For anyone who watches Google & YouTube videos

[empeake]

With all the James Randi and other interesting videos available on Google and YouTube, I started getting frustrated with the limited viewing options the respective video players offered. Here are some of my complaints:

I hate the Google Video and YouTube players. I would prefer to use Windows Media Player or other players that lets me adjust the contrast, brightness, etc.
I've wanted to watch Google and YouTube videos on my mobile phone (or an iPod, if I had one.)
I hate Real Media, and refuse to install the program. I've always wanted a way to convert Real Media files to another format.
I don't like watching videos on the computer monitor. Whenever I can, I burn them to a DVD-RW and watch them on my TV. I've also wanted to burn the Screw Loose Change video to a DVD and share it with some friends.
Fortunately, I found the answer to all my wishes, and it is freeware: SUPER © (http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html).

This is not a sales pitch. I'm in no way connected to the developer and, since the software is freeware, there's no money involved. Also, the software doesn't have any spyware, adware or viruses. Feel free to do any research you want (you may want to start here (http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=SUPER_1)). I only want to share what I've found to be one of the most useful software programs I've come across recently.

In a nutshell, SUPER © converts and plays virtually all video formats. It is really easy to use, and doesn't need any additional codecs. So far, I've used it to convert .gvi (Google Video), .flv (YouTube & Flash videos), and unorthodox .avi files, to DivX, Xvid, & MPEG4 files.

If you have any questions on how to download Google and YouTube videos for conversion, I'll be glad to share my limited knowledge.

[monoman]

Just to add to this, here is a way to download a goodle video as an .avi so that it can be saved to disk and viewed at any time.

Go to Google Video and open the movie you want.

Click "Download" on the right.

Click "Cancel" on the Google Video Player download.

Click "Manually download the video" on the right.

Save the .gvp file to disk & open up in a text editor.

You'll see something like :-

# download the free Google Video Player from http://video.google.com/
gvp_version:1.1
url:http://vp.video.google.com/videodownload?version=0&secureurl=tQAAACf4_kdMrzFbH0pP4RAGXagfL9Pz1qPQDZMv vJSrfOZfyG-b_DOzualUPk0VUfOOMPY4NX4Ms-CF9mMl6T6qLeLCCDblWY-29Iie5TKtqJ8mBE--2U3lhnb8zvYj8ZDGlT_Lj8WAqU2F-FgS-br0EKGUoQShJ9yV5h6g6rTBwTnUGGQlYBqvHigitG0zEbJMqNM _hrZ6-r86f9_1qjTR128QAbSTiJPdzM1XROxevpjhLL9-HP9Td-kpTEOiN1w4pQ&sigh=O7y-xkyqz2JBZs6V_wKN_rhZoKs&begin=0&len=2732833&docid=3999493355358083404
docid:3999493355358083404
duration:2732833
title:James Randi 1980s
description:James Randi 1980s

Copy the url and paste it into your browser. You will get an avi file for download.

[tkingdoll]

Aren't there some copyright issues with these methods?

(Note: I believe the Randi footage that Richard posted on youtube is copyright-free and fine to download).

[geni]

If you have any questions on how to download Google and YouTube videos for conversion, I'll be glad to share my limited knowledge.

Can it handle .ogg Theora?

[El Greco]

For downloading I use www.keepvid.com

[monoman]

Aren't there some copyright issues with these methods?

(Note: I believe the Randi footage that Richard posted on youtube is copyright-free and fine to download).

I've thought about that myself. Even if Randi himself has given permission, to Richard, for the videos to be put on Google, surely it's up to the individual production companys/ TV stations themselves. I'm sure there're loads of illigal clips up there but I think companys turn a blind eye because it's good free advertising.

I'm just glad so many people have access to these Randi clips that have little to no chance of ever being released on DVD.

[tkingdoll]

I've thought about that myself. Even if Randi himself has given permission, to Richard, for the videos to be put on Google, surely it's up to the individual production companys/ TV stations themselves. I'm sure there're loads of illigal clips up there but I think companys turn a blind eye because it's good free advertising.

I'm just glad so many people have access to these Randi clips that have little to no chance of ever being released on DVD.

I assumed Richard had the full rights to the footage he posted, as I specifically asked him it was legal to download to my iPod and he said yes.

[geni]

I've thought about that myself. Even if Randi himself has given permission, to Richard, for the videos to be put on Google, surely it's up to the individual production companys/ TV stations themselves. I'm sure there're loads of illigal clips up there but I think companys turn a blind eye because it's good free advertising.


Doubtful. It's just cheaper to wait for youtube to go bancrupt rather than sending out several thousand DMCA notices.

[empeake]

For downloading I use www.keepvid.com
For YouTube, another dowloading option is www.youtubex.com (http://www.youtubex.com/).

[empeake]

Can it handle .ogg Theora?
Yes. I did a quick test, and it converted the file to AVI without problems.

[kevin]

In the united states downloading and viewing a legally posted video is almost always legal under fair use. If you then distribute it to others there maybe problems.

Converting, as long as encryption is not circumvented, is usually legal too. again as long as you don't distribute your converted version there are no issues. Even under the DMCA there are some gray areas about still being allowed to make backup copies or repurpose to a new device (i.e. decrypting a DVD to watch on the iPod).

It's when you start providing copies to others that you run afoul of the law.

[schplurg]

Anybody know how to convert or even play a .DAT file that has been streamed (not a DVD dat file)?

Some videos on CNN or other sites stream/play in Windows Media player as WMVs or MPEGs, but when I search my cache for the file name to save it for later viewing, the extension has "changed" to .DAT. No video player I have tried will play this file. Renaming the extension does not help.

Just curious.

[kevin]

not sure what .DAT format is. You might open the file in a binary editor and see if the header gives away something.

[kevin]

BTW, Google Video has an option to download for Video iPod. If you download that you can use it with Quicktime player. There isn't anything special about iPod Video, it's just a specific frame size MPEG-4 file. Quicktime plays it just fine.

[politas]

I assumed Richard had the full rights to the footage he posted, as I specifically asked him it was legal to download to my iPod and he said yes.
I believe all videos Richard is posting are from DVDs published by Australian Skeptics. Presumably the rights to distribute were gained from the TV stations at that stage.

[bjb]

I use this:

http://www.videodl.org/

and convert the .flv file to .avi using RAD Video tools.

[asthmatic camel]

Handy tips, thanks very much. :)

[Morrigan]

Doubtful. It's just cheaper to wait for youtube to go bancrupt

Eh... why do you think that's going to happen anytime soon?

[geni]

Eh... why do you think that's going to happen anytime soon?

That comment was made before google purchased it. Before that without further funding most estimates appeared to give it less than a year.

[ReFLeX]

As for RealMedia files, I found the easiest solution was RealAlternative.