Downloading/Saving Embedded Flash Movies

[Passing by]

This is a new thread, a continuation from the thread ' Downloading Embedded Quicktime/Real Player movies..?'. This is because it is now specifically about downloading streaming embedded flash video, and perhaps this might be of interest to more/different visitors.

And to 'bwana v.22' (who posted great advice here: http://www.mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=761269&postcount=15) - I hope you'll visit this thread, and elaborate on your thoughts on this subject.

Summary of findings and questions (aka my last thread: http://www.mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=762382&postcount=16)

Quote 1: 'bwana v.22': I just look in the source for the .flv and copy the url - in the case of the one above my browser's activity monitor told me that there was a 19mb file being downloaded so I just copied that one (http://www.tennisone.com/club/lessons/braden/backhands/bh.free.php) and put it in to my download manager.

QUESTION 1 : What software+ do you use to catch this info via the 'browser's activity monitor' - I use FF & occasionally both Opera & IE7, and would appreciate a suggestion for all.

Quote 2a: 'Fudzy': To watch the .flv videos you'll need either need the FLV player (clunky) or the Kazaa Light Mega codec pack either drag & drop the FLV files into Media Player Classic or associate the filetype. Quote 2b : 'bwana v.22': VLC plays - and converts - .flv quite well

 

[mak2000]

Firefox has a extension Video Downloader, you can use this to download Youtube videos.

Hope this helps

 

[Passing by]

Firefox has a extension Video Downloader, you can use this to download Youtube videos.

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately VideoDownloader only works on a few (specific) sites - it will not work on the streaming site I mentioned above. I'm looking for an universal solution. On that site, it will only see the swf file, not the streamed flv file. To repeat, the URL is http://www.tennisone.com/club/lessons/braden/backhands/bh.free.php

It also completely fails on this page: http://www.virtualtennisacademy.com/samples/pronalysis/index.html

I've also tried the FF extensions GetVideo, UnPlug & MediaPlayerConnectivity - no results

So - I think that this 'browser activity monitor' is the way to go - stil hoping someone will explain more about it..

 

[Passing by]

A last effort about browser activity monitor..

..to see if there are any takers to the above mentioned 'browser activity monitor' question.

I've search all over for for solutions, but unfortunately I'm not myself technically proficient, and cannot use whatever very technical solutions I might have found to catch all the URLs passing by my browser..

Rgds,
Mike

 

[bwana]

..to see if there are any takers to the above mentioned 'browser activity monitor' question.

I've search all over for for solutions, but unfortunately I'm not myself technically proficient, and cannot use whatever very technical solutions I might have found to catch all the URLs passing by my browser..

Rgds,
Mike

Sorry for not responding sooner - I use safari - its a Mac browser but I'll have a look and see if I can replicate the feature using any of my windoze ones.

EDIT - you can find them in Opera's Advanced>Cache window.

 

[Nod]

The videodownloader extention will give you the option to save the .swf file. Maybe not entirely what you want, but it's a start.

 

[Bona Botse]

...or, if u dont feel like streaming a video and then downloading it, u can get it from firefox's temp directory and rename it. in this case, my FF temp was C:\Documents and Settings\MyUserName\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ww8s3wea.default\Cache, and there was a file there named EC8B266Dd01 which didnt have any extension. copied this to c:\, put .swf behind it, played it using vlc media player, et voila

 

[Passing by]

Thanks!!!

Hi everybody - I'll be damned - it works! And even two of the (similar) solutions!!

Both the FF & Opera cache DOES show the address of the streamed flv-file and swf-file from my two test-urls. I guess different programmers choose to stream different types of files.

I really thought I'd looked through the FF cache for all possibilities (forgot though to do the Opera one..) - but I guess once you know what to look for it's a piece of cake to find it :=)

So I really didn't have to look in the FF cache folder itself - I can get the url from the cache view, and use a download manager to get it, to avoid downloading it twice. But as the finished streamed file would be on top of the directory (if sorted date-wise), that may actually be the easier router. I just then need to try either the swf or the flv extension.

FYI, the Opera cache is default located as follows:
C:\Documents and Settings\MyUserName\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile\cache4\ - and here you have the extension as part of the files!

Just for the record - the solution about the videodownloader extension does not get me the streamed file, only the preloader. But thx for trying to help out.

And bwana - yes I was hoping you'd respond :=)). This issue has been one of my top three PC issues to solve for several years now! That 'imajin' also contributed with a solution is just great!

So, once again - really thanks to all for contributing. I'll for sure be checking this great forum often, from now on! I'll even think about posting some of my other top issues to be solved by you experts :=)

/Mike

 

[bwana]

Glad you got sorted there eventually.

 

[Bona Botse]

lol, no problem from "this imajin"