The best software for downloading/capturing Windows Media and or Real Media streams

[placebo]

hoooohh.. for saving (let's call it "saving" instead of downloading and or capturing) Windows Media and or Real Media streams, there are better [sic] [sorry] tools out there than WM Recorder. I know 2 better. Well. At least 1. (the other one of the 2 is WM Downloader, by a Chin*se coder/company). I've tested WM Recorder but i am not really happy with the GUI and ease of use. And download results. In fact, downloading WM/RM from rtsp or mms 100% correctly (exact server file copy, crc32) is high art and all commercial tools (except for 1) on the market (NetXFer/NetTransport, HiDownload , WM Recorder, WM Downloder, RMC3, RMC4, FlashGet, FlashGot, Thunder, Orbit Downloader, Internet Download Manager, DownloadHelper, etc etc) don't do a 100% perfect job. They do a 99.6% job, and files play in their respective applications (WMP, RP), so why would the average he or she dare to complain? no big deal, right? Well, for techies and perfectionists (and maybe i am ) such a download result is dissatisfactory. ((In order to know whether a file is 0.4% different (crc32) from the original server file or 100% identical with it, you, of course, need to possess the original server file as reference; otherwise any attempt to do comparisons isnt valid. hehe. but that's another story ))

I agree that none of the stream recorders is perfect and this is dissatisfactory. However I can record almost all streams that I need with Replay Media Catcher, WM Recorder and rtmpsuck.

And I strongly disagree that WM Downloader is better than WM Recorder. In my experience, WM Recorder is the most powerful Windows Media and Real Media recorder. It is the only program that allows to capture Windows Media and Real Media streams (in the PRO mode) as well as download them (in the ADA mode). Moreover, while other applications use Miscrosoft code (and this is illegal) and can be sued for that, WM Recorder code was written from scratch. The developer of WM Recorder was even praised by Microsoft!

I will be surprised if you will find a Windows Media stream that can be downloaded by WM Downloader, but can't be downloaded or captured by WM Recorder.

The interface of WM Recorder is a little bit complicated because it need to support several recording modes. But it has a user guide and video tutorials that make the learning process very easy. And you only need to hit the Record button to record with it. So I don't think users will have many problems with the software.

[placebo]

*OIC*.
i agree that the user interface GUI of WMR is a little more complicated than it needs to be. My last tough testing of difficult challenging WMA-stream url's wasnt too long ago, and, although *some* tools are able to download those "test url's"... the results with WMR (and WMD) were not satisfactory. i'll give WMR another chance. same url, same test.

EDIT:
with WMR 14.8, i've just downloaded:
mms://stream.zune.net/a4241/e3/008/146/123/at/audio.wma
8,17 MB (8.577.053 Bytes), FCD03CD3
and then:
rtsp://stream.zune.net:554/a4241/e3/008/146/123/at/audio.wma
4,09 MB (4.298.237 Bytes), 94907BCC

the file on the zune server is the same (identical url, except for protocol change). but WMR downloads 2 different (sized) files. the "4MB"-sized file smells right, because the bitrate of the audio is 128kbps. first of all, WMR should be able to reproduce identically-sized files, or am i wrong with this question ask alex? (correct file size is: 4,10 MB (4.304.213 Bytes); please dont question how i know that 4.304.213 Bytes is the correct file size. the corresponding CRC32 is "95851B39". please dont question either. i cant tell where i have these data sorry); then it should be able to reproduce the 95851B39 code.

*IMHO* if a download tool saves/records/captures/downloads 2 different sized files for the same original server file, then the download tool needs a serious fix. just my 2 cents.

WMR has two recordings modes for Windows Media.

The default mode has the ability to remove the DRM's such that the recorded file can be played in the local computer. It still preserves the DRM conditions. The downloaded file can be saved and played in the computer that purchased the rights however burning, conversion and transfer to other computers are still covered by DRM conditions. Due to the DRM extraction this mode is not ASF compliant and may have sometimes parsing errors that usually are corrected by Windows Media Player.

The other recording mode is WMSDK which is an implementation of Windows Media SDK. It can be enabled from Settings/Media Options. This mode is ASF compliant and does not have any parsing errors. WMR doesn't provide this as default mode because DRM protected streams cannot be downloaded or are scrambled by the ASF compliance.

This is explained in the User Manual and other published documents about WM Recorder. You may use the WMSDK mode if you care about the differences between the two downloads.

[placebo]

i am just claiming that WM Recorder cannot do it 100% perfectly whatever settings you use. and if you claim that no tool could do such a perfect job on this (because the file is DRM protected) then this is not correct.

So the task or challenge is clear and simple for *any* helpful WMR user out there to stand the test:
1. Use WMR to reproduce given file size and given code by using the MMS protocol.
2. Use WMR to reproduce given file size and given code by using the RTSP protocol.

if you want to prove the power or strength or perfection of WMR, then you are invited to do the above test since you're are the strongest advocate of the WMR tool (and also the most experienced user of it), good luck

for my part, i dont need to prove any tool's imperfections. i will simply continue to claim that WMR (with so many other commercial competitors) cant do a perfect job on this particular task..

Originally Posted by placebo

i am just claiming that WM Recorder cannot do it 100% perfectly whatever settings you use. and if you claim that no tool could do such a perfect job on this (because the file is DRM protected) then this is not correct.

What exactly is not perfect? Is there any quality loss or packet loss?

The only reason I really like WMR is because I was able to record more Windows Media streams with it than with any other tool.
Its RTMP support is also pretty good. I haven't seen any better RTMP recording application with scheduling than WMR.