contains Demo.vcr file to test the player. if there is any problem in playing try clearing your java cache. you can use the following command to clear it or use CCleaner.
   

   javaws -uninstall

Bonus:
these files also contain content distributed in lecture including handouts, chat logs, application sharing screens etc.

Enjoy

PS: Audio quality of their recordings is pretty low.