Thread: Save streaming videos? swf.

  1. #1
    Registered User kryptkat's Avatar
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    Save streaming videos? swf.

    Why is it that some sites that use the adobe shockwave flash player require java script and other sites do not for the same player? For example uboob.com aka youtube.com the videos will not play with out the javascript enabled?

    Next question.
    Saving shockwave flash streaming videos. Do you use another prog? I tried to use hooks but it did not work to well in the prog I made.

    Next question.
    Why is there no download video button on the streaming videos or save as. When save as all it saves is the player and not the video. There are a few cat clips that I want to save. Ideas? On how to save vid?

    Next question.
    Is the video only stored in memory or is it dropped to disk somewhere?

    Next question.
    plug in for browser idea. need suggestions on how to.
    Last edited by kryptkat; 01-15-2007 at 12:10 PM.

  2. #2
    Registered User kryptkat's Avatar
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    ok found something to save streaming vid. but same question about why javascript is needed on some sites.

  3. #3
    Hurry Slowly vart's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kryptkat
    Why is it that some sites that use the adobe shockwave flash player require java script and other sites do not for the same player? For example uboob.com aka youtube.com the videos will not play with out the javascript enabled?
    Maybe they just used javascript there?


    Next question.
    Why is there no download video button on the streaming videos or save as. When save as all it saves is the player and not the video. There are a few cat clips that I want to save. Ideas? On how to save vid?
    Take it from the browser cache after you saw it fully

    Next question.
    Is the video only stored in memory or is it dropped to disk somewhere?
    Yes, browser saves them in the Temporary Internet files ( I always take them from this folder, when I need). But note that some swf files can require parameters to run, and these parameters can be downloaded from the server (we did such things in the past to prevent offline viewing of the swf-files downloaded from our sites) so you will not be able to run all swf-files in offline
    All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection,
    except for the problem of too many layers of indirection.
    – David J. Wheeler

  4. #4
    Registered User kryptkat's Avatar
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    Almost all that comes on to the computer is in the “temporary internet files” folder. This I know well. However the video clip I want is not. I checked many times before posting this. I know the file should be about 3 to 6 mb. The advertisement swf files were there. There was only two swf files total. In other folders the only thing I found was a .wmdb database file that even looked like it might know were the file went to. But that is wmv not the swf player. Although one should play the other types. The only other files in the temp dir was a few waves that I was playing with a few days ago. I did look for the other extensions that I thought they might use.
    Maybe they just used javascript there?
    All the websites that play the videos and clips use javascript but some websites you can play the videos with the javacript turned off. Which does not explain why some sites this does not work. They all do the same thing. Load web page. Open player. Get video. Play video. Done. It must not be saved on hd. Just played and lost in memory. The several progs downloaded that are supposed to intercept streams do not work. Enter url and get error messages.

    The only thing I found in the browser cache is sol files. The only other two progs was mz file headers. Looked through all folders. Nothing. Thank you for the suggestions.

  5. #5
    Hurry Slowly vart's Avatar
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    In some cases the following trick had helped me to download file I wanted.
    1. I tried to figure out the direct link to the file I wanted by scanning the html sources
    2. I created small html file on my hard drive with the content

    <a href="http://www.boohbah.com/zone.swf">1</a>

    3.then opened the file in the browser, right clicked on the link and choose "Save Target As"

    sometimes it worked
    All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection,
    except for the problem of too many layers of indirection.
    – David J. Wheeler

  6. #6
    Registered User kryptkat's Avatar
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    I have done that before but this one is different. Have a look.
    “http://www.deleted.com/video/2441101" is just a link to the page and not the vid. At the bottom is the embedded link and having difficulty figuring out what the exact link should be. To make html file.




    } else if (hasReqestedVersion) {
    var dartRef = dartRef || "";
    var cmpnidsession = cmpnidsession || "";
    var ord = ord || Math.random()*10000000000000000;
    var so = new SWFObject("/flash/product/ihp/player.swf", "PRODUCT_OBJECT", "429", "352", "8", "#000000", true);
    so.addParam("quality", "high");
    so.addParam("AllowScriptAccess", "true");
    so.addParam("allowFullScreen", "true");

    so.addVariable("cpath","/flash/container.swf");
    so.addVariable("tr", "true");
    so.addVariable("baseURL", "");
    so.addVariable("ip","true");
    so.addVariable("cmpnid",cmpnidsession);
    so.addVariable("nviews", parseInt(.cookieManager.getSessionCookie("nviews") ));
    so.addVariable("_session", .cookieManager.getJSONCookieInOldFormat("_session" ));
    so.addVariable("pre","true");
    so.addVariable("it","18");
    so.addVariable("flvbaseclip", "2441101");
    so.addVariable("dzav", ".mtvi/viralvideo;dcmt=text/xml;sz=416x312;section_0=viralvideo;srcco=1;vidid= 2441101;prichan=viralvideo;cxtchan=;collid=;genre= ;maturity=mat1;tile=3;envid=www;!c=mat1;video=full ;"+ dartRef + ";testmode=;uri=/video/2441101;ord="+ord+"?");

    so.write("PRODUCT_FRAME");
    } else {
    document.write("<h4 id=\"NEEDFLASH8\"> <a href=\"http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash\">Hello, please download the latest Flash player by clicking here. <br/><br/></a> Note: it may be necessary to close and reopen your browser after the installation. Thank you!</h4>");
    }
    </div>

