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Here’s how to save from You Tube etc in Safari.

P

patrickq

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 23, 2005
52
0

I have spent ages trying to find the best way to save streaming files and clips on various sites, finally think I've found it, so hope this helps anyone with similar needs.


THE DEFINITIVE WAY?

Open Safari - if already open it helps if you close any windows/pages that are open, this makes finding the required file easier, if you’re not adept at these things like me!

Go to the page you wish to download clip from. If clip does not automatically play, then click (or whatever site requires) to start playing of clip.

When link is playing/streaming open the Activity window (Safari-Window/Activity) find the relevant file, usually ending in mp3/mp4/flv/avi etc, it will be the largest file for that webpage (in YouTube the file you are looking for will have ‘get_video’ in the URL).

Highlight and then copy the file address (Safari-Edit/Copy).

You can now close the Activity and Browser windows.

Open the Downloads window (Safari-Window/Downloads) and then use the paste command (Safari-Edit/Paste), Safari will automatically start to download the file. When the downloading is complete you can quit Safari, or leave open.

Click once on the icon for the file you have just downloaded, to highlight it. File is called ‘get_video’ in the case of YouTube. This icon will be wherever you have set downloads to save to (Safari-Preferences/General).

Go to Get Info (Finder-File/Get Info). The Info window will open.

You need to adjust the ‘Name & Extension’ details, so click in that box.

Files from YouTube are in Flash Video format, so they need to have ‘.FLV’ at the end of the file name.

Other files may be ‘.MP3’ etc, check by clicking the arrow at side of ‘More Info’, then use whatever this is, at the end of your adjusted file name.

It is a good idea at this point to give the file whatever name you want, to make it easier to find later, just ensure it has the relevant extension at the end (eg tropicaldreaming.mpg).

If you already know the file type, you do not need to go to ‘Get Info’, you can just change the name that is with the icon.

You can sometimes change the extension and it will play in another format, for example from YouTube you could use a ‘.MPG’ extension instead of ‘.FLV’ and play it via a suitable player such as VLC (www.videolan.org/vlc).

If you have downloaded Perian (www.perian.org) you will be able to play the Flash video in Quicktime, just drag the clip icon onto the Quicktime icon, or open Quicktime and select to open the file in usual way.

Think the above probably covers most eventualities and is very simple to do, please comment with any experiences or relevant suggestions, or if there are circumstances where the above doesn’t seem to work. I have used this for various downloads, including audio streams that can only be listened to online.

Some of the instructions might seem a bit simplistic/long-winded, but just wanted to make it easy for anyone to do, no matter their Mac experience. :)

So, precis of the above is:

Play Clip in Safari
Copy File URL from Activity
Paste File URL into Downloads
Adjust Name/Extension for File
Play - with assistance of Perian/VLC etc​
 
CosmoPod. Adds toolbar button to Safari. Detects the Flash content and downloads. Then, convert with VisualHub, etc.
 
trainguy77 said:
Or just use http://vixy.net/
Click to expand...

The problem is that sites like this and www.keepvid.com etc only work if you have the exact URL, they don’t work unless you know the final link, which is what I had been trying to sort out.

They also just refuse to recognise some links. So, while vixy etc often work they don’t solve the more problematic downloads.

Using the way I’ve described, I can download files that vixy etc won’t, even when I use the destination address.
 
patrickq said:
The problem is that sites like this and www.keepvid.com etc only work if you have the exact URL, they don’t work unless you know the final link, which is what I had been trying to sort out.

They also just refuse to recognise some links. So, while vixy etc often work they don’t solve the more problematic downloads.

Using the way I’ve described, I can download files that vixy etc won’t, even when I use the destination address.
Click to expand...


How about this one this lil app i use on you tube files and its Free.. :eek: :D
 
Problems, Can someone help

I tried doing exactly what you said and I didn't get the flash animation how it was on the website.
If someone wants to try it and let me know what i'm doing wrong it would be greatly appreciated.

Radiohead's website InRainbows.com, enter it and the background is this amazing rainbow flash animation I want to have cuz i think after a while it will disappear.
Thanks if anyone can figure this out.
Peace
 
dbnd1031 said:
I tried doing exactly what you said and I didn't get the flash animation how it was on the website.
If someone wants to try it and let me know what i'm doing wrong it would be greatly appreciated.

