Save Password Protected Flash Videos To The HD ?

[I_Want_Flash]

Hi,

I'm a new member here and this is my first post here.
I have been searching for a solution to a big problem that I have had for a very long time now but it seems that it is impossible to save these videos to your Harddrive...?


I'm a member one a video site and I pay for it every month but sometimes I have problem with my Internet connection or I don't have Internet where I am. So I'm trying to find a program that can help me download these videos to mu HD instead so I spend my money and can't watch the videos every day.

I tried alot of different programs but I found this site now, I used some of the programs without any results but when I use WM Recorder it finds the file and the URL. But the file it downloads are only 1kB and it is a FLV file ? ...
When I push the "view" button in the WM recorder it says that the file are: status complete, Progress 100%, Recivied 0.000MB and rate 0 Kbps.
In the URL there are a timestamp and cryptosignature in it???

I wonder what am I doing wrong is there a way to get these videos to my harddrive? I will buy any program that can help me with this issue.

I'm thankful for help,
I_Want_Flash

All HTTP .FLV video can be grabbed from the cache folder of your web-browser, so you don't really need to buy anything.

Sometimes one can't record a flash stream with a stream recorder untill pressing the Pause or Stop buttong in the embedded Adobe Flash player.

There are lots of methods of downloading .FLV HTTP video streams. It is even very hard to tell all of them.


You should also note that WM Recorder can't record rtmp:// video streams. There are only three Flash stream recorders I know that can do that.

FLV Recorder is good at recording password-protected .FLV video streams. It supports both RTMP and HTTP streams. It captures packets from an embedded flash player (like WM Recorder in the PRO mode when capturing real media and windows media streams) so there is no way you can be detected by a content provider when recording any flash streaming video. If you wanna buy it, please try its free demo version and make sure it works for you.

[I_Want_Flash]

Thank you so much, the FLV Recorder helped me solve the problem.

But It can only download 2 videos at the time? Is there anything else I should know regarding the downloaded videos? Can they stop working? What about DRM? Are these videos DRM protected? They are flash videos...

Once again I want to thank you for your help!

I've never tried to record several videos with FLV Recorder or WM Recorder in the PRO mode. When you record multiple videos or record too many of them, content provider can notice that and disable your account. In reality you can watch only one stream at a time, so I suggest you not to try to record several streams simultaneously.

If you wanna record multiple streams from different content providers, it might be OK. How many streams do you want to record simultaneously?

As for DRM protection, I haven't seen any copy-protection for .FLV files. So you can watch them on any device supporting them, any number of times,...

[I_Want_Flash]

What do you mean if I record to many of them? You mean he will notice that I have watched a video to many times? If it is that you mean it's ok because it is the purpose of the videos, to watch them over and over again.

I will download 1 copy of each video I like but the number of videos I want is many. Currently I download 2 at the time but listening to your advice I will download one at the time. Any other good advices ?

If it was possible and SAFE I would record 10 streams simultaneously.
But since it's not possible I will go with 1 at the time.

I downloaded ~500Mb of video lectures a day once, 35 Gb of traffic total. And multiple streams were captured simultameously. I had no any problem with that. I watched them, deleted them so there was no illegal distribution and usage.

WM Recorder in the PRO mode and FLV Recorder are very good 'coz even if you generate a large amount of traffic, content provider hardly can suspect anything.

I mean of course one can't watch lectures 24 hours a day. Even multiple students can't do that. But one can have music video streams playing 24/7.

I strongly recommend to use stream recorders as personal archiving tools only. Don't distribute or share your recordings. And read the ToS on the web-site of your content provider. Make sure you don't violate any terms by recording. You should also take into account the laws of the country you reside in.

As for other advices... read other threads to learn more

[I_Want_Flash]

My intentions are only to be able to watch the videos I have paid for offline or when I'm travelling and don't have access to the internet. I would never distribute or share it or do anything illegal with the content! It will only be for personal usage.

I didn't know that capturing streams and downloading it to your harddrive generate extra traffic? So if I watch AND capture 1Gb of videos will it generate more traffic than just watching it? How much will the difference in traffic be? Will it be that great that the content provider will suspect anything?

You say that the "content provider hardly can suspect anything" if I use FLV, how come?

If the content provider suspects anything becuse of the extra traffic can I claim something that would seem normal in that that particular case?

I'm thankful for your help and advices, I really appreciate it.

Originally Posted by I_Want_Flash

I didn't know that capturing streams and downloading it to your harddrive generate extra traffic? So if I watch AND capture 1Gb of videos will it generate more traffic than just watching it? How much will the difference in traffic be?

there is no difference in traffic usage by stream recorders and streaming media player. the problem is that multicast technology is almost never used so 10 people watching the same stream simultaneously will generate exactly 10 times more traffic than a single person.

Originally Posted by I_Want_Flash

If the content provider suspects anything becuse of the extra traffic can I claim something that would seem normal in that that particular case?

It really depends on a service you use. It might not be a problem for them at all. They might not even analyze any traffic peaks.

I can't guarantee you anything, but I'm sure recording one stream with FLV Recorder shouldn't give you any trouble.

IMHO it is more important not to violate the ToS rules and the local laws.

[I_Want_Flash]

Originally Posted by Stream Recorder

there is no difference in traffic usage by stream recorders and streaming media player. the problem is that multicast technology is almost never used so 10 people watching the same stream simultaneously will generate exactly 10 times more traffic than a single person.

Sorry for being indistinct I didn't mean that 10 people would going to watch the same strem I meant if it would be possible I would like to download 10 different videos at the same time with the FLV recorder but it can only download 2 different videos at one time. But that could maybe look weird, to have 2 different videos running at the same time ?

Originally Posted by I_Want_Flash

Sorry for being indistinct I didn't mean that 10 people would going to watch the same strem I meant if it would be possible I would like to download 10 different videos at the same time with the FLV recorder but it can only download 2 different videos at one time. But that could maybe look weird, to have 2 different videos running at the same time?

Sorry for being indistinct. Of course you wanna download multiple videos and we're not talking about other people.

Example with 10 users was made to compare with multicasting. As for 10 users watching the same stream simultaneuously, it is possible if the web-site is very popular or if the stream is live.