    <form method="get" action="/" id="clip_url_form" class="clearfix">
    <input type="hidden" name="link" value="" />
    <ul>
    <li>

    <label for="url">URL</label>
    <input type="text" name="url" id="url" onclick="this.select()" value="http://www..com/video/2441101" class="embed_text"/>
    </li>

    <li>
    <label for="embed_link">Embed</label>
    <input type="text" name="embed" id="embed_link" onclick="this.select()" value="&lt;embed width=&quot;448&quot; height=&quot;365&quot; src=&quot;http://www..com/efp&quot; quality=&quot;high&quot; bgcolor=&quot;000000&quot; name=&quot;efp&quot; align=&quot;middle&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; pluginspage=&quot;http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer&quot; flashvars=&quot;flvbaseclip=2441101&amp;&quot;&gt; &lt;/embed&gt;" class="embed_text" />
    </li>

    </ul>

    </form>
    </div>

  7. #7
    Registered User hk_mp5kpdw's Avatar
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    For certain sites (not all sites but certainly the more popular video sharing sites) you can use Firefox's "Video Downloader" extension.

    1. Get Firefox and install
    2. Download/Install the "Video Downloader" extension
    3. Go to youtube and to a page with a video you want
    4. At any time during the playback you can click on the VideoDownloader icon at the bottom of the browser window. This will pop up another window which will have a button/link to the video that is currently playing.
    5. Right click->"Save As" and save the file wherever and with whatever name you want.

    They often can only be downloaded in certain formats. Most on youtube need to be saved as .flv files. So to view those after you've downloaded them you need to either find a converter program or get a player that can play flv files.

    Don't know if that helps... just thought I'd throw that out there.
    "Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods."
    -Christopher Hitchens

  8. #8
    Registered User kryptkat's Avatar
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    i downloaded 3 progs already. wmvid-demo and downloader you
    talk about already have icon on bottem right of firefox. when i pressed it it said "hummmm" and come up with spanich page. blog of some sort. i forget what the other is sdp-something.msi
    none worked. also searched and found the link the downloader lets you manually enter url for vid. that also did not work.

    usually i is pretty good at this stuff even though not that good at java. it is matter of time or brains meowowowow. good suggestion though.

    edit add
    it looks like some form pointer or data sent to player server.
    Last edited by kryptkat; 01-17-2007 at 03:08 PM.

  9. #9
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
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    Video Downloader works quite nicely for me.

    Anyway, have you looked for files ending in .flv in the temporary files? That's the name of the Flash streaming video format used by YouTube and similar.

    Have you checked if Flash itself has a temporary directory somewhere? After all, it's Flash downloading this stuff.

    The reason why some sites require JS and some don't is that those that require it create the complete player object using JavaScript. Those that don't have it in the markup.

    I would also recommend FireBug or Venkman or another JavaScript debugger to find out exactly how the site creates the final Flash object and thus find the link. You could also try decompiling the player .swf.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law

  10. #10
    Registered User kryptkat's Avatar
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    Purrr haps I missed something with video downloader. I pressed the button and it automatically went to another website with the link of the web page. I tried manually to dup the link. Not having the correct link it did not work.

    I checked all relevant folders from temp to temporary internet files to mozzilla for any files that would be of the expected size ignoring extension. I found two mz files which I think are the players. I do not think I missed any folder that it may be in if it was on the hd.

    Ok the js thing makes sense completing the players object. Will look in to the javascript debuggers.

    I am about to look through the reg to see if there is anything in there pointing to maybe a hidden folder. I have show all folders setting. I even looked in windows and i386 temp and other folders looking for this vid but think it may have been lost in mem. And not saved on hd.

  11. #11
    Registered User hk_mp5kpdw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kryptkat
    Purrr haps I missed something with video downloader. I pressed the button and it automatically went to another website with the link of the web page. I tried manually to dup the link. Not having the correct link it did not work.
    Once you left-click on the Video Downloader icon in the lower right-hand corner of the Firefox browser window and get the new pop-up window containing the button/link to the video currently being displayed in the YouTube webpage, you must then right-click on that button/link and select "Save As" to save the file to your computer. The filename that pops up in the "Save As" window may have a .htm (or something else) extension but you will need to make sure you rename it with a .flv extension.
    "Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods."
    -Christopher Hitchens

  12. #12
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
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    ... or use a player that doesn't care about extensions, like mplayer.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law

  13. #13
    Registered User kryptkat's Avatar
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    Debugging the prog player reviled that it was removing the file after the player or browser closes.

    When click videodownloader it comes up with a link /elf something when I click download link it says hummmm then I get a 404 so videodownloader does not get the correct link eighter.

    Ps I have yet to see videodownloader work once.

  14. #14
    Hurry Slowly vart's Avatar
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    So copy the file to another location before the window is closed
    All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection,
    except for the problem of too many layers of indirection.
    – David J. Wheeler

  15. #15
    Registered User kryptkat's Avatar
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    Not that simple. I tried that when I found out what was going on. I get "Can not copy file. ????.tmp Being used by another person or program. Close other program using file and try again."

    i Find i like movies. Especially /video/2441101

    thank you for the suggestions.

    this one....

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