Radiohead's website InRainbows.com, enter it and the background is this amazing rainbow flash animation I want to have cuz i think after a while it will disappear.
Thanks if anyone can figure this out.
Peace
Click to expand...


OK, doing this with Safari 2.0.4 on OSX.4.10

Not sure if I have the right page, I go to http://www.inrainbows.com first time I had to click on link at bottom ‘enter’ which leads to:
http://www.inrainbows.com/Store/index2.html
on this page there is a background animation.
Think this is because of my v slow internet connection, next time the animation loaded on first page.

Open the Activity window, under Radiohead you’ll see a file of 565KB ending in:
morph.flv
copy this link and then open the download window and paste, it then downloads.

You’ll see the file downloaded as ‘morph.flv.txt’ so just delete the ‘.txt’ from the file name and you’ll have the flash file ready to play. I can only play it reasonably in Quicktime with Perian, but it doesn’t look as good as the webpage does, though quite arty.

Let me know if there is any step not working and I’ll see if I can help.


By the way, all the posts about alternatives seem to be missing the point, probably because the title of this post should have been more descriptive, but all the suggestions made, so far as I can see, do not have the capability of downloading a lot of files that are more difficult than YouTube. Sure, if YouTube is all you need they are fine, but if you need the 'etc' then they don't deliver.
 
Jasonbot said:
I prefer vixy.net, that way I can use my utube vids on my iPod without hassle!
Click to expand...

wel using the method outlined above all you need to do is run the file through iSquint quickly and it encodes to MPEG-4 or H.264. This works with pretty much anything you are likely to find, its verry simple and again its free.
 
HTrig said:
wel using the method outlined above all you need to do is run the file through iSquint quickly and it encodes to MPEG-4 or H.264. This works with pretty much anything you are likely to find, its verry simple and again its free.
Click to expand...

SOmetimes when I do that teh sound becomes unsynchronised :(
 
I sure could use some help here.... When I open the activity window I do not see what is posted below:

When link is playing/streaming open the Activity window (Safari-Window/Activity) find the relevant file, usually ending in mp3/mp4/flv/avi etc, it will be the largest file for that webpage (in YouTube the file you are looking for will have ‘get_video’ in the URL)
.for example, when I go to youtube and the video is streaming, I open the activity window and I only see the name of the video and that is all. Am I doing something wrong? I just want to convert youtube video's to my ipod touch.
thank for any help....:)
 
"(a)When link is playing/streaming open the Activity window (Safari-Window/Activity) find the relevant file, usually ending in mp3/mp4/flv/avi etc, it will be the largest file for that webpage (in YouTube the file you are looking for will have ‘get_video’ in the URL).

(b)Highlight and then copy the file address (Safari-Edit/Copy).
You can now close the Activity and Browser windows.
Open the Downloads window (Safari-Window/Downloads) and then use the paste command (Safari-Edit/Paste), Safari will automatically start to download the file. When the downloading is complete you can quit Safari, or leave open."

You don't have to go through all this.

Instead do this:

Do as in (a) above. That is, you need to open the activity window to locate the relevant file.

Once you see it, hold down the Option key and double-click on it. It will download automatically to your "default" download location.

No cutting/pasting necessary!

BTW, I have my desktop set as my default download target. That way whatever comes in, will always "appear before me" when it arrives.

In the case of YouTube videos, sometimes the file comes in with the ".flv" extension on the end, sometimes not. It may be necessary to add the extension if it's not added automatically. I use "Evom" as a conversion tool (flv-to-mov) and it works well, but if the extension isn't there, sometimes the file to be converted won't be recognized as an ".flv" filetype.
 
free get youtube

well, there's many free downloader, i usually use
video sharer
actually some functions is not for free, but i am sure the downloading function is for free. can download video from dozens of sites: youtube, google, yahoo, dailymotin etc.
you can have a try.
also has edit and convert functions, but not for free ;)
 
The EASY way...

Go to the youtube clip you want to see and press play.

Press cmd+opt+a to bring up the activity window.

Find the largest file currently downloading and double click on it.

That's it! Once double clicked, the file will download. This won't work on streaming sites such as HULU tho.

Once dl'd use handbrake to encode to mp4 format.

Simple.
 
easiest way is miro, search, download, watch

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