Filed under: Software, Video, Freeware
Flash Video Downloader
In one of our previous Ask TUAW columns we addressed a question about downloading Flash videos from sites like YouTube and Google Video. We mentioned several shareware programs to do this including TubeSock and yFlicks, however recently a free solution has come to my attention called simply the Flash Video Downloader from Tesseract Software. The interface is very simple: you just copy and paste the URL from your browser for the page that the video appears on (i.e. you don't have to know the exact location of the video file, just the main page URL). The Flash Video Downloader apparently consults videodownloader.net for the actual file location and then sucks it down to your computer. Of course once it's downloaded you'll need VLC or something similar to play it. You can also set up a series of pages as a batch job and the Downloader will do its thing in the background downloading each video, then send up a Growl notification when it's done.
The Flash Video Downloader is not as slick as some of the commercial solutions out there, but it's a free download, and does get the job done.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike said 8:20AM on 4-02-2007
Totally unnecessary. Simply install SafariStand, then command-click the flash video once it's fully loaded. Voilà: it's saved on your desktop.
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KeynoteKen said 8:23AM on 4-02-2007
Or without installing ANYTHING, if you're using Safari, do Window -> Activity. Find the video (or image, or other content) you're looking for, hold down Option and double-click. Downloads right to your assigned downloads folder.
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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Longhorn said 8:24AM on 4-02-2007
I just use the Activity Window in Safari and Option+double click the file when it displays in the window. It also works for mp3 on MySpace and other media even when it's protected in the page itself!
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Biffo said 8:24AM on 4-02-2007
I've was trying to use this over the weekend but couldn't get it to work.
I don't know if the problem was with the software or videodownloader.net, but either way it was pretty useless.
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Aaron Hoffman said 8:34AM on 4-02-2007
Another vote for SafariStand.
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umijin said 8:43AM on 4-02-2007
I've had no luck downloading flash vids straight from Safari, but there is another option to this app - FLVR (http://www.tastyapps.com/), by the same folks who did RedSnapper. I like it because it puts an icon in your Safari menu-bar that pulses green when an appropriate flash vid file is present in the open windwo.
There is a demo, but the full version will be $8 (if you pre-order) or $15. I kind of like it, though the previous version I used saved to iTunes.
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François said 9:40AM on 4-02-2007
Oh, and VLC is not necessary, since Perian does a great job for that purpose, and there is a little script somewhere that allows to put that fullscreen on QuickTime sans pro.
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Tesseract Software said 12:08PM on 4-02-2007
If it's not working for you, then you either don't have the latest version 1.3.1, or you are not using 10.4 or later. I've found that most problems people were having were because of one (or both) of these reasons.
I am currently working on a version that does not use videodownloader.net; which would make it way more reliable and faster.
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slickfast said 12:18PM on 4-02-2007
hey guys i took your advice for SafarStand, but when i pull a video off and try to run it on my computer, Flashplayer just opens up a window with the window name as the location of where the flashplayer program is. any ideas?
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artifex said 12:43PM on 4-02-2007
If you're using greasemonkey, you can install the "youtube to me" plugin by josh kinberg off the userscripts site, and then you get a little FLV link at the very top of your youtube video pages. Easiest, most unobtrusive, and of course doesn't rely on contacting an outside host that may be down or may be watching you. :)
If Mat says it's ok, it's small enough I can just paste it into a comment here, too.
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Brandon said 12:57PM on 4-02-2007
I find it very easy to use the plugin video downloader for firefox, then once I've downloaded it, I open it up in QT (i have an FLV plugin that was free of course) and i export it to the format of my choice, it's pretty easy and quick
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jbelkin said 2:31PM on 4-02-2007
Flash will also play in QT with the plug in.
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Per said 3:56PM on 4-02-2007
The plugin for Firefox called "Embed" also does the work pretty well.
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Ben said 4:03PM on 4-02-2007
Once you have the .flv, I recommend iSquint to convert them to mp4. Then you can put them into an iMovie project or on your iPod or whatever.
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Brad said 4:40PM on 4-05-2007
if you want a free, web-based solution, there are a couple of websites that seem to work well together for just this purpose...
http://keepvid.com/ - does the same thing as the free software listed above
http://media-convert.com/ - lets you upload any file format and convert it to another.
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Davie said 3:27PM on 4-29-2007
How the hell do you use this program? It won't let me paste URLs and keeps telling me my download location is wrong.
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Tesseract Software said 12:56PM on 5-09-2007
Version 1.3.2 is out. I will now save your settings between sessions.
Davie: to paste a url into the program, double click in the table under the "Video URL" column. I suggest you click on the "?" button in the lower left corner if you still need help.
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