DownloadHelper video conversion on OS X?

[m021478]

Has anyone been successful in getting the Firefox extension "Video Download Helper" to effectively convert downloaded flv files from the net into a more computer/portable device-ready format, such as MPEG-4.

The method of doing so is outlined on their website here, but to be honest, it's a little over my head and I was hoping someone would be able to lend a guy a helping hand.

Thanks!

 

[sklettke]

Try HandBrake. It will take almost any type of video (including .flv) as a source and convert it to mpeg-4 (xvid, ffmpeg) or H.264 (playable on ipod). I usually just choose a constant quality of 56% or so. Play around with it and see what works for you.

 

[silverface]

Same issue

Sort of reviving a dead thread...

I can use Handbrake, but that defeats the whole purpose of the conversion feature inside Downloadhelper. Why use an outside prgram if it works automatically?

I have tried over and over to configure the conversion, but I simply get stuck on the first conversion screen - it tells me I'm missing some essential file....but the two it gives me as choices I have, "ffmpeg" and "mencoder".

There's no exit to this screen - apparently you have to type int he right information or force-exit Firefox.

Going to the Downloadhelper site offers this as the opening information for Mac or Linux:

"For Linux and Mac, we do not have a specific FFMPEG distribution to connect to DownloadHelper. Instead, the conversion relies on the distribution that has been installed separately on the computer. Of course, this can lead to conversion failures as the version of FFMPEG may not have been compiled with the features required by the chosen conversion parameters. This might be the case, for instance, when converting to MP3 format, as the native FFMPEG may not have this feature for legal reasons.

On Linux Ubuntu, you may install FFMPEG with:

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Or better, recompile FFMPEG with more features."

To put it simply - what the **** does that mean, and how dos a normal human figure it out? Until they find some communication system other than babylonian or whatever, I guess it's download annoying flv files, converting them, then converting them AGAIN to reduce the size...

They call this a "feature"????